BBC helmet cam film to explore cyclist-motorist conflict

[dellzeqq]

It's not only the Cab driver who shows that mentality in the video. Partway through, when Gaz's attention is already on alert to the potential for conflict with the cab, the cab stops at the lights at the head of a central bus lane with a clear road ahead. A little bit of forward thinking says the cab is going to pull away and travel faster than the cyclist (Gaz comments on having anticipating a close pass, so what I'm about to say is not my hindsight). Best move would have been to stop behind the cab and the conflict situation goes away. Instead. Gaz applies MGIF thinking and overtakes into the ASL cyclists' box. ASL boxes are not compulsory and in this case would have been best avoided.

that's not how it works at this junction. There are more bikes than cabs by a factor of ten - or more. Bikes gather at the front. Cabs race around the right and cut in to the bus lane about 400 metres up. Gaz was waiting for that to happen because he's seen it before, but if the cab driver hadn't cut Gaz up he would have cut somebody else up. So.....are all the cyclists (and there are often thirty waiting at this particular light) supposed to pull to one side and let the cab by?

 

[MontyVeda]

...

seriously, whistles, thats mental.

whistles aren't exactly quiet though... quite a loud piercing sound in fact... maybe that's why the police use them?

 

[dellzeqq]

Never believed in banging peoples cars though.Always going to get a 5h1t reaction.

Ironically I have only ever done it once to an Adddiscum Lee cab.

see my previous post. I've done it hundreds of times and only once got a hostile reaction

 

[dellzeqq]

There was a scene on the programme (sorry forgot who it was) but he was getting tooted from behind. He was taking centre position and you could see that the traffic infront of him was pulling away into the distance - ie., travelling a lot faster than he was at that point. The guy tooting basically couldn't get past and was getting aggrivated. In that instance, I think the cyclist was in the wrong.

The only time a cyclist should pull over for a car is when the cyclist is holding things up. Same as the driver of a slow vehicle would (if he was a good driver).

this is bonkers. The only way he could have got out of the way to allow a safe pass would have been to bunnyhop on to the footpath.

 

[albion]

the production company did two particular things to Gaz that I think where underhand

I am assuming that it was Gaz who inspired the whole money making show in the first place.
It was obviously all centred around him.

I still allude that the overall message was educational, though I doubt laws will get changed or any mandatory sentences introduced for such as 'causing death by failing to indicate' etc..

 

[Devonshiredave]

The programme has been and gone, and yet, sadly, the reality of cycling on Britains roads continues:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3623013.ece
My condolences go out to the families of those involved. Not least of all the guy killed in Bicester, less than a mile from where I work.

 

[Scruffmonster]

Yeilding space to a bullying driver - we might as well curl up and die. This post highlights the very thing that's wrong with our roads - that those with the largest lump of metal rule the roads whilst every body else cowers into the gutter for fear of mortal injury. Might is not right. The taxi driver didn't leave enough space for any of the cyclists we saw him pass, he starts to drift into the LH lane before he's cleared Gaz's front wheel - with the expectation that Gaz will simply back off. It's bullying, aggressive and intimidating behaviour. And that's before he tries to slam Gaz to the kerb so that he can jump out and get up in his face. And then you slate the cyclist for daring to complain.

Let's get real. Hitting a lump of steel with a lump of flesh rarely hurts the lump of steel - and when someone is encroaching on your space it's sometimes the only option. And a perfectly valid protest. Quite happy to use it as a battering ram to barge their way through traffic, protected from criticism in their own little minds by the invisiblity cloak of 'I've been driving a cab for twenty years and not killed a cyclist yet - so...' but then react like someone's just punched your granny when someone 'dares to' touch your car.

Make cyclists look bad? My arse. No-one ever says that about drivers do they? Which suggests to me that, bizarely - even though you are a cyclist - you're looking at cyclists as an out group, accepted driving as the norm. And apply standards of behaviour from cyclsts which you don't seem to expect from drivers.

You're on the wrong bus Scruffmonster.

If I've got that much space to my left, and a vehicle that's travelling faster than me wants to come across, I'll happily give up some room. It doesn't affect me at all. I'll probably overtake him soon anyway.

If I ever have a problem with a driver, I knock on their window when they're stationary and say something like 'Try to give a bit more room mate, you may have thought you did, but a little more is needed'.

Banging on a car is dumb. You can say 'He shouldn't be close enough to get a tap' but you can also see that wasn't a lifesaving hit. Slow pedalling for 5-10 seconds was way safer than taking his hand off of the handlebars to hit a car. It wasn't a case of 'Look I'm here', it was 'Look, I'm angry'.

I certainly don't think that cyclists should be a vehicular underclass but they can learn that they are PART of traffic, not superior to it. Work together.

 

[4F]

I am assuming that it was Gaz who inspired the whole money making show in the first place.
It was obviously all centred around him.
.

I think to be fair the only reason that this appeared to centred around gaz is that for the footage in question they had both parties on giving their respective viewpoints.

All other video's / coverage was either just from the cyclist or the motorist's viewpoint.

 

[cd365]

They were searching early this year. I got my cam in March and hadnt uploaded anything worth watching really. Things have changed now.

Matthew it's not a competition to see who can get the scariest video, with your attitude you will end up dead try to outdo people, be careful out there, apparently it's a war!

 

[mickle]

There was a scene on the programme (sorry forgot who it was) but he was getting tooted from behind. He was taking centre position and you could see that the traffic infront of him was pulling away into the distance - ie., travelling a lot faster than he was at that point. The guy tooting basically couldn't get past and was getting aggrivated. In that instance, I think the cyclist was in the wrong.

The only time a cyclist should pull over for a car is when the cyclist is holding things up. Same as the driver of a slow vehicle would (if he was a good driver).

Annoyance? You're as ignorant as those idiot drivers if you can't understand that a cyclist pedalling along a road is perfectly entitled to do so at a speed of their choosing. They are traffic, their journey every bit valid as any drivers.

The guy tooting didn't have enough space to safely pass the cyclist. Did you see the oncoming traffic? The double white lines?

Does it not register with you that the people holding up most drivers are other drivers? They'll apparently sit quite happily in lines of traffic but they find us annoying?!

 

[goo_mason]

There was a scene on the programme (sorry forgot who it was) but he was getting tooted from behind. He was taking centre position and you could see that the traffic infront of him was pulling away into the distance - ie., travelling a lot faster than he was at that point. The guy tooting basically couldn't get past and was getting aggrivated. In that instance, I think the cyclist was in the wrong.

The only time a cyclist should pull over for a car is when the cyclist is holding things up. Same as the driver of a slow vehicle would (if he was a good driver).

There were double white lines on that stretch, so even if the cyclist had tried to move over there was still no way for the car to pass safely without crossing the lines. The cyslist took primary to prevent the exceedingly close pass and sideswipe that would have been inevitable given the attitude of the driver behind and his need to get in front.

And it was hardly a long stretch of road either - the motorist simply had to wait a minute before the doubles ended and he could safely pass. I've no doubt the cyclist would have moved over at that point too. But there I'm astonished that they have so little patience.

Also looked like a humped bridge with a blind bend, so again NOT a place to overtake no matter HOW impatient you are.

 

[shunter]

the production company did two particular things to Gaz that I think where underhand:

1 - the licking of the lips - it did and offered nothing.

2 - did anyone notice the camera was lower, looking up towards Gaz (may not have been intentional though) while every other camera was level with the interviewees head/eye?

*edit - spelling

Agree totally - the camera angle was totally different and distorted the view of Gaz to his detriment. It actually makes him look much taller in comparison to the cab driver. He took on an early Harry Potter geekish look which had you forming an opinion on him based on how he looked straight away. Strangely enough my first opinion was that Gaz's age was between 18 and 22. So now I wonder what height Gaz actually is and what age he actually is. You could easily say to yourself - based on positioning of camera etc - that this is some young well educated kid - because he speaks very well - on some sort of obsessive teenage campaign to right the world and he will eventually grow out of it !!!

I still can't believe that a taxi driver would consider that he has actually passed a cyclist when he has past the bike and not the rest of his cab. He was well out of order.

 

[mickle]

Work together.

Ha ha ha.

 

[davefb]

whistles aren't exactly quiet though... quite a loud piercing sound in fact... maybe that's why the police use them?

i'd have one while hiking, but as a kid we would be warned repeatedly not to cycle with anything in your mouth...
apparently there were millions of children killed by whistles and lollypop related incidents..

and if you have to grab it, then you're losing control at what must be a dangerous time and you have a delay ?


(and half the time personally I wouldnt have any breath left anyway )

 

[Andrew_P]

I have theory that I apply when I am driving, anyone who is using their own power to travel deserves the right to be given way too, it costs me zero energy to appy a brake and the move on, pity every motorist does not apply the same.

The bridge in that clip is a nightmare, and as proven by Gaz's cam, it doesn't matter how strong your primary is you will still get some twunt try and push by. Not only is it a short sharp up hill it is double white lines and thin, no way could you safely get a car in each direction + bike, it is used by several bus routes and a blind brow of the hill, only and I mean only a plonker would try and overtake a bike there.