Essex cyclist survives being dragged for 1,000 metres under hit and run van

I am horrified by this story. While I don't like to stereotype I also feel there are a disproportionate number of bad white van drivers. Several years ago, I was cycling with my daughter and her friend (then 11 years old). These girls have been brought up to cycle and we were all cycling single file through our village, on our way to the Sports Day at their school. I was last in file so that I could see everything that they were doing. A big white van cut in front of my daughter and missed her by a hair's breadth - literally. An involuntary sound emitted from me that I've never made before or since. I was shaking violently, completely traumatised. He got stuck in traffic a little way round the corner and I instructed the girls to memorise his number. I was in a terrible state, still shaking violently, but I went up to the driver to remonstrate with him. He was talking on a mobile which he made no effort to hide. He told the person he was conversing with to hang on and then had the effrontery to 'Yes love?'. I told him that he had nearly killed my daughter, that speaking on a mobile was illegal and that I would be reporting him. His reaction? He shrugged nonchalantly and said OK. When the police did catch up with him, he said I was making it up. The police said they couldn't do anything because it was my word against his and the girls' word didn't count.
This week, while cycling home, an X reg white Ford Transit came to a red light, swerved into the bus lane to dodge it and then back into the traffic. I caught up with it at the next set of lights. There were 3 boys in there and I'd be surprised if any of them were 17 or over (I have a son of this age and teach this age group).
The driver looked particularly young and frightened. When I said I was going to report them the middle one just laughed derisively. Yes, I reported them.
We should make STOP SMIDSY more widely known and make sure the police know about it. My local PCSOs didn't know about it until I told them.
I'd like to a)judges be obliged to have cycle training which included busy roads and b)prison sentences for drivers who injure and kill cyclists to be harsher. I also think they should be made to cycle in traffic and made to meet their victims (where injury not death has taken place).

Lastly, my son and I recently found 3 groups on Facebook called 'I hate cyclists'. The authors of all the groups were drivers. One of them went into graphic detail about how he'd like to drive through a group of about 50 cyclists and mow them down without fear of reprisal. We reported these groups and hopefully they have been closed down but it made me wonder - if we substituted the word 'cyclist' with a word which indicated race, religion or gender - would these crimes be treated in such a low-key way?

My mistake, I thought he was convicted of causing death by careless driving, a much lesser charge (though not for the victim or the victim's family).

I took my wife into town to the tube station early this morning as she had an early flight to catch. I was overtaken on the inside on three occasions by vans significantly breaking the speed limit as they hammered up the bus lanes - two were white vans and one was red. I was overtaken by one car on the inside, a silver Renault. I don't hang about as a driver but I do try and stick to posted limits and where there are speed cameras about I take care as I want to retain my clean licence. Clearly these van drivers and the person in the Renault were working to a different rule.

This experience backs up what I posted earlier about white van drivers. No, they aren't all like that but a disproportionately large number do drive inappropriately in other words.

On a similar note, I don't know how this guy dodged a manslaughter charge:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/8549852.stm

It was a white van driver (Mercedes Sprinter) who nearly took me out a few weeks back when he turned left right in front of me without warning. They're not all like that, but a disproportionately high percentage of them are.

@LondonCalling: I'm a van driver and the answer's "No". Best not to tar with the same brush - falls into the same generalization trap as the anti-cyclist mob.

What is it with white van drivers? Are they another species all together? Does somebody tell them "try to kill as many cyclists as you can?", or "bully everybody out of your way"?

Yes, hanging is too good for this scumbag! I hope they get the appropriate sentence when they are caught. And by appropriate I mean minimum 10 years!

Holy Crap.

1,000m under a van and the bastards do a runner?

Only a few miles from where the guy was killed on the DunRun a few years back, by a white van coming round the corner on the wrong side. Makes me shiver as I ride here (it's my neck of the woods) 7am in the morning?? jeez.

No, if you were a Daily Mail reader you'd be saying that the cyclist obviously cut off the van while running over a pensioner on the pavement while wearing dark clothing and running a red light, and it's his own fault he ended up under a van and anyway what was he doing on the road he hadn't paid anything for. Or that could just be generalising DM readers.

If I was a daily mail reader I'd be saying hanging is too good for the van driver.

It is incidents like these that make my wife want me to get the bus to work everyday...