Comment by Gillian on December 7, 2010 at 18:41

Hi Jan

I got skittled while in a bike lane and have had 2 lots of surgery with a third pending and the joker who hit me got off with a warning. You'll probably feel better if you report him but unfortunately that's about all :-(

Comment by easytiger on December 7, 2010 at 18:48

Riding towards the City along Anzac Hwy, I got harrassed by a bus driving into the bicycle lane. When I caught up with him as he was stopping to pick up passengers, I gave him the whole vocabulary of expletives. He replied in a fairly threatening non-friendly manner. I took note of his bus number, and when I got home I called Torrens Transit and made a complaint. A few days later I received a call from TT, saying that they had officially sanctioned the driver, and apologised for his behaviour. So it does work if you keep your cool, sound credible, and talk to the right person. As for the cops, I don't know that I would even waste my breath!

Comment by Jeremy Miller on December 7, 2010 at 21:01

I reported a driver recently who aggressively swerved at me (he was approaching head-on) - the police were very helpful - but did not really seem to get it - did not seem to understand that the driver had deliberately and intentionally used their vehicle as a weapon to intimidate me. I got the rego plate, make and model and description of the driver - I also got an incident number and intend to follow this up...

Comment by Derek Hasel on December 7, 2010 at 21:05

Having worked at SAPOL for 5 years let me tell you that most reports are taken seriously. The thinking is that you would not bother to go thru the procedure if you were not concerned. The major issue is that it is your word against the other person. Unless of course you are injured or there are witnesses. All reports to SAPOL are recorded and where appropriate, action will be taken. SAPOL resources are really stretched and it is not always practical to send a Patrol car with two coppers in iton a 50Km errand over what may or may not have been a serious incident. My suggestion is report it as the moron has possibly been reported before. Then action WILL be taken. As for buses and commercial vehicles with Company names on them, report them. The bus Companies do take action and if you tell the Commercial Company of their drivers attitude, I am sure they will not be impressed, given that he is representing that Company. It's worked for me.

Comment by heather on December 7, 2010 at 21:13

The reaction varies. One police officer refused to take a report from me, saying one had to catch the driver doing something wrong. The driver was but the officer did not comprehend. Now I add the section number of the Australian Road Rules to my printed report. Worked really well with one officer, yet another officer told me not to quote ARR at her. I had when she seemed reluctant to take it seriously, but then she let on that she did not like cyclists.

Gillian I have been injured three times by negligent drivers, left with permanent back injuries, yet not one of the drivers was fined. The second did receive a caution. How do we change the system? The message currently sent is that it is OK to hit and injure cyclists.

Comment by Doddsy on December 7, 2010 at 21:29

Make sure you get some sort of reference number. That way you know its in a database, if the offender keeps getting reported the chances of them getting a more severe penalty will increase.

Comment by Neil Driver on December 7, 2010 at 21:48

Nightmare situation, I know for a fact that it can and often does depend on who (which copper) you report it to. Same all over the world, some are better than others and have a more sympathetic ear. True though that it is often word against word and when that's the case it's just a pain in the arse. At the end of the day, SA drivers are terrible most of the time, rule 1? GET HOME SAFE & you've won. The Cops do love to pinch proper idiots when they are lucky enough to witness the offence.

Comment by Jan Lawry on December 7, 2010 at 21:56

Thanks for all this input.
The policeman who took the statement seemed to take it reasonably seriously, he certainly didn't try and dissuade me from lodging a complaint and making a statement. He checked that I was prepared to take it to court if it got that far, and whether I would recognise the driver again.
I guess I'll just see where it goes.
It is disappointing to hear of so many accumulated "near misses" or injuries. Usually I ride very defensively but even this isn't enough to stay out of trouble all the time. We must LOVE our bikes to persist in the face of these risks!

Comment by Baron Zuraw on December 18, 2010 at 18:23

After a near miss and stone throwing by an angry driver on Dyson Road one Sunday several months ago, I and three other riders reported the driver. How was subsequently arrested for assault. So, these sort of situations should be reported.

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