Driver In Marin County Arrested After Threatening Bicyclist
ROSS (KPIX 5) -- A motorist was caught on video threatening and endangering the life of a bicyclist in Ross.
The road rage incident was captured by a cyclist, on his own camera, right near the post office in the upscale Marin County town of Ross.
The driver not only tries to run the cyclist off the road, but also threatens his life.
"I'm going to shoot your head off!" you can hear the driver say in the video.
The Marin County Bicycle Coalition's executive director Jim Elias said, "Unfortunately it's not the first time I've seen something like this and anytime you threaten to use your vehicle as a weapon you should be held accountable"
Elias said it's fortunate this cyclist had a camera rolling.
When he turned the video into police they were able to track the driver down and charge him with reckless driving.
Cyclists here say that often doesn't happen.
Richard Gutierrez owns the Breaking Away Bicycle Shop down the street. He says, "If a car harasses you police are like we didn't see it so there's nothing we can do about it."
He says he's glad to see some accountability and enforcement.
Gutierrez said, "Should everything start going to court? Sure. Why not? Then maybe people will start taking things more seriously."
That being said Gutierrez, like many cyclists, is also a driver. And sees both sides.
"There's always someone doing something rude, particularly the bikes they just fly through here without even looking at the stop signs," Gutierrez said.
The bottom line is most incidents could be avoided if both parties followed the rules of the road, but just in case cyclists are being encouraged to hit record to protect themselves.
Elias says, "We do need more reporting. We do need to track the numbers."
