Taxi drivers

Chris Wheeler said:

What is it with taxi drivers?

The same as with pretty much every other class of road user: some are
exemplary drivers and some are exemplary tossers.

Quoted message said:

Does anybody has any advice (not involving breaking the law) on how to
deal with such vindictive drivers?

Dangerous driving is breaking the law.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Chris Wheeler said:

Does anybody has any advice (not involving breaking the law) on how to
deal with such vindictive drivers?

Well, my advice would involve a hammer, a rusty nail and a blunt chisel; but
I'm not sure it would be (entirely) legal.

Chris Wheeler said:

What is it with taxi drivers? I was cycling to work this morning on the
left side of a long, road-like car park, and a taxi (Skyline, Milton
Keynes) was coming the other way, on the other side of the "road". All
of a sudden he's veering all the way over to my side, grinning at me,
forcing me right up against the parked cars.
I'm not used to this sort of behaviour, so I panicked, yanked my right
foot out of my pedal and slammed on my brakes because I was coming up to
a junction (another car was going across the junction in front of me, he
had right of way).
Does anybody has any advice (not involving breaking the law) on how to
deal with such vindictive drivers?

Take his registration and taxi license number.

If there are any witnesses, stop and ask for their contact details.

Take a deep breath, chill out for a moment, and burn off the adrenaline
with some hefty (but safe) sprinting. That always helps calm me down.

Write to the police and the local taxi licensing authority with details.
If there are no witnesses, a prosecution is unlikely; but when I had
some local chav slap me across the back from an overtaking car, the
police went round to both the driver's home and workplace to talk to
him; he denied knowledge of the incident and "forgot" who his passenger
was that day, but the police told me that he was embarrassed as hell.
The taxi licensing authorities may also take a dim view of repeated
reported transgressions by drivers.

Next time there's a nice cycling day, get out for a brisk ride and enjoy
yourself.

R.

Chris Wheeler said:

What is it with taxi drivers?

What a swine, Chris. I've had that or similar happen to me, my
sympathy for your feelings. Get his number? I'd report the incident
to police and the taxi company.

Thanks for your replies. If it happens again, I will certainly try to
get the registration number.
I've been cut up by cars numerous times (I'm sure I'm not the only one).
A disproportionate number of times it has been by taxi drivers. Most of
the time though I think they're underestimating my speed, or they're
just incredibly unobservant. This time the bloke deliberately tried to
force me off my bike. I was too surprised and angry to think straight.

The reason I specified "not involving breaking the law" is that
everything I thought of afterwards is probably illegal. I wonder if
there's such a thing as steel toe capped spuds...

-Chris

Chris Wheeler said:

Does anybody has any advice (not involving breaking the law) on
how to deal with such vindictive drivers?

Rule number 1 is to survive. He's probably only trying to scare you,
not actually kill you, so your best bet is to do more or less what you
did. Slow down or stop and get over to the side but leave yourself a
few more inches in case he misjudges it. In particular he may have
forgotten about his wing mirror so watch out for that.

His goal is simply to enliven an otherwise empty existence by rattling
you, so don't allow yourself to become rattled, or least to show that
you're rattled. It's not personal against you; it's simply that you're
vulnerable and he's a complete [censored]-head. The power under his right
foot is the only significant thing about him. If you take it personally
it can affect you for days, so don't let it. It's just one of those
things that cyclists, and pedestrians sometimes, have to cope with.

Obviously if you can get enough details, which is difficult in an
emergency, you can try and take it further, both with the taxi company
and the police. Try to get details from any witnesses if you possibly
can.

It's not really a taxi driver problem BTW. Just as not all cyclists run
red lights or ride on the pavement, not all taxi drivers are nasty,
vindictive idiots.

--
Dave...

Chris Wheeler said:

I've been cut up by cars numerous times (I'm sure I'm not the
only one).

I can assure you you're not.

Quoted message said:

The reason I specified "not involving breaking the law" is that
everything I thought of afterwards is probably illegal. I wonder
if there's such a thing as steel toe capped spuds...

The legal route would be more satisfying if you could make it work. If
the driver is prosecuted he will at the very least have several weeks
of anxiety to cope with, and may even begin to think that using his
taxi to intimidate vulnerable road users may not be such a good idea
after all.

The fantasies about what you'd like to do are part of the psychological
baggage of the incident. Why should you let this moron affect you like
this? He forgot all about it after 2 minutes. You're a cyclist; you
coped well with an emergency that was not of your making; there's
nothing further you can do this time; let it go.

--
Dave...

--
Dave...

Response to dkahn400:

Quoted message said:

It's not really a taxi driver problem BTW. Just as not all cyclists run
red lights or ride on the pavement, not all taxi drivers are nasty,
vindictive idiots.

Occasional colleague and Thoroughly Nice Bloke Martin, when he's not
being an occasional colleague, is a taxi driver in Cambridge. We'd
worked together quite a lot before he told me that, and he added -
knowing well that I'm a cyclist - that he couldn't stand cyclists. I
told him that if *I* was a cabbie in Cambridge I'd probably end up not
standing cyclists, or at least a large subsection of same. Not that
that's any excuse, mind, in the present context.

--
Mark, UK.

"CYCLIST WEDS - - News? Faith then I can't see it. Why, pray, should
cyclists not wed? Is there something in the exercise of the craft,
some secret vow, some occult commitment that makes the founding of a
family, the cultivation of the sweet domestic arts, the cherishing of
womankind (aplurally) incompatible with cyclism? Are we to infer,
forsooth, that there was never any Mrs Sturmey Archer?"

"Chris Wheeler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Does anybody has any advice (not involving breaking the law) on how to
deal with such vindictive drivers?

Gun, petrol, matches, but seek legal clarification from your CAB on this one
;-)

"Chris Wheeler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

What is it with taxi drivers? I was cycling to work this morning on the
left side of a long, road-like car park, and a taxi (Skyline, Milton
Keynes) was coming the other way, on the other side of the "road". All
of a sudden he's veering all the way over to my side, grinning at me,
forcing me right up against the parked cars.
I'm not used to this sort of behaviour, so I panicked, yanked my right
foot out of my pedal and slammed on my brakes because I was coming up to
a junction (another car was going across the junction in front of me, he
had right of way).
Does anybody has any advice (not involving breaking the law) on how to
deal with such vindictive drivers?

I don't have any advice, but I was riding home from work a couple of days
ago when a car full of idiots drove past, and honked an air horn at me. I
didn't jump and wouldn't have minded too much but for the fact that they had
filed the horn with spit, so I got showered.

Unfortunately, I was on my full suspension mountainbike and no matter how
hard I tried, I couldn't catch the car. I'm still fuming about it!

But remember, a road bike in traffic is much faster than w*nkers in a Rover,
ride up the inside nice and quick and joust the wing mirror with your leg.
If only I'd been on my Sequoia....

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Chris Wheeler said:

What is it with taxi drivers?

The same as with pretty much every other class of road user: some are
exemplary drivers and some are exemplary tossers.

Indeed. I've had some remarkably courteous driving shown to me by local taxi
driver back in Jan 04, so I wrote a thank you letter to the taxi operator,
on the hope that the taxi driver in question got a brownie point :-)

Cheers, helen s

wafflycat said:

I've had some remarkably courteous driving shown to me by
local taxi driver back in Jan 04, so I wrote a thank you letter to
the taxi operator,

If you've got that much free time, I've got a bedroom which needs painting
and a winter hack waiting for its springtime spruce-up!

;-)

Response to Geraint Jones:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Are we to infer,
forsooth, that there was never any Mrs Sturmey Archer?"

I do hope not, I mean that would be taking aplurality to (forsooth) unwonted
extremes, since it is rather like asking whether there was ever a Mrs Rolls
Royce.

Very true. [Makes note to write to Myles na gCopaleen]

--
Mark, UK.

"For business reasons, I must preserve the outward signs of sanity."

dkahn400 said:

It's not really a taxi driver problem BTW. Just as not all cyclists run
red lights or ride on the pavement, not all taxi drivers are nasty,
vindictive idiots.

Fair point. Like many things, I only notice the bad ones.

-Chris

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:03:16 +0000 someone who may be Chris Wheeler
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

What is it with taxi drivers? I was cycling to work this morning on the
left side of a long, road-like car park, and a taxi (Skyline, Milton
Keynes) was coming the other way, on the other side of the "road". All
of a sudden he's veering all the way over to my side, grinning at me,
forcing me right up against the parked cars. [snip]

Quoted message said:

Does anybody has any advice (not involving breaking the law) on how to
deal with such vindictive drivers?

The other options mentioned in the thread and which you did are
undoubtedly the safest. The other alternative is not to be
frightened by the idiot and maintain your position, stopping if
necessary.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

David Hansen said:

The other options mentioned in the thread and which you did are
undoubtedly the safest. The other alternative is not to be
frightened by the idiot and maintain your position, stopping if
necessary.

I wouldn't recommned this as you are rather committing your safety to
the skill and judgement of a moron who is actively demonstrating that
he is not fit to be in charge of a motor vehicle. He may be /relying/
on the fact that you will take evasive action.

--
Dave...

"Chris Wheeler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

What is it with taxi drivers? I was cycling to work this morning on the
left side of a long, road-like car park, and a taxi (Skyline, Milton
Keynes) was coming the other way, on the other side of the "road". All
of a sudden he's veering all the way over to my side, grinning at me,
forcing me right up against the parked cars.
I'm not used to this sort of behaviour, so I panicked, yanked my right
foot out of my pedal and slammed on my brakes because I was coming up to
a junction (another car was going across the junction in front of me, he
had right of way).
Does anybody has any advice (not involving breaking the law) on how to
deal with such vindictive drivers?

This seems to be an increasingly familiar 'game'. It happened to me
recently (on a side road, chav points car at me and grins, veers off in good
time) and on a country lane last summer (ditto).

Your local council's Licensing Committee would take (one would hope) a
fairly dim view of such behaviour. Each driver is individually licensed and
the car itself is licensed.

I know it is hard when faced with such incidents -- but get as much detail
as you can. Number plate or part thereof, make, colour etc of car, driver
description, taxi company, other distinguishing marks(e.g. advert), Taxi
licence number (on the back on a white or yellow plate. Get witnesses if
possible. Phone the Council's Licensing Officer and give him what you have.
Even if he can't identify the guy completely he can have a word in the ear
of the firm or the chief suspect and feel his collar a bit.

dkahn400 said:

David Hansen said:

The other options mentioned in the thread and which you did are
undoubtedly the safest. The other alternative is not to be
frightened by the idiot and maintain your position, stopping if
necessary.

I wouldn't recommned this as you are rather committing your safety to
the skill and judgement of a moron who is actively demonstrating that
he is not fit to be in charge of a motor vehicle. He may be /relying/
on the fact that you will take evasive action.

I'd second that.
Within a matter of seconds, his car was where my bike used to be. I
wouldn't like to second-guess him while I'm in fight-or-flight mode.

-Chris
ps. I didn't mean to use the word "second" that many times... :-\

Chris Wheeler said:

ps. I didn't mean to use the word "second" that many
times... :-\

Had second thoughts about your wording?

--
Dave...