Is it worth reporting someone who brake checked you?

wazza2004

As the title says.

I was overtaking a hgv. A car zoomed up behind me. As soon as I overtook the hgv I was getting ready to move to first lane but the car behind me undertook me, got in front of me, and started to do heavy brake checks a few times. I was traveling at 70mph. Luckily the adaptive cruise control took over and started braking before me.

It left my passenger distressed and she ended up crying from this.

The other driver gave a middle finger salute and sped off.

I was angry because it left me in a dangerous situation. I had to check that the hgv had seen this and slowed down to avoid hitting me from behind.

Is it worth reporting this to the police? Has anyone reported a similar issue and what came out of it?

I know it won't go to court etc because I couldn't identify the driver. We do have a dashcam footage. The least I expect is for the driver to get a warning letter and to note that if he does it again he will be prosecuted.

I have seen a lengthy post dated 2019 on the subject of brake checking.

Just wanted to know if anyone got a result from reporting to the police.

Thanks in advance for any advice given

user1977

I have seen people saying the police "had a word" with the (presumed) driver in cases of obvious stupidity on dashcam, so I don't see any harm in reporting it.

jbainbridge

Yes .. especially as you have video evidence. See if the local police force has a way of submitting videos online, most do.

Marvel1

Send your dashcam footage:
https://www.nextbase.com/en-gb/national-dash-cam-safety-portal/

sevenhills

wazza2004 said:

Luckily my car braked just before me. Imagine if it was a young driver with not too much experience? They might hit the car in front or to avoid collision move into the first lane and risk being hit behind by the hgv they just overtook.

Sounds like you got yourself into a dangerous situation, but you were helped out by tech.

wazza2004

sevenhills said:

wazza2004 said:

Luckily my car braked just before me. Imagine if it was a young driver with not too much experience? They might hit the car in front or to avoid collision move into the first lane and risk being hit behind by the hgv they just overtook.

Sounds like you got yourself into a dangerous situation, but you were helped out by tech.

True. Tech reacted quicker than me. Had the cruise control set at 70mph. I always drive with my foot near the brake pedal if cruise control is on to be on the save side.  

DB1904

wazza2004 said:

As the title says.

I was overtaking a hgv. A car zoomed up behind me. As soon as I overtook the hgv I was getting ready to move to first lane but the car behind me undertook me, got in front of me, and started to do heavy brake checks a few times. I was traveling at 70mph. Luckily the adaptive cruise control took over and started braking before me.

It left my passenger distressed and she ended up crying from this.

The other driver gave a middle finger salute and sped off.

I was angry because it left me in a dangerous situation. I had to check that the hgv had seen this and slowed down to avoid hitting me from behind.

Is it worth reporting this to the police? Has anyone reported a similar issue and what came out of it?

I know it won't go to court etc because I couldn't identify the driver. We do have a dashcam footage. The least I expect is for the driver to get a warning letter and to note that if he does it again he will be prosecuted.

I have seen a lengthy post dated 2019 on the subject of brake checking.

Just wanted to know if anyone got a result from reporting to the police.

Thanks in advance for any advice given

The criminal justice system doesn't work like that. 

Flight3287462

There is ne excuse for the other guy to brake test you.  But perhaps you pulled out in front of him when he was going faster than you and you then tarried moving back to the left, were you deliberately being obstructive or trying to police someone going faster or not paying attention?

Only you can answer that, think about it.

JamoLew

Hunyani_Flight_825 said:

There is ne excuse for the other guy to brake test you.  But perhaps you pulled out in front of him when he was going faster than you and you then tarried moving back to the left, were you deliberately being obstructive or trying to police someone going faster or not paying attention?

Only you can answer that, think about it.

I wonder what the account of the other driver would have been.

It doesn’t matter how fast he was going - you should not perform any manoeuvre that causes another vehicle to change direction or speed

There is a good chance that you misjudged his speed and caused him to break heavily when you pulled out to overtake the HGV

It still doesn’t excuse his/her subsequent actions - but there is always more than one side to a story like this

wazza2004

I made sure that there was no one overtaking me or about to overtake me before I moved onto the second lane. Hgv and I just joined the dual carriageway after leaving the roundabout and were accelerating. I did my checks before moving onto second lane. Since both vehicle were accelerating I didn't overtake the hgv (that had no trailer attached) fast enough. The other driver left the roundabout and accelerated fast and caught up to me before I could complete the overtake manoeuvre. 

I will post a link to the dashcam footage after I had consulted with the police. 

Norman_Castle

If the footage shhows the reg definitely report it. Let the police decide if its worth following up.