Cyclist video solutions for prosecution

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

This video comes to us from the same guy who nailed the road ragers near Red Rocks. Here he explains some options cyclist have at capturing aggressive drivers.

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11 Comments

Back to the original video.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Back to the original video. I think I'm missing something. Did those jokers do anything other than yell? In going after them, all I can assume is that perhaps you got spit on, which is clearly assault. But if not, are you making a 3 foot case here? People yell all the time. No big deal.

" People yell all the time. No big deal."

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

When you say

" People yell all the time. No big deal."

That is where the huge difference exist between you and the guy filming

I think some consider that a really big deal....

"Oh I speed all the time, no big deal"
"I throw beer cans at cyclist all the time, no big deal"
"I slap girls asses on bikes all the time, no big deal"

When does it become a "big deal" for you?

Don't set up strawmen. This

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Don't set up strawmen. This has nothing to do with ass-slapping or beer cans. Just answer my original question. Was this guy spit on?

Gettting yelled at does not a crime victim make. Profanity, in the absence of children, is usually not a crime. I ride. I ride these roads, these canyons. From Deer Creek to Left Hand. I ride them all. But I also know the law. If you want to crack down on these jokers, pick a better case. In the absence of spitting this case stands zero chance of going anywhere. That's why I asked. I see no crime, help me see one instead of posting fluff.

You want to be treated like a car, well sorry to say, drivers get yelled at too. All the time.

Not to mention that this

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Not to mention that this sets up a field day case for any ACLU lawyer worth their salt wishing to set a precedent to ban filming of private citizens for "privacy" reasons.

2 things: filming random strangers' licence plates and showing them on a public forum seems... ethically dicey to me. also: riding a bike down the sidewalk for a block out of pure convenience is every bit as bad as the footage of the driver who yelled at him. An adult riding a bicycle on the sidewalk = breaking the law to about the same degree as the driver who buzzed/yelled at him. So he's not making any kind of case for me by being a hypocrite.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not giving drivers a free pass here. I've been hit, swerved at, doored, cursed, had stuff thrown at me, had guys get out of cars and up in my face, threatened with violence, etc... I've been on the roads on a bicycle since the mid 80s. I was a bike messenger for 2 years in D.C. and spent 10 years riding and racing in rural southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky. You want bad drivers, I can cite some real hair raisers.

My rule is: if they don't touch me, I don't escalate. No blood, no foul. There was no physical impact here, so IMO this whole "red rocks" case is really weak and is probably going to be considered grandstanding by the judge. Most judges I know would throw this out of court.

This guy seems like he's setting himself up as some sort of cycling vigilante, and I don't care for the idea of where that's going. We need more driver/cyclist cooperation, not more acrimony, and this seems to be just acrimony for the sake of acrimony.

Now if he was cut off and had to swerve into the ditch? Yes, that's a case. If he was hit, or had an object thrown at him that hit him? Yes, that's a case.

Do I like it when cars pass close and drivers scream at me? No, but you know, I'm an adult with good cycling skills, and I both expect and can handle it; it's the same to me as someone who has a big dog hanging out the car barking its stupid head off. It doesn't affect me.

Last but not least, I have to say that here in Colorado 9 times out of 10 the vehicles that buzz me the closest / fastest are the ones with bike trays on the roof. So there is that.

So, by your reasoning, since

Submitted by crispi (not verified) on

So, by your reasoning, since the rider in the video in Bear Creek did not swerve into the ditch in self-preservation (what the people in the car probably wanted to see happen) but tightened his grip on the bar/felt the hair rise on his neck/closed his eyes while the 30 mph 2 ton vehicle flew by (which you equate to having a bike pass a pedestrian on a sidewalk)....in essence, rolled the dice in terms of actually being hit.....there is no foul. I disagree.

So what, let the pendulum swing a little our way. The aggressive driver hotline set up by the CO State Patrol has dramatically decreased the incidence of drivers tail-gating/flashing high beams/making hand gestures/etc. making the roads more civil and I applaud it.

I have taken to and encouraged in my teammates actions on the road which include waving to cars that safely pass, smiling at vehicles that do not turn out in front of us, mouthing 'thank you' and positive stuff that lets drivers know that we appreciate them being courteous and patient with us. Your message to 'just skin up' falls flat. More respect is needed on both sides, and things CAN change.

And the point that verbal abuse is okay but physical abuse is different? Not buyin' that-if someone yells with impugnity what stops them from escalating the behavior?

'no blood no foul' is the rule of the pick-up b-ball game in the park. It is so nice to know that you are able to 'handle it' when the dog barks at you from the car....me too, but humans know better and that's why it needs to stop.

The majority of drivers passing closest to cyclists, imo, are the old ones who have trouble judging distances and have a strong aversion to putting rubber on the double yellow!

7-8 years ago a driver shot and killed a bicyclist during a confrontation in front of Matt Hibbert's shop on Broadway and 9th. I have been hoping that the situation is improving since then....ignoring the problem drivers does not help....

7-8 days (probably even

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

7-8 days (probably even hours, really) ago a driver shot and killed another driver somewhere in the U.S. What's your point?

Each interaction is unique. We have no idea how militant Mr. Gallas might have earlier been on Deer Creek establishing his right to the road. Actions have consequences. All we have is a video that show absolutely nothing incriminating. (If he has a huge library of bike ride views of cars passing, I'd figure he could come up with something better than this.)

But what we do have, as one comment here shows, is a video showing Mr. Gallas, himself, doing two things illegal. And like another commenter, I do think it is possible that an action can be brought against Mr. Gallas by those he recorded. What he does with his video in private, even sharing with authorities, is his right, but he has opened himself up to liability trying to catch people simply driving past him and alleging criminal activity.

Any lawyers in the house?

Submitted by John Flora (not verified) on

Let's get the law straight here:

"Assault" is defined as an act intended to cause an apprehension of harmful or offensive contact, that causes apprehension of such contact in the victim. A touching is not required if the victim reasonably believes he/she is in imminent danger or fear of injury.

So let's look at the facts here... We have a cyclist riding in a reasonable manner on a public road with a posted speed of 45mph. We then have the defendants in a 2000lb car overtaking the cyclist with one individual partially out the window screaming obscenities at the cyclist as they pass. Without even getting into whether the defendant's car was within 3' of the cyclist as it passed, it's reasonable to assume that anyone in the position of the cyclist would be scared out of their wits if only for an instant by such actions. I'll venture to guess that we've all been there at least once.

So while this may be a 'simple' assault [with no 'blood' as you so eloquently put it], my bet is the defendants are found guilty.

p.s. yeah, I"m a lawyer.

I don't really care what the

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

I don't really care what the driver did in the original video, I like the idea of drivers thinking twice before they do something stupid because they might be on video.

Same thing goes the other way I guess, but I don't break traffic rules or road rage, so I don't really care.

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