I have an idea. I'm sure I'm not the first to think about this, but here goes.
Today, a group of us were riding west on Dines Rd., single file, somewhere around South Russell, Ohio. I was the last person in the line of six. A mid to late middle aged male driver with a late model silver Volkswagon Golf approached us from behind, pulled next to me, purposely endangered my life by coming within inches of my left handlebar, then glared at me. He stayed there for about 5 seconds. He then passed us, making sure that he came dangerously close to the rest of the riders in the group as well. His (vanity) license plate was , from what I recall, "19 TS." I came really close to contacting the police right there, but didn't.
Let's make a local aggressive driver database. It should be on the internet, easily accessible, user friendly, and 100% user generated. Like Craigslist, but for bicyclists who want to report dangerous and/or illegal behavior of motorists.
If something like this existed in the Cleveland area, I would go there right now and enter this guy's info, the date of the incident, and a description of what happened. Then, if he does this to someone else, they would know he has done this before. The next victim could even contact me and then I (and hopefully victim #2) would be more prone to report the incidents to the police.
The database could also serve as a warning to cyclists about repeat offenders so they know to exercise caution around a certain drivers who have several reported "incidents" reported on the database.
If anyone else thinks this is a good idea, let me know. It probably wouldn't be that hard to put together. Maybe we can use an already existing site. Maybe start our own...www.reportbikecrimes.com??
It's also very possible that I'm just all riled up right now and, come tomorrow, will think this a silly idea. We'll see.
6 comments:
Hey great idea. I'd love to be in that. Not really getting stared at but you know part of the website.
People usually are pretty safe around me (kid-size) but I think that would be a great Idea and I'd like to help.
Robert
I think this is a site that I saw mentioned on another blog a while back:
http://www.platewire.com/
Ive had the exact same idea many times in the last year and half. The hardest part of coming back to cycling is the reality that human nature is an ugly thing!!
I have another idea: How about I find out who he is and where he lives, and kick his fucking dick into the dirt? And yes, I am serious.
Unless you have a friend at the DMV, it costs between $39 - $87 for a reverse license plate lookup. Not that I thought about this or anything.
I'm down with JN, round up the posse!
Seriously, though, great idea. I'll checkout www.platewire.com and if it's legit we should all post it on our blogs.
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