London Evening Standard (West End Final A)
26 Nov 2010
Click here for the on-line version with a range of comments (I encourage you to add yours). The comments there range from supportive to hostility to cyclists, and in a number of cases a view that a threat from a motorist in erratic control of a tonne of metal is something that cyclists should be expected to shrug off and not waste police time with. I suspect this latter view most closely accords with the view the police/CPS take.
Daily Telegraph Saturday 27th November
Ascot News Friday 3rd December
Maidenhead Advertiser Tuesday 7th December
BBC News Berkshire Wednesday 8th December
Amazing Martin! Well done.
ReplyDeleteWith such damning evidence refused for consideration, what is the justification for the continued and expensive (and poorer quality and silent) CCTV cameras whose footage presumably provide equally inadmissible evidence?
ReplyDeleteIs it just there to provide ironic reflection which cannot be acted upon?
Sadly this is all too common. I'm glad that you are getting some coverage regarding this case. Don't give up.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how we can best change attitudes amongst drivers in general and the police in particular? Perhaps road traffic police should have to cycle for several hours a year (not in uniform).
ReplyDeleteI have a regular commute of about 2 hours a day many times a week. Every ride has at least 2 incidents with motorists (1 without fail) where I am on the receiving end. I have been commuting for 22 years and ridiculous that I (we) should have to put up with this.
ReplyDeleteJust been out for a ride tonight where there were a lot of other people on bikes were curiously going the same route I was. I saw some amazingly idiotic and dangerous behaviour from motorists and even a bus driver who seemed to want to re-create Tiananmen Square. The situation seems to be growing worse each year.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you have the skills and inclination necessary to see this through. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteDo you have any idea who the offending driver is? It's odd the police never thought it worth speaking to him at least.
ReplyDeleteAs a pedestrian I do sympathise with cyclists having to co-exist with British drivers, who in my experience tend to be very short-fused and aggressive, markedly more so than drivers in other European countries.
what a joke to be honest! :\
ReplyDeleteHi, Martin,
ReplyDeleteI viewed your profile and see that you ski, you fly, you cycle and you apparently got your health, friends, family, and two strong legs.
So may I suggest you step back, reflect upon your fortunate life, realize your predicament could have been fatal, and like fleeting emotions, let it go?
Hard for a right-brained, analytical lawyer to do, I know. (I got several lawyer friends.) But in Britain, where you can literally get away with murder (see: Stephen Lawrence), an empty threat of your life will not carry any weight.
It would be different if you were in litigious America, but here? Not a chance.
Sorry if the truth hurts and I hope you find peace on your next cycling journey.
Darryl
PS, If none of what I wrote convinces you, then I invite you to read this New Yorker article, Up and Then Down, about a man who was trapped in an elevator for 41 hours and the consequences of the litigious actions he took after his rescue. Skip past the historical elevator portions dotted throughout the article and just focus on the man's ordeal: www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/04/21/080421fa_fact_paumgarten?currentPage=all
I do certainly enjoy a fortunate life. For the record, I obtained a PPL in about 1988 but gave up (powered) flying shortly thereafter as the environmental consequences began to dawn on me. I enjoyed gliding for some years thereafter but then discovered my real passion, cycling. The experience as a pilot has proved useful for me in subsequent years as I have represented both pilots and airlines.
ReplyDeleteI am not motivated, as the unfortunate man in the elevator was, by financial gain and will not be suing anybody. Sticking my head above the parapet has inevitably attracted criticism and I hope to address this in a future post.
@Darryl
ReplyDeleteWhilst I can't speak for Martin, has it ever occurred to you that maybe he isn't doing this just for himself? Maybe he considered the fact that the idiot who endangered his life is still on the road and the next time he endangers a cyclist it could be someone without the same level of experience and ability as him. The next victim of this man's driving may not be able to deal with it as he did and may not walk away from the incident alive and unharmed.
Posted this to the paper !
ReplyDeleteWill it be printed ?
Coming into this item late i am seeing a lot of comments from people with bias !
As an active cyclist i ride the roads and the trainer indoors when there is snow on the road as today in Austria.
Have ridden in the UK and elsewhere and enjoyed catching up with Taxis and asking the driver if the passenger is ehjoying their "bullying other road users"?
Drivers in their "Coffins on wheels" rarely think about what is going on around them from the moment they strap on their vehicle until the time they step out again ! Rarely do they consider others as they rush through their day, forgetting that a "Driving license" is a privilege not a "right".
Laws? What Laws ? Laws don't apply to me ! "I am a safe driver we all tell ourselves" and we look in the rear vision mirror to make sure that it is not "Old Bill" on our rear end or that the yellow box and lines in front are not Speed cameras and watch for any indication that there is not Police Control ahead as we drop the mobile phone so as to scratch the ear to avoid being pulled over.
Come on everyone WE ALL break the law each and every day whether motorist, cyclist or pedestrian but do we all threaten others ?
Bullies threaten and there is an element of society that is dispicable and deserves to be dealt with and that is where the Police and CPS SHOULD be acting intelligently on OUR behalf. Evidence collected in any form should be examined and used.
Refusing to use evidence is not acceptable in our society !
Of course I AM BIASED ! Asked David Harmon of Eurosport to speak on this on his program friday BUT did he ?
There was a cyclist in Essex left paralysed after the occupants of a vehicle pushed him from his bike. The cyclist had done nothing wrong, and is left without the use of his legs. I've has fag butts and gum thrown at me by a scaffolding lorry, the police did nothing because they said I wasn't hurt. Try throwing a cigarette butt at a policeman! Threats against cyclists are not uncommon from drivers, vehicles being used as weapons are not uncommon. If a man wielding a chainsaw said "I'm going to kill you!" you would be entitled to report it as a threat, why not with car drivers? At the very least the driver needs a talking to so that he knows that sitting in a ton of steel and issuing threats to vulnerable road users is profoundly silly.
ReplyDeletewell done!
ReplyDelete