This is really nothing more than a plug to an MT post but I thought it was worth reposting here to flag it up....

http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/cars-suck

I've only run into Ryan maybe once or twice and wouldn't say I know him but he always came across as cool. I'd like to think that if I was in a similar position to him people would help me out as everyone gets into tight spots sometimes so I'll be grabbing a t-shirt when I get a chance...

More info at HoP... http://www.houseofpistard.com/2007/11/goddamn-canucks.html

i'll wear one with pride

I'll take one.

is this the image that is going to be on the shirts?......isn't this in a way condoning his behavior.

naah

It's helping someone out...

someone who's giving cyclist a bad name.....

Fkn today was the worst couple of rides I've had for a long time. I was thinking numerous times about knocking mirrors off and wonder exactly how much damage the GT would do to someone's windscreen or scraped over their bonnet. Every tossbag that won their license from a goat in a game of fscking tic-tac-toe was out on the road today.. dicks in taxis, dicks in trucks, dicks in cars.. all trying their best to squeeze me into gutters or shove me off course or force me into other riders or whatever. Fscking carnage and I couldn't wait to drop the bike at home. I want one of these shirts.. for every day of the week.
Cars are nice. Drivers are cnuts.

Yours with love,
Stabby McStabandkill

sounds like last Wednesday for me. I find myself dreaming about smashing the windscreen on a certain bus. fucking numbnut playing with me like's its a computer game. wouldn't have made him a good driver though, but would have felt fucking good. i want one of those t shirts as well now!

I want one of those.

why do people want one of these shirts? is it because you think they look good?, is it because you want to help this guy stay in the country? or because you trust Rakan and bills opinion on this guy?(the only reason i would get one)

Whoa! Let's all take a deep breath... Aaaaand relax.

First, it's really easy when you see a car/bus being driven terribly to assume that the driver is doing it deliberately. Fact is, you're paying more attention to their driving than they are. In 99.9% of cases, the driver is just an incompetent twat who isn't paying attention.

Second, don't get mad. It just distracts you, and makes you more likely to have an accident, either with the twat, or on your own or with some innocent party - and how ironic and unfair would that be?

And third, never retaliate. I'm surprised this courier isn't being prosecuted for aggravated assault. The law doesn't provide much protection for those acting in genuine self-defence; if you use any kind of physical force against someone when you are not under threat, you're in a world of legal pain. If the driver he attacked had been injured, he'd have been looking at prison rather than damages and deportation. And if we accept than in most cases such drivers are incompetent, inattentive idiots, rather than deliberately murderous, then they deserve a loud 'wanker!' and a rap on their sideglass, but not 30lbs of steel coming through the windshield.

So I don't think I can buy a T-shirt.

i would have to agree.

It's because I wanna do

to a car

Fuck 'em.

Great T shirt, good cause.

do you care to elaborate your point

aido, i see your point. we want one because we've all been that pissed off that we've dreamed of doing something like that. but we didn't cos that wouldn't make it right. i'm pretty sure this dude regrets the incident. i mean, deportation is pretty good way to tell someone off! I guess it's a mixture of empathy, generosity and solidarity.

sounds like the dude is fucked. a grand is a lot of t-shirts but i hope it works out. it would be a shame to have to up route your life as a result of a silly incident like this.

First, "just an incompetent twat who isn't paying attention" in a tonne or 5 of steel, capable of killing me. Damn right I pay attention to their driving!

Second, not getting mad might be fine for some people but like the taxi driver who was uttering all kinds of threats at me tonight, some people just don't do this chilled out zen crap. Getting mad gets you adrenalin flowing and quickens your reflexes which might just keep you alive when some tosser is coming at you.

Third, you don't know what happened. Should someone stand by and watch their bike and/or themselves get damaged, all the while thinking "ooh, better not fight back". How do you know the Merc wasn't trying to kill the guy?

Fsck it, after today, I'm all up for caving windows in. The GT wouldn't even notice.

eye for an eye is a load of shit.....acting like this person has is justifying the actions of the driver

But you don't even know what the actions of the driver were..

thats my point,it dosnt matter what the driver has done.....what ever happened the person in question shouldn't have acted in the way he did

Merc driver just killed your parents and is now looking to run you down..

So you would let him run you over. I'm cool with that, but excuse me if I don't do something a little different.

Yeah, bullshit scenario but my point is you DON'T know what happened nor how you would react given what happened.

but i do know if i act in a violent way that im going to have to pay the consequences...which in this case the person is relying on the sale of shirts to stop him being deported...fuck that!

A. I don't think anyone is saying he should have done that, I know I'm not. I do know I can really emphasise with it though and can try and imagine what must have been happening at the time to make him switch like that. And yeah it would be fucking amazing to see a bike frame be put through the window of a silly expensive car. I'm not saying we should go out and do it, I don't want to do it.

I think it would be shame for R to have his like quite majorly fucked by something like this though - which I reckon could happen to pretty much anyone, having a shit enough day - doing something which puts you somewhere you didn't mean to be. If I can help out by buying a tshirt which will help him out + which might have an image of a little hidden away fantasy which a lot of people may share (though I have no idea whats actually on the shirt) I'm going too. Its just making the best of a bad situation.

But if someone doesn't agree or doesn't want too then they don't have too :)

Nothing much more than what I said, I like the T-Shirt and think the cause worthwhile.

Perhaps there is some vicarious pleasure from knowing what went down, but beyond that my reasons are simply that I am on the side of the cyclist in this case.

People simply do not think that way.

You don't think "I'm going to have to pay the consequences", when a car driver has risked injuring or ending of another person life to save 20-30 seconds on their journey or when a van swings violently into your path, what does happen is that your testicles retract into your body, your blood floods with adrenalin and you tend to react quickly and aggressively as nature intended.

i think thats why there's a law in place.

The law fails cyclists. It is a poor way to handle these situations.

as appose to the way he did handle it...obviously the better option.

who did the tee? like the graphics. as a fellow canuck i might have to buy one! bmw's bug me the most. bentley drivers are the best!

Then we agree.

Ryan isn't relying on the sale of the shirts - House of Pistard is printing them as a gesture and the rest of us are buying them to help him out of a sticky situation. As I said in my post (which you obviously haven't read), I don't condone what he did. It was a dumb thing to do. If you want to, you can see the image as glorifying violence. I think it's a witty response that will appeal to people and make them more likely to buy the shirts.

But he's a mate, and I don't want to see him get deported because of a moment that he regrets. The driver was just as culpable, but came off slightly worse.

Guys I know we`ve all come across idiot drivers, but imagine that multiplied tenfold.

Its very easy to "turn the cheeck", "rise above it" etc on your commute or a weekend clubrun, but believe me after 8 or 9 hours of w*nker drivers even Mother Teresa would want to give em some.

I dont know Ryan personally, but my guys tell me hes alright, so I`ll help him out too, as Id want fellow cyclists to help me out if I was in the same position.

Which I may be if I see that idiot in the Nissan Xterra with Corps Diplomatique plates again ;)

i nearly got stacked by two immensely fat men in a huge jaguar in marylebone high street this morning. i was very cross, then a little freaked out by the whole thing. it's very difficult to keep calm in this scenario. i've never whacked anyone though, never would, i'm even weedier than bill, and if they get out of their car i'm off really fast, and a bit shaky.

I agree with the 'eye for an eye' statement. But in certain situations logic and reason go out the window and you become a creature of instinct. My older brother was killed 3 years ago buy a drunk driver who swerved across the street and hit him while he was cycling home. After the accident they both got taken to the same hospital which is where I met him. Needles