TERRIFYING ROAD RAGE

Cyclist uses bike as a shield in confrontation

A CYCLIST had to use his own bike as a shield when a hotheaded Ocean Grove driver almost ran him down in a fit of road rage, a court heard yesterday.

Matthew Dunell relived his terrifying encounter with motorist Michael Tedesco on July 2 last year for Geelong Magistrates’ Court.

He said the angry driver chased him in his ute and on foot, crossed across his path in the bicycle lane using his vehicle as a weapon, shaped up to fight him with clenched fists raised and spat a volley of swear words, threats and abuse at him.

“My immediate thinking was this guy’s out of control,” Mr Dunell said.

“He was saying ‘do you want to fight me?’. I said ‘nah, mate, I don’t want to fight, just get back in your car.

“I was terrified. I was really frightened, and thinking to myself I’d better have my wits about myself here.”

Tedesco, 53, was supposed to be at court for yesterday’s hearing but did not show.

Magistrate Ann McGarvie heard the case in his absence, finding him guilty of careless driving, assault, assault with a weapon, using threatening lan- guage and failing to secure his vehicle.

Mr Dunell explained the incident happened about 4.30pm in Ocean Grove as he returned from a ride to near Torquay.

Waved through by a driver behind him, the cyclist signalled and turned right off Kingston Downs Drive.

Tedesco, further back, followed Mr Dunell and then drove slowly beside him, ges- ticulating and yelling, before pulling in sharply and getting out of the vehicle.

“He didn’t like me very much it seemed,” the cyclist said. “He was calling me a f-king c--t, a smart arse …”

The cyclist said he grabbed his bike as a potential shield or weapon to protect himself when the driver confronted him, and later protected himself behind a pole.

After blustering “I’ll f--king get you” and slamming his door, Tedesco eventually left the scene. But not before the cyclist was able to record the registration of his vehicle.

The court heard the ute belonged to the defendant’s girlfriend and she identified him as the driver. In his absence, the man was fined $5000 for his offences, and had his licence suspended for a year. He will have to do a safe driving course to get it back.