[Closed] Commuters have we done this video yet?

There are somany muppets allowed to drive potentially lethal vehicles on the roads, the above is a good selection.

Pity the dvla data base is not open to find the vehicle owners addresses and send them details of their faults,driving lessons, eye tests etc.

It's one of those Airzound horns, isn't it?

I think he started using after getting a sore throat from all those shouts of Ooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiyyyyyyyyyyyyy.....

Some pretty bad driving in that compilation, although he's not exactly blameless in a couple of them.

Some pretty bad driving in that compilation, although he's not exactly blameless in a couple of them.

Completely typical normal driving if you ask me. Most of the stuff in that I get on a daily basis. In fact it's so often I don't even bother getting annoyed by it any more, I just slow down and let them through to avoid it. Nothing jumped out where he was to blame though, although I only watched it once.

ah, the "wait and pull out". I get that all the time. They stop at the junction, look, see you, think about it long enough for you to get to the junction [i]then[/i] pull out.

Search for cyclingmikey and cyclegaz if you want to see more of that. 😉

Oh is he one of those cyclists who rides round looking for trouble so he can get something uploaded to Youtube? That's what I read on here.

although he's not exactly blameless in a couple of them.

Completely typical normal driving if you ask me. Most of the stuff in that I get on a daily basis. In fact it's so often I don't even bother getting annoyed by it any more, I just slow down and let them through to avoid it.

+1

I got bored after just over 2 minutes. In that time the only incidents that deserved posting on the internet (or more than a rueful shake of the head) were the white van ones. And maybe then only the second one of those.

You should watch it all. It's hilarious. "You are on Youtube and I'm weporting you to the polithe!"
Typical driver morons though and, no he wasn't at fault in any of the cases.
I think I would've done a muddydwarf on that van that hit him with the door!

just slow down and let them through to avoid it.

haven't seen the video, work firewall, but are you happy to be bullied by drivers? that is what your saying sounds like.

The Jeremy Clarkson T shirt, "thanks for letting me use your road"

Cyclists have every right to use the road, and there are knobs in cars and on bikes. but if I choose to block a car trying to overtake I tend to have a very good reason for doing so, and I am not letting them through because I am the one who is going to get injured not because I am trying to annoy them.

Id just change route tbh.

Id just change route tbh.

sometimes there is no realistic alternative.

Completely typical normal driving if you ask me. Most of the stuff in that I get on a daily basis. In fact it's so often I don't even bother getting annoyed

Just because it's become commonplace and the norm doesn't mean is right, if it no longer annoys you and you accept it that just means you've been successfully bullied into submission 🙁

I just slow down and let them through to avoid it

Or you know, they could slow down/move for the cyclist, or are you suggesting that the car has some kind of priority? Because that's where that attitude will eventually lead...

Cr@p drivers - a fact of life.

No amount of screaming and hurling abuse in a self-righteous manner will fix this.

Just forward any footage of genuinely dangerous driving to the police and accept that even when driving a car you will have idiots pulling out on your and cutting you up.

Btw, I'm glad I don't live in London.

If the drivers don't get him the stress will.

Don't know if you noticed, but it's a lot more stressful being in a car.

usual $hit really, some old fatso in a van thinks he's rocky balboa.

Or you know, they could slow down/move for the cyclist, or are you suggesting that the car has some kind of priority? Because that's where that attitude will eventually lead...

I think he's suggesting it's preferable to being killed or maimed which, with some drivers, is where you may end.

Didn't watch it all, as couldn't be bothered to watch a twit on a bike blowing his horn of self importance when anything came withing 30 feet of him. He appears to be a bit of a tool. Some were poor drivers, but most (well from what I watched) were him being a tit

Cr@p drivers - a fact of life.

No amount of screaming and hurling abuse in a self-righteous manner will fix this.

So the guy's angry, but understandably so when it appears so many people seem to want to try and smear him on the road.

Just forward any footage of genuinely dangerous driving to the police and accept that even when driving a car you will have idiots pulling out on your and cutting you up.

But exposing driving like this with video (as well as reporting) might just help to show why we feel so threatened, abused, and endangered and help get some support to actually make a change.

He does say at the beginning of the video he made the compilation to show people who had questioned why he rides with a camera, and I think the video is justification enough, if one of those drivers does one day knock him off he'll be glad of the video evidence.

I do think he needs to calm down a bit, he won't do himself any favours if he carries on getting that wound up, but I support what he's doing.

Didn't watch it all, as couldn't be bothered to watch a twit on a bike blowing his horn of self importance when anything came withing 30 feet of him. He appears to be a bit of a tool. Some were poor drivers, but most (well from what I watched) were him being a tit

Think you should probably watch it again then, *most* of the examples in that video were drivers taking un-necessary risks with another persons life, he might have been able to mitigate some of them with a more assertive road position, but blaming him is just unfair.

He appears to be a bit of a tool

He appears to be a bit wound up yes, and maybe even a bit self important with his horn, but that's hardly justification for nearly running him off the road or into him is it?

[i] Some were poor drivers, but most (well from what I watched) were him being a tit[/i]

Couldn't be more wrong.
Yeah, maybe (probably) he's a bit of a tit, but he's riding his bike on the road in a normal fashion.
Only the Porsche one had me puzzled.

haven't seen the video, work firewall, but are you happy to be bullied by drivers? that is what your saying sounds like.

The Jeremy Clarkson T shirt, "thanks for letting me use your road"

On the contrary. I've had my fair share of arguments and confrontations, and as anyone who knows me will tell you, I've never been shy of flinging a few expletives about. I used to get annoyed/enraged just like that bloke at the sort of things you see in that video (people pulling out even though they're looking at you, overtaking then cutting in before a junction/traffic island/traffic lights etc). The trouble was it got to the point where I finished my rides completely stressed out and it was getting to the point where I really wasn't enjoying it. Now whenever I see this my main reaction is to laugh at them, and because I expect it I can easily avoid it. No confrontation = no adrenalin = less stress = a happier, more enjoyable ride. These days I save the shouting and swearing for truly life-threatening incidents, which are thankfully quite rare.

"You are on Youtube and I'm weporting you to the polithe!"

If it is, he seemed out for a fight), but can't see anything wrong with his riding in this video

He does say at the beginning of the video he made the compilation to show people who had questioned why he rides with a camera, and I think the video is justification enough, if one of those drivers does one day knock him off he'll be glad of the video evidence.

Riding in London rush hour traffic with a helmet cam is an absolute must, and to be fair me and the Mrs have been looking into getting a 'dash cam' for the car.

I think the criticism here is that a lot of those incidents shown in the video (close passes, cars pulling out etc) are daily occurrences on our roads, no matter what your mode of transport.

If someone cuts me up in the car I don't get out the car screaming and banging on doors. That would be considered road rage by anyone's standards.

You aren't going to change people's driving habits by screaming at them, especially not the average angry, working class, white van type.

I encounter people driving like that quite a lot on my commutes. There's no way I could be arsed to wear a camera or upload stuff to YouTube though. If I thought it remotely likely that footage would end up being useful evidence then maybe, but realistically, what are the chances of the Police doing anything whatsoever on the basis of the sorts of footage in that video? Most of that driving would be unlikely to result in even a ticking off, let alone any kind of prosecution. I'm not sure that I've ever seen any driving that would end up with a court case if I'd filmed it. So I still think it's largely pointless wearing one. And I doubt that people would drive differently if all cyclists wore them - the main problem seems to me to be that people either think that what they're doing is perfectly OK, or they're literally not thinking about it at all.

Or you know, they could slow down/move for the cyclist, or are you suggesting that the car has some kind of priority? Because that's where that attitude will eventually lead...

Absolutely not. I ride 90% of the time in the primary position, I hardly ever use cycle lanes and I overtake on the right. There's a huge difference between being calmly but resolutely assertive and charging round getting all angry at every perceived bit of crap driving. How many times do we complain about drivers doing something stupid only to get to the next lights a few seconds earlier? Well the same goes for riding a bike.

Not sure about this one to be honest. We all know that cycling today can be risky because motorised vehicle drivers don't pay enough attention and it behoves us to adopt the right skills to cope with that situation.

This just looks like my regular commute incidentals. The cyclist rode with all the attention and skill needed for the situation, slowing down and/or swerving slightly where appropriate as he sensed what the subject vehicles were doing.

No actual accidents.

Just because it's become commonplace and the norm doesn't mean is right, if it no longer annoys you and you accept it that just means you've been successfully bullied into submission

You're correct, being the norm doesn't mean it is right. But I also think not getting annoyed and accepting it doesn't mean he's been bullied into submission - more like he has decided not to let other people get him stressed and angry.

It seems to me that he's not really taking into account the traffic around him. A bit more awareness and courtesy will go a long way. Sometimes it's easier and more sensible to move to the side a bit or change positioning than invite conflict. There is riding asertively and there is riding inconsiderately - he is mostly the later, whether he is 'in the right' or not.

I ride in central London every week day and generally don't have a problem - if I rode the way he does, which, frankly, is a bit 'I own the road', then I'd have conflict every journey

When he has a 'near miss' do you think he is angry or actually pleased so that he can add it to his youtube page? I can't help but think he is quite content with this, certainly a lot of that stuff wasn't really that big a deal.

That parking Ford Ka near the end was quite special though

Jeez, I'm glad i don't live in London if that is the regular standard of driving - I'd be in a cell before the week is out.

Contrary to popular opinion my commute is 99% pleasant and stress free, yes i get some bad driving etc but nothing often like in that clip.

I'm stressed and angry just watching that!

It's a total zoo, mate.

I'm a regular commuter on the outskirts of Central London. I used to think helmet cams were a good idea until I saw more and more of them on cyclists looking for trouble or throwing the toys out of the pram for nothing.

Recently this was backed up by riding behind a cyclists when a bus overtook us, the bus gave us in my opinion plenty of room but clearly not in theirs. Shortly after we caught up with the bus, the cyclist went mental at the driver, I then noticed the camera on the helmet.

This is pretty much what happens in 90% of that video. I can see the cameras good use, but I think they cause more problems than solve them,

The driving standards in the video are not good. But you can pretty much second guess whats going to happen. Its best to ease of the pedals and slow down a bit. Plan ahead and ride like you want to be alive, Its better than being in the right but dead.

[i]saw more and more of them on cyclists looking for trouble or throwing the toys out of the pram for nothing.[/i]

I'd love to know how cyclists could go looking for trouble. I call utter bullshit on that.

just watched that.
I wish someone would wipe him out good and proper.

ton - Member
just watched that.
I wish someone would wipe him out good and proper.

Indeed, if i was out on my bike and came across this prat shouting 'ooiieeyy' at every vehicle within 6ft of him i'd do my best to kick him into the gutter too.

Anyone stow a bit of sharp 20mm metal in their handlebar to inflict some healthy scratching in the event of cars about to shunt you off the road? 😉

Harsh audience.

The guy does initially seem a bit of a d*ck, but if I had to put up with that day in day out, where the risk is serious injury and not just a pranged car, I suspect my tolerance of other drivers may be diminished somewhat.

DezB - Member

I'd love to know how cyclists could go looking for trouble. I call utter bullshit on that.

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He needs to relax, hes going to have a heart attack. A proper ****.

It's quite simple dez, over defensive riding, it can and does cause drivers to make stupid overtakes. Yes the drivers shouldn't do it but if your clever and don't put them into the position to do it in the first place then your not going looking for it.

I commute 140miles a week on busy roads between South London to healthrow, so I see plenty of it. I've had plenty of close calls, Smart riding, don't be in a rush and don't shout at every car that comes within 6ft of you and your enjoy the ride a lot more.

Smart riding, don't be in a rush and don't shout at every car that comes within 6ft of you and your enjoy the ride a lot more.

Exactly the point I was trying to make. My aim for every ride is to get to the end having had no near misses, no arguments, and no reason to shout at anyone.

And how many of these incidents really do risk injury? In 15 years I can count on one hand the number of near death experiences where I barely got away with it. That's obviously still too many but 99% of crap driving incidents are easily avoidable with very little effort (like using a brake!).

Nah, that doesn't explain "looking for trouble".

We're all subject to the same roads and drivers, yet some road users seem to find more to get angry about or attract more aggressive reactions than others. They say body language counts for a lot more than we realise - maybe it's important on the bike too. Choose your attitude, go with the flow etc.

He needs to learn when to take a full lane for his safety to avoid some of this shit

That's it. I'm leaving the helmet, the camera and the bright lights at home tomorrow.
Obviously, all that's needed is to ride with a sense of smug superiority and all will be fine.

There's some appalling driving in that video (or at least the first 3 mins I watched). The real problem is that, pure and simple.

On the other hand it looks to me like if he rode more primary then a lot of the close overtakes would be impossible and the left hooks, he'd have more space to get away from. That said, I ride primary coming up to and through pinch points and get a hell of a lot of grief for it so it's something of a no-win that one.

He really needs to find a way to deal with the general dim-wittery and prejudice of your typical British driver though, for his own enjoyment of riding.

Overall though you can see why in surveys the main reason people give for not taking up cycling is that it feels too dangerous. This is not a great example of the 'famous' British tolerance of minorities.

The white builders lorry that cuts him up and sticks his brakes on isn't fit to be in charge of a vehicle, it's not terribly different from going up to someone in the street and pushing them over just because you don't like the way they dress...

OK, having taken the time to watch the whole thing last night, one thing that struck on reflection is the seeming lack of shoulder checks (it's hard to judge as a lot of the clips are cut so short - in each and every one of them he might have looked over his shoulder half a second before the clip begins)? If I suspect someone's about to overtake somewhere silly, I'm looking back to (a) check what they are up to and (b) try my best to make eye contact and hope they get the 'I've seen you, you can't pass me here' message.

Anyone I hold up like this gets a wave of acknowledgment/thanks once they are able to overtake me. Sorry if my kowtowing to motorised road users by thanking them for their patience when I have every right to hold them up offends anyone reading this.

EDIT: I think my new year's resolution is going to be to stop watching helmet cam commuter footage 😐

Reads to me like you'd probably survive even better if you left your bike at home as well, Dez.

Really? Why's that? Because I disagree with people who try to say the cyclist's at fault for the incidents in the video? 🙄

Despite describing advice to "calm down and cycle appropriately to stay safe" as being "smug", I'm sure you can work it out yourself if you try hard enough.

Anyone I hold up like this gets a wave of acknowledgment/thanks once they are able to overtake me.

IME, the problem is about 1% of drivers overtake anyway, but now they are even more annoyed that you've got in their way.

You need an almost perfect balance of assertiveness and submissiveness.

[i]"calm down and cycle appropriately to stay safe" as being "smug"[/i]

No mate - it's the "smug superiority" bit you've missed. Read the posts and you'll understand.

The guy at the end was great. Made it all worthwhile.

Read them. Can't see it. Just reads like good advice to me, with which I agree.

What a prat, he wants to calm down and concentrate on riding and not on filming bad driving, reading number plates and getting into arguments its just not worth the bother. I think videos and cyclists like this just help fuel the dislike that some car drivers have for cyclists.
I cycle to work daily and see bad driving and some terrible cycling.
We have to take responsibility for ourselves on the road and assume that drivers have not seen us and behave accordingly.

It's quite simple dez, over defensive riding, it can and does cause drivers to make stupid overtakes.

He needs to learn when to take a full lane for his safety to avoid some of this shit

IME, the problem is about 1% of drivers overtake anyway, but now they are even more annoyed that you've got in their way.

On the other hand it looks to me like if he rode more primary then a lot of the close overtakes would be impossible and the left hooks,

That's obviously still too many but 99% of crap driving incidents are easily avoidable with very little effort

The "Looking for trouble" comments are bullshit. Having gotten pissed off with the amount of shit driving and wanting to catalogue it incase one of those drivers hits someone else, is more likely. Whether this evidence is ever going to be used is debatable (considering the cylingsilk* can't get the police to take most video evidence seriously) but from what I've seen that [i]seems[/i] to be the idea behind it along with highlighting the shite that cyclists have to put up with.

*Barrister who is also a cyclecam-er, obviously he's always going out looking for trouble 🙄

Well, there you go - I read "I'm better than him" in so many of the posts, you don't. Such is life.

Read them. Can't see it.

Just reads like good advice to me, with which I agree.

Cities are slowly working out that they have to make cycling safe. It's the only sane way to get increasing numbers of commuters into the centre of large conurbations. Bikes use up far less space than cars. Public transport? Don't get me started.

I live in Cambridge - if all the people who cycle were to exercise their "right" to drive there would be total gridlock. Not to mention what would happen to car parking.

Businesses in cities that have good cycle infrastructure will continue to be able to attract more staff, get them to work, grow, and thrive.

Businesses in cities that don't manage to figure this out will stagnate - no matter how amazing their shiny new business models, or revolutionary production processes, they won't be able to get more staff in to work this year than they did last year. These cities will slowly wither and die.

In a hundred years time our grandchildren will look back at these videos and be amazed at how nasty and unpleasant cycling was in the olden days. In the meantime, we will just have to soldier on.

(Off to work now by bike past a vast traffic jam caused by closure of the A14).

The real issue on the roads is that its dog eat dog even for car v car, Let alone cyclists and pedestrians. In London you have to drive and ride very very very defensively. General courtesy to anyone anywhere is shocking... its a full on rat race.

What he is absolutely doing wrong is confronting people like that, and seems on at least one occasion to give someone the finger.. In London that sort of thing has a shelf life, sooner or later he's going to "disrespect" some nutter and then anything could happen. Potentialy this guy is more at risk of assault than RTA.

Make the video, share and report... blow that horn as a warning. But for crissake keep calm and ride on.

The "Looking for trouble" comments are bullshit. Having gotten pissed off with the amount of shit driving and wanting to catalogue it incase one of those drivers hits someone else, is more likely.

Well there you go. I can't see any driving in this video bad enough to piss any cyclist off that's not easily coped with.

Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much.

What's the deal with the shouting out the reg numbers of the vehicles? Is that so he can report them to the police? Seems like a lot of reports to make if so.

Quite surprised after seeing that why the bloke hasn't had that air horn surgically removed from his own arse.

I thought using a vehicle horn in an aggressive manner was an offence also?
I do sympathise with commuters but this individual is just as arrogant and self righteous as most of the drivers of whom he deems 'Dangerous'

"smug superiority"

You clearly are not reading my posts right, we all share the road with other users, there are bad drivers and bad cyclists. Shouting at people, confronting fueled with rage is not the way to do this. That sort of superiority will get you in trouble some day.

^^ This.

I can't see any driving in this video bad enough to piss any cyclist off that's not easily coped with.

I thought using a vehicle horn in an aggressive manner was an offence also?

What he is absolutely doing wrong is confronting people like that, and seems on at least one occasion to give someone the finger.. In London that sort of thing has a shelf life, sooner or later he's going to "disrespect" some nutter and then anything could happen. Potentialy this guy is more at risk of assault than RTA.

Spot on. He's not doing himself any favours by opening each 'conversation' with a smug "you're going to be on youtube later!"

While there's some deliberate intimidation in some of the clips, people may not even realise what they've done wrong*, so riding up to them and just kicking off is not helpful.

*obviously it would be helpful if they did, and preferably didn't do it in the first place...

Anyone I hold up like this gets a wave of acknowledgment/thanks once they are able to overtake me.

Exactly this.

Some cyclists need to drop the victim mentality that seems to be prevalent at the moment.

I ride my bicycle the way i was taught to ride a motorbike, i make eye contact with drivers waiting to pull out at junctions....sometimes i'll take the initiative and wave the driver out ahead of me, it gives a good impression of cyclists and from a safety point of view that car is now in front of me where i can see it and it wont have to overtake me.

I'll raise a hand to thank drivers that leave me plenty of room when overtaking....obviously they are supposed to do this anyway but thats not the point, they dont all drive to the standards laid down in the highway code so some positive reinforcement and a show of my appreciation is hopefully something they'll remember.

I do shoulder checks like i'm on my motorbike, if it looks like i'll get sandwiched between parked cars and cars wanting to overtake me i'll shoulder check, perhaps signal my intent to take the crown of the road or just slow slightly so the car behind passes me before we get to the parked cars.....its not 'giving in' as some people seem to be obsessed with on here, its being safe....i'm sounding like a stuck record but in a car vs bicycle situation who will come off worse?....i want to get home at the end of a ride, not be sat in A&E nursing injuries but content in the knowledge that i had right of way or some other trivial nonsense.

How do you know "he" doesn't do all those things? All you've seen is a microcosm (6 minutes, FFS) of the hours of riding that guy does - moments where he's been badly cut up and annoyed. The rest of the time I'm sure he's (almost) as calm and decent a rider as the rest of us...

Some cyclists need to drop the victim mentality that seems to be prevalent at the moment.

So, let's see.

1: The guy in the video is overreacting to non-problems.

2: Cycling sensibly with good technique and a "give way" attitude can help avoid accidents.

3: Cycling with aggression and a sense of over-entitlement can cause more accidents.

4: Some motorists are inclined to be "cyclist-unaware".

That about cover it?

So, let's see.

1: The guy in the video is overreacting to non-problems.

2: Cycling sensibly with good technique and a "give way" attitude can help avoid accidents.

3: Cycling with aggression and a sense of over-entitlement can cause more accidents.

4: Some motorists are inclined to be "cyclist-unaware".

That about cover it?

So many non-problems there with him constantly speaking out registration numbers. The car that overtook him "fast" left a big gap. Yes there was some relatively bad stuff like being cut up but most was not worthy of being posted. On balance I think the video is bad for cycling safety.

1. not IMO, camera angles aren't always great but a few of those driving examples looked well wrong.
2. maybe, define technique (there's argument on here about what constitutes good technique) define giveway attitude: slam on the anchors everytime someone [i]looks[/i] like pulling out/cutting you up? It'll reduce accidents for sure but so would cars driving everywhere at 15mph I'd guess not many drivers would be up for that tho.
3. As a blanket statement yeah probably, not sure it applies to OP video
4. yeah, significant minority don't have a clue about how to drive around cyclists, simple ignorance, educating them would be a good idea* and a select few are downright reckless.

*not really workable at the side of the road tho, adrenaline and near death experiences don't help cyclists to articulate their point and no driver has ever IME accepted criticism of their driving whilst sat in the driving seat.

So, let's see.

1: The guy in the video is overreacting to non-problems.

2: Cycling sensibly with good technique and a "give way" attitude can help avoid accidents.

3: Cycling with aggression and a sense of over-entitlement can cause more accidents.

4: Some motorists are inclined to be "cyclist-unaware".

That about cover it?

bingo !

So many non-problems there with him constantly speaking out registration numbers. The car that overtook him "fast" left a big gap. Yes there was some relatively bad stuff like being cut up but most was not worthy of being posted. On balance I think the video is bad for cycling safety.

+1

Can't really see much of it being different if he was in a car.

In my opinion video cameras are not good at portraying depth and many of those incidents in the OP would have been enough to increase the heart rate of most experienced cyclists, let alone the less experienced.

Put it this way - would you want your wife/girlfriend/daughter/mum to be cycling and treated like that?

The behaviour demonstrated by many of those cars in the video will be enough to put many off riding on the roads at all. It's bullying pure and simple.

The reason I believe this chap is getting such a hard time on here is that he simply isn't likeable. His horn, his tone and his attitude have conspired against him to get a less than favourable opinions even from his own fellow cyclists.

I watched the video twice, once at work with no sound and later at home with sound. I was much more sympathetic at the first viewing.

The behaviour demonstrated by many of those cars in the video will be enough to put many off riding on the roads at all. It's bullying pure and simple.

The reason I believe this chap is getting such a hard time on here is that he simply isn't likeable

Stop talking sense! It's not allowed