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news
David Williams crash 1Driver deliberately knocks cyclist off bike in Richmond Park
A cyclist says that video footage clearly shows he was deliberately knocked off his bike by a driver in Richmond Park earlier this week, leaving him with a broken collarbone.
David Williams, aged 53, is in no doubt that the driver hit him on purpose, and police are investigating the incident, which he captured on camera.
While David, who is a cycling instructor and bike mechanic, is unable to share the footage until any legal proceedings have run their course, he did share still photos online.
I don't always wear a helmet but this one did its job. #richmondpark #hitandrun @lazerhelmet pic.twitter.com/Ag4ptC3UL2
— Bigdai🍷🍺🚲🏴🤘 (@Bigdai100) November 11, 2021
The incident, which happened on Tuesday lunchtime as he was returning home to Long Ditton after a cycle training session in Mortlake, took place the day after he filmed an incident in Kingston upon Thames that we featured in our Near Miss of the Day series last week.
> Near Miss of the Day 656: Driver cuts across rider at cyclist priority junction
"I have had some close scrapes in my time, but this is one where we came off second best,” he told Kingston Nub News..
"I was heading along Queens Road in the park towards Pembroke Lodge. Traffic levels were fairly normal and several cars went past me at a safe distance, although maybe faster than they should have been going.
"This one car, a blue BMW, went past me and was really close. I slapped the boot to let the driver know how close he had been.
“He immediately braked quite sharply. I wasn’t able to stop but filtered along the road between the car and grass and ended up in front of him.
"Immediately, he then accelerated and came alongside me – about a foot away. I rapped on his roof to make the point he was too close and get him away.
"He accelerated again and swerved in towards me, knocking me off balance and I fell right onto my shoulder into the road. He then sped off down the hill.
"I was lying on the ground in shock and pain. Several people, including the drivers behind, stopped and came to help me. Luckily an ambulance was coming up the hill towards me and they stopped.
"Within a couple of minutes the paramedics were helping me. I was lying on the floor for 20 minutes or so, they put a sling on my arm and I was taken to Kingston Hospital.
“The people in the other cars behind me were shocked. This was not an accident. They probably thought they wanted to scare me, but the consequences are very serious for me.
"My head hit the floor quite hard and my helmet is now finished as it has a big crack in it.”
Besides a broken right collarbone, he also sustained severe bruising when he crashed, and said: “My job involves being on a bike all day … It seems I won’t be able to get back on a bike for five or six weeks, at best, which means I won’t be able to work."
We’ve covered extensively here on road.cc a number of incidents in Richmond Park where cyclists have been put in danger by motorists, many of whom use it as a short cut.
David said: "The reason that cyclists are so vocal is because the consequences of any sort of collision are very much more serious for cyclists. In this case, I have got very clear video of what happened.
"I have given the police the video and the car registration details. At this stage, they have asked me not to share it."
He told road.cc that he has not yet heard back from the Metropolitan Police about how their investigation is progressing, but added that a new slow-motion edit of the footage “clearly shows the car diverting towards me.”
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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39 comments
BMW drivers do seem to be involved in a disproportionately higher number of driving incidents than drivers of most other makes of car.
In years past I've slapped vehicles that have passed too close when I've been cycling. I was younger then. I'm not sure I'd do it now, and especially not when I've got helmet footage to send to the cops instead.
I hope this guy recovers ok and that the driver gets a suitable punishment.
In the infinite monkey cage of the Nigelbot, occasionally recognisable phrases come out. "I'm a cyclist too" for example.
In this instance, there is greater wisdom that has landed on the fly paper of its output. As frustrating, dangerous and frightening as the encounter might have been, if someone is slapping on the boot, they aren't acting in self-defence in the same way as if the car is still alongside. I don't believe that's wrong - I think it is still 'in the moment', but it's a reaction that is worth training out of one's mindset. The car has essentially passed at that point; let it go and report it.
That means you're putting all your hope of feedback into the reporting and prosecution processes of the local feds, but it avoids the risk of counter-accusations or undermining your own prosecution (it's not actually yours, but for shorthand...)
In fairness, we should be able to hold that up as self-defence, but since you are a witness, not a defendent, if the case ever comes to court, you are dependent on the prosecution brief making that case (rather than having your own counsel representing your argument in legally compelling terms). Meanwhile, all the defence has to do is put that slap on the boot into the minds of the judge/jury as an aggressive act that caused the driver to act..."in self defence". And then the rules are that the driver's self defence claim have to be disproved.
Amongst all the flannel and noise, the Nigelbot raises a valid point. To be or not to be, that is the Garage.
I'm sure the powers that be will take this on board and immediately ban cars from the park.
Also, Brexit is great, Boris is honest and the BBC hasn't cancelled cycling.
This one car, a blue BMW, went past me and was really close
No surprise there then. I hope the OP tells us what's going on, especially those of us also suffering from standard BMW driver close-passing and crazed aggression (although mine was only threatened, not actually carried out). Let's see how the Met does!
I see the other incident involving the OP the previous week was also the fault of a BMW driver
I hope the police have all the information they need to really nail the driver. absolute scumbag
Rode in Richmond park for the second time in my life last weekend . I've got to do the video and put it on line youtube soon.
Hope the driver gets a proper punishment and David gets a quick and full recovery.
Your trolling is getting more and more desperate now, seriously, seek help.
Don't respond to it
Nigel really does hate cyclists.
His lack of empathy for anyone is obvious, but particularly clear if they identify as a cyclist.
As if anyone cares.
I know you struggle with logic, but I didn’t mention whether I thought you rode a bike or not. I don’t care whether you do or don’t.
Your lack of empathy for others that do is transparent. It may, however, be a symptom of a wider problem
Self praise is no praise at all.
Best to let others be the judge of that. Don’t be too confident of the outcome.
Or empathy by most of the accounts I've read.
Self pronounced smartness is rarely true
I'll tell you what I'm "lolling" at and that is the absolute BS of that alleged ride: 38km/h for one hour on the flat, let alone with 439m climb, would need 315 watts average power - 4.9 w/kg - from a 65kg rider (i.e. Chris Froome weight). To achieve 38 kms in an hour over that gradient at 224 watts rider weight would have to be entered at close to zero. Seems you don't just lie on here, you lie to yourself as well!
Here's a wattage calculator for a 65kg rider doing 37kmh with zero climbing:
I have a zwift ride at 37.7kph with power of 227watts average (10m per km climb), it's not as long as an hour, but average power is average anyway. So there may be some difference between what your wattage calculator estimates and what Nigel's training software calculates.
This was not a group ride, although depending on course some drafting was likely to have happened somewhere.
No - it defaults to the road bike - you have to intentionally switch it to the TT bike.
That has nothing to do with which bike you're riding. It just means you have to ride the course as a time trial, with no drafting, pausing, etc.
Which challenge were you doing anyway? Your ride doesn't appear to match any of the current ones.
So why don't driving levels "decline dramatically" whenever an irate car driver sounds their horn at another driver?
so the most densely populated city in the country has the best public transport because... wait for it... angry drivers 😂😂😂 (sorry if you're "smartness" doesn't get the emojis) 😝
If you genuinely believed that to be the case (and I don't think you do for a second) ... maybe do a quick search online for road rage incidents between car drivers and other car drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists.
The evidence is most squarely against you.
Sorry. Unless it's a very extreme case of road rage or aggression very few folk will give up motoring. I've many friends who will on occasions after their commute be totally frazzled by the behaviour of other motorists. They will however climb back behind the wheel of their vehicle for their next journey wherever that will be. Sales of cars continue to rise year on year and journeys by motor vehicle continue to rise especially with peoples reticence to use public transport due to the current pandemic and their unease of using bikes due to the growing aggression of motorists out there.
If the car is close enough to slap then it needs a reminder it is too close... would you prefer we all carried hammers and wore studded gloves to let them know more clearly?
Not when you stop behind them and they then have to stop and get out of the car to confront you. The dynamic changes somewhat. The last chap who tried that changed his mind and walked away when he realised that he was actually walking towards my chain ring.
if the car is close enough for me to strike they are the one looking for trouble not me. A bit like you on this feed I suppose.
No; guns.
Er..., if the car is close enough to bang on it, then the car is clearly too close. Also, cyclists are not able to sound a horn as a warning, therefore a slap on the car and/or a shout would seem to be a reasonable alternative.
Er..., yes. And if you're banging on the side windows to get more room, that makes sense (although don't expect sympathy from those who think their car is their own private space on the road). But if you're banging on the boot, then it is more likely that moment of danger has passed - and if not, there isn't much the driver could do to correct the situation before he has fully passed.
This is not about whether the car is too close. Clearly you're right - if you can bang on the car, it's too close. It's about whether it is sensible to do so? Does it help you survive to bang on the boot? Does it help your case if you report it to the police? Or, in honesty, is it more of a rebuke than an alarm - just like car horns are used all too often?
I'll hold up my hands here to filming my commute. I do this so that if something were to happen to me there will be evidence there. I don't want to. But I do. I have on occasion submitted to NMOTD to highlight the lack of change in motorists attitudes to those more vulnerable than themselves and the uselessness of the posturing from my own particular devolved government regarding active travel. I don't slap bonnets, roofs or boots to highlight their proximity and rarely launch an Oi or WATCH! I cycle respectively of other road users and observe the HC as this was how was taught YET I daily see the highly trained and licensed motorists disregarding many areas of said HC and experience these same ones treat my life with contempt and continue to retain their licence. People are discouraged from utility cycling by aggressive motorists. It is the top rating of any survey conducted on active travel usually scoring 70% and above. Lack of infra is the next one to discourage utility cycling. While leisure cycling is experiencing a boom and cycle tracks are now busy as are parks. Utility cycling continues to be the poor relation and the reasons are blatantly obvious.
Nigel, why do you keep trying to dress up anti-cycle rhetoric as good advice.
Your basic advice is that as cyclists we should simply accept that a minority of car drivers will regularly put our lives in danger for no reason other than our presence on a road. That cyclists should not react in any way, and say that you don't react to anything on your bike because you have trained out reflex reactions (which you then contradicted later on in your comments when questioned directly about reacting to fright).
You obviously have never dropped into Youtube and peered at UK Dash Cams, Dash Camera Network etc etc where there are thousands of videos of angry drivers and road rage incidents appearing every week and that does not drastically reduce the number of people driving.
And leaving video evidence in the hands of the police, as is routinely demonstrated results in the sum total of Zip, Zilch, Nada, Nothing in a staggering amount of cases. It wouldn't surprise me at all that IF, and it is a very big IF, this case ever makes it to court the primary focus will be on the actions of the cyclist striking the car, not on the repeated actions of the motorist in endangering the cyclists life and putting him in hospital.
Your arguments in cases like this always follow the same principle in that the consequence is down to the reaction of the innocent party as opposed to the initial action of the offending party.
Imagine an incident involving Car A driving along minding their own business, when Car B pulls off a stupid maneuver (action), and forces Car A to take evasive action (reaction). However, as a result of the evasive action Car A loses control and collides with Car C (consequence). In your mind Car A is at fault because they reacted to the action of Car B, therefore Car A is to blame for the crash with Car C, as opposed to Car B being at fault for everything.
I've told you before. From his own words, his dad bought him a bike without any safety equipment at 5 and just told him to ride it, so lovely caring dad. His mum, who knows he is an avid cyclist regularly sends him anti-cycling propoganda. So it seems to be a classic case of self loathing which he then projects onto other cyclists. look mum, I'm being nasty to cyclists again, please love me.
The only time he "shows caring" is when he can use the victim in an attack on someone else. So the lady in the other story was only "cared about" so he could attack Surrey Police because one of them tweets postively about cycling.
I mean look at his "hero" cool headed driver. Someone shouting directly in cyclists faces and screaming. Supposedly he hates certain swearing yet his hero does that multiple times but that is now fine. TBH, that is the person Boo wants to be. I mean stopped to rant aimlessly, then kept on "leaving" before coming back. And just when the cyclists thought they had seen the back of him, he re-appears again.
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