RaleighSport

I know there's a lot of people who have been buzzed.. and near buzzed by cars in this subforum and I also know a lot of you have cams for your rides, good on you. How many of you have bothered reporting near buzzes to the police and was it successful? I'm going to assume that those that did it successfully had cams unless they say otherwise.

10 Wheels

Take the center of a lane to eliminate the buzzing.

iconicflux

Yeah, then it will just be them claiming, "I didn't see them" or "I thought I hit a deer".

Seriously people, be smart about which roads you take the lane on.

nathan.johnson

Answered "took other method" because "c'est la vie" wasn't an option.

HokuLoa

W/O cameras there is little use in reporting and frankly few people are "with it" enough to get the plates w/o a recording....

Keith99

Only buzz I remember was a jerk on a rice rocket. I doubt my lane positioning could have made a difference

gmt13

I get fumed for a while and then just let it go. You can waste a lot of time on principle. I do run with a cam and after I review the footage, I have never seen other than incidental issues that, while making me uncomfortable at the time, were not all that close. I have not encountered maliciousness - that may require hard action.

-G

MMACH 5

I got buzzed by a cop. A buddy was with me and asked if the cop's mirror clipped my elbow. I was taking the lane and he made sure to keep his two right tires as close to me as possible.

Chris516

+1

Motorists claim that all the time. Because they know the cops are on the motorist's side, regardless of who was at fault.

I also agree with this. Because there are times, I don't have time to track a driver down, when I am already headed somewhere.

This is also true. Because a camera video will remember what the human brain will forget.

dynodonn 

On the roads I happen to ride, positioning myself in the center of the lane, then moving right when I deemed it safe, considerably reduced the number of close passed made by motorists.

dynodonn 

I have found this to be true as well in many incidents, but if I still feel that it may have been intentional, I'll log the motorist's vehicle license and keep a file of the video just in case of a future incident.

I've reported 3 motorist in the last 12 months, and the last two would have gotten away with their actions if I did not have a high quality camcorder aiding me in getting their license numbers, the incidents were that quick.

unterhausen

if they are looking at you in the mirror when they pass too close it was malicious. I don't think this has happened to me recently. I think some of the non-malicious passes are scarier. I know I should complain, but I almost never get the license. I should start trying to do that.

dynodonn 

It takes several seconds for the average person to mentally record an incident, and my last incident took just barely a second to occur. Even at the lowest setting of 30 frames per second, my camcorder is a very powerful visual recording tool.

I played my video back many times at normal speed, and I still could not get the motorist's license number, only until I went the frame by frame method could I read it clearly, along with the vehicle model emblems and decal in the rear window.

In the frame by frame mode, I even got to view the motorist's face staring back at me in their passenger side mirror.

dynodonn 

Possibly, the last two motorists that I reported and going frame by frame, the first motorist, I could see them looking directly at me through their windshield as they started to make the close pass.

With the second motorist, I could see the motorist through their side window looking into their mirror after they made the close pass, and then I could see, a few frames later, the motorist's face in the passenger mirror looking back at me.

buzzman

Had a section of my commute where I was often buzzed. I thought I'd solved the problem by moving right out into the middle of the lane on that section. But a guy in a work van did a slow buzz cut off of me and I gave his van a slap as it almost hit me. He jammed on his brakes and proceeded to threaten my life. I called the cops and he stupidly stuck around until they got there- so convinced he was right about whether I could ride in the road.

The cops gave him a good ration of grief but when they went back to their car he mouthed the words, "I'm going to get you!" It's been 3 years and he hasn't gotten me yet.

RobertHurst

Haven't you heard that taking the lane "eliminates" close passes?

unterhausen

it doesn't eliminate close passes, but the clueless people that think that crossing a double yellow is somehow more horrible than risking your life do pass with more room.

Paul Barnard

Old people are the worst around here. They are mortified over the prospect of crossing the center line irrespective of how it is striped.

chipcom 

Unless the driver actually hits me, I pretty much don't care...depending on his/her attitude. If one of the occupants hollers something or flips me off, I return the favor...otherwise I put my faith in karma, neh.

dynodonn 

Chip, I'm not able to let a motorist go unreported that misses me by mere inches at speed, especially when I feel it was deliberate. Out of the many thousands of motorists that I interact with on a yearly basis, only three so far have really pushed my button enough to get them reported, so it's not like I'm out on a crusade to punish the motoring population.

mikeybikes

Pretty much how I go about it. Too many other things to worry about than close passes. Fortunately, they are rare for me.

dynodonn 

In very low speed urban traffic, I usually could care less as well, but if they are like my last one where I was in a 5 ft gutter bike lane, with a motorist's vehicle 1 ft or more into it, and at a 40 mph speed "difference", I take it rather personal.

chipcom 

if he didn't hit you it's pretty hard to prove intent to do harm...and reporting it is pissing in the wind in most cases. I'm of the "don't get mad, don't get even, get ahead" school. If I feel they were really trying to f with me, I'll note his vehicle and license plate and remember him for future karma remedies...which could involve the law, or not.

ItsJustMe

I've noticed that's true of almost all drivers. Even on a rural road with clear lines of sight and obviously no oncoming traffic for hundreds of yards, a car turning right will usually have the car behind it slow down to almost a stop rather than just pull around.

dynodonn 

I don't go for "intent", I go for reporting an the unsafe pass, and having the motorist's vehicle logged with the local authorities.

With our area's high collision and traffic death rating, and infrastructure monies governed by the rating, local authorities actually take more than a casual interest in dangerous driving reports, especially when they're backed up with well detailed info.