CyclingMikey on YouTube

This has been popping up on my YT feed.

Basically he hangs round hotspots and approachesand reports drivers for using their phones, or taking cheeky shortcuts.

As a commuting cyclist, I’m all for keeping the roads safer and who knows, maybe he has saved lives by highlighting the issue. At the same time though, I feel that reporting someone on their phone in totally stationary traffic (like in the below video) is a bit jobsworth.

My common sense/follow the law sides are wrangling a bit.

Jobs worth indeed but if it makes roads safer Good on him.

I’d disagree, traffic is rarely stationary for long – even if you don’t move far, the law is clear whether you like it or not, there are too many distracted drivers on the roads. Cycling Mikey is a legend who has helped to highlight the dangers of driving while using a mobile. Calling him a jobs worth illustrates the problem (he’s a cycling commuter who rides with a camera – which is where most of his vids come from rather than hanging around on corners).

Yeah I know what you’re saying is right, it just seems a bit harsh. Yo be clear, I’m not branding him a jobsworth, rather that particular action.

He definitely seems to lurk around the hedge and wait for cars at that Regent’s Park junction! And rightly so, I have no sympathy for those impatient drivers

Yeah, even people on here say that riders with cameras “go looking” for incidents to put on YT.. well, he’s the sort of get-a-life pillock that gives us a bad name. He’s not saving anyone, just racking up views on his pathetic channel.

Can’t see much that’s negative in someone acting against a negative. You can criticise the method but it’d be better to look at the cause of what they’re kicking back against. See protests in general – the powers that be would rather we saw the damage or conflict in the protest but not look at the cause or why protesters feel they have no other options left.

If it’s only about making the roads safer, then why have a youtube channel?
And why interact with them? Record your evidence, move on and report to the rozzers…
Helmet-cam Hero’s are only partly interested in public safety IMO…
Who remembers “CycleGaz”? is he still about? Basically had the same formula, always looking for conflict on the roads but with a slightly more annoying/aggressive manner, because likes. It’s nothing new…

As much as I’ve been tempted to turn “vigilante” and try to gather evidence to report Phone-drivers before, it’s not actually the job of members of the public, it’s the police’s role to… well police. Like what we pay them to.

And if the detection of phone-driving as an offence relies on the public gathering evidence and reporting it then there is a clear gap in policing, to be addressed by Local police commissioners and government. Of course if they think they can just rely on Youtubers with GoPro’s then of course they’ll never bother to deal with it, you’re just saving them effort/budget/recruitment…

If it’s only about making the roads safer, then why have a youtube channel?

Exactly. Could share with the cops via Yt, but have a private channel… oh no, that wouldn’t do.

jeez is shouty-outy-numberplatey still alive?

would have thought anyone who’s that much of an incident magnet would have had the final incident that wipes them out by now.

same for that mototcyclist (forget the channel name now). what one person calls “filtering”, I call swerving from lane to lane in traffic round busy junctions.

for a more positive channel about urban cycling I watch “Not Just Bikes”. no confronational road rage, no blood pressure, just a Canadian guy that’s lived in UK and NL and other places that wants to get from A to B in the most efficient way.

If it’s only about making the roads safer, then why have a youtube channel?

Marketing.

a clear gap in policing, to be addressed by Local police commissioners and government.

Er. I try not to get into politics on here but… : )

Is the problem that some of you have that he has the YT channel rather than the actual reporting? It seems a bit of both? Surely the YT bit helps get the message out that rightly or wrongly, someone may report bad driving!

Gap in policing! That’s nonsense, we’re WAY beyond gaps! I was rammed by a drunk driver a few weeks ago. I grabbed his car keys and called the police – should I have just let him go on his way and write to my MP about gaps in policing? Eevrybody shouyld, if they feel able, do their bit. Policing doesn’t have to be ‘them and us’, the police are just us!

Marketing.

Now explain a “rhetorical question”.

I was rammed by a drunk driver

You see the difference between that and what the DHL driver did to CyclingTit, don’t you?

Now explain a “rhetorical question”.

I’d say the answer is valid whether it was a rhetorical Q or not. If you want to make a difference, make yourself more widely known.
I CBA to look at theses videos to see how many views he gets but I doubt he makes a living from it. What is Youtube, £3 per 1000 views or something?

He fails to impress me and to be honest I am surprised he is not the victim of assault on a regular basis. It seems to me that he goes out looking for trouble and one day it will find him.

DezB – it is different, of course it is but would you prefer he had the conversation after ramming someone whilst texting? I agree that here are ‘levels’ of being a tit behind the wheel but its not unheard of for texting whilst driving having equally bad outcomes as drunk driving…

It’s a bit like when the Police appeal for Dashcam footage after a fatal accident. I always think “If you are going to try and convict someone of causing death by dangerous driving you should have had a squad car there in the first place”. 🙄
Wasn’t Mikey’s Dad killed by a drunken driver? Perhaps his desire to campaign against bad driving isn’t just motivated by sanctimonious narcissism.

Mikey does great work. It might seem a bit jobsworth, but just watch all of his videos, most are people typing away in moving traffic. If you ride in London regularly, these people using the phones sat in traffic have no idea what is going on around them, I can spot a dozen on the short ride to work, normally by the huge gap they leave in front of themselves.

His recent videos at Gandalfs Corner are so dangerous, people think its actually ok to drive the wrong side of a bollard and into oncoming cyclists (who they cannot possibly see because they are coming round a t-junction) are amazing.

We need as many people like Mikey as we can to get to get the message across that phones and cars don’t mix.

Good on him! I’m fully supportive of what he does. I wish there were more like him and that police would accept video uploads everywhere. It would be great if phone usage and other dangerous driving etc was so rare that he didn’t catch anyone. The Met and the Parks Police appears to be supportive too. He publicises the risks and highlights the scale of the problem. The fact that he can stand there filming for a while unnoticed shows how little people notice what is going on around them. The problem is that each individual might complain that it is ‘just a single instance’ but there are so many that it becomes much more dangerous, and without enforcement, whether by police or video reporting, it becomes accepted and copied (and kills/seriously injures people). Interesting that you use the terms ‘cheeky shortcuts’ and ‘jobsworth’ whereas I might say “dangerous and illegal manouevres” and “good guy”.

I find him intensely irritating but his work on Gandalf corner where a cyclist has been killed by someone taking the short cut IIRC is fantastic.

“but I’m not moving” is a regular excuse for being on the phone. But they generally haven’t noticed the cammer looking through the window, so what else haven’t they noticed? The small person walking between cars, the filtering cyclist or motorbike, an approaching emergency vehicle. Driving doesn’t stop when you’re not moving, you should be constantly checking mirrors and the road ahead. A good measure of a rule is asking the question “what if we all do it?”. If constant gridlock and multiple daily collisions is the answer you want, carry on using your phone when crawling along. So I have no sympathy for anyone who gets prosecuted, it is totally fair in my opinion. As for liking the man, it’s irrelevant really.

video on youtube last year driver in traffic on phone, pedestrian shouts loudly hurry up traffics moving,driver then accelerates into car in front,and phone flys out of window and smashes KARMA, driver in front not at all happy.

Good on him. Feel bad for the guy in the video though. I’d have given him a pass, rightly or wrongly.

The reason it’s on YouTube is that he wants people to see it and then modify their behaviour, fearful that they could be reported one day.

Good on him, I’m all for it. What’s the problem with the YouTube channel?

Good on him

I understand the idea, and I’m not really keen to get into an argument as to whether its right or not.

However, these channels will need to be very careful. GDPR dictates that we have a right to be forgotton, and this applies to any media on the internet. Therefore, it would not be unreasonable for anyone identified in that video to request that their inclusion in the video that personally identifies them is removed. Indeed, in theory, if personally identifiable information is held by someone on a platform, the person affected has a right to ask it be removed, irrespective of whether its business or personal content.

Some might argue this is rediculous, but is it? Its using the law in the same manner – smoe people (not necessarily the subject of the video) might not want to be in a video on the internet.

There will start to be a bloodbath as the public wakes up to their right to do this, and suddenly all media channels (BBC, YT etc. ) and sources need to be prepared to redact or remove parts of their videos.

What am I getting at here? Well as we have the ‘power’ put in the hands of the people with technology, we need to understand what is a reasonable approach – else it’ll all get silly. Just because we >can< post videos, doesn’t mean you can just post random stuff as a renegade and not accept there may be consequences.

The reason it’s on YouTube is that he wants people to see it and then modify their behaviour, fearful that they could be reported one day.

Yeah, working well that. All those jolly motorists logging into his channel and thinking “Ooh, I could get caught” Get real ffs. 😆

Marketing and visibility Dez. You may scoff now while it’s the scale it is. Thing is, he’s started something that’s growing, maybe it’ll get more influential maybe it won’t. Either way he’s had an effect with his time online. People are posting about him here and he’s more widely known than he was before. Plus he’s not the only guy doing it. Like effective clickbait it’s got some people’s blood pressure up, it gets shared and commented on and that’s as effective a way to get publicity as anything right now.

I’m of two opinions,

Good he does follow through to report them.

Bad cause stereotypical roady with a right to mind.

Conclusion for me …

Crack on & ride your Cannon like you stole it!

😜

Didn’t see a more recent thread, Cycling Mikey has been on the telly since.

Meanwhile at Gandalf Corner:

He has given the evidence to get thousands of drivers convicted of motoring offenses and caused numerous dangerous drivers to be removed from the roads

that can only be a good thing.

He really is getting a power trip from it though, which frankly makes him seem like quite a tit.

I support what he’s doing. No problem at all.

I support him as well.

Not something I’d spend my time doing but the people he’s reporting are breaking the law, nearly always in a way that is dangerous to people.

He fails to impress me and to be honest I am surprised he is not the victim of assault on a regular basis. It seems to me that he goes out looking for trouble and one day it will find him.

Do you say that when coppers staff get assaulted too?

The Gandalf Corner videos, especially the one above for me show a serious proportion of the UK population for what it is, selfish and entitled. When I commuted in/around London (luckily on big motorbikes so had some ‘bulk’ to fight back) too many drivers didn’t GAS of the consequences of their actions. And her in the video is a perfect example of that breed, the A4 through West London was full of short middle-aged women driving flash cars (mostly SUV’s) who just didn’t care about anyone but themselves.

+1 to CyclingMikey

First few seconds, she literally just misses an oncoming cyclist.

Later claims “It’s not like there was a car coming”

Can’t believe there was no prosecution when others have been prosecuted for the same

+1 for Mikey

“but I’m not moving” is a regular excuse for being on the phone. But they generally haven’t noticed the cammer looking through the window, so what else haven’t they noticed?

This. I do the same on my commute (or used to) with guys rolling along between 0 – 20 mph on their phones, oblivious to me staring in their window. Inevitably then get told “none of your business”. I’m the one they haven’t seen, it’s definitely my business.

It does seem harsh, and who cares if he has a YT channel or not – like the common response to “not interested” replies on this forum – don’t watch it then. He’s getting a message across, power to him.

Whether the traffic is stationary or not is besides the point – research shows that drivers remain “distracted” up to 5 minutes after the finish using their phones.

My view is that cycling mikey has probably done more to proactively improve road safety for cyclists than the 32,920 Met Police officers put together.

This. I do the same on my commute (or used to) with guys rolling along between 0 – 20 mph on their phones, oblivious to me staring in their window. Inevitably then get told “none of your business”. I’m the one they haven’t seen, it’s definitely my business.

I use to tap on their window, they’d then glance up and see a silver faired motorbike with a bloke in what looked like a Met motorcycle copper jacket. At this point they’d drop the phone in panic 🙂

I have had a few funny ones with people using the phone in traffic. They are so absorbed they do not see me on the bike so right next to the window I shout ” drop the phone” and watch them get a fright and drop it – amuses me.

I’m all for him and his ilk, whether or not I’d do the same

If you think motorists don’t know about him I bet he’s all over pistonheads etc

I wish the police would do more (or even do something in most cases). Even with stretched resources they could, say, sponsor public drivers to have a fixed camera pointing left into cars on motorways – they’d clear up lots of shit behaviour there