Would you report this?

I was out running my usual route along unlit country roads at 4.45am this morning when an oncoming car didn't alter its course at all meaning I had to dive for the verge. They very nearly hit me and slowed down and flashed lights and blared horn as they went past.  I run with a head torch and covered in hi-viz and the road at that point is wide and straight and you can see oncoming traffic for a good mile and a half so there is no way they didn't see me. I have run that route without any problems for 4 years and this has really shaken me.  I didn't get any of  the reg number but it was a light coloured SPV with a GB sticker.  Do I just hope not to see them again or should I report this to the police to put a marker down in case of further incidents ? 

With the best will in the world with no registration there is nothing to put a marker on ....

Sadly there are some muppets behind the wheel and these things will happen on occaisions, had you got part and even better a full registration then reporting it would be good, with what you have I am afraid there is very little that can be done given the circumstances

No.

See if you can find the car and then pour brake fluid over it.  Or do nothing.

If you didnt get the reg plate - there's nothing you can do (sadly). As Meldy said - some drivers are just cock wombles.

Is there anywhere you can run offroad instead?

Absolutely! It is unlikely that anything concrete would be done on the basis of your experience alone, but who knows how many people this fine specimen of the driving public forced off the road that morning. It's all additional evidence if someone does get the Reg. No.

As for giving up and running off-road, pathetic. Runners/Pedestrians/Cyclists/Horses are all traffic and if some car drivers can't play nicely with other legitimate road-users then they should have their licence revoked permanently.

why is running offroad pathetic if it keeps you safer?

I have nothing against running off-road, but the OP has run on these roads for 4 years. She should be able to carry on doing it wthout harrassment.

We can't give up our use of the roads and surrender to the morons. Where I run the roads have decent pavements, but I have come across several idiots on my bike, spitting or throwing litter and abuse. I report them all, without fail. Where the police have been able to identify a driver/vehicle, they have taken it very seriously. That may be peculiar to GMP, though I hope not.

overthinkjing.can't imgine there were many other people running at 4;45 ........so unlikely to have happened to anyone else thistime.i would just write down a record of it and look out for them in the near future.......

i did add another comment to this post but it has disappeared for some reason, and now i cant remember what excatly i wrote!!

Don't be too sure that he saw you; I was once out running in the dark with Flying Ant of this parish, both of us in head torches, hi-viz reflective bibs, plus reflective flashes on our kit, when we were nearly collected by a car.

A few moments later, he'd turned round and pulled up alongside us and wound down the window. 'You ought to make yourselves more visible, lads,' he said. We were too stunned to have a go.

Taking the act of pulling out into the middle of the road as a sign that they'd seen us, we estimated that every other motorist could see us from about 300yds away.

Of course, some people are just knobs; I had a cracking game of chicken with a tractor the other day; he flinched before I did, but he was intent on driving at me.

In my experience even if you have the registration number the police will not be interested.

I reported someone who nearly ran me over on a zebra crossing because he'd overtaken stationary traffic, and the local police said there was nothing they could do.

Taxi Driver wrote (see)

I don't think that the suggestion of off-road running is pathetic... What one should theoretically be able to do and what one is in reality able to do aren't always the same thing... Surely it's more important to be safe & alive than "right" & dead.

Thanks, thats pretty much what my vanished post said, but probably not as well!

A head torch at 4.45am in the pitch black does not necessarily mean that you are visible, as Crashhamster's story shows. By the looks of his actions, it doesn't look like he saw you until he was nearly on you. Head torches are more effective in showing you where you are going than showing you to drivers. I would never assume I'd been seen when running on a road, least not at 4.45am in winter!

Taxi Driver wrote (see)

@Wilkie -- In fairness to the police it is always going to be difficult when it is one person's word against another, which is why I suggested wearing a head-cam... A lot of cyclists wear them these days so why not runners too?

I was on my way to work - it would have looked a bit odd (well, odder than normal).