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news
Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgNo charges against female cyclist who allegedly threatened to stab woman driver in Poole
Dorset Police have confirmed that no charges will be pressed against a female cyclist who was allegedly involved in an altercation with a woman driving a car in Poole before Christmas in which she was reported to have threatened to stab the motorist.
In December, officers launched a witness appeal which resulted in the bike rider coming forward.
> Cyclist alleged to have made stab threats to driver who suspected she was going to run red light
During the incident, which took place at around 8.50am on the morning of Thursday 7 December, the cyclist was said to have been challenged by the motorist, who was driving a Honda CRV, and who believed the rider was about to go through a red traffic light.
The cyclist was alleged to have "verbally abused the woman, kicked and punched the car, attempted to rip the wing mirror off and then opened the passenger door and slammed it shut."
Once the lights turned green and the motorist stopped to check her car, it was claimed that the cyclist approached her "and again became abusive, produced a small pointed item from a compartment on the bike and threatened to stab the woman.
"She also reportedly rammed her bike into the victim," police added.
However,. Dorset Police last week confirmed that the case is closed with no charges pending.
In an update on their website, they said: "Following a photo appeal, a woman came forward to assist officers with the investigation.
"As a result of an investigation the decision has been made that no charges will be brought and no further police action will be taken."
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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27 comments
You seem very easily shocked!
As for the oblique Godwin and the long-debunked 'share the road' sillyness - sigh.
And of course there are many good considerate drivers around - the problem is that it only takes a minority who aren't, to rack up a significant bodycount and to make cycling seem too scary for many.
Also I am of the view that in many different areas, not just road safety, people (especially people with a lot of education themselves) tend to greatly over-rate what can be accomplished through 'education'. It generally doesn't work as a solution to a whole range of problems, whether it's economic inequality or sex offending or irresponsible driving.
Usually what is needed, rather than 'education', is either more law enforcement or a structural change to remove imbalances of power.
You're right and education can be useful, but it has to be backed up with the iron hand.
Neither education nor extreme punishment affect crime rates much, what affects them is the chances of being caught, so while I'm not a fan of mass surveillance, I can see it has a place. When every car comes equipped with a dashcam and every cyclist has a vidcam, and the police arrest the criminals and the politicians stop making excuses for them, then we'll see a difference.
While we have a judicial system which goes out of its way to excuse criminals and blame the victims, there will be no change.
True but with road safety there's another step, as inattentive or reckless driving rarely leads to actual incidents. So many people don't even see the issue with what they are doing. Getting caught doesn't occur to them because they don't even percieve that there is anything for them to be caught for.
mikecassie,
The issue appears to be that the driver reported the incident, an incident caused by what she THOUGHT would happen and didn't. The rest of her story appears as imaginary as her initial thought.
Feel free to look round the site for the article where many of us criticise the rider who doesn't get out of the way of the ambulance, the deliveroo riders etc. It seems to be far removed from those who accept the norm that cyclists are an inconvenience for ALL being red light jumpers, riding 2 abreast or riding too fast.
Yes we want shared space, I dream of a day when drivers kill the same number of cyclists than we do drivers!
Just a wild stab in the dark as to the other side of the story (giving it was dropped I suspect there is). Cyclist doesn't jump the red light that the driver thinks they will and gets angry at being held up rather than rlj themself. As a result the driver almost goes into the back of the cyclist who gets a little angry at almost being kiled
I really want the cyclists side of the story, however unless she comes forward to 'us' I doubt we'll ever know any more...
No charges, so what's everyone getting so het up about? It's obviously turned into a she said/she did tit for tat and the Police have decided it's all a big hoo haa.
We don't know if the cyclist or the motorist was in the wrong more or less than the other, so the one sided drivel is shocking.
We need to stop trying to be a bunch of two wheeled nazi's, we need to share the road space, so we cyclists need to be considerate to other road users just like we'd like them to be to us. And in all honesty there are plenty good considerate drivers around. There are complete cocksockets in all walks of life, those on pedal powered vehicles tar us all with a shitty brush.
What we need is a concerted effort to get motorists educated that it's not a bike, it's someones grandfather/father/uncle/son/nephew/grandmother/mother/aunt/daughter/niece/cousin that they are missing by a few inches at 60 mph, or honking the horn at.
Oh do fuck off.
You mean I should change my plans to invade Poland?
Dagnabbit!
The two approaches are not mutually exclusive, are they?
We can have the Chris Boardman approach, the reason, the evidence...
... and still have room for the frothy anger.
Dunno about you, but I figure we've been waiting quite a long time for reason to take hold, for various government ministries to join the dots and realise cycling is part of a future transport solution, for drivers to get a bit of empathy, for the justice system to take certain 'accidents' seriously.
What we get is awful transport ministers dooring cyclists and only bothering to mention cycling with regards to checking which laws they might prosecute future Charlie Allistons under, while the NHS creaks and has even the foreign secretary asking for more cash for it.
Beyond that, if I didn't get a bit frothy about lazy and incompetent twats threatening my life, I'd have to check my pulse. The biggest risk to me being taken from my wife and kids that I face daily is drivers' attitudes. Most years, unfortunately, I also drive more miles than I cycle. I kind of care about this.
Because this shit matters. Expect some people to get angry about it. Further the cause you prefer, but if you want to try to quieten people spouting genuinely dangerous and divisive bullshit, go and register on the Daily Mail.
Thanks Davel, nicely put.
This site needs a new URL RoadRage.cc
The constant drivel of near misses, angry drivers, angry cyclist stories appearing on here does NOTHING to promote harmony amongst road users.
The Daily Mamil would be more appropriate (of which I am one before they start frothing at the mouth about some young upstart).
Not enough infromation there to draw any view as to what happened; but as for uninformed opinion..........
"Believed was about to run a red light ". So, didn't run a red light. So, was actually doing nothing wrong at that time but Mrs SUV decided to go all pre-crime on Mrs Bicycle anyway.
I now have mental images of the cyclist repeatedly smashing her bike into the car door screaming WHERE IS MY MINORITY REPORT?!?!?!?
So, thanks for that. Made my bus trip into work much more entertaining than otherwise.
My guess would be the motorist shut the door on the cyclist when she was filter to the front of the lights, or used a 1 of metal box in a threatening manner. There might be evidence of damage to the vehicle, but no evidence that the cyclist caused it.
The police are very committed when it suits them, how very commendable of them. And yet when presented with actual evidence of assault, attempted murder and so on do fuck all.
Yet again plod showing their ability to break their sworn oath regarding impartiality.
One person in a killing machine obstructing and threatening another by definition of their close proximity with their weapon and initial verbal assault gets off whilst the victim is tracked down despite zero evidence to back up the attackers claim they were the victim.
Utterly contemptable!
Well, wouldn't the world be a more civilised place if anyone with a prejudice went around challenging people based on guessing what they're about to do next.
Crying shame that our upstanding SUV driver couldn't provide any evidence of a motivated ne'er-do-well assaulting her car; what a solid choice of a vehicle that proved to be, withstanding that attack without collecting a scratch.
Having read the initial story with interest, I'm still keen to understand how the driver 'believed the cyclist was about to run a red light' and what form the 'challenge' took. The cynic in me woikd suggest that she ran into the back of her because she wasn't paying attention, then made up a crock of shit because she was scared the cyclist would repartee her to the gavvers. But that's just the cynic in me...
Very poorly reported and leads to much confusion and finger pointing (not me threatening to shoot).
Let's not suggest that no cyclist can be a wanker but did she threaten to stab a driver? It sounds to me like she allegedly caused criminal damage to a vehicle, there should be clear evidence of this that could have been presented...
Hrm, I'd like to know the full story...
I'm intrigued to know how the driver challenged the cyclist and I'm also wondering if she challenges all the drivers who run red lights?
FTFY
You mean drivers who stop at red lights but look as if they might jump them?
File under 'driver made this shit up'.
I imagine the cyclist's story was rather different to that of the driver! So with two versions of the same event and presumably no witnesses, the police are taking the right decision.