Faithful reader Ben Dykes of Panama City Beach, Florida sent in a link…he was involved in a road rage incident recently and was interviewed by his local TV news station.
To read the article, please click here.
Or, just watch the video:
Ben informs us that the driver of the vehicle is being charged with assault by the State Attorney’s Office. Hell yes!
Stay safe out there, everyone, and be sure to get license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions if you’re ever in an incident…and REPORT IT to the authorities.
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That’s great! I read the article and am wondering about a few details that could be tips for me in the future. How did it go from the incident to the police being there? Did the cyclist pull to the side and call on his cell phone (memorizing the plate numbers) while the motorist drove on? Did the police seek the guy out based on that info? I’d love to do something like that in such a situation, but wouldn’t think that the police would take any action if all I had was my word and a plate number.
(Sorry if this is answered in the video; I just read the article.)
Being charged and convicted are two totally different things. In NC they charge thousands of people with DUI every year, but convict less than 2/3rds of them. Traffic court is a farce in most areas of the country I have lived in.
But hopefully in this case it will be different, but IMHO it is impossible to legislate responsibility and morality.
Aaron
Dottie, I want to know the same things…perhaps Ben will chime in.
Aaron, good points…glad to hear that the driver was even charged with anything, which in itself seems to be a rarity in car/bike encounters.
I’m with Ghost. It’s a start. In Tampa Bay “no charges have been filed” is the usual conclusion to any bicycle related incident. Unless, of course, the victim was a child and the whole incident was caught on video…
I love the wording of Florida law. A cyclist is a driver. Awesome! A buddy of mine just happened to have a cop witness an encounter with a bad driver. So that guy got busted, but in this case without any other witness Ben might be out of luck. Although this will be in the driver’s record. Not necessarily a violation, but the record of a report being filed against him. That’s at least something, should an instance like this occur for the driver again.
I think that even if nothing comes of this case, the publicity is really important. My impression from shouts from car windows and from talking with others is that people really do think that a cyclist’s responsibility is “to stay out of the way of traffic” opposed to how the law in most places I’m aware of treats cyclists AS traffic with all the rights and responsibilities of the driver of a car.
I hope the brief overview of the law in the news segment was noted by some who wouldn’t have known how the laws apply to bikes otherwise.
While this is really good news to hear, I’m starting to wonder in these cases who is really at fault. Both my wife and I bike commute regularly. About two days a week I drive to get to meetings at diverse locations.
So I’ve become very aware of bicyclists when driving now. I have seen nine different close calls in the last 45 days. In every single case I would be prepared to swear that the bicyclist was at fault. I’ve seen ONE person even using hand signals at all.
I see rolling stops constantly, or the cyclist blatantly not even looking for oncoming traffic. Or worse yet, rolling through a red light when traffic is coming the other direction. I’ve seen cyclists ride on the side walk in busy areas, but then cut in front of a right turning SUV that had the right of way.
I’m getting to the point where I seriously think of chasing the cyclist down and explaining to them the laws as one cyclist to another.
I absolutely agree with Rick. I commute regularly here in Denver and the cyclists are much worse than drivers. I’m getting to the point where I’d like to see some cyclists get tickets. Those of us that try to ride by the rules of the road get less respect because of the majority who do not.
Also, beyond the rules of the road is common Courtesy. I can’t tell you how often I have seen groups of cyclists refuse to merge to the right to let a vehicle pass. Sure, they have the same rights as that vehicle, but if I am driving my truck at 20mph in a 35mph zone, I pull to the right so faster vehicles can pass.
I am NOT defending anyone who gets confrontational with a cyclist, but I am saying we as cyclists, especially us commuters since we are out there around the same time everyday, need to set an example that garners respect from other road-users. This is extra important now with more and more people commuting by bike. New commuters should see us doing the right things so they will develop the same habits.
Just my Two-Cents.
All good points, but it sounds like this was a very clear case of using a motor vehicle as a harrassment and endangering someone with said vehicle. NOTHING excuses that.
Would I like to see cyclists get tickets for disobeying published road regs? Absolutely. We need to set a good example both for other cyclists and for the motorists out there. But no matter what kind of scofflaw actions we do out there as cyclists, nothing deserves being harrassed, threatened or endangered by some jerk in a 2-ton vehicle.
I actually used my camera phone to take a picture of the guys license plate. he pulled into the very next turn in after he almost hit me. I followed him and approached the guy. He contiued to argue, with a few 4 letter words. I have to say I used some of my own. When he went into the “Dollar General” to buy cigarettes, I snapped a pic of his plate and called the police.
This happens to me all the time when I’m biking in DC. Some idiot comes up right behind me and just starts honking and honking and honking. I’m forced to move (though, by law, I don’t have to), because god knows what that crazy will do. And when they pass me, they often cut in front of me real close on purpose.
I’ve had cars slightly clip me on my side, but since switching to clipless, I’m more fearful of getting hit, because of the likelihood that I won’t be able to disengage my feet from the pedals in time to possibly break a nasty fall.
Honestly this is just one symptom of a nation that increasingly has no respect for the rule of law. If we can point out just as bad or worse behavior, then we can justify our own foolish behavior. Even comments here have dabbled into that. This story is a clear example of someone obeying the law and was nearly run down by a nutjob with no respect for that same law. Yet folks here are curious if we as a group bring it upon ourselves.
Here’s a news-flash I’m not responsible for the actions of any other cyclist out there other than my children and they get cut loose in 12 to 16 years. Each car approaching me is bound by law to judge me based upon my deeds alone, not those of someone else. And no matter how stupid many or even most cyclists are, I am granted protections by the law. Stupid cyclists are still under the protection of the law. I don’t know the ins and outs of Florida statutes, but I’m pretty sure a driver is not permitted to run down or intimidate a cyclist even if it’s Osama Bin Laden riding against traffic and giving the finger. It’s just that simple.
But how in the world to you teach that to a guy like the one Ben encountered? Hopefully Ben’s actions with the police will change the man. But there are plenty of others just like him out there. Thankfully, there are overwhelming numbers of law abiding drivers on the roads.
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