Daisy's Dukes
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2004
- Messages
- 348
Didn’t mention this before for fear you would think I’m some kind of troublemaker cyclist, considering my other story about the taxi rage incident but I thought I’d let you know what happened to me a few months ago!!
I was cycling up Nicholas Street towards the junction at Christ Church. As I was going straight ahead in the bike lane a car turning left to go down Thomas Street cut dangerously in front of me. As the line of traffic that he was joining to turn left was stopped at a red light he ended up stopping right in front of me with the back of his car in the bike lane. As I went by I stopped and knocked on his window and told him to be careful. He proceeded to open his car door and hit me with the door about 4 times on the arm. He didn’t hurt me but was ranting and raving that I had no right to touch his car. I wasn’t hurt but was really shocked. A woman in a car shouted at him to stop and told him she had seen him cut me up on the road and another man stopped to ask if I was ok. I told him I was reporting him to the Guards and put his registration number in my phone. He drove off and I ended up crying and shaking at the side of the road. It was horrible.
I reported the incident to the Guards and I have to say the Guard who I dealt with me was really concerned and supportive. A couple of weeks later he rang to say he had been out to speak to Mr. Angry and he admitted that he had been in the area at the time but denied having any altercation with a cyclist. The woman who had stopped to ask if I was alright said she would ring the Guards when she got into work but I wasn’t together enough to get her details and she never reported it. Or if she did, and it was to her local station, they have no way of cross referencing reports. The Guard said that basically without witnesses it was my word against his and it was up to the Deputy Sergeant to decide if there was enough evidence to go to court, but in his experience if Mr. Angry continued to deny that anything happened, it would probably go nowhere. He said that if I wanted to pursue it I could go in and make a formal statement and it would mean that Mr. Angry would have to come in and give one too. I thought that at the very least I would inconvenience the cunt and make a statement, thus ensuring that he had to give up some time to the matter and it might make him think about hitting a cyclist again.
I made the statement and now its all in the hands of the Deputy Sergeant, however I’m realistic that it isn’t going anywhere. When I was giving the statement I happened to glance at the Guard’s notebook and I saw Mr. Angry’s name and address. It rang a bell with me and when I went back into work I ran his name on my system. It turns out he is a rich bastard property developer/legal advisor (not solicitor) who lives in Dublin 6 and owns a few different properties in Dublin 6 and Dublin 4! I’m kind of over the whole thing now but I was scared for a while at what I might do with that information!!!!
Sorry, that’s a bit of a badly written essay!
So, the million dollar question is do I continue knocking on windows or do I just try to rise above it! At this stage I thinks it just too risky to take people up on their dangerous driving.
I was cycling up Nicholas Street towards the junction at Christ Church. As I was going straight ahead in the bike lane a car turning left to go down Thomas Street cut dangerously in front of me. As the line of traffic that he was joining to turn left was stopped at a red light he ended up stopping right in front of me with the back of his car in the bike lane. As I went by I stopped and knocked on his window and told him to be careful. He proceeded to open his car door and hit me with the door about 4 times on the arm. He didn’t hurt me but was ranting and raving that I had no right to touch his car. I wasn’t hurt but was really shocked. A woman in a car shouted at him to stop and told him she had seen him cut me up on the road and another man stopped to ask if I was ok. I told him I was reporting him to the Guards and put his registration number in my phone. He drove off and I ended up crying and shaking at the side of the road. It was horrible.
I reported the incident to the Guards and I have to say the Guard who I dealt with me was really concerned and supportive. A couple of weeks later he rang to say he had been out to speak to Mr. Angry and he admitted that he had been in the area at the time but denied having any altercation with a cyclist. The woman who had stopped to ask if I was alright said she would ring the Guards when she got into work but I wasn’t together enough to get her details and she never reported it. Or if she did, and it was to her local station, they have no way of cross referencing reports. The Guard said that basically without witnesses it was my word against his and it was up to the Deputy Sergeant to decide if there was enough evidence to go to court, but in his experience if Mr. Angry continued to deny that anything happened, it would probably go nowhere. He said that if I wanted to pursue it I could go in and make a formal statement and it would mean that Mr. Angry would have to come in and give one too. I thought that at the very least I would inconvenience the cunt and make a statement, thus ensuring that he had to give up some time to the matter and it might make him think about hitting a cyclist again.
I made the statement and now its all in the hands of the Deputy Sergeant, however I’m realistic that it isn’t going anywhere. When I was giving the statement I happened to glance at the Guard’s notebook and I saw Mr. Angry’s name and address. It rang a bell with me and when I went back into work I ran his name on my system. It turns out he is a rich bastard property developer/legal advisor (not solicitor) who lives in Dublin 6 and owns a few different properties in Dublin 6 and Dublin 4! I’m kind of over the whole thing now but I was scared for a while at what I might do with that information!!!!
Sorry, that’s a bit of a badly written essay!
So, the million dollar question is do I continue knocking on windows or do I just try to rise above it! At this stage I thinks it just too risky to take people up on their dangerous driving.
