I rode in the Tour de Peninsula ride (Bay Area) ride today. On one of the descents, specifically on La Honda Rd. (84) from Skyline to Portola, a woman in a silver BMW was driving recklessly, tailgating the cyclists and passing them on this two-lane road with almost no room to spare--in fact, she almost sideswiped one of my friends, coming within inches of contacting him at 30+ mph as he went around a curve. There was no reason for her to be passing him considering he was moving at the speed of traffic and another vehicle was directly in front of him. She scared us enough that we made sure to make note of her license plate number and get her physical description.

After the ride, some 8 hours later, I called the San Mateo sheriff's department to report what had happened. The woman who answered was very unhelpful and basically said such a report would just be ignored by the police department. She said that I would've had to report the driver while the event was happening and also hope that the police could then catch the driver red handed. I told her that I was concerned that this reckless driver would cause a serious accident if she continued to drive this way. Finally she agreed to at least take my report.

I'm shocked that police departments don't keep a record of reports like this. I think they should at least keep some records and, if a driver receives enough reports from the public, follow up with a knock on the door. Is that too much to ask?