So it's Wednesday, my day off, and I'm sitting here with a pile of ten folders awaiting my attention, three of which I updated before losing the will to live.Then the P&J comes in, hot and sweaty from his bike ride, as only teenagers can be. Nearly knocked off the bike again, he informs me. It's obviously the New Years resolution of our local psychotic drivers to try and enhance the look of their vehicles with the blood of some random cyclist.
The Monday just gone, having cycled home myself and then staggered upstairs with my cup of herbal and a peanut butter butty, looking forward to getting my poor feet off the floor and possibly a power nap, I was interrupted by a phone call from said sweaty teenager, advising me he was at the police station, having been smacked into and then knocked off his bike by some impatient twit in a van. He starts ranting on about the #!?# who knocked him over and then drove off, before speculating about the damage to the bike (or, rather, my bike, as he's currently borrowing my old racer while his is in for repairs and an upgrade), before I manage to interrupt him. "Are you hurt," I lever sideways into the "conversation" . No. Just bumps and scrapes, and a bloody attitude.
It remains to be seen if North Somerset's best are able to have a chat with the culprit of this villainous act. A chap in a BMW, coming the other way, saw the incident and stopped to see if the P&J was all right (despite him lying in the road, the rest of the traffic just passed the P&J by, probably with a sigh and a tut at the inconvenience of having to drive round him). Alan (the chap in the BMW- pay attention) gave the P&J his details, should a witness be required and offered him his bus fare to get him home, and it is something of a revelation to learn that not all BMW drivers are prats. Fortunately, the bike was viable, so the P&J continued on his way.
Should North Somerset's finest be bothered to make enquiries, the whole incident was captured on the P&J's bike-cam, including the van's number plate, so we might yet see a result from it. I have, however, told him not to get his hopes up, as an over-stretched constabulary may not consider the matter serious, insofar as he is neither badly injured or dead.
I have sympathy. I only ride my bike to school and back- less than 10
minutes, and in an almost straight line- and I've been subject to harassment and near misses, mainly due to car drivers thinking they can just "slip past", either ignorant or careless that it takes only a small pothole or wobble to put me under their wheels or over the bonnet. So please, guys. I know you're in a hurry, I know you've had a long day- you may even have had a long bad day- but please don't take risks with a cyclist, no matter how much they're annoying you. A misjudgement on your part can injure or kill someone on a bike frighteningly easily, and there will be no excuse for it on you part. That person who is unwittingly such a nuisance to you is probably someone' s wife or husband or daughter or son. It might be my son. So, take a deep breath. And be patient.
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