16 May 2013

To the oxygen thief who stabbed my car tyre.

| Tim33
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oxygen thief

On the 11th of Feb 2013, I was returning to the HACS building in Belconnen to drop off some work. As I was pulling in to the driveway next to Zeffirelli’s that leads to the car-park area; there was a bloke in business attire that stepped right in front of me with what appeared to be headphones on and what appeared to be a APS pass hanging off his belt. I gave him a love tap on the horn to make him aware that I was there and drove on through.

After parking in the Loading Zone I got my work and proceeded into HACS. As I stepped through the glass entry doors I realized I had forgot my mobile phone so I turned back around and there was the same bloke, he was bending down and stabbing my back left tire. I approached him and asked him what he was doing, the coward took one look at me and started running for it. I gave chase but with leather work boots and an arm full of paperwork flying everywhere I just couldn’t catch him. There were several quite surprised witnesses to this event as it occurred in an ACT Government Car-park.

Imagine that, not being able to take a little warning honk and risking my life and the lives of others by vandalizing an ACT Government contractors car. If I hadn’t have seen this bloke puncturing the tyre I may have driven off and lost control around a crowd of people and/or other cars. With the help of some friendly CCTV owners I have a couple of shots of this criminal, it is unlikely that he will be caught for this act but I dare say my employers tyre isn’t the first that he has stabbed.

If the perp’ ever reads this; You had a stabbing implement in your hand and you were STILL too cowardly to stop and face me. If someone honks you and you don’t like it – get the heck over it or confront them to their face. Don’t endanger peoples lives over it. If you are a Commonwealth employee, you have breached the APS Code of Conduct and should be fired for this. The next person you do this to may run faster than me and you won’t be so lucky next time. Coward.

Please see photo lifted from CCTV of him running away past Zeffirelli’s. He could certainly move that is for sure. (sending photo to JB over email)

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Also note that driveway is NOT road.

KB1971 said :

Go and read rule 236.

This one? http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/tas/consol_reg/rr2009104/s236.html
First result on google, tasmania based, found one in SA that was less explicit aka had half of the content but still the main bits.

I believe what you are arguing on is clause (2) A pedestrian must not unreasonably obstruct the path of any driver or another pedestrian.

Which is fair enough, if you think he was unreasonably obstructing. When I think unreasonably obstructing I think of a group of people standing around having a yap in the carpark blocking cars from backing out. When I think unreasonably I think of using yourself as a human barrier because you have some sort of desire to piss the driver off.
I do not think that walking along a footpath (aka not a road) is “unreasonable obstruction”
Unless of course we know that the guy was standing and stepped in front at the last second, which we don’t.

Also note (7) In this rule –

road includes any shoulder of the road, and any median strip, painted island or traffic island, but does not include any other road-related area.

Tenpoints said :

Streetview of the footpath location:
https://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=Zefirelli's+belconnen&hl=en&ll=-35.237611,149.068307&spn=0.000658,0.000871&sll=-35.187821,149.122982&sspn=0.000661,0.000871&t=h&hq=Zefirelli's+belconnen&z=21&layer=c&cbll=-35.237611,149.068307&panoid=HAn-KI8J_QEAM0eA_IhoVg&cbp=12,20.39,,0,19.75

While it may be true that the pedestrian stepped out in front of the car without looking, it is unlikely that the OP would not have the opportunity to check for and give way to said pedestrian UNLESS a car was stopped in the no stopping areas (which as Google maps shows, has happened at least once).
As OP has not mentioned any cars blocking his view then it can be assumed that there were not any cars in these spaces and therefore the view was unobstructed.

A second defense might be that the pedestrian was walking extremely fast or sped up to cut in front of the car, Not knowing whether this was the case, I can assume if the pedestrian was walking at such a speed they would be in a hurry and thus not have time to take a detour to slash the OP’s tyre. Of course this proposition is complex as we do not know the state of mind of the pedestrian at the time and whether he is indeed a crazy nutter with violent tendencies or just someone who has been down to shit creek and back with their recent circumstances and used the trigger as an excuse to vent their stress. You said he was walking pretty fast but was it unpredictable?

Of course if a pedestrian were to run in front of you within the space you had to react then there is clearly no driver error involved. You can’t be expected to account for the clown who doesn’t look both ways after stepping onto the roadway while texting on their phone. That said, when you’re leaving the roadway and crossing a pedestrian footpath you do need to be aware of well… pedestrians. They do have right of way.

So if this guy was moving at a constant walking pace and you failed to observe him until he was right in front of you, unless you can tell us that your view was obstructed enough (by an illegally parked vehicle?) to prevent you from seeing him on time, then part of the fault lies in your hands for not taking into account his movement while giving way to him. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t think there’s a speed limit for pedestrians on footpaths.

In Russia pedestrians will often deliberately walk out onto crossings without looking in order to collect insurance from the “at-fault” driver who hit them. That plus a few other reasons (police corruption being the root cause) is why every second driver in Russia has a dashcam. In this situation, I get the impression that a guy was walking briskly along the footpath, you came along in a car, didn’t observe him or expect to give way to him, and then tooted him when he exercised his right of passage by continuing to walk on the footpath. Like I said, the only excuse I can see for this would be if he was moving unpredictably (like was he standing on the side of the driveway and as you pulled in he just decided to start crossing) or if your visibility was blocked by illegally parked vehicles.

That said, I do think pedestrians need to be aware of what is around them as in observing potential hazards in the same way as other road users are required to. General observation saves you from a lot of things. I also think this pedestrian was way out of line with his response, is indeed a coward and needs to take ownership of his actions.

So in conclusion, I remain doubtful until more information is given that your horn was justifeid. My thoughts at the moment can be summarised into a description such as: “A pedestrian was walking westbound along the footpath when a car attempted to pull in front of the pedestrian, only observing said pedestrian at the last minute and then proceeded to honk their horn.” As a pedestrian, this sounds to me like an agressive car driver thinking they have right of way on the footpath. The whole tyre slashing thing is an open and shut case as the guy committed a crime and everyone agrees he should be held accountable for that. The real debate is now focused on whether you were justified in your behaviour.

So please, give us more details. Enlighten us.
By the way if anything has changed about that crossing like additional signage or parking changes since the streetview photo then my challenge about visibility may be negated.

Go and read rule 236.

Streetview of the footpath location:
https://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=Zefirelli's+belconnen&hl=en&ll=-35.237611,149.068307&spn=0.000658,0.000871&sll=-35.187821,149.122982&sspn=0.000661,0.000871&t=h&hq=Zefirelli's+belconnen&z=21&layer=c&cbll=-35.237611,149.068307&panoid=HAn-KI8J_QEAM0eA_IhoVg&cbp=12,20.39,,0,19.75

While it may be true that the pedestrian stepped out in front of the car without looking, it is unlikely that the OP would not have the opportunity to check for and give way to said pedestrian UNLESS a car was stopped in the no stopping areas (which as Google maps shows, has happened at least once).
As OP has not mentioned any cars blocking his view then it can be assumed that there were not any cars in these spaces and therefore the view was unobstructed.

A second defense might be that the pedestrian was walking extremely fast or sped up to cut in front of the car, Not knowing whether this was the case, I can assume if the pedestrian was walking at such a speed they would be in a hurry and thus not have time to take a detour to slash the OP’s tyre. Of course this proposition is complex as we do not know the state of mind of the pedestrian at the time and whether he is indeed a crazy nutter with violent tendencies or just someone who has been down to shit creek and back with their recent circumstances and used the trigger as an excuse to vent their stress. You said he was walking pretty fast but was it unpredictable?

Of course if a pedestrian were to run in front of you within the space you had to react then there is clearly no driver error involved. You can’t be expected to account for the clown who doesn’t look both ways after stepping onto the roadway while texting on their phone. That said, when you’re leaving the roadway and crossing a pedestrian footpath you do need to be aware of well… pedestrians. They do have right of way.

So if this guy was moving at a constant walking pace and you failed to observe him until he was right in front of you, unless you can tell us that your view was obstructed enough (by an illegally parked vehicle?) to prevent you from seeing him on time, then part of the fault lies in your hands for not taking into account his movement while giving way to him. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t think there’s a speed limit for pedestrians on footpaths.

In Russia pedestrians will often deliberately walk out onto crossings without looking in order to collect insurance from the “at-fault” driver who hit them. That plus a few other reasons (police corruption being the root cause) is why every second driver in Russia has a dashcam. In this situation, I get the impression that a guy was walking briskly along the footpath, you came along in a car, didn’t observe him or expect to give way to him, and then tooted him when he exercised his right of passage by continuing to walk on the footpath. Like I said, the only excuse I can see for this would be if he was moving unpredictably (like was he standing on the side of the driveway and as you pulled in he just decided to start crossing) or if your visibility was blocked by illegally parked vehicles.

That said, I do think pedestrians need to be aware of what is around them as in observing potential hazards in the same way as other road users are required to. General observation saves you from a lot of things. I also think this pedestrian was way out of line with his response, is indeed a coward and needs to take ownership of his actions.

So in conclusion, I remain doubtful until more information is given that your horn was justifeid. My thoughts at the moment can be summarised into a description such as: “A pedestrian was walking westbound along the footpath when a car attempted to pull in front of the pedestrian, only observing said pedestrian at the last minute and then proceeded to honk their horn.” As a pedestrian, this sounds to me like an agressive car driver thinking they have right of way on the footpath. The whole tyre slashing thing is an open and shut case as the guy committed a crime and everyone agrees he should be held accountable for that. The real debate is now focused on whether you were justified in your behaviour.

So please, give us more details. Enlighten us.
By the way if anything has changed about that crossing like additional signage or parking changes since the streetview photo then my challenge about visibility may be negated.

Jono said :

Tim33 said :

It is frightening how many people on this thread have encouraged vigilantism by supporting this tosser. So by you’re logic should I commit an act of vigilantism onto him for what he has done? Lucky for him I am not criminal SCUM like he is. Thanks anyway Bus Driver and please thank you friend for offering to submit information.

In a situation where you’re required to be particularly careful and to give way to pedestrians, by your own description you’ve almost run one over (“I nearly hit him”). And you refuse to acknowledge that you’ve done anything wrong.

I’d almost prefer to have an encounter with the guy who let down your tyre – maybe, just maybe he’s feeling remorse about what he did and will change. Your inability to understand the danger of what you did clearly makes you a threat on the road.

Um, he said that the guy stepped off the footpath in front of him? Now I know the road rules say that pedestrians have right of way but in this case he doesn’t especially if he just stepped off the gutter in front of the car with little regard for how fast the car was moving or if Tim had to hit the brakes to take evasive action.

Fair dunkum, you were not even there to see the exact circumstance of the incident so how do you think Tim was at fault? From the picture it looks like Tim was not crossing a footpath where he would be required to give way.

TheBusDriver9:28 pm 19 May 13

Tim33 said :

I will describe him, he was about 5’9, grey hair in a crew cut. Maybe about 50yo, but there are a thousand other people that look just like that in Belconnen. I will recognize him if I see him again that is for sure.

Stand by Bus driver, I will have a chat to the police and ask them what it will achieve by putting a police report in and I will do it if they recommend it.

My mate is not sure, because it was a long time ago, and lots of people run for buses, but this guy ran through the bus interchange, looked like he was about to die from a heart attack, and kept looking behind him through the park. He ran into the ABS at 45 Benjamin Way Belconnen.
It could just be some other guy late for lunch or my friend’s memory muddled, but you have it for what it is worth.

Jhoe said :

your all b*ching”

Why thanks!

Urban dictionary spells it bitchin or bitchin’, either way, us Canberra people already know we are awesome!

Jhoe said :

Ugh i hate canberra people. So glad im not from here. Someone makes a post about a douche not watching where he was going and therefore gets a honk. Most of you are carrying on about him being in the wrong for honking. Even worse your all b*ching about grammar and spelling. Typical of canberra people

I was the original grammar fascist in this thread but I will disappoint you by being from NSW. Further, I was born overseas.
So I guess I’m not a typical Canberran but if you wish, you can still hate me…

GardeningGirl5:06 pm 19 May 13

Well this thread has attracted some interesting comments.
FWIW I agree the pedestrian was a tosser and criminal as well. Better he gets the opportunity to reconsider how he walks around after being honked by a horn than after being conveyed to hospital in an ambulance.

MightyJoe said :

….. Seriously people, if someone taps the horn behind you, a wave or a thumb usually should suffice to apologise.. heck, the amount of times people have done so to me (due to a silly error – hey we’re all human!) i’ll give a sorry wave or a thumb.

Another thing that gets my goat is people that do the wrong thing and then proceed to hurl fingers when you beep the horn.. you were in the wrong… (reminds me of the parking meme the other day)

Its a long time since gentle reminder/civilised acknowledgement was the norm. 🙁

Ugh i hate canberra people. So glad im not from here. Someone makes a post about a douche not watching where he was going and therefore gets a honk. Most of you are carrying on about him being in the wrong for honking. Even worse your all b*ching about grammar and spelling. Typical of canberra people

Tim33 said :

… I am completely aware of the road rules but obviously I don’t believe they apply to me.

Fixed it for you

Tim33 said :

It is frightening how many people on this thread have encouraged vigilantism by supporting this tosser. So by you’re logic should I commit an act of vigilantism onto him for what he has done? Lucky for him I am not criminal SCUM like he is. Thanks anyway Bus Driver and please thank you friend for offering to submit information.

In a situation where you’re required to be particularly careful and to give way to pedestrians, by your own description you’ve almost run one over (“I nearly hit him”). And you refuse to acknowledge that you’ve done anything wrong.

I’d almost prefer to have an encounter with the guy who let down your tyre – maybe, just maybe he’s feeling remorse about what he did and will change. Your inability to understand the danger of what you did clearly makes you a threat on the road.

@Tim33

No question he overreacted in a criminal fashion to what really is in the scheme of things quite trivial.If i had a problem with someone honking the horn at me and assuming i felt it was inappropriate i would confront the honker and tell him or her precisely what i thought.

There is no way i would slash a tyre.He really is quite a pathetic coward!

Correction to above post – “So by your logic” as opposed to “So by you’re logic”. Jeez if I ever get the hang of it (unlikely!) I may become an RA grammar nazi too.

Ok so I called the Tuggeranong Police station and they said that my employer has to put in a police report because he was the victim. He also said I have left it a bit late as I did.

My employer thought it was funny and won’t put a report in. The police sympathized with me however and said even pedestrians have a duty of care and just can’t walk around with their head down, he said the honk was perfectly reasonable to make him aware.

Ah well so this post is now just to inform others what happened and watch out for the HACS carpark! it looks like others have had similar issues.

It is frightening how many people on this thread have encouraged vigilantism by supporting this tosser. So by you’re logic should I commit an act of vigilantism onto him for what he has done? Lucky for him I am not criminal SCUM like he is. Thanks anyway Bus Driver and please thank you friend for offering to submit information.

TheBusDriver said :

…………..My mate recall past cases on this site where people have posted dodgy stories that have proven to be a pack of lies, so he wants a police number before he’ll pass on anything else.

Oh yeah, as if that’s ever happened on RiotACT! 😉

Grrrr said :

I’m not going to claim it’s justification for property damage, but you seem unwilling to admit being in the wrong to start off with.

Have you figured out yet that the pedestrian had right of way, and you tooted him because YOU were apparently driving too fast? http://www.ntc.gov.au/filemedia/Reports/ARRFeb12.pdf

75 – Giving way when entering a road-related area or adjacent land from a road:
(1) A driver entering a road-related area or adjacent land from a place on a road without traffic lights or a stop sign, stop line, give way sign or give way line must give way to:
(b) any vehicle or pedestrian on any road-related area that the driver crosses or enters

The claiming the attempt to flatten your tyre being equates to life-threatening behaviour whilst suggesting that you almost running him over is nothing more than “hurt feelings” is rather hypocritical.

You said it right there, ‘it isn’t justification for property damage’ so why bother with the rest of it? It looks like you went to a lot of trouble to get that information. It was all for nothing I am completely aware of the road rules.

TheBusDriver said :

Tim33 said :

TheBusDriver said :

Hi Tim. I am hoping / assuming you reported this to the police? Can you please let us know the police report number so we can pass along information? I assume you’re not planning on any silly revenge and will pursue this the proper way through the courts. Please let us know that police report number so I can pass along some information.

G’day Bus Driver, I definitely am not planning any revenge. It was more the safety aspect that worried me and the fact that this bloke (appeared) to be a Commonwealth public servant. I thought pursuing it with the police would be futile as I didn’t get his identity, so I thought I would at least make people aware with this post.

If you have some relevant information that may lead to a conviction I will definitely put in a police report and put my name to it. I am not afraid of that and I have done it before on another traffic incident that I witnessed. This information that you have, will it actually lead to an identity or arrest?

Oh well you’ll need the police to get the info anyway.
As you will realise, there are a lot of buses and bus drivers in that part of the world. Bus drivers like to gasbag about our day. Imagine my surprise when one gas bagged about an idiot in office attire who ran through the bus interchange back then.
Oh, I just realised the footage at the bus interchange is not kept that long. Why did you wait months to do this story?
Anyway, check Benjamin Offices for your BEAN COUNTER.
If you had a police report number, a better image and a more belivable story we might be able to help you more. But this story comes across as pretty dodgy. Why did you wait from Feb 11th to May 16th to do a peice on this? Why could you describe the guy’s clothing but not his face, height, age or appearance? If you have pictures, why use one that could be any guy in office attire?
My mate recall past cases on this site where people have posted dodgy stories that have proven to be a pack of lies, so he wants a police number before he’ll pass on anything else.

I assure you all this really happened and I was completely honest in my description. I didn’t put a police report in because I thought it was futile because I didn’t know who he was and my boss laughed at the fact that I chased him and then told me to go and simply get the spare replaced at Tuggeranong. So why post the story so late? Because I found the photo again on my computer recently and only just thought of using RA as it is a great sounding board for stuff like this.

I have to establish what it will achieve if I put a police report in, I presume you only take someone to court if you want to sue for damages – I cannot sue for damages because the Ute belongs to my place of employment and they were not fussed about paying for a spare. I could sue for the hour of inconvenience it took to change the tyre but what is the point suing for $50.00ish? I suppose I would simply want the criminal damage on his police record that is all. I wanted to make others aware of what happened as well. It is the principle of the thing that pisses me off.

I will describe him, he was about 5’9, grey hair in a crew cut. Maybe about 50yo, but there are a thousand other people that look just like that in Belconnen. I will recognize him if I see him again that is for sure. Stand by Bus driver, I will have a chat to the police and ask them what it will achieve by putting a police report in and I will do it if they recommend it.

TheBusDriver said :

If you had a police report number, a better image and a more belivable story we might be able to help you more. But this story comes across as pretty dodgy.

Plus the tooled up office worker, the stealthy (but not-too-stealthy) power strike, the effort to chase down CCTV images but not go to the police …yeah, I smell dodgy.

TheBusDriver5:48 pm 18 May 13

Tim33 said :

TheBusDriver said :

Hi Tim. I am hoping / assuming you reported this to the police? Can you please let us know the police report number so we can pass along information? I assume you’re not planning on any silly revenge and will pursue this the proper way through the courts. Please let us know that police report number so I can pass along some information.

G’day Bus Driver, I definitely am not planning any revenge. It was more the safety aspect that worried me and the fact that this bloke (appeared) to be a Commonwealth public servant. I thought pursuing it with the police would be futile as I didn’t get his identity, so I thought I would at least make people aware with this post.

If you have some relevant information that may lead to a conviction I will definitely put in a police report and put my name to it. I am not afraid of that and I have done it before on another traffic incident that I witnessed. This information that you have, will it actually lead to an identity or arrest?

Oh well you’ll need the police to get the info anyway.
As you will realise, there are a lot of buses and bus drivers in that part of the world. Bus drivers like to gasbag about our day. Imagine my surprise when one gas bagged about an idiot in office attire who ran through the bus interchange back then.
Oh, I just realised the footage at the bus interchange is not kept that long. Why did you wait months to do this story?
Anyway, check Benjamin Offices for your BEAN COUNTER.
If you had a police report number, a better image and a more belivable story we might be able to help you more. But this story comes across as pretty dodgy. Why did you wait from Feb 11th to May 16th to do a peice on this? Why could you describe the guy’s clothing but not his face, height, age or appearance? If you have pictures, why use one that could be any guy in office attire?
My mate recall past cases on this site where people have posted dodgy stories that have proven to be a pack of lies, so he wants a police number before he’ll pass on anything else.

I’m not going to claim it’s justification for property damage, but you seem unwilling to admit being in the wrong to start off with. Have you figured out yet that the pedestrian had right of way, and you tooted him because YOU were apparently driving too fast? http://www.ntc.gov.au/filemedia/Reports/ARRFeb12.pdf

75 – Giving way when entering a road-related area or adjacent land from a road:
(1) A driver entering a road-related area or adjacent land from a place on a road without traffic lights or a stop sign, stop line, give way sign or give way line must give way to:
(b) any vehicle or pedestrian on any road-related area that the driver crosses or enters

The claiming the attempt to flatten your tyre being equates to life-threatening behaviour whilst suggesting that you almost running him over is nothing more than “hurt feelings” is rather hypocritical.

wildturkeycanoe12:47 pm 18 May 13

We get charged heaps for water, pay a tax on carbon and now people are stealing oxygen?? Are you sure you had your tire filled with oxygen? If filled from a service station, only 20.95% would have been oxygen so he didn’t get value anyway. What kind of container was the stolen air placed in?

CraigT said :

Tim33 said :

Grammar nazi’s! it was bound to happen, this is the interwebs not a University paper! Also if ‘would of’ made no sense to you how were you able to offer a correction?

@Sandman, the danger was I nearly hit him. My sounding the horn had a bit of heat of the moment involved as well as the making him aware part, I am actually usually very courteous on the road.

But I digress, why am I defending myself? I am not in the wrong in this situation, he was the one who defaced my employers car.

Sounds like you tried to bully somebody who was having none of it. Good on him.

Motorists are required to give way to pedestrians on a turn. I know this is futile in Canberra, but here goes anyway: Learn to drive and stop trying to bully people on the road with your ridiculous ute.

Actually I am allowing myself to be sidetracked by trolls. Go away troll.

Back to the task at hand.

TheBusDriver said :

Hi Tim. I am hoping / assuming you reported this to the police? Can you please let us know the police report number so we can pass along information? I assume you’re not planning on any silly revenge and will pursue this the proper way through the courts. Please let us know that police report number so I can pass along some information.

G’day Bus Driver, I definitely am not planning any revenge. It was more the safety aspect that worried me and the fact that this bloke (appeared) to be a Commonwealth public servant. I thought pursuing it with the police would be futile as I didn’t get his identity, so I thought I would at least make people aware with this post.

If you have some relevant information that may lead to a conviction I will definitely put in a police report and put my name to it. I am not afraid of that and I have done it before on another traffic incident that I witnessed. This information that you have, will it actually lead to an identity or arrest?

Tim33 said :

Grammar nazi’s! it was bound to happen, this is the interwebs not a University paper! Also if ‘would of’ made no sense to you how were you able to offer a correction?

@Sandman, the danger was I nearly hit him. My sounding the horn had a bit of heat of the moment involved as well as the making him aware part, I am actually usually very courteous on the road.

But I digress, why am I defending myself? I am not in the wrong in this situation, he was the one who defaced my employers car.

Sounds like you tried to bully somebody who was having none of it. Good on him.

Motorists are required to give way to pedestrians on a turn. I know this is futile in Canberra, but here goes anyway: Learn to drive and stop trying to bully people on the road with your ridiculous ute.

tuco said :

Tim – you might want to stand by in regard to the nazis. Or nazi’s. Or n@5l$.

Can any of the 4WD community contribute about how hard it would be to put a pocket knife through a tyre? My experiences in off-road tyre abuse suggests that this is a major effort by the chap.

While 4WD tyres are built with stronger carcass construction the sidewall if a tyre is no match for a small knife. Most of the extra belt s are centered around the tread area to prevent rocks & such from penetrating. The sidewall is built to flex as it bears a lot of the movement in a tyre when as it turns.

I would say that it would only need moderately more strength than a car tyre to push a knife through the sidewall.

TheBusDriver7:06 pm 17 May 13

Hi Tim. I am hoping / assuming you reported this to the police? Can you please let us know the police report number so we can pass along information? I assume you’re not planning on any silly revenge and will pursue this the proper way through the courts. Please let us know that police report number so I can pass along some information.

Tim33 said :

Grammar nazi’s!

Greengrocer’s apostrophe alert!

Tim33 said :

Grammar nazi’s! it was bound to happen, this is the interwebs not a University paper! Also if ‘would of’ made no sense to you how were you able to offer a correction?

@Sandman, the danger was I nearly hit him. My sounding the horn had a bit of heat of the moment involved as well as the making him aware part, I am actually usually very courteous on the road.

But I digress, why am I defending myself? I am not in the wrong in this situation, he was the one who defaced my employers car.

Maybe he got beeped to point out his error to him, hopefully he will take it onboard and remember to pay attention when walking about etc..

Tim33 said :

Grammar nazi’s! it was bound to happen,

Oh, the irony!

bundah said :

You don’t happen to live anywhere near Pitchka do you? 🙂

I recall him having parked out the front of my place once, I NEVER FORGET!!!

Tim – you might want to stand by in regard to the nazis. Or nazi’s. Or n@5l$.

Can any of the 4WD community contribute about how hard it would be to put a pocket knife through a tyre? My experiences in off-road tyre abuse suggests that this is a major effort by the chap.

Tim33 said :

Grammar nazi’s! it was bound to happen, this is the interwebs not a University paper! Also if ‘would of’ made no sense to you how were you able to offer a correction?.

* no apostrophe was required in Nazis as you were using the term as a plural. HTH
* “would of” only makes sense because so many of you use it instead of “would have”. It is a common error and somewhat annoying.
* University papers are not the only place where proper spelling and grammar are appreciated.

gentoopenguin10:25 pm 16 May 13

LSWCHP said :

Some dogs keyed both sides of my car and let down all my tyres (slowly) in Belco one day not because I’d offended them, but simply for their own amusement. The tyre thing could’ve killed me and my family.

Canberra is a safe city relative to other cities, but it is not safe in absolute terms. Everybody needs to be aware that there are crazy people in Canberra who will damage or destroy your property and harm you for fun.

+1 There is a particular dose of concentrated crazies around Belconnen Mall of late.

Tim33 said :

Grammar nazi’s! it was bound to happen, this is the interwebs not a University paper! Also if ‘would of’ made no sense to you how were you able to offer a correction?

This isn’t about being a “grammar nazi”, “would of” simply doesn’t mean anything – the fact that I was able to work it out doesn’t mean that it does.

“I have done my English homework.” … “I would have done my English homework.”

Presumably since seemingly you would say, “I would of done my English homework”, if you’re consistent you would also say, “I of done my English homework”? And you genuinely think that that makes sense? Seriously?

Tim33 said :

@Sandman, the danger was I nearly hit him.

Given that you nearly hit a pedestrian in a situation where the road rules say that car drivers MUST give way to all pedestrians, perhaps you should be having a bit of a think about your driving.

As I said, there’s no justification for what he did, but you need to have a think too.

Tim33 said :

Grammar nazi’s!

The plural of Nazi is Nazis. Apostrophes are used to indicate possession, or the contraction of a word combination. Apostrophes have nothing to do with plurals. Furthermore, Nazi is a proper noun and thus should begin with a capital letter.

Grammar nazi’s! it was bound to happen, this is the interwebs not a University paper! Also if ‘would of’ made no sense to you how were you able to offer a correction?

@Sandman, the danger was I nearly hit him. My sounding the horn had a bit of heat of the moment involved as well as the making him aware part, I am actually usually very courteous on the road.

But I digress, why am I defending myself? I am not in the wrong in this situation, he was the one who defaced my employers car.

Jono said :

Tim33 said :

..he walked across without even looking or glancing to see if there was traffic so I gave a horn tap to let him know I was there.

How do you deal with pedestrian crossings? If a pedestrian walks out without looking, you use your horn to let them know that you’re there? I can’t see any difference between the two situations, so presumably you do, which I’d imagine leads to some annoyed pedestrians.

However, I have no problem with your main point.

Anyone who does what you’ve described is a complete drop kick and I hope that he gets his just desserts.

Agreed, yes he is an asshat but why do you feel the need to use your horn in this situation? There was no danger, no real inconvenience to you and neither party was really in the right or wrong. It’s almost as though you were demanding an apology from him. Why not just wait the 5 seconds for him to pass and let it slide? Demanding some kind of respect isn’t going to help. All that does is start a bigger stick syndrome that’ll turn us into another USA.

Some dogs keyed both sides of my car and let down all my tyres (slowly) in Belco one day not because I’d offended them, but simply for their own amusement. The tyre thing could’ve killed me and my family.

Canberra is a safe city relative to other cities, but it is not safe in absolute terms. Everybody needs to be aware that there are crazy people in Canberra who will damage or destroy your property and harm you for fun.

Tim33 said :

I probably would of explained

Grrrr…

Tim33 said :

… would of …

How hard is this? “Would have”, not “would of”. The latter makes no sense whatsoever.

Tim33 said :

..he walked across without even looking or glancing to see if there was traffic so I gave a horn tap to let him know I was there.

How do you deal with pedestrian crossings? If a pedestrian walks out without looking, you use your horn to let them know that you’re there? I can’t see any difference between the two situations, so presumably you do, which I’d imagine leads to some annoyed pedestrians.

However, I have no problem with your main point. Anyone who does what you’ve described is a complete drop kick and I hope that he gets his just desserts.

Thanks for all the comments, he will get his one day I’m sure.

tuco said :

Wait – so he had the implement already with him?
Or he could find a suitable weapon in the few moments you had your back turned?
Wow – must be fun working in that place.

I think he had a pocket knife of some sort, he appeared to be in the process of putting it away when I confronted him,

thebrownstreak69 said :

What colour was the pass? What direction was the guy walking when the original incident occurred?

It appeared to be white if my memory serves correctly. I didn’t get the best of looks at it, I was so close to seeing his name. The original direction he was walking was up Chandler Street on the pharmacy side towards Zeffirelli’s. In some more footage that I have seen he appears to come in view crossing the road from the mall and is carrying what appeared to be a sports bag.

Martlark said :

.. As I was pulling in to the driveway next to Zeffirelli’s that leads to the car-park area; there was a bloke in business attire that stepped right in front of me ..

Perhaps if you’d paid attention to the road rules and given way to pedestrians when turning off a road he’d not gotten all riled up at you tooting him when you where in the wrong. Still, stabbing your tyres is a bit of a strong reaction. Giving you a mouthful for not knowing the road rules may have sufficed.

He came in pretty fast and I just saw him and braked, he walked across without even looking or glancing to see if there was traffic so I gave a horn tap to let him know I was there. If he would have confronted me verbally I probably would of explained and apologized if the honk hurt his feelings; but it is completely irreverent – he committed a potentially life threatening criminal act, there is no justification for it at all.

detached_dingleberry2:29 pm 16 May 13

What a dog act! Can only imagine how deflated you must have felt.

MightyJoe said :

Another thing that gets my goat is people that do the wrong thing and then proceed to hurl fingers when you beep the horn.. you were in the wrong… (reminds me of the parking meme the other day)

That’s the thing isnt it? “I’m doing the wrong thing, how dare you pull me up on it! raaaghhh!”

.. As I was pulling in to the driveway next to Zeffirelli’s that leads to the car-park area; there was a bloke in business attire that stepped right in front of me ..

Perhaps if you’d paid attention to the road rules and given way to pedestrians when turning off a road he’d not gotten all riled up at you tooting him when you where in the wrong. Still, stabbing your tyres is a bit of a strong reaction. Giving you a mouthful for not knowing the road rules may have sufficed.

Did he run like a girl?

ACT Government Shopfront employee????

Im not sure if this is a code of conduct issue, as it didnt happen on govt. premises. Despite claims I dont think there are many cases where code of conduct action against an employee has been successful in cases like this, where actions have happened outside the workplace area.

If the person put the service in disrepute (ie. say in a govt work uniform so it was clear they worked for a department/agency, their actions were publicised in a manner that tarnished the reputation of the govt/agency in question) then perhaps so.

This doesnt change the fact that the person has allegedly committed criminal damage. Criminal convictions can mean revocation of security clearances, etc. and Im pretty sure a public servant is required to be a “fit and proper person” to hold a position – which they wouldnt be if successfully charged.

My personal opinion is the person in question has some serious issues, and hope for the OP that they get caught and punished appropriately.

People have gotten way too emotional these days. Similar thing happened to me (not the trye stabbing though).

Driving down to Belco Way and the tradie waiting at the lights (coming down from Jamieson) was waiting at the lights. green light and as I was coming down behind him, he still had not proceeded (this was a good amount of time). Gave a bit on the horn (so I wouldn’t need to stop at the green light).

Result. Tradie started hurling fingers and abuse out the window and proceeded to conduct emergency braking with me behind him.

Managed to get around him and into another lane, pulls up behind me and starts hurling more abuse (with ‘get out of the car ya caarnt’)

Green light and i sped the hell away!

Seriously people, if someone taps the horn behind you, a wave or a thumb usually should suffice to apologise.. heck, the amount of times people have done so to me (due to a silly error – hey we’re all human!) i’ll give a sorry wave or a thumb.

Another thing that gets my goat is people that do the wrong thing and then proceed to hurl fingers when you beep the horn.. you were in the wrong… (reminds me of the parking meme the other day)

My husband works at HACT and parked exactly where you have when roughly 12 months ago the entire passenger side of his car was keyed. He was understandably livid and the perp was never found.

If it was an APS employee it’s surely a breach of conduct, especially if his pass was on display.

I hope you catch him!

HiddenDragon12:05 pm 16 May 13

Had he tripped, and done himself a mischief (perish the thought) while fleeing, it’s nice to think that the resultant compensation claim would have been denied.

My husband works for HACT and has parked exactly where you describe and someone keyed the entire passenger side of his vehicle about 12 months ago. He was livid and understandably so.

As for the poster who asked if it was a code of conduct issue – how? Beeping a horn? Posting on the RA? Just where exactly are you going with that comment?

So if it was an APS employee what departments are around there? ATO (not sure if they’re still around there), ABS, ACMA…

ABS seems to be the closest to zeffirelli’s.

Tetranitrate11:25 am 16 May 13

How does a clown like this get hired by a government department in the first place? I mean seriously – does he just carry around a knife/screwdriver/ect wherever he goes? wtf

Yogie said :

Obviously a criminal act – but a breach of the APS Code of Conduct?!?! Opinion sought…..

This guy breaches almost all points in the code of conduct.

Especially failing to comply with Australian laws – eg destruction of Government property

funbutalsoserious10:49 am 16 May 13

what a gutless act

Rawhide Kid Part310:48 am 16 May 13

Yogie said :

Obviously a criminal act – but a breach of the APS Code of Conduct?!?! Opinion sought…..

Can be a breach if the offender is identified as a Public Servant as the OP says by noticing the APS ID Pass and it is during that persons working hours.

thebrownstreak6910:41 am 16 May 13

What colour was the pass? What direction was the guy walking when the original incident occurred?

Gungahlin Al10:39 am 16 May 13

It would be interesting for the security folk at the nearby departmental offices to look through their footage of employees leaving their offices shortly before that time to see if they have close matches. Headphones may be visible too.

I would think this is the sort of behaviour departments would not want from any staff, so would likely be willing to task after hours staff to do the groundwork.

Wait – so he had the implement already with him?
Or he could find a suitable weapon in the few moments you had your back turned?
Wow – must be fun working in that place.

Oxygen thief. Best. title. ever.

Obviously a criminal act – but a breach of the APS Code of Conduct?!?! Opinion sought…..

You don’t happen to live anywhere near Pitchka do you? 🙂

thebrownstreak6910:26 am 16 May 13

Oxygen thief? It’s probably more accurate to call him a nitrogen thief.

Conan of Cooma10:18 am 16 May 13

Er… Just hang around and keep an eye out for him? He’s obviously local!

PBO said :

You dont touch a mans car (or womans either)

That’s the rule I live by. Touch me but don’t go near my car!

Surely there must be other CCTV installations around that would also have gotten an image of this F##ker, this guy needs to be caught, charged, fired and publicly humiliated.

You dont touch a mans car (or womans either)

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