The problem with impatience

[downfader]

I've added a couple of incidents to stopSMIDSY this week. Both werent quite serious enough for Plod, and I'd reckon they'd not be bothered anyway unless I was actually hit. So chalking them up to near-miss I added them and the video to stopSMIDSY. I also have some other video to go through (a left hook from yesterday).

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx4V-VaOM1c[/media]


[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upufe8_o7m4[/media]


The point in all three incidents (one obviously still on the camera) is that there was no other traffic about, and waiting/slowing would not have impeded their journey time by anything other than seconds.

Having another look at my videos, I think it is closer to the 120[sup]o[/sup] than I originally perceived for lens width. It is VERY wideangle. The first video shows a car that is about 6 foot wide coming into a 7.5 foot lane, I'm about 2 feet from the kerb, about 15 cm from my rear bag/leg. The second is the same but sneaking up on me, I usually hear them, or see them with a shoulder check and move over into a gap to let them pass. Neither were bothered waiting.

However it has made me wonder.. different cyclists seem to have different perspectives on proximity. For example a comment from last night:

You had plenty of room, pause it at 15 seconds and you can see exactly how much space you had, and he is practically turning back into his lane as you meet him. This really isn't worth moaning about, just makes us cyclists look like a bunch of moaners

This leads me to think three things: 1) the camera is betraying the proximity and misleading others 2) others have different tolerances, and perhaps too much tolerance can be a bad thing, 3) if we can find a way of accurately measuring proximity on video it will add credence to the campaigns

 

[iZaP]

Gotta say...I've got a different tolerance between the gaps, but maybe that is cause I commute so often in busy traffics and so on...

I didn't really like the first one tho, the driver was going way too fast I think.

 

[downfader]

[QUOTE 1322899"]
Are you seriously suggesting that in that first clip the amount of room (approx) is the below (15 cm) which is the amount of room between car and pannier bag?

I----------------------------------------------I
[/quote]


I'm not suggesting. I'm recollecting, theres a difference in the fact I was there and I saw it pass me.

..and what is the point in printing "I" and dashes when we all have different monitors?

 

[Mark_Robson]

I've got to be honest and say that the first one doesn't look too bad. It may be the camera that distorts the image but when when you look at how much road there is between the car and the pavement on your side when he is in the middle of the road it certainly looks to be more than 18 inches. Also I can't believe that you would allow him to pass you with only 15cm of room to play with when you could have moved closer to the curb if needed.
The second one is hard to judge but it looks like a typical moton overtake.

 

[downfader]

I've got to be honest and say that the first one doesn't look too bad. It may be the camera that distorts the image but when when you look at how much road there is between the car and the pavement on your side when he is in the middle of the road it certainly looks to be more than 18 inches. Also I can't believe that you would allow him to pass you with only 15cm of room to play with when you could have moved closer to the curb if needed.
The second one is hard to judge but it looks like a typical moton overtake.

The first one is on a particualrly rough surfaced road. Its falling to peices, so I'm not too inclined to swing or swerve if I can help it, I personaly feel its safer to push through and try and maintain balance. It recently had a couple of nasty potholes filled so I would have been wider out. As I said on youtube its a 7.5 foot wide lane, I'm about 2 foot from the kerb, the car is about 6 feet wide.

 

[numbnuts]

IMO I think the trouble with these head cams you look at your rides too closely when we get home, and you are looking for faults in other peoples driving/riding were as if you don't have a head cam you just put it down to experience and it is all forgotten by the time you get home.

 

[downfader]

IMO I think the trouble with these head cams you look at your rides too closely when we get home, and you are looking for faults in other peoples driving/riding were as if you don't have a head cam you just put it down to experience and it is all forgotten by the time you get home.

I used to be all for letting things slide, but I think there comes a time when you have to say people are taking the p*** a bit (like with the "french rider" i recorded earlier this week). In the very least it gets people thinking. Perhaps we shouldnt be putting this down to experience but actively saying something about it.

 

[HLaB]

I must admit I've got varying tolerances; if some body clearly sees me and slows down I'm happy to accept them coming through a small gap but others

 

[summerdays]

I think you are right about the tolerance varying from rider to rider ... that video where the ?Spainish? cyclist attached that thing to make the cars give him space made me realise that I have become accustomed to far less. It almost felt as though he was being picky in demanding that much space. However close passes probably put off a lot of potential cyclists, before they get to the point when they are "hardened" to it.

The tolerance of passing distance does vary to the speed and conditions at the time.

I also agree the video is very misleading as it does look as if you have much more room than you suggest. I don't know how to overcome that problem.

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

IMO I think the trouble with these head cams you look at your rides too closely when we get home, and you are looking for faults in other peoples driving/riding were as if you don't have a head cam you just put it down to experience and it is all forgotten by the time you get home.

Well, I for one just don't have time to go through the whole commute video looking for things, so I just find the key things that I remember from the ride and extract those from the video. It may be that the existence of the camera makes us think more about it, but I do think I've learned a lot by looking back at incidents on video.

 

[GrasB]

I hate the first one. I once has this happen when driver of the parked car open a door a fraction for some reason, the driver of the car coming towards me jerked across the road, thankfully for me mounted the pavement & hit the beginning of the safety rails & coming to a halt at right angles to the road. The really scary part, about 15 min earlier there would have been parents & children all over the pavement. It makes me shudder just thinking about it.

 

[downfader]

Well, I for one just don't have time to go through the whole commute video looking for things, so I just find the key things that I remember from the ride and extract those from the video. It may be that the existence of the camera makes us think more about it, but I do think I've learned a lot by looking back at incidents on video.

I tend to just remember what was the worst thing that happened, minor stuff I forget. There has to be an element of risk or something to be learnt.

Looking back at my video on tuesday I realised I've fallen into an annoying habit of cutting close to a kerb around a lefthand bend downhill. This obscures me from anyone coming up hill, and there are often parked cars to my right. My approach is now to shoulder check on advance and move out to primary so I'm visible to anything that might be coming.

 

[boydj]

IMO I think the trouble with these head cams you look at your rides too closely when we get home, and you are looking for faults in other peoples driving/riding were as if you don't have a head cam you just put it down to experience and it is all forgotten by the time you get home.

I think what happens is that you arrive home and remember the incident and dig it out of the video to see just how it looked to the camera. Sometimes you'll see it was as bad as you thought, sometimes you'll find fault with your riding that did not help the situation.

I bet most headcam commuters wipe the ride without looking at it most days. IMO most of us have a healthier attitude than you imply.

 

[Bigsharn]

I'm sure I've mentioned before an idea of having a parking sensor on the side of the bars, attached to an LED when you know it's <1ft (I think that's the tolerance limit on them). The only problem would be powering it

 

[buggi]

I'll be honest, when i saw the first vid, i thought "that ain't too bad, what's he moaning about" but if you watch it again, actually it is quite close, and why should you be forced off your line?

quite often these videos are posted, and some of us say "i don't think that was too bad"... but is this because we get worse close passes that are literally cm's away, so much so that we become tolerant to other close passes that are more, say, 1 - 2ft off your handlebars?

Because if you look at the illustrations in the highway code, the distance they recommend is much more than 90% of drivers give me. Basically, the recommendation is to give the same room as you would give a small car. That doesn't mean the 1 foot space that drivers give to other car users, it means to treat us as if we are the width of a car, and then add the 1 foot space as well. Technically, they should not even be in same lane!