OK, I’ve decided that each time I meet some homicidal maniac doing some really dumb thing whilst nominally in charge of a motor vehicle, I’ll write it up here. This is mostly in response to the (lack of) response and interest shown on when I attempted to follow up an incident with the police.
The other reason was that somewhere in the back of my mind I got the feeling that one or two of the number plates were starting to look familiar.
There was a guy in my suburb who used to blast on the horn and swerve in at me (and I guess any other cyclist) every single time we met on a particular road which he considered too narrow to safely overtake.
For a while I used to see one 1960s Valiant every day on the way home, 9 days a fortnight there was just one guy driving and he went past just like every other car, every second Thursday there were three people in the car and they would swerve, shake their fists out the window, yell and/or spin the tyres. This happened for 2 or 3 months!
Useful information like when, the severity, and a précis of what happened, this is as much for my logging as for the benefit of anyone that wants to read it. If I can find my old diaries at home I may enter some of the other wondrous events I’ve experienced.
My apologies for the language in some of the following sections, I have tried to quote verbatim what the individuals have said. The whole lot were originally in one page and at various times were on my personal website from my workplace, without too much URL mangling I’ve kept them here in approximately the original location.
Then there are the two really ancient incidents that I can’t remember the exact dates of:
Nov-93, “mild” Head-on Collision with red MX-5
A red Mazda MX-5, license number omitted, who’s driver decided that “no entry” signs didn’t apply to her (she was coming out of a car-park on campus onto a through-road, a large hedge prevents people seeing around the corner in either direction). Descending the hill to turn into the car park I almost made it past, slammed sideways into her car just behind the front wheel, somersaulted off my bike and ended up sitting cross legged on the bonnet. Damage to me; sore shoulder and bruised bum. Damage to car; inch deep and six inch long dent in body panel, missing paint and scratched metal, a stoved-in bonnet and driver’s soiled underwear.
The driver admitted full responsibility, in her words “Oh, I know I shouldn’t drive this way but I was in a hurry”, my main complaint is the following:
After reporting the incident in person to the police the officer insisted that it took place in a private car-park not on a public road, he would not take any form of report and that no action could or would be taken.
Sometime in 1979, run off the road by prats in a Gemini
This is here solely due to the fact that it is the earliest incident I can remember (and it was written down in a very old notebook). A friend and I were riding home from high school up Bindubi street, Macquarie, side by side in the left lane of the two-lane carriageway.
A green Holden Gemini, QLD registration 685NKX came up behind us and gave a long blast on the horn, we moved to the side and he blasted again so we gave him the finger. The driver then revved the engine at us, pulled alongside and swerved repeatedly at us, forcing my friend to hit the kerb and me to ride up it to avoid being hit. After we got back on the road he then drove in front of us, stopped, and started reversing back towards us, we again stopped and jumped off the road, he then took off spinning the wheels. We reported it to my parents, who contacted the police and we were told that it was basically a case of “school kids vs respected citizen” and that they wouldn’t follow it up. We did later find where in my suburb the car lived, but resisted the temptation to do childish things like let down the tyres, smash a window or two, or burn the thing to a shell.
