BBC’s Jeremy Vine in cycle road rage horror
BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine yesterday revealed the “horrible moment” a female driver threatened to knock him out in a road rage outburst.
Video footage shot by him as he rode his bicycle shows the motorist kicking out at him and using foul language after Vine stopped in the middle of the road because her car was getting too close to his back wheel.
In a posting on Facebook, the journalist, who is the new Crimewatch presenter, said: “I hate to overload our hard-working London police with footage from my commute, but I feel the person you see will at some point hurt someone very badly – either with her car or in a direct personal assault.
“Such a horrible moment on my cycle home. Luckily I filmed it. No fun getting a kicking.”
The 51-year-old declined to comment further, saying he would leave it to the Metropolitan Police.
The footage starts by showing a narrow street in Kensington, London, along with a caption stating: “Advice for cyclists is to stay central to avoid car doors.” Vine is seen stopping after becoming concerned about how close the driver of the black Vauxhall Corsa was getting to him.
The irate driver then gets out of her car, shouting: “Why would you do that? Why the **** would you stop? You don’t respect your ******* life.”
She starts kicking his bicycle, yelling: “Move your bike, move your bike. You **** me off. I could have hit you and I would have been done for murder. Get the **** out the road.”
Thirty seconds later, Vine pulls up behind the same driver at a busy junction. The woman gets out of her car and charges towards the presenter.
He warns her: “Don’t assault me; you have already assaulted me.”
But she responds: “If you take a picture of my car again, I will ******* knock you.”
Later, Vine cycled alongside the car and claimed the driver formed her hand into the shape of a gun and “fired” it at him.
Vine is an outspoken critic of the number of cyclists killed on the road.
Last year he admitted filming bad drivers and sending the footage to police.