A bit of yesterday's news, mentioned in more detail elsewhere: On Monday the Twitter brought the thought, a cyclist is just one driver away from becoming a Hashtag and getting a Ghost Bike. On Tuesday, my friend Stu was attacked by a driver while commuting to work in the morning.Details, video, audio here. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and invest in front-and-rear cameras. I've been waiting for the useful battery life and storage capability to increase, but I think it's time to begin.
The behavior of aggressive drivers (when they stay in the car, and use the vehicle for aggression) is vehicular bullying. If the preceding vehicle were a street-sweeper, or a police officer on a scooter, or a bulldozer or farm equipment: they'd wait until they could safely pass, and then pass - or they'd wait.
When they don't give a vulnerable, unprotected individual the same treatment as they give big, powerful or authoritative people, it's bullying. It's the behavior of cowards.
Wednesday for me was a commute to work. Inbound in clear and cold, home in drizzle and dark. It was an excellent ride. Everybody was very courteous. I managed to dress pretty appropriately for the 32F; just warm enough on the torso, a little bit almost-cold on the legs.
I hope your friend charges the driver with assault. Not just because the driver deserves it, but to be a lesson to other potential road-ragers to calm down.
ReplyDeleteThere's one moron near me who drives a pick up and likes to blast his horn while passing cyclists close. He stopped bothering me the moment he saw a camera mounted to my handlebars.
After seeing your friend's video I feel like I need a second camera; the front/rear combo provides a lot of context that would be useful in court.
Stay safe!
I'm considering a front/rear helmet mount. Although it's "captain dashboard"-geeky as can be, the thing is: I don't want a video of what my bike sees, I want a video of what I see. So in Stu's video, when he gets knocked off the bike the handlebar cam is useless (although the audio persists).
DeleteThe other advantage of helmet mounting is that you don't have to take the cameras off the bike when you lock it, you just bring your helmet (with camera) with you, and then recharge them while they're still on the helmet.
Similarly, bike lights: it's great to protect the bike from collision, but the goal is to protect ME from collision. So what happends when you get a night time flat? You get off the back and you're not illuminated. In this instance to, the helmet mounted light moves the center of protection to the cyclist instead of the bike.
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