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While cycling up The South Dorset Ridgeway on the A354, I got happy-slapped by a car diven by a youth with presumably his friend who did the slapping. Sadly, I didn't get the number, or a proper look at them being too busy struggling with the gradient and effects of gravity on my fat little body and bike laden with my work stuff.
I wasn't hurt, suffering only a light hit on the buttock, but it could have knocked me off or caused me to lose control of the bike and get myself run over: either way, I could have been badly injured.
Why these mindless, testosterone driven imbeciles do such things, I have no idea, nor why similarly hormone riddled morons perpetrate pointless acts of vandalism or graffiti and so on. Nothing would have been further from my mind when I was a teenager.
I'm now a grumpy old fart and I still wouldn't contemplate such things.
Rant over.
Angharad.
Comments
Don't know why they do it...
But I'd guess they do it because they are too stupid to realize the possible consequences. Would have been nice if you could have gotten the numbers, then you could have contacted police. That's assault that is! (BTW, I'm glad you didn't get hurt!)
Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue
In all likelihood
they're not too stupid... Just not even THINKING of the consequences... If someone had been there, frozen time, and asked them to come up with a list of consequences - I bet they could have... Even armed with said list, I dunno if they'd have hesitated to take the action. :-(
Similar category to the kids that drop rocks (or even bowling balls) off bridges as cars go by under them (and have caused accidents) and many more.
I dunno what would happen, if you let the event be publicized... Over here, I wouldn't be surprised if some folks decided it called for a "requirement for "cameras" on all helmets and bikes... *sighs*
Angharad, I hope you're not traumatized by the event, or even have some residual muscle strain.
*hugs*
Annette
I'm very glad...
...that you're okay! I hate that kind of idiocy. >:-(
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"
I agree
(RANT&SYMPATHY)
I agree wholeheartedy with your sentiments, however it is not just lads. I have been jeered at by teenage girls too, with no provocation and just because I looked a little different to them, I get "Pedophile / pervert" yelled at me, which is a bloody disgrace.
Comes from the attitude that the little darlings can do no wrong and that they reckon they are above the law.
(/RANT)
- J
Unless there is truth in my heart, my every effort is doomed to failure....
That which does not kill me only serves to delay the inevitable. My blog => http://jaynemorose.wordpress.com/ <= note new address
Never did understand why they do this!
Angharad; I also never understood why youth do this as myself I never did and as a Senior now still don't. Glad your OK! As there are alot of us here that would miss you very much if something happen to you! Richard
Richard
Hit-and-run
My Jeanne's youngest son was killed in such an incident while delivering newspapers on a semi-rural route in the Midwest. The boy who caused the accident and ended up running over Jeanne's son turned himself in and pled guilty to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. Yes, there is such a charge available as a plea bargain for underage defendants. He served one year community service and six years probation with no driver's license available except with court approval after his 25th birthday.
It seems very little for causing a death but in effect, they threw the book at him considering the charge. If it had gone to court, the charge would likely have been felony vehicular manslaughter, much more serious with probable jail time.
An acquaintance of mine from high school accepted a multiple felony vehicular manslaughter conviction on a plea bargain and got one year in jail, suspended, eight years probation and a lifetime ban on getting a driver's license in California. The suspension would have been revoked if he had been caught drinking alcohol or doing drugs while on probation. He considered that he got off lightly since he could have spent nine years in jail.
In many states in the US, the charge for what happened to you would be either battery, hit-and-run battery, or vehicular assault. Striking someone from a moving motor vehicle is considered a very serious crime that shows a disregard for consequence amounting to criminal intent.
I hope someone catches that idiot before he kills someone.
Hugs and I'm glad you're safe,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Those Bloody School Kids
can be nasty. When I was in my mid-teens I was out biking when all of a sudden a car with a bunch of f-ing teens decided it was fun to toss their soft-drinks/ice creams at me. Luckily I had just decided to brake just as they started tossing their stuff at me. Any closer and I would have slid on the slick they produced and tip over on the highway.
Kim
Words fail me.
As you know, I'm prone to a spot of pedalling myself (100 km yesterday) and that sort of thing absolutely has me incandescent. I don't why, but some people seem to think knocking or pushing someone off a bike is merely amusing. It isn't. It can hurt a lot and can be fatal.
I'm convinced that it was a similar attitude that killed a very dear friend of mine and seriously injured her husband. A drunken idiot, who thought it would be fun to buzz a couple of cyclists on an otherwise completely empty road, misjudged it (anything else implies murder) killed and drove off. Fortunately he was caught and jailed eventually.
Another friend of mine was actually shot whilst cycling in the USA when on holiday. A red-neck fired a shot gun apparently loaded with salt. It seems to be a wide spread problem though I've always had great consideration in France and Spain.
rant supported
Geoff