Cyclist attcked in Sheffield!

I've just been reading a cyclists account of being attacked in Sheffield,
and it was quite upsetting.

http://www.ctcforum.org.uk/MesReplis...cid=7&id=20895

What is the world (Britain) coming too? Sorry if this has been posted
before.



John

John wrote:
I've just been reading a cyclists account of being attacked in Sheffield,
and it was quite upsetting.

http://www.ctcforum.org.uk/MesReplis...cid=7&id=20895

What is the world (Britain) coming too? Sorry if this has been posted
before.

Jesus! The thing that really wound me up was the audience. They just
stood and watched. If no-one even said anything to the attacker then in
my eyes, that's aiding and abetting! Block his car in with another then
call the police (Assuming the preferred option of finding a bigger stick
and hitting him until he forgets his name isn't available!).

It does bring home painfully the dangers of talking to aggressive /
stupid drivers. Of course... if no-one does then there is even less of a
check on their behaviour.

Jon

"Jon Senior" jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk wrote in message
...
John wrote:
I've just been reading a cyclists account of being attacked in
Sheffield,
and it was quite upsetting.

http://www.ctcforum.org.uk/MesReplis...cid=7&id=20895

What is the world (Britain) coming too? Sorry if this has been posted
before.

Jesus! The thing that really wound me up was the audience. They just
stood and watched. If no-one even said anything to the attacker then in
my eyes, that's aiding and abetting! Block his car in with another then
call the police (Assuming the preferred option of finding a bigger stick
and hitting him until he forgets his name isn't available!).

It's all too easy to be critical of the the bystanders but one has to
acknowledge that stepping in to intervene when a psychopath is active takes
considerable courage. In my career(s) as a liontamer, prison guard, law
enforcer which are subsumed under the title, teacher in an inner city area,
I have stepped into some very nasty, violent and ugly scenes with little
thought for my own safety. Few of my colleagues as as derring-do and I do
not hold it against them as for some, the Philip Lawrence murder is a
powerful deterrent. I suggest that fears for their own personal safety was a
major factor in their lack of action. The tale is upsetting as is the
subsequent but unrelated racist attack. I have some sympathy for the
victim's current state of affairs but I suggest, and this will be hard to
swallow for some, that it all could have been avoided if initial physical
contact with the car had not been made.

The subsequent explosion of road rage was not justified by the cyclist's
actions but it has been suggested many times here that cyclists need to be
mindful of their frailty when considering 'taking on' motorists. I would
never consider antagonising a car driver whilst riding a bike, immortality
is no longer something that I think I possess.

dont tap on the window, buy one of these:
BIKETRAX Air Zound horn and blow them out of the way

roy

vernon wrote:
It's all too easy to be critical of the the bystanders but one has to
acknowledge that stepping in to intervene when a psychopath is active takes
considerable courage.

But in this day of the ubiquitous mobile phone (I know only know one
person who doesn't own one!) intervention can take the form of four key
presses and a the words "Assault in progress". The police still respond
pretty rapidly to a crime in progress. Anything which would have
distracted him initially and given the victim time to escape would be
good. Yes it's easy with hindsight, but it's not rocket science either.
Far too often there is an usumption that "Someone else will have already
done something".

In my career(s) as a liontamer, prison guard, law
enforcer which are subsumed under the title, teacher in an inner city area,
I have stepped into some very nasty, violent and ugly scenes with little
thought for my own safety. Few of my colleagues as as derring-do and I do
not hold it against them as for some, the Philip Lawrence murder is a
powerful deterrent. I suggest that fears for their own personal safety was a
major factor in their lack of action.

I understand, and in a one-on-one situation this is understandable, but
despite what Hollywood might suggest one man (With or without a golf
club) will not pull through against a crowd.

The tale is upsetting as is the
subsequent but unrelated racist attack. I have some sympathy for the
victim's current state of affairs but I suggest, and this will be hard to
swallow for some, that it all could have been avoided if initial physical
contact with the car had not been made.

True. I tend to refrain from touching peoples cars, although I will
(often politely) give them grief for actions which endanger me, or are
plain stupid. Making it abundantly clear to someone that they are in the
wrong is more likely to correct their behaviour than ignoring it.

The subsequent explosion of road rage was not justified by the cyclist's
actions but it has been suggested many times here that cyclists need to be
mindful of their frailty when considering 'taking on' motorists. I would
never consider antagonising a car driver whilst riding a bike, immortality
is no longer something that I think I possess.

The last time I got into a serious confrontation with a driver I was
propelled on sheer rage, but despite this I had worked out where to run
if it all went wrong. I've only been threatened twice and once was
mostly in jest by a driver who was heading in a different direction. By
contrast on a "bad" day, I'll explain what the "bloody great red box
with the picture of a bike in it" means to at least three drivers. In
the same time period I've actually had more drivers apologise for not
realising than I've had threats on my life.

Jon

in message , John
') wrote:

I've just been reading a cyclists account of being attacked in
Sheffield, and it was quite upsetting.

http://www.ctcforum.org.uk/MesReplis...cid=7&id=20895

What is the world (Britain) coming too? Sorry if this has been posted
before.

Because this story isn't very well formatted on the website and is a bit
clunky to read there, and because it seems to me rather important, I'll
repost it he

----- begin quote ------------------------------------------------------
Alan T A Williams:

I am not a member of the CTC but belong to a cycling campaign group in
Sheffield called Pedal Pushers. After posting the message below a number
of CTC members on the list suggested I contact the CTC for help. I spoke
to the CTC today and the person I related my story to suggested I post
this on the CTC list.

Following my posting to Pedal Pushers,one of the debates it sparked
related to how to respond to inconsiderate or dangerous driving. I guess
the debate will have been had on this list, so I won't repeat what was
said here.

Here's my incident.

I had a horrible incident this morning (Wednesday 7th) on my way to work.
I was travelling along Sharrow Street in Sheffield towards Sharrow Lane
when a car came up behind me, sounded the horn and squeezed by at speed
nearly knocking me off my bike.

When I got to the end of the road the car was at the junction as up and
down Sharrow Lane was gridlocked. As I passed I tapped on the window and
said "Be Careful"; I wasn't angry or aggressive and didn't raise my
voice. In fact I was in a good mood and enjoying a fresh ride to work.

What happened next is beyond belief: I heard the car rev behind me and,
bearing in mind I was travelling past 2 lanes of stationary
traffic,somehow squeezed through or round and rammed into the side of
me. I just felt a crunching sound and the next thing I knew I was on the
ground, facing back the way I came with my bike on top of me.

While I was laying on the floor, with everybody looking out of windows at
me, the driver then got out of the car with a sawn off golf iron and
started to attack me, shouting "I'm going to f***ing kill you!".
Somehow, I manged to get to my feet and run. He then chased after me (I
wasn't too quick by this time)and clubbed me at the back of the head. I
think my shouts for help and getting further from his car, made him turn
back.

I couldn't get back to my bike, as each time I got anywhere near he
chased after me trying to club me. All the while loads of people stuck,
in the now major jam, just watched. And I kept on shouting for someone
to phone the Police. To be fair I think they were all scared. One lady
looked really shocked as she tried to hand me a piece of paper with the
registration number on.

Unfortunately, my cries for help were heard and a gang of Asian youths
raced up the road. It was then I realised they weren't coming to help. I
ran through the entrance of Sharrow Junior School, but with a sore back
and leg they caught me outside the caretakers office and punched and
kicked me repeatedly, with cries of "Kill the white b**stard". I somehow
kept enough wits about me to realise if I fell to the floor they would
just keep on. I was close to losing consciousness and just wanted to
curl up in a ball, but I carried on shouting help (which I'd probably
been doing for 10 minutes)and manged to break free and run into the
school, blood pouring down my face and left eye closed.

I have to say, the staff at the school were wonderful and looked after me
with care until the police and ambulance arrived. Two of the staff even
went out to retrieve my bike. They later told me that the motorists who
witnessed the first event pulled into the side of the road to give
statements to the police. The lady I mentioned earlier was clearly very
upset at what she had witnessed and couldn't continue her journey for a
while.

I was taken to the Northern General and I have no serious injuries. I've
got lumps everwhere, my left hip is sore where I hit the road and my
left eye is purple and nearly closed. My main injury though is mental. I
feel really upset. I can't believe that someone could drive a car into a
human being (it equates to someone trying to kill you) and then while
you are lying on the floor start clubbing you. Worse than that though,
is that my cries for help were answered by a mob who just wanted to beat
me to a pulp while people watched.

The Police traced the car and have arested the driver and taken away his
car.

A CID inspector spent 3 hour with me this evening and took a statement of
13 pages. They are taking the matter very seriously and a number of
witnesses have been able to give accurate descriptions of the attacker
and events. They are not optimistic about catching the gang who
subsequently attacked me.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I recover. I don't want to drive
but I'm getting tired of running the gauntlet and I don't know that I
have the heart for it anymore.

I final word of warning, I've had a few near misses on Sharrow Street (a
recommended quiet cycling route). The road has parked cars on both sides
and there is only room for one vehicle. With care and slow speed a car
can get past a bike, but I've been unlucky to have a few aggressive
drivers who have increased speed towards me and been close to catching
me with a mirror. I guess they expect you to pull in, which I would if
space between cars permitted, and get angry when you don't.

Cheers

Alan
----- end quote --------------------------------------------------------

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth
;; knowledge increaseth sorrow.." - Ecclesiastes 1:18

in message , vernon
') wrote:


"Jon Senior" jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk wrote in message
...
John wrote:
I've just been reading a cyclists account of being attacked in
Sheffield,
and it was quite upsetting.

http://www.ctcforum.org.uk/MesReplis...cid=7&id=20895

Jesus! The thing that really wound me up was the audience. They just
stood and watched.

The thing that really gets to me is the gang who chased and attacked an
already injured man. That is very, very sick indeed.

I have some sympathy for the
victim's current state of affairs but I suggest, and this will be hard
to swallow for some, that it all could have been avoided if initial
physical contact with the car had not been made.

[snip]

I would never consider antagonising a car driver whilst riding a bike,
immortality is no longer something that I think I possess.

I appreciate what you are saying, Vernon, but civil society cannot
survive if bullies are allowed to get away with bullying - something I'm
sure you know, actually, in your position as teacher. *Politely* calling
bullies to task, as this man did, has to be the right thing[1] to do.
That no-one intervened to help him is, as Jon says, dreadful, but not
surprising. That third parties intervened to /attack/ the victim is
simply shocking.

[1] in the sense of the moral and the responsible thing to do in the
interests of _communal_ safety, although as this incident shows not
necessarily the right thing to do from the point of view of _personal_
safety. But if everyone puts their _personal_ safety in front of the
social good, no-one will be safe.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Just as defying the law of gravity through building aircraft requires
careful design and a lot of effort, so too does defying laws of
economics. It seems to be a deeply ingrained aspect of humanity to
forever strive to improve things, so unquestioning acceptance of a
free market system seems to me to be unnatural. ;; Charles Bryant

I appreciate what you are saying, Vernon, but civil society cannot
survive if bullies are allowed to get away with bullying - something I'm
sure you know, actually, in your position as teacher. *Politely* calling
bullies to task, as this man did, has to be the right thing[1] to do.
That no-one intervened to help him is, as Jon says, dreadful, but not
surprising. That third parties intervened to /attack/ the victim is
simply shocking.

It's not the tolerance of bullying but the means of addressing it that was
the probablecause of the violent actionss. Asking someone to cease is all
well and good if you have an escape route. The mistake was to physically
touch property of the perpetrator of the crime. It's amazing how
territorial some people are and an infringement of their personal space or
touching their possessions can unleash a disproportionately violent
response. It's easy enough for me to deal with kids in a voodoo rage in most
instance I've got a 75% plus of their body weight as a weight advantage.
Nevertheless I've had to cope with six stone nutters telling me that they
are going nowhere as they are propelled with an irresistible force to an
inclusion unit. It's not so easy to do with an adult weilding a golf club
shaft.

We do need to remind ourselves that icidents involving extreme violence
towards cyclists are extremely rare.

"Jon Senior" jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk wrote in message
...
I understand, and in a one-on-one situation this is understandable, but
despite what Hollywood might suggest one man (With or without a golf
club) will not pull through against a crowd.

The problem here is that someone has to make the initial move out of their
vehicle and hope that others will back them up, bearing in mind these are
people hermetically sealed inside their individual "spaces". Maybe had there
been a "have-a-go-hero" or a couple of confident/angry blokes together in a
vehicle or standing around support would have come.

True. I tend to refrain from touching peoples cars, although I will
(often politely) give them grief for actions which endanger me, or are
plain stupid. Making it abundantly clear to someone that they are in the
wrong is more likely to correct their behaviour than ignoring it.
The last time I got into a serious confrontation with a driver I was
propelled on sheer rage, but despite this I had worked out where to run
if it all went wrong. I've only been threatened twice and once was
mostly in jest by a driver who was heading in a different direction.

Yes, I often act before thinking through the possible consequences but think
it's ill-advised and believe a motorist should never get out of their
vehicle to engage in an altercation (unless they're confident of coming out
on top if the situation deteriorates or they don't mind a hiding ;-), of
course when cycling we don't have the safety cage to begin with.

--
Pete

"Jon Senior" jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk wrote in message
...
John wrote:
Jesus! The thing that really wound me up was the audience. They just
stood and watched. If no-one even said anything to the attacker then in
my eyes, that's aiding and abetting! Block his car in with another then
call the police (Assuming the preferred option of finding a bigger stick
and hitting him until he forgets his name isn't available!).


How exactly do you stop a enraged psychopath wielding a golfing iron and
who's not afraid to use it?