Road rage from a local businessman Post Reply

[Broken Dad]

Julian

It seems to me that you were trying to say "well who can honestly say that from time to time one has not driven into a cyclist and made threats to kill". I cycle i do everything on the road but I do not make threats to kill and drive into cyclists even if they have done something really very daft or aggressive.

The comment about people getting killed was not a reminder to you but to make the point to everyone here that he is a very dangerous guy who needs more than his wrist slapped.

Another way of thinking about this is that if you think that this behaviour is on the bell curve of normal (albeit at one end) then you may well not be on the same bell curve as everyone else here. Have you thought about that?

[juliantenniscoach]

Well I'm sorry if you or anyone else has interpreted it that way. That's not what I thought I wrote and certainly not what I meant. I haven't argued on his behalf. I am trying to put it into context though, in that, for all the publicity it has received, it isn't the worst that will happen on London's roads today I'll wager.

Your comment was directed at me otherwise you wouldn't have added "Hopefully not a relative of yours." Let's not get personal because the post deserves better.

[coolmum]

I have to say I am agreeing with Julian on this one.

I cycle, drive a car and ride a motorbike. The respect on these roads from everyone is awful. Cars seem out to get bikes and cyclists these days are constantly giving mouth.

There are some awful cyclists out there that don't stay to the side of the road and will just swerve out without checking behind them to see if anything was coming. This has happened to me and my response has been to beep. I then pull up to the traffic lights only to get abused by the cyclist who blames me!

We don't know what happened 5 minutes before this footage started. Did the cyclist do something out of order and then antagonise he driver? I'm not saying the drivers response was acceptable but who knows if the cyclist had wound him up 5 minutes before this and when approached by bikes around him giving out to him he put up his defense guard.

Maybe only half a story here.

[Jen66]

The driver behaved appallingly. He comes across as being seriously unhinged. And of course he's apologised now, he must be bricking it about the impact it could have on his business.

However, I agree that the cyclist is also aggressive and badly behaved and seems to want to enflame the situation.

The real hero is the second cyclist who intervened to calm the situation down.

[Broken Dad]

Julian

peace and love x

[juliantenniscoach]

Yes indeed. Many thanks Julian

[CBW7779]

As someone who has been in a similar situation to the "first cyclist" I think it's really important to try to see how totally terrifying it is when a driver hits/nearly hits you, hence his anger, swearing etc (though when it has happened to me I must admit I could barely speak from the shock, but we are all different). In terms of his rage vs the driver, while I also imagine that it's also terrifying as a driver to come close to having an accident because of really dangerous cycling, in all my thirtyish(! Cough!) years of driving that has never happened to me, and I don't get the impression that this was what happened here - certainly that's not what the driver seems to be saying! I also wonder what might have happened here if others had not been around to witness/diffuse things. I totally agree some cyclists run red lights, cycle on pavements and other stuff but im not sure what terrible thing this cyclist was supposed to have done other than wear Lycra and be on the same road as Mr Angry! I do agree with Julian, I'd hate to see a good local business ruined - if people aren't satisfied with the apology (not sure I am) maybe a donation from him personally to a charity for road accident survivors and families, if such a thing exists?

[supergirl]

Ok Wells has apologised. Of course he would, he is running a business. But the man is a dick and his apology is not impressive or remorseful. It sounds very PR to me not from the heart.

The £2.50 i spend on my Americano will be better spend somewhere else.

[Bodders1]

I have watched the footage on the Mail website and it looks like the driver did try and deliberately swerve into the path of the cyclist. His behaviour is completely reprehensible as we all agree - to me it suggests this guy has serious mental health issues and there must be something else going on in his life to trigger repulsive behaviour like this and perhaps he needs help.
I personally doubt this negative press will be enough to bring down his business and agree with another poster that I wouldn't like to see his employees out of a job because of his very poor judgement and lack of self control.
For what it is worth, I cycle half way to work each morning, completing my journey on the tube and we are also owners of a 4x4 (wouldn't actually be my choice but is that of husband) and I regularly see such bad road behaviour by car drivers AND cyclists - IMO the cyclist in question is by no means 100% innocent.
This is a sad and embarrassing incident but all too common. We live in a stressful, very fast pace, overpopulated city with a groaning infrastructure and it doesn't always bring out the best in anyone.

[Earlsfieldite]

Unfortunately I am not that shocked. I see crazy levels of aggression from drivers towards cyclists most days that I cycle in London. I think the argument is that the driver feels that the cyclist is cycling too far over into the road which I agree is inconsiderate but is also PERFECTLY LEGAL. As is cycling two abreast (which I have very occasionally done and got abuse fro a series of drivers for it.

Yes some cyclists are idiots but lets not forget that if a cyclist cycles stupidly, around a car, he is most likely to damage himself. If a driver drives stupidly around a cyclist, the cyclist is most likely to be injured.

London is a big busy city, it would be lovely if we could all learn to be respectful of others and share the road sensibly. When I first started driving here, I was totally taken aback by the general impatience of car drivers towards others (try accidentally stalling and not getting a series of hoots within a nano second). I'm taking this as a positive lesson that we should all be a bit calmer when we use the road.

[MC5]

I was shocked by this guy's behaviour. Totally uncalled for. Will be boycotting Brew. This is one nasty character.

[Broken Dad]

I was shocked by this guy's behaviour. Totally uncalled for. Will be boycotting Brew. This is one nasty character.

well said this is not the sort of behaviour that elicits a response other than sanction. Financial is best i feel.

[Denwand]

I am not condoning the "bully boy's" behaviour But I hate to see a Witch Hunt starting, as this is turning out to be.

Also I am very suspicious of the original poster "Cyclist", who is he/her?. A regular contributor in disguise or someone trawling the internet looking for local groups in order to stir up trouble???

There is a wise saying "They who have a video camera pointing at others get to write the history!"

To truly judge this situation I would like to see dash cam footage of what the cyclist did - AND I would love to see footage of how the cyclist reacted and whether he inflamed the argument .

There seems to be an awful lot of jumping to conclusions here, as well as some projecting their own road rage experiences onto this chap.

We don't know the full facts so how can we judge?

As an aside the man's a chef... can you IMAGINE how dear old Gordon Ramsay would have reacted???

[Broken Dad]

@Dewand

Even if the cyclist was an idiot he does not deserve to have a tonne of metal driven at him and threats made to kill him. That aggressive chef could easily have misjudged it and killed him. no matter what the cyclist said the reaction was OTT by a very large margin.

There are many cyclists here. I wonder who you are? Me, I drive a straight 6, a 4 x 4 and a two motorbikes but i hate this chef he needs to be punished for this it is truly terrible behaviour.

Damn right this is a hunt, a hunt against very dangerous behaviour. This idiot could have killed him his level of aggression was awful.

[Denwand]

That's the point Broken Dad.

Notwithstanding his rant (and he who has not sinned etc.) which was inexcusable, many are jumping to the conclusion that the driver hit the cyclist with his car - which SHOULD be punished under law.

But.. did the cyclist not lash out with his fist against the car's wing mirror? That put's a whole different light on things doesn't it?

Conclusions and jumping to them comes to mind.

My point about "Cyclist" is that he/she has made four posts only and all on this sigle topic... Almost as if they trawled the net to stir up trouble ( they certainly wrote enough in their post to show considerable "Consideration" don't you think?

Never saw them write anything about the Belleville Playgroup ...