Perhaps there is more to this bicyclist-rage story
By adamg - 1/2/09 - 12:05 pm
Or maybe the guy's just a Masshole. The story is set in Cambridge, where all raging-cyclist stories seem to happen these days. Cambridge Police report:
On 12/31/08 at 9:56 AM, a resident of Leominister reported that while operating her vehicle on Hampshire St., an unknown bicyclist became very irate and started yelling at her. While at a stop, the bicyclist then picked up his bike and started ramming it into the victims drive side door causing significant damage. The suspect then fled down Hampshire St.
Comments
Oh, no doubt there is more
Oh, no doubt there is more to this story. The bicyclist certainly acted inappropriate and should be held to account for it. So too should the driver who undoubtedly pulled an illegal/jackass maneuver that endangered the bikers safety and pissed him off so much. Start seeing bicycles!
accountability
Most likely, if there was any way for the cyclist to ensure the shitty driver was held accountable for her actions, he would likely not have been so outraged.
yawn
Here we go again... all drivers are assholes. sigh.
NO
Here we go again, mistaking a desire for drivers to be held accountable for injuring cyclists for "all drivers are assholes."
I speak from first-hand experience breaking a bone because I was hit by a car while on my bike. The guy hit me because he broke the law *and* wasn't looking where he was going (he pretty much ran me down), and the most Boston PD could be bothered to do was write him up for "failure to yield", a $50 ticket which he challenged and which the court magistrate told me not to come because "we don't have the victims come to testify in these matters."
Boston Police closed out the incident report (according to the copy I finally dragged out of them) while I was still at the hospital. Nobody followed up. Nobody mailed me a copy of the report (in fact, getting a copy of the incident report was like pulling fucking teeth out of the lazy fucks.) The report had numerous errors, and the officer I spoke with said that once the incident report was written, they do NOT "correct" them.
The root of the problem is pretty simple: insurance. Everyone is so used to just having to pay $500 if they destroy a $30k car and cause $10k in medical bills to someone that nobody gives a shit about driving safely.
Put people in jail for a day for major motor vehicle or driving violations. A week if they're at fault in a collision. A month if the someone is injured. Then how-the-fuck-about-that watch everyone start driving properly! Not that I love the legalize-pot crowd, but why does having a baggie of pot earn someone charges that could get you a year or two in jail, but you run someone over with your car and you get a $50 civil citation?
yeah, I'm sure Ms. Innocent Special Snowflake...
...when the cops showed up just has NO CLUE why a cyclist would do that to her. Why, she had just stopped for the nun in the crosswalk holding a basket of kittens, on her way to volunteer at the local homeless shelter (in memory of her mother god bless her soul) when all of the sudden, gosh, officah, a bikah came up and stahted smashin her cah.
Or, alternatively, she pulled onto the street cutting a cyclist off who then hit the side of the door, the cyclist was mostly OK and biked off, and she figured out that a great way to get the door fixed by her insurance company would be to claim that "some dude" just flipped out on her...
Brett
Well now I know why you hate cops (they dont have the time for you) but why didn't you just take him to court civilly if you didnt get what you want criminally. The citation just shows that the driver is at fault, (the fine is actually worse than if he got a warning) but maybe the driver just made a mistake?
Not everyone drives like they dont care either. It not always easy to see bikes when you have to pull out of many streets going 40 mph because people go so fast.
Mistake?
maybe the driver just made a mistake?
Well shit, you're right and I'm wrong. Running over a bicyclist who was in front of you in a turn-only lane for almost a full minute before the light changed (and hitting said bicyclist because you decided to go straight from the turn-only lane), why yes, that's clearly an innocent mistake.
so he did it on purpose
because he hates bikers so much then. You are right then. It happens all the time where people run over bikers in front of them on purpose because their insurance pays for it.
Officer Friendly
Pete Nice reminds me of a guy I know named Officer Friendly. He's the first to accuse people of an irrational "hatred" of cops (which is a subtle persecution argument) and the first to look the other way when his fellow officers cross the line ethically or legally. Mum's the word for Officer Friendly when his co-workers are bilking the city (taxpayers) for unearned overtime or taking their frustrations out on a drunk suspect "...he fell resisting arrest."
Whatever happened to the investigation into police conduct towards the kid that suffered cardiac and respiratory arrest in police custody and died later? Seems like that was six months ago.
I would never defend a cop
who did something wrong. Most cops make to much money to risk beating up some drunk kid and risk losing their jobs or even go to prison (as a d-14 supervisor did 10 years in fed prison a while back).
Oh, I'm sure cyclists start
Oh, I'm sure cyclists start vigorously attacking cars for no apparent reason ALL THE TIME. Makes sense to me.
Because most bicyclists become irate...
...and ram their bicycle into random cars for no reason at all. Isn't that how bikes break?
Winter Bikes
It was likely a winter bike, one used as a sacrifice to the salt and sand gods known as Huffy and Schwinn.
Hampshire is on my way home, and I feel the frustration as many motorists misinterpret "bike lane" to mean "asshole free space weaving lane" or "asshole sudden right swerve around traffic lane" or even "asshole personal idling or right turn lane".
Of course the cops could care less about car abuse of cycling spaces ... they're all too busy obsessing about handing out tickets to those nasty cyclists using a pedestrian signal to make a safe left onto Broadway at rush hour.
hmmm... an incident between
hmmm... an incident between an upset bicyclist and a befuddled driver from Leominster--in Cambridge. Don't call for Mr. Holmes, I think I have this one figured out.
Next time take the train....