First youtube upload...

[whitebait]

Hey,

So I wanted to get a camera just in case of a crash. Got one of these and ziptied it to my helmet (as it were). Had a couple of close(ish) calls since then. This one I thought was inconsiderate enough to warrant being stuck on youtube and reported to Roadsafe... The other was a big fat chav bird pulling halfway out after seeing me approach, me shaking my head vigorously at her and her giving me the finger as I rode on by!

What do you guys think? Am I overreacting? I really don't want to become one of those cyclists who gets puffed up full of righteous indignation every time a car comes within a metre of them. Although I'm not belittling some of the close passes I've seen on youtube, I do think some are perfectly reasonable passing manoeuvres. Anyway, don't want to start that debate...

So, here's my video, is my indignation righteous?

Tom

 

[crazy580]

Seems perfectly reasonable to me, I hate left hooks.
But, could you try and angle your camera up a bit, seeing a lot of the road there.

 

[gaz]

Left hooks are a very very stupid manoeuvre to pull. And well worth putting on youtube to name and shame.

 

[whitebait]

Seems perfectly reasonable to me, I hate left hooks.
But, could you try and angle your camera up a bit, seeing a lot of the road there.

Sage advice! That was the first day I used it (hadn't had a chance to do a test ride with it) and have since angled it up a tad, could do with a litt more though but it's kind of a makeshift helmet mount.

 

[cloggsy]

What camera are you using?

 

[whitebait]

What camera are you using?

Hey, I've got one of these: http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_1&products_id=110354

Nice and cheap, records in 5 minutes segments so you miss a few seconds between each video (could be vital seconds!) and once the card's full it overwrites the first video, so (as someone on here mentioned before) if you got knocked out or seriously injured the incriminating video could get recorded over if no-one stopped it recording.

Also, it comes with an in car mount and a handlebar attachment but no helmet attachment. Zipties will sort that though!

 

[cloggsy]

I was thinking of buying one of these!

Similar quality, but in full 720p!

Also, it doesn't overwrite the footage taken & can be modded to take 4Gb sections at a time, but you still lose 4 seconds in between 4Gb sections.

Being quite flat too, it should be easy to mount to the top of a helmet with a bit of velcro...

 

[BentMikey]

I've just bought one of those #11 808 cameras, Cloggsy. They look pretty good to me, let's hope the reality matches up.

That was a pretty bad left hook, well done for putting it up and reporting it.

So come on whitebait, who are the cyclists who get puffed up with righteous indignation on a not very close pass then? We want to know, don't leave us all hanging with such a throwaway comment!! p.s. are you a Kiwi?

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

I really don't want to become one of those cyclists who gets puffed up full of righteous indignation every time a car comes within a metre of them. Although I'm not belittling some of the close passes I've seen on youtube, I do think some are perfectly reasonable passing manoeuvres. Anyway, don't want to start that debate...

I think maybe you already did.

So come on whitebait, who are the cyclists who get puffed up with righteous indignation on a not very close pass then? We want to know, don't leave us all hanging with such a throwaway comment!!

See?

I do think there is a serious point here, though. Having lots of innocuous ones could have a diluting effect on the really bad ones, which doesn't help "the cause". I have been concerned about this and went back to do a cull of the ones that I though didn't look too bad on reflection. I found I didn't delete very many, though.

It did occur to me that it might be useful for us to come up with a standard set of tags to differentiate between "just interesting", "bad manners", "bad driving", "risky manoeuvre", "careless driving" and "dangerous driving" (or something like that). Useful?

 

[Origamist]

That's Balham Hill southbound - a problem area on CS7. There is not enough space for a cycle lane (1.5m) as you go down the hill so they've put in the square CS7 pads in the middle of the lane to encourage cyclists to take the centre of the lane (as it's downhill most cyclists are doing speeds in the 20-30mph range) and to alert other road users to the likelihood of cyclists riding in primary. Close overtakes are an issue here, but as you've captured on film, vehicles passing and then turning into side roads at the bottom of the hill are a bigger problem (as drivers often misjudge the speed of cyclists along there). The other issues on Balham Hill are vehicles emerging from the side roads into your path, the Burger King drive through and Travis Perkins depot!

 

[whitebait]

So come on whitebait, who are the cyclists who get puffed up with righteous indignation on a not very close pass then? We want to know, don't leave us all hanging with such a throwaway comment!! p.s. are you a Kiwi?

So... This sounds like a cop out, but I really don't know and can't be bothered to trawl through posts on here and videos on youtube looking for the offending videos/posters).

What I will say, is that I spent a while last night looking at yours, bbborp's, jameycam's, gaz545's and magnatom's videos and found them to be interesting, sometimes terrifying and in most cases completely valid complaints.

To clarify what I meant about the righteous indignation thing, there are a few videos I've seen where it appears (note that I obviously wasn't there and am commenting entirely on what can be seen in the video) to be more the driver technically infringing a highway code rule, not appearing to put the cyclist in any danger, but getting an absolute earful from the enraged cyclist at the next set of lights if caught, or a self-righteous comment on youtube. Which leads me onto this...

I do think there is a serious point here, though. Having lots of innocuous ones could have a diluting effect on the really bad ones, which doesn't help "the cause". I have been concerned about this and went back to do a cull of the ones that I though didn't look too bad on reflection. I found I didn't delete very many, though.

It did occur to me that it might be useful for us to come up with a standard set of tags to differentiate between "just interesting", "bad manners", "bad driving", "risky manoeuvre", "careless driving" and "dangerous driving" (or something like that). Useful?

I agree wholeheartedly with MrHappy! A self-righteous overreaction to a minor infringement by a driver which causes no danger in those circumstances but could be dangerous in a different situation may lead to a driver thinking 'those cyclists think they own the bloody road' etc when a quiet, polite word might help them empathise and rethink their behaviour. Who knows? Probably not me... All conjecture based on only about 6 weeks of London commuting (cycled a lot in my teenage years though!) and about 9 years of driving.

That's Balham Hill southbound - a problem area on CS7. There is not enough space for a cycle lane (1.5m) as you go down the hill so they've put in the square CS7 pads in the middle of the lane to encourage cyclists to take the centre of the lane (as it's downhill most cyclists are doing speeds in the 20-30mph range) and to alert other road users to the likelihood of cyclists riding in primary. Close overtakes are an issue here, but as you've captured on film, vehicles passing and then turning into side roads at the bottom of the hill are a bigger problem (as drivers often misjudge the speed of cyclists along there). The other issues on Balham Hill are vehicles emerging from the side roads into your path, the Burger King drive through and Travis Perkins depot!

Yep, a tad sporty round that way. I'm commuting between Old Street and Tooting Broadway and find that by far the worst bit of the commute for dodgy drivers is between Clapham Common and Tooting. Loads of side roads and loads of inattentive drivers...

PS - Mikey, nope, not a kiwi!

 

[gb155]

I've just bought one of those #11 808 cameras, Cloggsy. They look pretty good to me, let's hope the reality matches up.

That was a pretty bad left hook, well done for putting it up and reporting it.

So come on whitebait, who are the cyclists who get puffed up with righteous indignation on a not very close pass then? We want to know, don't leave us all hanging with such a throwaway comment!! p.s. are you a Kiwi?

You got a link to where you got it from (And also some on bike footage) in that review/sample video it looked good, but is it as good when on a bike ?

 

[BentMikey]

See the links in the description of this video:


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3N4yKqv4tQ

 

[gb155]

See the links in the description of this video:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=I3N4yKqv4tQ[/quote]

Any chance of posting the link direct ? I'm using my phone and it's not up for playing

 

[BentMikey]

http://www.chucklohr.com/808/C11/index.html

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1362692&pp=100#post16951767

http://cgi.ebay.com/Full-HD-Mini-Ca...ultDomain_0&hash=item4aa9320067#ht_2290wt_905