Wednesday, July 15, 2009

South Huntsville Needs Motorist Education and Manners

From Scott:

Yesterday afternoon I finally got the license plate number of the redneck that buzzes me and lays on his horn every time he passes me on Hobbs Island Road. He’s done this at least 3 times in the past 2 to 3 weeks, making it a point to not give way at all and sit on his horn as he passes. Each time he’s done this there have been no cars coming in the other direction to keep him from moving over, it has always been on a stretch with plenty of “line of sight” down the road, and once he was in a line of three or four vehicles all of which gave me ample room when passing and he still did this crap. The good thing is that not only did I get the license number and a good description of the vehicle but I also saw exactly where he lives. After yesterday’s incident I continued riding east on Hobbs Island and noticed the car at a house on the right side of the road about 1 ½ miles past the railroad crossing. I rode an out and back and the car was there on my way back too. If you ride this road often and are familiar with it, it is the first house in a row of about 3 houses with a chain link fence in the front yard(s) that is/are always open. There are usually about 2 or 3 dogs in the yards and driveways and they will try and chase cyclist if they notice you in time. This is just before you pass the Ebenezer (something or other) Church. Like I said if you are familiar with this road you likely know where this is. The car is a junkie looking dark green Ford Taurus (I believe it’s a Taurus) 4 door. I noticed yesterday that part of his front bumper is torn off/missing. The license plate number is 47T812N in case someone has a run-in with him and recognizes the car from my description.

Has anyone else had problems with the vehicle I described? Also, does anyone have contact info so I can report this? I’m still debating as to whether or not I should report it because I don’t know what if anything the police will do. They did little to nothing when I was hit by a hit and run driver so I don’t see them really doing anything to this guy other than asking him if he did it, telling him to stop (yea that’s going to work), and then the guy in return might do something malicious to cyclists in the future. I’ve thought of all types of ways to vandalize his vehicle which I know isn’t the thing to do but I was/am pretty angry about the whole thing.

Scott is currently calling the cops to report this and we will let you know what happens.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

house location also added to bikewise, address or more info will be posted pending update from Scott

Bello Velo said...

Nice!!!! I am working on an incident report form currently so we can keep track of these things and start getting people to call in.

Anonymous said...

I do agree, not out of dislike for large vehicles, but more or less the general lack of attention driver have here. There is also a lot more "angry" driving here. Currently we do not have an active safety council who's job it is to put anti road rage advertisement out there. We have a public safety division, but as far as I can tell, they are broke and not taken seriously enough to get real funding.

jim s

Bello Velo said...

Well put!!! The message from the City is this. If you want to be part of our community you must have a car.

Here is a simple solution, send our Bike cops in plain clothes to the trouble spots. Put them in plain clothes and ticket these drivers. Our Bike cops are currently being paid so why not give them some real work instead of riding on the sidewalks during concerts in the park.

Also if we all start reporting these things like Scott did in south huntsville the city will see that there is a trend and it needs to be addressed. Just like the multitudes of cops I see driving and talking on their phones in 5 points. This is probably because the neighbors have been calling and complaining to the cops.