I have a question about some of the rules regarding what is meant to happen in an accident. Hopefully someone can help...

I was riding my motorcycle home along the Quai de Mt Blanc in Geneva yesterday in normal gridlock traffic when a driver ran over my foot. Luckily I had heavy duty bike boots and managed to full my foot free so wasn’t injured. The driver continued to edge forward despite me honking horn and bashing on the passenger window to stop. I rode around with my hazards on to block the car as this person clearly wasn’t going to stop. When I got off the bike and approached the drivers window the driver (batsh*t crazy elderly woman) tried to run me down with steering on full lock to get around my bike in front of her. Actually hit me out of the way and went around my bike. I blocked her again and began to call the police (117) and she started doing the same but this time nudging/pushing me out of the way. Must’ve hit me half a dozen times. The police just asked me my phone number and offered to call me back! I took down the woman’s plate and let her go. I then went to a police station and filed a report about it. The police seemed to think that because I was not injured there was not much they could do.

I have to make clear that I was not aggressive towards this person. They just put there window up, locked the doors and wanted to leg it. It was 530pm on one of Geneva’s most crowded, busy streets too.

Is someone able to give me an idea about what the rules are here? I would have thought that leaving a scene of an accident if highly illegal. Not to mention to ramming someone with your car! Does that fact that I was not particularly injured just mean that this behaviour can stand as the police seem to think?

At the time I was filtering between the outside lane of traffic and a row or parked cars about to turn right. Please let’s not turn this into a discussion about filtering in traffic.

Cheers!

Could she have been under the impression that you were trying to hijack her car? After all, if a chap in motorcycle gear and a helmet were to block my path, I'd be a bit alarmed, and I'm neither elderly nor a woman.

I understand why you would be angry about it, but it might be an honest mistake on her part.

Sorry to hear your story! Sounds like a case of "old" driver thinking they can get away with something because they are older than you and ruder than you! You just have to think about the scramble to get on the buses in Geneva, or the bakeries when fresh bread is being laid out......

I guess you just need to think whether the stress of following up on this will help vent your anger or will you just get more angry as you learn more about your rights under Swiss traffic and legal system.
How about drawing a line under the event, breathing deeply, eating something very naughty or drinking some wine? Sometimes you are better to let go and notch it up to experience. Good luck.

Alternatively, find out where she lives and crap in her letterbox! She'll never know who did it and you can rest assured in vengeance truly served. Though not cold, admittedly.

so you had heavy duty boots on, and you didn't kick the crap out of her door?? call yourself a biker?? you should be ashamed.

Although her action was completely wrong and dangerous, she sounds like she probably has a fear of motorcyclists and believes that we're all Hell's Angels wanting to mug and abuse her.

Fortunately it reads like you weren't injured, and perhaps the term "fleeing the scene of an accident" was not quite accurate in the eyes of the plod, which could account for their non-plus attitude - and without any independent witness's there wouldn't be able to do much after the event anyway - which isn't particularly reassuring - but you couldn't have done more, without getting into an awkward (illegal) situation, yourself.

You probably just got to let this go and put it down to experience, and in future be more wary to the lack of driving skills and courtesy exhibited, by some elderly people, who maybe struggle to cope with current driving conditions - there have been enough posts on various threads on this forum, to indicate such.

They expect that motorbikes should sit in traffic, like the cars around them, and not "queue-jump", and get quite put out to think that we can do this. Unfortunately, from what I see, many riders (Swiss(?)) actually do just wait in line. What this country needs is a proper express motorcycle dispatch service - that would open up a few peoples eyes.

this cracks me up, in no other aspect of swiss life do they queue for anything, they will physically push woman and small children out of there way on the ski lifts, check outs, trains, buses etc. But give them a traffic jam and they will do anything, ANYTHING to stop a bike getting past.

I agree with Henry VIII that it would be best for you to try and live with the bad experience.

But you have her car number, you could take out a private prosecution against her. The police are only interested if they can catch someone breaking the laws.

But then of course you were breaking the law in the first place! Next time lay over and rub the bike against her car.


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All fair points. Particularly taking a poo in her letterbox.

Regarding whether she made a mistake or though I was a hijacker, I think definitely not. For a start to run over my foot she actually had to change her line (ie steer toward me). She yelled at me through the window that I shouldn’t undertake before ramming me. The whole time she wasn’t panicked or flustered at all. It was pure malice.

Not around here, here it's expected, and people often leave space before the stop-line for filtering bikes.

Tom

unfortunatly not the case in zurich I see em looking in there mirrors then moving over to block, still doesn't stop me though

To filter or not to filter is a seperate discussion... personally I filter to get to the front of traffic for my own safety. Regardless of what the laws and local attitude is. Would rather get fined or have an unfortunate incident such as this than be dead!

There is no point in sometimes getting cold and wet, plus the increased danger, if we can't split traffic, get to the head of the queue and get to our destination quicker. You don't ride a motorbike to sit behind cars, buses or lorries, breathing in their fumes - but for the freedom of the open road.

Wait for her tonight with a few eggs ready!

This being the internet you very well could be elderly, a woman, and a driver. Weren't you in Geneva the other day, gunning for an adrenaline rush?

Sorry, but i am pretty new to driving and stuff but can anyone tell me why is it not safe to wait in a queue inbetween the cars? Why will i be killed if i am waiting in a queue on a motorbike

For a start because there are people trying to run moto's off the road...

Bikes are less visible so it's riding defensively to get clear of a block of traffic.

This always stikes me as the natural progression from Passiive Aggressive. Doing something really stupid with something big without realising how insane they've become. The pettiness just builds in their mind until they become blind to common sense.

Didn't a pensioner kill a cyclist in Basel a few years back doing something stupid?

This is why the ambivalence of the police shocked me. Someone who is fostering this sort of attitude should be cautioned at least, sanctioned/have licence revoked at worst. What if I had not been wearing boots? The outcome of this person’s actions could have been a broken foot.

I agree entirely, and I can't help thinking that it is largely due to the insidious frustration that builds up in people, having been exposed to a lifetime of petty rules and regulations