Saturday, 9 July 2011

Another assault on a cyclist



There is far too much of this going on and it should be taken seriously by the authorities.  It seems in London the trail initially ran cold when the registered keeper said the car was taken without his consent and subsequently returned, though subsequent publicity has I understand resulted in an arrest.  In Thames Valley any such offender, if unlucky enough to be caught, would be given a simple caution.  In Manchester the police have led the way with a serious investigation followed by passing the evidence to the CPS for prosecution.

There really ought not in any part of the country to be any doubt that this conduct consitutes a serious crime which calls for deterrence.  'Road rage' does not excuse, it exacerbates, the conduct.  Currently the State is encouraging us all to get out of our cars and onto our bikes but providing patchy protection at best for those of us who receive aggression in consequence.
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7 comments:

  1. Donk9 July 2011 at 18:38

    FFS that is ridiculous, "I left the keys in the car someone took it...and brought it back" Either driver was registered keeper or he/she was letting an uninsured friend drive. I presume the police atleast checked the keeper (or keepers husband) wasn't the driver/assaulter in the video. Surely they'd have done that. Or am I being hopelessly naive? Is crime fighting now done by letter?
    Was it you? rsvp.
    No.
    Oh, case closed.

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  2. Donk9 July 2011 at 18:49

    Oh I forgot to add, similar happened to me, assaulted with a humvee destroyed rear wheel, registered keeper named an untraceable Mr M. Mouse (or similar) as driver so ended up with £350 fine and 8 points (manchester)

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  3. Pete10 July 2011 at 06:05

    I don't understand why there isn't more of an uproar about Police non-interest in issues such as this.

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  4. Downfader10 July 2011 at 18:59

    @Pete - this is because of the volume of vociferous groups that target the web with an almost anti-cycling jihad.

    The public have been brainwashed to blame the victim or turn a blind eye. Cyclists are considered a "nuisance" in much the same way as religeous groups as we could/should "ditch our religeon" in favour with falling in-line.

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  5. Idle Boy12 July 2011 at 22:19

    Hmm, although it is totally out of order what happened here and everyone with one ounce of moral fibre would demand action - I can't help but feel that there will be a large number of people (especially males under 25) who will face the same personal assault tonight or any other night with no action taking place.

    To me this is not a cycling argument but a general critique on modern life. Either we accept it, or hope that navarna is not an idealistic dream - or maybe we employ people to break the legs of anyone who gets in our face like this - I believe this is the Russian way?

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  6. Donk13 July 2011 at 08:51

    Gone mainstream now http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14127823 so hopefully police will be shamed into action.

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  7. LabRatt14 July 2011 at 15:23

    According to an update on Youtube:

    "The assailant has handed himself in to the Police and is in custody now". Thanks to a powerful combination of clear video evidence and viral internet publicity this dangerous thug is now off the streets. Thanks to everyone who assisted in spreading this clip, which in 4 days has led to the apprehension of the assailant. Result!

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