Motorists taking the piss... again

[bon3yard]

I get quite stroppy with cars in The Cycle boxes at lights and will you usually fix them with a steely, cold eyed stare while positioning myself in front of oncoming traffic because of their selfishness. I cant say they notice though.

[louisiana]

Loz Wrote:

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> louisiana Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> >

> > I took mine with my camera phone and hope

> others

> > do to. Given the Met don't seem interested in

> > enforcement, this may be the only avenue for

> > getting something done.

>

> As people have noted, a photo cannot be evidence

> of an infraction. So the best you are going to

> achieve is worry the motorist....

If you think I'd be concerned about 'worrying a motorist' who has broken the law, then perhaps you don't live on the same planet I do. It's really no different from naming on the interweb motorists who are kerb-crawling prostitutes (who have AFAIK not actually committed an offence in law), which is what the police already do. Worrying about being exposed as shit drivers that break the law might just have more of an effect than not having to worry about actually being fined and having points on their licence.

[louisiana]

Twirly Wrote:

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> This seems to happen a lot, it annoys me too, and

> I'm just a car driver

I didn't take a pic of the funniest one of all on our 2-hour trip, as I was on the bike at the time. But the funniest was a car driver who had not just stopped beyond the stop line: he'd stopped about 15-20 feet *beyond the ASL line*, beyond the red light etc etc. This was at The Cut (Waterloo). He'd just made up the place where he decided to stop.

[Loz]

louisiana Wrote:

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> Loz Wrote:

> > As people have noted, a photo cannot be > evidence

> > of an infraction. So the best you are going to

> > achieve is worry the motorist....

>

> If you think I'd be concerned about 'worrying a

> motorist' who has broken the law, then perhaps you

> don't live on the same planet I do.

I see you clipped the second bit of my sentence. If taking photos of motorists and putting them on a petty little website floats your boat then fine. But you might actually find it will turn into a discovery tour of the many nutters out there on all forms of transport. You might also find that a bunch of white van men might just stick your camera in a place you will find it difficult to download the photos from...

Go for it.

[binary_star]

Loz Wrote:

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> You might also find that a

> bunch of white van men might just stick your

> camera in a place you will find it difficult to

> download the photos from...

>

Or actually get them prosecuted (admittedly you will need a video camera).

Incidently, this was the best I've ever had:

Yes:

- that's a bike reservoir

- I was stopped at a red light when it happened

- it wasn't my fault

- according to the Police, the photo evidence helped my case against the driver

- the driver got repremanded

Stick that in your stereotype and smoke it!

EDIT: And yes, the driver was changing the destination in the hope that would obscure his identity. It didn't. Neither did turning his ID number in the window upside down.

[Edit] Obviously the driver was not prosecuted for disobeying the ASL - the Police and I had better things to do him for in this instance. Had he not driven over the first stop line however...

[Loz]

Erm, yes binary_star - you have evidence that someone rear-ended you. Evidence which would hold up in pretty much any accident be it bike/motorbike/car/bus whatever.

You've also posted a link to a completely different offence.

How does this relate to the topic at hand?

[binary_star]

Loz Wrote:

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> Erm, yes binary_star - you have evidence that

> someone rear-ended you.

Erm, yes and that the bus was in the bike reservoir when it shouldn't have been (happened on a red light if you re-read). Edit: In fact, the only reason he was there on top of my bike was because he disobeyed the first stop line - he was fully expecting me to run the red light. If he's have just stopped when he was supposed to, it would never have happened.

Loz Wrote:

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> You've also posted a link to a completely

> different offence.

>

> How does this relate to the topic at hand?

Because it showed that a conviction was secured with the help of video footage and it was the first of it's kind. Therefore if you had footage of someone commiting the offence we've ben discussing then it may well help you get a prosecution. I doubt it, but at the very least you could report it to the Police (who are now obliged to tackle issues brought to light by local communities) in the hope that motorists will start being prosecuted for these offences.

I didn't think it took much to make the mental leap, but hey ho.

EDIT: And the topic is "Motorists taking the piss...again" - broad enough I think for my inputs above.

[Loz]

Incidentally... looking at that photo again, what the hell do you make your rear tyres from??? They have seriously dented a bus!

[binary_star]

Loz Wrote:

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> Incidentally... looking at that photo again, what

> the hell do you make your rear tyres from??? They

> have seriously dented a bus!

Haha, it actually looks a lot worse than it was. The front of buses are made out of fibreglass, which meant that although the bike was firmly wedged, when I pulled it out form underneath, the bumper just popped straight back out again. There was no damage to the bus and none to the bike. In fact if a witness hadn't stopped to take the photo you would never know an accident had happened at all.

The tyres are Marathon Plus and the wheelset came with the bike (Charge deep V section rims with CNC sidewalls). A replacement tyre (?30) and wheelset (?170), would have cost ?200 just for the back wheel. Pricey, but they're built to last and I am still riding around on the same one a year (?) later!