Good work! Sounds like you made a positive impact. I'd leave it at that.
2012-10-02 15:36:54
14
A decent response from a business after a narrowly avoided right hook
Last night, riding home, I narrowly avoided a right hook on West Liberty Ave. A driver for Rohrich Toyota buzzed me, then turned right in front of me into the business. I saw him coming in my mirror, and was able to avoid the collision. I e-mailed their customer care manager last night, and received this response early today:
"In response to your e-mail, we have addressed your concern in a meeting with our full staff, sales, drivers, lot porters and mechanics.
We informed everyone about House Bill 170, and the 4 foot clearance rule for passing of bicycles, as well as driving without a plate attached to the vehicles.
We appreciate you contacting us about what happened and we hope this won’t happen again, please feel free to contact us in the future if this situation occurs."
I did not mention that I had nice high-def video of the incident, as I was saving that to see what kind of reaction I received.
Thoughts? Should I have handled differently? (ie. involved the police)
2012-10-02 15:33:56
Usually I like to call 911 to report aggressive drivers so that the incident will be included in any statistical reporting, and to create a paper trail in case the driver/vehicle is a repeat offender. However it seems that the dealer took your complaint seriously and the outcome is great so I would probably just leave it at that – other than a thank you back to the dealer for such prompt attention to the seriousness of the situation.
2012-10-02 15:49:34
Marko, I did thank the dealer immediately after I read the e-mail. I was impressed that they took it as seriously as they did.
2012-10-02 15:51:09
Great! Hopefully the offender changes his/her ways and everybodys happy. I wish everting worked this easy.
Edit: is there any educational value (to us cyclist) to showing the video? If not then no need to. But if it would help us to recognize the danger earlier maybe link to it here and have a (non flame) discusion.
2012-10-02 15:54:16
It is short (16 seconds)
At about 7 seconds in, you'll hear me shift. It was just before that point that I saw him in my mirror, coming fast in the left lane. I then applied the brakes, and slowed enough to not be hit. Without my mirror, I'm sure I would have broadsided him.
2012-10-02 16:22:50
@ajbooth.
Well done, sir!
2012-10-02 16:57:10
P&W needs to be notified that their drivers
drive like maniacs from their storage to the
showroom.
2012-10-02 18:17:26
That's just the sort of record we need for cases like this when the business *doesn't* handle things as they did.
Thanks for taking action, and showing the rest of us how it's done. I'd leave it at that.
2012-10-02 18:19:17
Just out of curiosity, what kind of camera were you using and how did you mount it? I just got a gopro hd hero (the older model) for my birthday. I get good video but it is difficult to make out license plates.
2012-10-02 20:36:56
It is a Contour GPS, and it is mounted with a handlebar mount kit that I bought later. I like it better than the helmet mount.
2012-10-03 01:46:19
ajbooth - I have the Contour GPS also and have it helmet mounted. Good video and audio. I like when folks in cars ask me "is that a camera on your helmet?" I always politely respond with "yeah, hi-def video just in case I need it in court."
2012-10-03 01:57:59
AJ, wow, video quality on that is pretty nice! Also its nice to hear that some companies are actually taking an initiative to prevent future issues.
2012-10-03 11:36:26
Not to derail the thread, but a friend of mine on facebook shared your video. Insane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K0bXZIKv7nI
2012-10-03 12:30:31