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Cycle-cam shames drivers on YouTube
Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent20.02.08
London cyclists are investing in helmet-mounted cameras to record their daily commute, so they have video evidence against careless drivers if they are knocked off and hurt.
A website selling the cameras, which cost between £80 and £500, said sales had tripled in the last year.
Increasing numbers of angry cyclists have uploaded clips to video sharing sites such as YouTube in a bid to shame offending drivers.
"We originally started selling these to snowboarders and mountain bikers," said Sab Jhooti of www.actioncameras.co.uk. "However, we found people have been using them to record their ride into work, and cyclists now account for the bulk of our sales."
The small cameras clip onto a rider's helmet. To view the footage cyclists put a memory card into a PC or connect the camera via a cable.
Andy Barrett, 36, a software engineer who commutes from Heathrow to Staines every day, has worn a helmet camera for almost two years. "It gives me a sense of security. I've uploaded almost 60 videos of my incidents to YouTube," he said.
CLICK BELOW TO SEE SOME OF THE CYCLISTS' CLOSE SHAVES ON LONDON'S ROADS
Reader views (27)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
You need to get your heads sorted. Everyone breaks the law on the roads, all motorist speed braking the law, many don't have insurance,tax,license etc etc, which are legally required.
Thousands drive, drugged, drunk,using mobile phones and incapable ... ALL IN CHARGE OF A HALF TON + KILLING MACHINE.
When a cyclist breaks the law he risks nothing but their own safety.
BTW, there is no such thing as road tax, cyclists are NOT required to have insurance, nor are they legally obliged to use cycle lanes.
For everyone’s information, drivers should, when overtaking , give as much room as they would another motor vehicle, that means they should straddle the centre dividing line.
- Andy, london
"In the first clip,why was he trying to force through a gap that was too thin? He is as bad as the car driver."
Maybe because in the first clip the bicycle had the right of way over the oncoming traffic who were passing cars parked in their lane? When they saw him coming, they all should have given way, instead they played 'follow the leader'.
- Brian, York, UK
The videos posted to this page are very tame, I actually came home one day with a cars wing mirror (the whole unit) stuck to the webbing of my rucksack after being clipped - the driver didn't stop.
There's no mention here of all the car drivers that still drive while using mobile phones and moving across two lanes and back to answer a call, or people staring at their phones trying to do a text message while doing 40.
Hands up all the car drivers who posted to this topic that use a mobile phone whilst driving (not hands free, but normally?) you going to admit it?
Daily, I see people steering the car with their knees while doing make up or shaving and people reading newspapers with little or no regard for what's on the road.
- Matt, Midlands
Helmet cameras are great, brilliant for improving your own road craft as you can get your mates to comment on how better to deal with a specific junction for example. They're also great for putting in complaints to companies when a liveried car is driven badly. How embarrassing must that be to be called in to see the transport manager, and have your poor driving viewed by the both of you?
I do this for the next cyclists that driver will meet - this sort of action will do much to improve the driving of people when they realise there are consequences to their thoughtless actions.
For those making the standard red light jumping comments, as a cyclist and driver I don't approve either, and I'm not in the minority based on the cyclists on my commute. I'll bet you aren't aware that an RAC study found that 1 in 5 bus drivers and 1 in 10 car drivers go through red lights in London. Now that is *really* shocking, because that's lethally irresponsible behaviour. I'd be willing to bet that more drivers would go through reds if the vehicle in front wasn't blocking them either. Regardless, I'd love to see police enforcing the law for both drivers and cyclists.
- Mike, London, UK
90% of cyclists zoom through red lights, use pavements (endangering pedestrians) whenever they feel like it, drive the wrong way in one-way streets and carry no lights at night (except, in some cases, for very dim red lights only in the back). People who infringe laws that easily should not complain about others. Have a look at the way cyclists behave in Amsterdam or Copenhagen, with reflecting plastic sign on the side of their bikes, reflecting tags on their clothes, not to mention the fact that they behave responsibly and stop at red lights, etc.
It's high time something were done in this country, where a bike seems to be a licence for flouting the laws of the road.
- Sebastian Puigrefagut Lopez, London
As a cyclist, I think most motorists are considerate. A minority are not.
- Charlotte, London, UK
Cyclists should be made to wear a tabard or band with their house number and postcode on the front and back in 4in high letters so that pedestrians can record their antics and prosecute them when they plough through red lights scattering pedestrians.
- Dave, Woolwich
The Gene Genie, you say "cyclists" as if it is one person. I could say, "all motorists run red lights and speed and illegally talk on their mobile phones." Well, a lot of them do but not all of them.
For my part, I would have ridden further out in the lane in that 2nd video to prevent something like that idiot truck driver from passing so close. There isn't enough room on that road for both to pass like that. Somebody probably would have honked then but that's fine. That means they see me and I can safely ignore them (unless the honking sounds homicidal). I worry more about the ones who don't see me.
Cyclists get hysterical about somebody passing close because if through inattention that truck had hit another vehicle, it probably would have damaged it, bent the metal up a bit. But if it had hit the cyclist, especially at the speed it was travelling, he probably would be dead now.
- Kerry, London, UK
Cyclists get hysterical if a car goes within 3 feet of them, yet think nothing of blasting through red lights, even when people are crossing with the green man in their favour. They think they have priority at all times and under all circumstances. Sanctimonious hypocrites the lot of them.
- The Gene Genie, Croydon
I have to say that most near misses and dangerous occurrences I have seen as a cyclist and an occasional driver, involve either pedestrians stepping out in front of cyclists in to a cycle lane, cars and other vehicles ignoring the advance stop lines at traffic lights (which are there to protect cyclists), and cyclists behaving in unpredictable ways which make it difficult for drivers to anticipate their actions.
Not many drivers (I hope) want to intentionally hit cyclists or anybody else for that matter. It is true that there are some idiots on our roads, and people make mistakes, but for the cyclists, the more visible they are and if they have good lane position and avoid moves that drivers might not reasonably anticipate, are unlikely to get into a collision with a car.
At the same time, drivers need to have a bit more patience sometimes and not behave aggressively for the sake of gaining 4 seconds before the next red lights, and there need to be more drivers observing the advanced stop lines at traffic lights to avoid cyclists either being in a dangerous location at a junction, or having to creep forward through red lights.
Many London boroughs now provide free or subsidised adult cycle training, which I definitely think more people should be doing to gain confidence and awareness of the road law. (That, and many of those green things councils calls "cycle lanes" are actually more dangerous than useful!)
- Rob, London, England
Well, John from Leytonstone, motorists don't own the roads either. There is no road tax. Not for decades. Motorist taxes (which like 40% of motorist avoid paying anyway) go into the general fund with all the other taxes. Road building and maintenance comes back out of that general fund (in a much greater amount than is paid in by motorist taxes) and out of local council taxes which everybody pays. Since cyclists and pedestrians cause much less wear and tear on the roads, maybe they should get a refund on what they have paid in. And just because you pay for the NHS doesn't mean you own an MRI machine. In addition, motorized vehicles are LICENSED to use the roads while non motorized users have the RIGHT to the road.
- Kerry, London, UK
Really! It has got to the point where 'drivers' think it's fine to have a dig at all cyclists and tar them with the same brush. Not everyone cycles badly! It would be like saying, 'I'm yet to see a driver who hasn't driven dangerously'. Get a grip people.
- Lewis Hughes, South London
I would think that wearing cameras on helmets will show how many stupid things cyclists do in a day twice this morning I have see cyclists ride through people crossing a zebra crossing. On the second time the cyclist was pulled from his bike and thumped for riding in to a woman. At least twenty to thirty cyclists a day going through red lights and then riding around a vehicle almost to be hit by a vehicle coming the other way.
Cycle users ought think in any accident they will normally come off worse apart from riding on the pavement and hitting pedestrians.
- John, woodford essex
Cyclists (push & motorbikes) do not pay enough insurance to warrant their recklessness. I've yet to see one on the road that is riding sensibly, and witnessed some attempting to overtake cars. I mean, COME ON! The roads here are too narrow for most cars, forget parking or cyclists, so to be fair, if the govt wants to advocate cycling, widen the roads. Until then, cyclists should work within the limits of the roads and laws we have, just like the rest of us.
- Veronica, Staines
Perhaps we should all have cameras and expose cyclists who are by far the worst participants on our roads. Because they are vulnerable, they think, it gives them the right to ride whichever way they like. Yes too, the fact that they are "green" the latest socio-political fad, makes them invincible
- Zachary Raikov, Berkshire, England
How many cyclists jumping red lights has he recorded and uploaded? I ride across London and back everyday, although my two wheels are accompanied by an engine and a crash helmet. However everyday I see more and more cyclists jumping red lights, illegal left and right turns, mounting pavements etc. And the most ironic thing is Ken wants to put MORE money into this menace. I realise that we need to be green BUT it's about time cyclists realised that they do not pay anything towards London's roads and therefore don't own them.
- John, Leytonstone London, London UK
All the comments about cyclists breaking the law,
I presume you are unaware of the police handing out fines to cyclists caught jumping red lights?
Do not fret my dear motorists. Bad cycling attracts fines too.
- Colin, UK
"...without the participant's consent"? Rather like CCTV cameras you mean?
- Bnm, Malden, London, UK
"What about the large number of cyclists that break the law on a daily basis? Jumping red lights and weaving in and out of traffic? Seems to me things as one sided - a cyclist can report a bad motorist through his/her registration number, but motorists can't report a bad cyclist? It's time cyclists were registered and held accountable for their bad road behaviour."
What's worse, a momentary fit of pique at seeing a naughty cyclist (jump a red light, or killing someone?
Have some sense of proportion. I know the roads are clogged up. With cars. But no need to take out all the frustrations on some silly people who jump red lights. It's wrong, but in what way does it excuse dangerous and reckless use of heavy machinery?
- Animal, Notts
"Yeah right. And cyclists are such lords of the road. They never use the pavements, jump red lights or ignore pedestrian crossings, do they?"
Right, OK. Kill them then!
In fact, why bother with laws at all? Let's be anarchists shall we?
- Animal, Notts
Yeah right. And cyclists are such Lords of the road. They never use the pavements, jump red lights or ignore pedestrian crossings, do they?
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one
If it came to the taking legal action against a driver this evidence would be inadmissible as it was taken without the participants' consent.
- Si Klist, Worcester Park
Those displays of dangerous muppetry are absolutely no surprise to me. I ride to work every day, and people in cars casually play with my life in order to get to the next red light 20 seconds before me!
People behave while driving in ways they would not dream of behaving when walking down the street.
It's about time the laws of the land started to be upheld on the streets, and some of the millions of pounds in healthcare costs, and congestion delay costs and pollution costs might save the taxpayers some money.
- Animal, Notts
An excellent idea! Since nearly a million cars in London are uninsured and untaxed, and since drivers routinely cut up cyclists, overtake too close, side-swipe or threaten cyclists then the thought that drivers' aggressive and reckless behaviour is caught on camera would surely serve as a deterrent to some of the worst drivers on our roads. Some of the rank stupidity in those clips has to be seen to be believed.
- Hans Datdodishes, London
Good luck you guys'n'gals on bikes: I hope you can nail some of these dangerous motorists and get them charged with offences. BUT, I also hope you cyclists stop going straight through red lights against the law, against common sense, and often endangering pedestrians, huh?
- Bob J., Canada
In the first clip,why was he trying to force through a gap that was too thin? He is as bad as the car driver.
In the second,the truck was far too close.
In the third the driver was an idiot.
- Steve, northwest
What about the large number of cyclists that break the law on a daily basis? Jumping red lights and weaving in and out of traffic? Seems to me things as one sided - a cyclist can report a bad motorist through his/her registration number, but motorists cant report a bad cyclist? Its time cyclists were registered and held accountable for their bad road behaviour.
- Peter, Enfield, England
