Let me present:

Vote With Your Wheels

If a car from a company (when the company’s name is written on the car) acts in a really stupid way, would you like to be a customer of that company? I wouldn’t. I always try to remember which company cars act stupidly, in order to avoid them later on when I shop. The problem is that I always forget which companies to avoid.

I therefore came up with the idea to start a site where cyclists can name ”bad” companies on some kind of ”black list”. Writing what happened and when. That way other cyclists can vote with their wheels and boycott the worst companies.

This way the managements will realize the importance of having calm drivers. They will work out traffic policies, educate their drivers about cyclists’ rights and try to avoid being named on the black list.

Maybe it isn’t a good idea at all. Maybe it is to mix up the innocent company with the actual drivers. Maybe it will only increase the ever-so-present tensions between cyclists and drivers. Would you be intrested in such a site? (Hypothetically, since it would be about Stockholm, Sweden.) All feedback is welcome!

Remembering that I came originally from the country that has more lawyers than the rest of the world combined ...

You might stand a good chance of being sued if you were not very careful about how you went about this. Libel comes to mind.

I like the idea, but question the ability to do it safely in a public way.

Cheers...Gary

I've tried this.
I've had unpleasant experiences with landscaping trucks, county government trucks, semis, etc. It seems it is usually a truck. Most cars don't have a company name on them. Just idiot drivers.

I've called or written to these companies and complained. I have no choice with the county truck, it was the water department. I'm not ready to give up drinking water and taking baths. But I did call and speak with the manager. On the phone he "sounded" concerned that one of his employees would drive so "recklessly". He must have talked to his people because since then county water department trucks pass me with care.

Swekarl, I'm not so sure I'd want to black list the company. I'd be more apt to hold the driver more responsible then the company. Yes I know that the company is resonsible for the vehicle that the employee is driving. But you can not blame the company as a whole on someones stupid driving methods. Even if that person took a drivers safety course. And no matter what kind of credentials that person may hold saying he has the ability to drive in a safe responsible manner. I say this because a lot of companies require their employees to pass such courses before they are given a company vehicle to operate. But that don't mean they should be and are going to safely operate that company vehicle.

Now that said, what I would be apt to do is to call the company and report the person to who ever you can. Whether it be the traffic manager, if there is such a thing at the company, or the persons supervisor. Who ever you can. A lot of company vehicles have and some are required by law to have some kind of ID number on them. If I were to report such a incident I would remember when and where it happened, what time it happened, the description of the person if I was able to get it, the cars ID number, or in the US the DOT number, the color, make and model of the car. And whatever else I need to remember. If I do not get satisfaction out of what I reported, I would then contact the local police dept. Now they can not issue a fine, but they will take a report on it and if it is reported again they will take action to resolve it.

Nevertheless,
Its a good idea. Its great to have people brainstorming on how to make the roads safer for us cyclists.
Maybe you could start out doing what RonH did and see if that gets you anywhere. Then maybe something like a 'Bad/Wreckless Drivers' list will be noticed. If not by the companies, maybe it will do some good for us knowing where these offenders are.


Dave

I think what he's trying to get at is:

Hey, I broke my "xxxxx" and the company told me to stuff it!

For example. I had a Gary Fisher Joshua Z1 mountain bike. I broke the frame, and sent it back for warranty. GF had been having problems with this type of damage and agreed to replace my frame with a new model. Great! It only took 4 months to get the replacement frame.

Now, to start putting my old parts on the new frame. Oh, wait a minute. They've changed the shock mount to a plate that bolts to the frame. Then another two months to get all the necessary bolts, bearings, plates, and miscellaneous parts to get my bike back together!

Because of this, I've got a reluctance to even consider another Gary Fisher bike, even though their new Sugar+ bikes seem nice!

I don't quite see how the manufacturer of the car is in anyway responsible for the actions of its driver. I doesn't seem very fair to me. Personally if I were buying a car, I would a) more than likely buy it second-hand and b) buy the car on its merits rather than what I have seen other drivers do with it.

However, that being said, if you wish to do that. You should take into account the number of that type of car on the road. Presumable you see a lot more Fords on the roads than say BMWs. However it is easily possible that you have been meanaced by less BMWs than Fords, but have been meanced by a higher percentage of the BMWs on the roads than Fords.

My $0.02

Cheers

spire and a2psyklnut, you have totally misunderstood me, which just shows that English is not my mother tongue.

First, it was not about bike manufacturers or how they act when the bike is broken, even though that might be interesting.

Second, it was definitely not about the brand of the cars, that would be terribly stupid of me!!! It was about, how shall I put it: If a company, say Barry’s flowers, has a car with their logotype printed all over it, and that car acts in a really bad way against a cyclist in traffic, then the cyclist would ”report” him to my site and that way tell other cyclists that hey, don’t buy your flowers at Barry’s flowers.

Or maybe you were just ironic, spire? :confused:

Anyway, I’m not as convinced as when I got the idea, and it feels somewhat... aggressive. Thanks for the feedback anyway!

One of my greatest desires is to see a trucker/van driver/taxi driver given disciplinary action after I called in their id number.

Some years back I had a semi in front of me while I was driving. Its small load was in no way tied down, and it was spilling stuff onto the road, including a gallon bottle of something which I ran over. Also, it was speeding. I managed to catch up, and got the license number and the company name (and phone). I then called the fleet supervisor for the company.

He was VERY appreciative of my call, admitted they were in the wrong, and that the driver was new and young. He even called me back to assure me that the driver had been appropriately dealt with.

I guess, as much as and when possible, I would prefer this approach to a black list approach, which I think would give a rather negative view on bikers in general.