Bike accident / assault
 

Got this from a group mailing to my club today

All:

Yesterday I had a car purposely cut in front me in Venice along the narrow road we ride on Sundays shortly before the Rose Cafe. Prior to cutting me off, I was going the 25 mph speed limit through a narrow area with a center tree median (undrivable) to my left and the park to my right. Shortly after passing the tree center median, there is a stop sign. The car that was behind me swerved around me when he could pass and cut in front of me about 10 feet before the stop sign driving me just short of running into the curb. There is no painted bike lane in this area as the road is so narrow.

After the stop sign, I continued on the right side and the driver cut me off again driving me towards the curb so I went to the center median, which after the last stop sign, is paved so I could ride on it. The driver then looked and me through his car window, flipped me off and yelled "funken bike rider" and I yelled back what is your problem. The driver then speed up and I speed up too going about 25 mph again, but staying in the center median planning on passing the driver at the upcoming stop sign where he should stop. But, rather than stopping at the stop sign, the driver, yelled something to me like "no passing" and cut about 30 feet before the stop sign from the southbound lane he was in through the center medium at a hard left turn crossing all the way over to the north bound traffic. As I was going 25 mph and he cut at the last second in front of me, I crashed into the hood of his car and went flying to the street.

The driver then jumped out of his car and started accusing me of running into him and was trying to draw a fight. Luckily, two bystanders witnessed the accident and quickly ran up to the drive and told him "if you want to get to the bike rider, you have to go through us first." They were truly heroic.

Attached is the video I took from my cell phone after the accident.

I was then transported to the hospital.

The driver has been booked (Santa Monica police incident #11-89776) for assault with a deadly weapon and is currently residing in county jail. This is a very similar case to the doctor who stopped in front of two cyclist in Brentwood and is now in prison. The difference is I went over the hood instead of the back windown. You will see via the attached youtube link this driver has no remorse or concern for me and instead is challenging everyone to a fight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqjkAcLHtr8

That rider is either very brave or very foolish. He's lucky to be alive and instead, should have taken the license plate down after the first incident. Bike vs multi-ton vehicle is a no-win situation.

Glad the rider is seemingly ok, but I hope that he gets some perspective. Uttering "I was right" or "I had the right of way" is not the last words you ever want to speak.

i'm not sure i'd ever try to get in front of a vehicle if the driver has already shown the lack of mental prowess to run me into a curb. that just spells disaster to me, but glad he seems to be okay, and glad that the asshole in question has some time to reflect on his actions in jail.

Exactly what I was thinking. You will loose every time.

mIKE

I wasn't able to understand this sentence too clearly. But I think I get the gist. I also wish to make a few comments/opinions.

1. This is definitely the driver's fault. No excuse.
2. However, it looked like this could have been avoided if the cyclist just let the driver pass. I know that people have to preserve their honor, but is it worth it to stick it to the guy?

I watched the whole video. Pretty intense. The driver is taking his own youtube video of the whole thing.

Just glad no one had a gun there...

And I agree that you'd be a fool to mess with a nutty driver like that. Get the license number and get away.

He's probably still looking for somebody to listen to his story, and if they disagree, it's "GO TIME".

I am trying to figure this out: "planning on passing the driver at the upcoming stop sign where he should stop." Was he planning to blow through the stop sign at 25 mph?

It seems that there was an incredible level of stupidity on both sides of this situation. However, the driver was way over the top. I wouldn't have had the self-control to not have been all over the guy.

Texbike

The writing was a little hard to understand, but I think that's what happened. The driver didn't stop at the sign and even went across the median line into the other lane just to hit the cyclist.

"It seems that there was an incredible level of stupidity on both sides of this situation."

+1 The incident should never have occured.

So, I was talking to this girl at a club and bought her a drink. She didn't like the Mai Tai and she didn't like my suggestion that she have sex on the beach with me instead. She got all stupid and sassy. Anyway, I slapped her and knocked out 4 teeth. The whole thing was recorded by her friend's iphone. When the cops arrived, I told them that she should have known better because it's like a bike taking on a car. The bike will always lose. Later, her friends posted about the incident online but a bunch of females put the blame on the victim for being sassy with me. Ya, never take on a drunk or belligerent idiot because you'll always lose. And never feel compassion for the victim as well so guys like me can continue to act like turds.

Not a true story, btw.

Dare I say it, but in this incident the cyclist was even more stupid than the driver. Aren't there enough cycliste being injured and killed when they don't have a choice than choosing to escalate a situation unnecessarily?

A$$hole driver...

Idiot Rider...

Are you condoning the cyclist's escalation of the situation?

Let's say that they were both driving cars and take the vehicle out of the equation. What would your opinion be? The guy that was cut off chases down the other car but is injured when the aggressive driver crashes into him on purpose, is a victim? What if a third party were injured because of the cyclist's actions?