To those with helmet cameras...

[magnatom]

....and who post their videos on youtube, I have a question.

Have you ever shortened a clip, or edited it in such a way to avoid showing something naughty, daft, or downright stupid that you did?

I'm just curious. The reason that I ask, is because on on of my recent videos I gave the 'coffee handshake' to a driver as they went by. When I reviewed the video I was a bit embarrassed that I did it, and there was a temptation to edit it out somehow. As soon as that thought came into my head I realised that because I didn't want to show it, that meant I really had to. By that I mean to keep my integrity I have to show the bad as well as the good in relation to me.

That is the attitude I have always tried to take when posting videos. Again I'm not perfect at this, and have probably biased my video edit a little in the past. I'm hoping by posting this publically it will remind me not to do that!

So go on guys, be honest, have you ever edited a video to put you in a good, or slightly better light?

 

[HaloJ]

Most certainly. My impatient moped vid was cut short as my response to his impatience was VERY blue.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

No, but my cam is mounted on the bars so I don't come under the category of helmet cam wearers....

...besides, the video shakes that much you can't see if I do owt daft anyway

 

[magnatom]

Most certainly. My impatient moped vid was cut short as my response to his impatience was VERY blue.

Did you admit that in the video or in any related forum post? If you did then I think that is ok. What I'm looking for is the more covert omissions.

 

[hackbike 666]

I have a lorry underpass which I think was particulary bad and which will certainly make Ben Lovejoy come out of hiding if I post it up...so the answer is yes....

Shocked I did it by the way but once I was committed I had to proceed.

 

[gaz]

Never. I'm not embarrassed by my actions, I might swear or make hand gestures and I do them because that's who I am. I have nothing to hide.
I have posted videos where I made mistakes on manoeuvres and got my self into a sticky situation, but I post those so I can get tips on how to avoid such situations again.

 

[BSRU]

On the rare occasion I do let fly with some words I shouldn't use in public I tend to mute them out. Normally it is impossible for the motorist to have actually heard me, so I do not know why I bother saying anything.
My camera is at such an angle that any hand gestures are not usually caught by it. If they are caught on camera I do not edit them out as it would no longer represent what really happened and hopefully seeing it would make less likely to repeat any such internationally recognised hand gestures in the future.

 

[g00se]

Do you mean filtering on the outside of traffic; tried to squeeze between a taxi and a traffic island; wobbled; had to put foot down; duck-walked the bike through the gap - gashing my leg on the rat-trap in the process; got in front of the taxi as the line of traffic started to move to have the gear slip as I tried to move off and held up the taxi trying to sort it all out? No, never...

 

[magnatom]

Do you mean filtering on the outside of traffic; tried to squeeze between a taxi and a traffic island; wobbled; had to put foot down; duck-walked the bike through the gap - gashing my leg on the rat-trap in the process; got in front of the taxi as the line of traffic started to move to have the gear slip as I tried to move off and held up the taxi trying to sort it all out? No, never...

If you still have this video....I want to see it!

 

[g00se]

Evidence removed I'm afraid. I wipe out all my recordings unless there's something specific to keep - which to date is a test recording, funky traffic light sequence and a cyclist playing chicken with a bus.

 

[bauldbairn]

If you still have this video....I want to see it!

+1,

 

[HaloJ]

Did you admit that in the video or in any related forum post? If you did then I think that is ok. What I'm looking for is the more covert omissions.

Ah ok. I admitted it on the video I beleive.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Nope, don't think so. Most of my colourful language is still in there... just bleeped out to save the viewer's ears.

 

[martint235]

I've never edited out any actions of mine but I do always remove the audio. If the clip is worth posting it's incredibly likely that the language i use isn't suitable to be listened to by anyone and certainly not the police if I forward the link on....

 

[benborp]

I try to edit so that I show a neutral lead up to an incident and allow the aftermath to be shown where it's relevant (although there are times when I put compilations of events on one journey together for effect when I'll edit tightly). Any dubious editorial decisions come when I decide whether to post or not in the first place. The factors for that are quite complicated, ranging from my general mood, degree of exhaustion, what purpose allowing other people to see the incident will serve, how mundane or out of the ordinary the event actually is, what sort of reaction there was from the driver, whether I think the footage has safety implications for other cyclists, whether it's relevant to something going on here, whether it encourages cycling in general or is likely to make people think twice before getting on a bike. The deciding factor is rarely my behaviour, in fact I wish I knew the whereabouts of some of my more graphic reactions as I wouldn't mind making another compilation at the moment.

I think there are different ways of maintaining a helmet camera wearing cyclists integrity. Some can focus on specific issues, whether it's certain road behaviour or infrastructure and highlight incidents of that type through what they decide to post (look at the thread regarding Southend's new cyclepath on yacf). In which case I think they are entitled to manage their footage to its best effect and not allow peripheral issues to cloud the picture.

Some can use Youtube as a cycling diary, treating whatever happens from day to day fairly even handedly without having to emphasise the good or bad, thus returning a representative view of what commuting life is like for a cyclist (I like Gaz's prolific posting in that respect). This sort of use tends to foster or come from a desire to maintain riding standards anyway and this is the moral question these riders are probably deliberately confronting.

Then there are those who have such a high profile (careful Gaz, magnatom - it's too late) that their integrity has to be beyond question because otherwise their message will be lost amongst the noise generated by their detractors. It seems unfair that cyclists must perform roadcraft close to perfection before our concerns are valid and even then we shouldn't be on the roads, but it is easier than developing teleportation technology or ESP as some road users demand.