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Education Using bicycle helmet cameras?

Discussion in 'General' started by bigsharn, 29 Oct 2011.

  1. bigsharn

    bigsharn Officially demotivated

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    Well I admitted to my mistake in the description, as I have in this thread. Had I waited I'd have been roughly in the same position in the road regardless. You printscreened that at a point that doesn't quite illustrate what I was getting at. Go look at 0:17, in comparison to 0:19, he had more room on his left than he did on his right.

    And in response to the comments from the left hook video
     
  2. MarkW7

    MarkW7 Total Noob

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    Jesus christ.. overtaking on a bend, AND it's vs a landrover. Surely you could of waited 5 seconds like stated in most of your videos? Yet this guy who's just driving along is in the wrong because you're trying to kill yourself.
     
  3. longweight

    longweight Possibly Longbeard.

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    Holy crap! That video is pretty bad! So it's not just drivers that are at fault :)
     
  4. Ljs

    Ljs Modder

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    After noticing this thread this morning, reading it, and then spending several hours watching all of gaz545's videos, similar videos made by others and then yours, I've kind of made my mind up.

    Some of Gaz545's videos are actually shocking. I like the way he has the balls to confront those truely in the wrong. I don't agree with the philosphy that "If can stretch my arm out and touch a vehicle, it is to close to me" as it is rather impractical and a lot of the time (in London especially with lots of traffic and tight roads) vehicles can be less than an arms length from pedestrians, even though that may be a law. This argument, or at least the majority of it, is always going to be 50-50 and common sense must prevail.

    Without meaning to sound like a douche (which is going to be impossible), it seems to me that you have watched these videos, been impressed by them and gone out on a crusade of your own - attempting to name and shame other people whilst many times clearly being in the wrong, or with no incident really taking place.

    As Krikkit said, this thread was always going to create a rift between cyclists and drivers (I am currently neither, but have admittedly spent a very long time on the roads).

    You can't berate drivers for some things, and still do things that would antagonise drivers or break the law/do something stupid yourself. It is just ridiculous, especially since you are putting their number plates on the internet.

    Thank you however for alerting me to the world of cycle cam videos - I've had a thoroughly entertaining morning! I would definitely not commute around London on a bike *strokes Oyster card*.
     
  5. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

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    I hate cyclists.

    I go out of my way to make sure I don't get near enough to touch them, I indicate around them (Where safe to), and I try to cause us both as little irritation as possible.

    However. Every single bloody one of them is a pain in the arse for one, or more, of several reasons:

    A: Riding in the middle of the road, regardless of presence of cycle lane and not moving over when a faster heavier, and harder to stop vehicle approaches from behind - There's no excuse for that

    B: Riding two abreast. I ****ing hate that so much. It's made worse by the fact that it tends to be older people, who cannot keep pace with walking pedestrians, let alone traffic. They never seem to get out of the bloody way, either. I've even seen cyclists recommend doing it to "slow traffic", do cyclists have no ****ing idea how much they're impeding other road users by not being even remotely courteous? I try my best to keep everyone else on the road happy, it really gets my goat that the vast majority of cyclists ride two abreast and make no effort to make anyone's life easier but their own.

    C: Swaying left and right. It drives me up the bleeding wall. I see it a lot on regular roads, busy roads, and it means I cannot safely pass the cyclist because they make no effort to ride in a straight line, or make no effort to acknowledge that they've seen/heard me.

    D: The general pissant arrogance of the ****ers. Riding around in their own world, they couldn't give two arses how much of an inconvenience they're being to everyone else, and some even seem to enjoy it.

    Fair enough, not all road users try to be courteous towards cyclists, but **** me, "eye for an eye" is not a good thing to get into when your opposition is a damnsight harder to stop, heavier, and more likely to ruin your life. I don't think it's a good thing to get into a the best of times, let alone human vs car.

    In my experience, cyclists are plagued with a lack of respect for other road users through some smug-******* approach or other, a lack of knowledge of the highway code (You know, the all important 'be courteous to other road users' bits), and an ever present "mightier than thou" attitude that makes people not give a **** about their presence on the road. Not to mention that they are 99% of the time crying foul, playing the victim, and they are almost always as bad, if not worse, than other bloody road users!

    Cycling, to me, seems to be massive piles of hypocrisy on wheels, and the videos in this thread tend to prove that.

    One of the first ones, where he smacks the cab as it goes past - Should I be allowed to clobber a cyclist because "they were too close" when they cycle past on my right side? If so, I'm going to start punching cyclists in the mouth as they ride past.

    By all means, cycle, but for ****s sake, treat other road users with the respect you demand, and 99% of cyclists do not earn.
     
  6. bagman

    bagman Minimodder

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    Are you crazy? I know some one who was a professional cyclist and a helmet saved her life 3 times. She always urges me to wear a helmet as I do cycle a lot, and your head gets hot? Get a helmet with vents then or your life. Seems odd that you complain about bad driving, and you don't take many measures to reduce getting hit. All you have is how the driver killed you. I also wear HV only when it is dark though in daylight seems pointless.

    @litheal
    I am sorry but a car can easy kill a cyclist. That is why I get annoyed at drivers cutting in on me, it is a near death experience.
     
    Last edited: 31 Oct 2011
  7. Picarro

    Picarro What's a Dremel?

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    I'd like to see the study proclaiming that crashing at 12 mph with a helmet will save your life, but crashing at 13 will be certain death. Any form of protection will always be better than no protection - who knows, you might get lucky and actually survive getting hit by that Land Rover.
     
  8. identikit

    identikit Minimodder

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    Was going to make a "I am the 99%" joke, but..... :blah:
     
  9. steveo_mcg

    steveo_mcg What's a Dremel?

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    And its attitudes like that for which you demand respect... Seriously?

    Every thing you've described is not only acceptable but in some cases recommended by both the government and the highway code. Can you seriously say that being held up by a bike for a few moments makes a demonstrable difference to your journey times?


    And just for good measure, The general pissant arrogance of the Cagers . The amount of space taken up by a single individual in literally their own little world, couldn't give two arses how much of an inconvenience they're being to everyone else, and some even seem to enjoy it.
     
  10. bigsharn

    bigsharn Officially demotivated

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    The bloke's in the wrong because he never indicated. There are three options on that road, which are to go straight on, turn left or turn right. Admittedly in the four years I've commuted on that stretch of road I've never been in a position where someone's not indicated and then turned so I did get caught out there.

    I agree, but York is nowhere near as big or as busy as London, and the streets are a LOT narrower. If you think about it, my armspan is 2m altogether, meaning it's 2ft from my body, and less than 1.5ft from my handlebars and pannier bags, it's not a great deal of room to ask for is it?

    Like you I didn't know about helmet cameras until someone told me about them, but on the flip side of that I didn't have a decent bike until recently. I bought the camera as an insurance policy, the bad driving bit is just an extra bit I do because I have the capability to.

    I don't just post bad driving, I do post bad cycling and good driving as well. Pretty soon I'm going to have a HV Vest printed with "You're on camera - check for your reg plate on Youtube", meaning I have very little, if any contact with drivers.


    Good start, normally I wouldn't bother reading the rest of this post but seeing as I've risen to it before now, let's see what's so bad about us...

    In that case, thank you, that's all we ask.

    Primary road position. If we're in the middle of the lane there's usually a good reason for it, whether that be potholes, sunken drain covers, some upcoming parked cars, or that the road's too narrow to pass safely. There's a full list of these here.

    Riding two abrest used to get my back up as well, but when you think about it, it makes more sense. Would you prefer to pass something moving slow, with the total length of a single bike/car but the width of a car, or the length of two bikes/cars and the width of one bike? Riding two abrest actually takes up less road space and makes it easier to overtake, at least on country lanes

    I agree on that one, with the exception of smaller children.

    As opposed to the thousands of cars you have to wait behind in rush hour traffic anyway?

    Not exactly a fair argument there. If you in your ~1 ton car were to have a 44ton wagon cutting into your lane I'm sure you'd do whatever you could to stop it turning you into a car wreck barbeque. Car drivers can sound their horns in that situation and that's about it, cyclists on the other hand don't all have horns and some rather than shout, push themselves away from the danger.

    I've fallen off at 20mph, twatted my head and been completely fine, which is why I don't see a need for a helmet. I haven't worn one since I hit 10 years old and I'm still here.
    Wearing a helmet makes me physically ill, which is why I don't wear one as regards to the heat. I tried vented ones but still ended up with my head down a toilet bowl before I got to work.

    I have 3m reflective tape on my jacket, panniers and wheels, but other than that I don't wear any specifically HV gear.
     
  11. MarkW7

    MarkW7 Total Noob

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    [​IMG]

    Sure.. you *could* go straight ahead but I wouldn't recommend driving into a fence.

    As you can see in your video the flow of the traffic is ALL going right, you being behind this driver will ofcourse of been watching the road and traffic ahead and would of noticed this. IF he was going to be turning left he'd of popped an indicator on as it's a sharper left that right from what I can see - If he doesn't indicate you DO NOT think "f*ck this, I'm going to overtake on a bend".. you WAIT, stay behind him and see what he does.

    You could of very easily of been knocked off then and I'm surprised the jeep driver didn't give you a quick beep to remind you of your actions, further on in the vid just after the bend you then cut across his path to get back to the left side of the road.
    Incredibly bad riding.
     
  12. Picarro

    Picarro What's a Dremel?

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    That's like surviving a car accident without wearing a seat belt and then proclaiming that never will a seatbelt save your life. Both my parents are doctors and the stories they bring home from the ER of people who have ridden bikes without a helmet. Lets just say that "pudding" is a nice way of describing their facial features afterwards.
     
  13. M7ck

    M7ck Ⓜod Ⓜaster

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    Plus the Landrover driver was already turning before you were even beside him. All the videos show is how arrogant you are and how bad a rider you are.
     
  14. mvagusta

    mvagusta Did a skid that went for two weeks.

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    WOW, just WOW :jawdrop:

    That just adds a whole new level of Darwinism to these videos, seriously. If anyone wanted you to kill yourself, they'd be telling you to keep on riding exactly as you do.

    If one of these vehicles that you ride so close to, gives you a tiny bump, and you get knocked over, even at just 10mph, without a helmet, the resulting fall can be fatal.
    Just imagine your skull hits a kerb edge, a pole, or any other protruding object!
    The difference is like punching a brick wall, or a punching bag.

    I've met a couple of brain injury patients who struggle to do anything, such as walking and talking, due to a low speed crash from a fun bicycle ride without a helmet.
    Plenty of people have walked away from such impacts because they had a helmet on.

    There's nothing wrong with taking a break every few kms, taking off the helmet, having a little drink, and giving yourself a few minutes to relax. I'd much rather add some time to the commute than go with no helmet :eeek:

    The thread is called "Using HELMET cameras" :lol:
    Tailgating and sticking right beside vehicles at intersections is bad enough, but you don't even wear a helmet :worried: Good luck dude, good luck with that :eyebrow:
     
  15. longweight

    longweight Possibly Longbeard.

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    You don't wear a helmet?! Man this just gets worse! If you buy a decent helmet then you won't get a sweaty head.
     
  16. identikit

    identikit Minimodder

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    @Bigsharn, give it up dude. You're that guy that rides appallingly and has the complete lack of thought to post the evidence for all to see. You can't see that your riding style is the reason why most of these near misses and close calls actually happen.

    I'm certified to teach Bikeability and watching your youtube channel makes me cringe. You have a few valid points about cycle lanes and helmets but seriously thinking you are above all other road users because you've done Advanced Cycling Proficiency is plain incorrect. You need to get a trained instructor to give you some 1-on-1 tuition on roads.
     
  17. uncle_fungus

    uncle_fungus P/T Folding@home developer

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    Actually its just that this is a deformed junction, like several in York city centre. It's almost an offset crossroads, except that the central crossing area is only really wide enough for one lane of traffic at once, and there's a blind corner, hence the traffic lights.

    The right turn is more or less 90 degrees from Gillygate onto Bootham. Straight on is actually about 30 degrees to the left onto St. Leonard's Place, and the left turn is 90 degrees onto High Petergate (through the bar), which is actually a restricted junction. If you were a York resident you wouldn't indicate if you wanted to go from Gillygate to St. Leonard's Place, but you would if you were going right onto Bootham.

    Aerial view:
    [​IMG]
     
  18. sp4nky

    sp4nky BF3: Aardfrith WoT: McGubbins

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    Are you not referring to a different video - this one perhaps?


    Notice the road markings - yellow hatching in the aerial photo you showed and in the video I linked here but none in the video we're discussing.
     
  19. Malvolio

    Malvolio .

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    This thread has gone off on a rather derp tangent, but I'll still stick my neck out on the helmet issue: there are no words to describe my disdain for those that choose to pilot any form of unenclosed transport at a speed over that of a walking pace without head protection.

    I've done a swan dive into the pavement at +40kph sans helmet, and walked away with some brain damage (that I still struggle with today). Whilst my minor anecdotal evidence may suggest that you'll be OK (in the end) without head protection, such things have no bearing in the real world. If you fall, you have a statistically significant chance of experiencing major brain trauma, possibly leading to death if your skull is not protected by a helmet. So to not wear one due to comfort or some such nonsense is tantamount to saying that because you don't believe in death, you will live forever. Whilst there is no doubt that in a crash you will almost certainly suffer great physical damage, any form of protection (particularly of the head) will aide you greatly in reduction of injuries.

    When it came time to buy a new dome to protect my grey matter I ensured to get something decent that would last a while, grabbing myself a Specialized S-Works Prevail, which is light enough and breathes well enough to where most days I just forget it is even there - seriously, it is nicer on my head than wearing an ultra light head band.

    However, having said all this I will still maintain that it is a personal choice, and if you want to ride without one then there is nothing I can do to stop you (other than lecture you some more on how inane and stupid such a position might be in the real world), but I do request that one cease with the outright lie that a helmet doesn't offer protection beyond 12mph.
     
  20. uncle_fungus

    uncle_fungus P/T Folding@home developer

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    No, the yellow hatched area is under the arrow head that MarkW7 has drawn. It's more visible in the video than the still.

    The video you've just linked to is actually the same junction just approached from Bootham (left turn onto Gillygate, technically straight on is valid at night onto High Petergate, you would indicate left after passing Gillygate, the right turn is a continuation of the road you're on so no need to indicate to travel onto St Leonard's Place).
     

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