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feature
Topeak Ridecase Center Mount With Sports Camera and Gear Adapters - with GoPro mount.jpgWhy do cyclists use action cameras? We asked and you told us
Recently, we asked road.cc readers who use action cameras while cycling to share their experience with us – including why they had decided to start filming their rides in the first instance, which is what we address here in the first of several articles based on the responses we received.
Responses received from readers around the UK show that reasons prompting many cyclists to film their journeys are much more complex than some elements of the press would have you believe – and it’s certainly not to catch out ‘unsuspecting’ motorists or ‘stoking the flames of the road culture war’.
The replies also highlight some common themes – one being that in many cases it was a specific incident that led to them buying a camera to record their rides.
And in the case of one reader who last year invested in a camera, that came after a driver deliberately knocked him from his bike – although despite him memorising the vehicle’s registration number, Kent Police were unable to take the matter further without video footage.
I had an incident (pre-camera) where an oncoming vehicle passed me at high speed on a narrow rural road. I shouted “slow down” as he passed. The driver took exception to this and, despite heading in the opposite direction, he turned round and drove back to me (so much for being in too much of a hurry to drive at a careful speed for the initial pass!). He came alongside and then pulled over hard to the left, making contact with me and forcing me off the road and into the adjacent bank, before driving off.
Another reader, Trevor from County Durham, began filming his rides after he was injured in a collision, where video evidence may have strengthened his civil case against the driver, telling us he did so:
Following an incident which resulted in Hospital visit, bike written off and three years of solicitors’ involvement resulting in what I would suggest was an unsatisfactory outcome.
And this reader from Yorkshire decided to get a camera after an unprovoked assault.
I was victim of an assault by a pedestrian, totally unprovoked. This followed a lifetime of close passes and general crapness on my commute, but being assaulted was the final straw.
For Rendel in London, it was a news report of a specific incident (linked below) that prompted his decision to purchase a camera.
For my own legal protection in the event of any incidents and claims against me, after the case of the cyclist who had to pay huge compensation to the yoga teacher who stepped out in front of him on a green light.
A couple of readers who responded said that family members were behind their reason for starting to record their cycling journeys. Here’s James from the West Midlands:
About a month or two ago, I was becoming increasingly concerned about the standard of driving on my commute. Lots of close passes, left hooks etc. My partner (a much less experienced road cyclist) was considering commuting on bike to and from work and I started to worry a lot about her safety and the safety of more vulnerable and less experienced riders. I purchased an action camera and began to report all dangerous driving I saw on the roads.
Robert, who lives in the area patrolled by Devon & Cornwall Police, said:
My wife wanted me to use one after a relative was knocked off his bike by a motorist.
I am not doing this to take revenge on close-passers, or highlight that I have been wronged. I’m doing it because I want to change behaviour and make the roads safer for my community.
For some, one of the prime motivations behind buying a camera was to provide evidence to help police bring a driver to justice should the absolute worst-case scenario happen, as this cyclist from the West Midlands explained.
The terrible standard of driving in general and particularly around cycles. I was convinced the police will one day be scraping my dead body off the road and wanted them to be able to identify the cause. I had been watching the likes of CyclingMikey on YouTube and this probably sparked my initial interest in running cameras.
> “Tired of road crime” – CyclingMikey on episode 16 of the road.cc Podcast
Steven, who lives in the Thames Valley Police area covering Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, had a similar motivation.
Due to a low-loader lorry running me off the road and nearly crushing me with the rear wheels of the trailer. I ended up going on the verge and stopping in a hedge. I wanted something to gather evidence, mainly so my family would know the cause if the worst had happened, but also to submit footage to police.
Another road.cc reader, Richard from Gloucestershire, began using his for the same reason – but only began submitting footage to police when others urged him to do so after we featured one of his videos in our Near Miss of the Day series.
I started using a camera just after the first lockdown ended in summer 2020. I had enjoyed cycling local journeys over lockdown but when restrictions eased the standard of driving dropped dramatically and I mounted a Lidl camera I already had on the bike . I wanted to record the inconsiderate driving I was experiencing thinking that something would be done about it if I was injured or killed by it.
I began submitting to the police after you featured my video in NMotD 461 where your readers urged me to send it in. In those days there was no system in place but I eventually managed to get the video looked at and the officer concerned said they would send a letter as it was beyond the 14-day notice period.
> Near Miss of the Day 461: Very dangerous overtake in the rain
Of course, for many of us using an action camera is not just about capturing close passes – it’s also a way of recording rides somewhere scenic, perhaps, or in the case of Jon Stone’s terrific London Cycle Routes series on YouTube providing advice to others about how to get from A to B while avoiding motor vehicles as much as possible through using bike lanes and low traffic neighbourhoods.
One road.cc reader, Tom from Hampshire, first used an action camera nearly 15 years ago for non-cycling reasons, and his comments show the tech now is a million miles away from what it was back then. Now, he uses one for his bike rides too.
I had a helmet camera I'd bought for snowboarding, it plugged into a camcorder (DV tape) and ran off 8 AA batteries. I only used it for cycling a couple of times as it was a massive faff and the video quality was quite poor. I started recording my rides regularly around the middle of 2019.
I started using cameras regularly when I found out that I could report incidents online. I'd also had a camera in my car for a number of years, so it seemed logical to use one when cycling too.
We will feature more of your feedback in the coming weeks and in the meantime if you haven't already shared your thoughts, here is how you can get involved, alternatively let us know how you got started using a camera in the comments below.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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A flame thrower dog robot is something every cyclist needs.
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43 comments
Please take a moment to read my petition for cyclist safety, both online and onroad. Please share far and wide, with not only cyclists but those who love you. Thank you 🚲
https://www.change.org/StopCyclistHate
Interesting. I didn't realise in zwift you can hop off your bike and punch another cyclist. Or jump out your car and do the same thing !
Ah! Grand Depart Velo! I loved that game, running people off the road and beating up the TDF-wannabes for their Campagnolo. And the "CHAPEAU!" when you squashed a chain-gang...
You jest, but....
https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/gta-5-mod-cycle-los-santos-a4452381.html
I replied and they quoted me in the article but I forgot to mention a major revelation for me after I started watching the videos of my rides.
I thought I was a safe and experienced cyclist but the videos have improved my riding quite a bit. Watching incidents back with the attitude of an impartial third party showed me lots of little improvements I could make and also when my actions could have negated the danger completely or put me in more danger. On a couple of occasions I would put the blame 50/50 between myself and the dangerous driver or was shocked at my reaction even though at the time I felt 100% in the right.
I have improved my positioning in the lane, especially when approaching junctions and roundabouts, make better, safer use of secondary and primary position now and no longer ride 'in the gutter'. I also think "how will that look on the video" quite often and have changed my priorities with less "how will this decision get me there quicker" and more "how will this decision keep me alive".
This is in no way me excusing or absolving dangerous drivers and their complete lack of care for the life of vulnerable road users. It is also not implying that other cyclists are in any way to blame for their own incidents with drivers. It's just my personal view on my own actions while on the road from watching my own videos.
I've also noticed that effect of running cameras. I think that people behave differently when they're being watched and it can be quite instructional to examine incidents to see how you'd criticise your own riding. Personally, I think I've become a much less aggressive rider after watching footage - you realise that emotional reactions to road conditions aren't helping so a more relaxed attitude can prevail.
It is why I'm for the NMOTD the series as watching those lets me know some of the things to expect and how others would have approached the situations as well. I feel like I have avoided worse injuries / death when I got knocked off in 2017 on an island by always ensuring I'm more wary on cars entering and learning to turn with them rather then against them when they do decide to SMIDSY.
That's great to know. Anything that keeps us safer on the road is a positive thing. Now if we could just get drivers to review their dash cam footage in the same way . . . . .
It's quite clear from the UK CrashCam footage that people submit the most appealing driving believing it is excellent.
It doesn't bloody appeal to me!
(Sorry I know that'll be an autocorrect but couldn't resist)
Come on road cc. This is a new article.
You're asking us the equivalent of why we drink water.
The answer is not complex.
And without the camera footage you'd be struggling for content.
Action cameras! A deterrent. A Judge, a jury and the best (personal injury claim) independent witness your money can buy.
Without a camera? Your only hope.
Better call Saul...
I'm guessing your questions are hypothetical, because the mainstream media and its journalists are exactly what Trump called them years ago - fake news and just a lazy, opinions not facts, rehashed Twitter sludge that pads out their article and agrees with them, and clickbait.
I would be happy to read NOtothe EU's comment twice however. Insightful and actually worth reading.
Do you have anything at all to say on the feature?
Uh? Wtff?
Get a camera or get banged.
I bought a camera and started using it not long after I started cycling (<2 weeks). Had gone out for a quick lunch-time ride and some idiot in a Mini close passed me, at speed, on a blind bend as his passenger leaned out the window trying to hit me, whilst screaming abuse.
Oh and if I do eventually get run over, then at least my family will have some awesome footage to slap on Youtube....
One thing I'd be interested in is the data protection side. Essex police insist on this
"I confirm that I understand that dashcam footage falls under the Category of CCTV and as the footage is taken in the public domain, the Domestic Purposes Exemption under the Data Protection Act/UKGDPR does not apply and therefore all users are Data Controllers in their own right."
However I believe they are only 1 of 2 forces that take this line, so I don't think it is right. And why isn't there a national standard ?
It would be handy if road.cc could get an answer to this, although it would likely need a pro bono cycling lawyer !
They also include
I confirm that I am happy for any interested third party to have access to this statement and to the digital imagery which I have added below.
I consent for my footage to be used for marketing and communications purposes, subject to guidance and data protection legislation.
They give no idea of who these third parties are - surely the list must be very small ?
They seem to be confused about their priorities. On the one hand coming down with a strict interpretation of data protection law, on the other playing fast and loose with data protection.
In (fractional) fairness to the rozzers the Data Privacy law is unclear on this point. But they are taking the most negative interpretation.
The ICO has made a statement saying use for dashcams and action cams comes under the general personal usage (ie you arent a data controller) under the terms of the Data Protection Act. The main testing of this in court (under GDPR) has been in german and austria who generally lean towards the extremes of personal privacy and they have said individuals are controllers. It is these rulings that are causing the rozzers to be over cautious.
Unfortuately this is where the DPO advice they are getting is probably not adequately balancing the risks of the quelling effect of not using/uploading camera footage against the risks of a rider or driver being asked to comply with the requirements for a data controller, let alone the lunacy of having to display a data privacy statement on/near your camera.
In practise most everyone is pretty compliant anyway as the recordings are so transitory.
My point was why is it only a couple of forces and where is the national standard?
I've never seen anyone with a sign on their car to warn the general public.
Data Protection is a corporate responsibility so each service must attend to it. However national advice is possible so that the public purse is protected from unnecessary legal fees, and consistency possible. So individual services Data Protection Officers need to see that opportunity and work through ACPO to achieve it.
The record of a vehicle identifier does not pass the test of identifying a natural person so that Germanic caution is not correct.
Only the DVLA can use their controlled data to identify the natural person who is the registered keeper which they share with the police and crown prosecution service, not with the general public.
Essex Police advisors have taken a pessimistic and unjustified view of the GDPR.
This, presumably, is why the Met told me they couldn't share the outcomes of any NIPs sent as a result of my submissions due to GDPR, though not sure why they still refused my request simply to know the sanction imposed with no details of the driver.
Sanctions imposed by the court should be a matter of public record so perhaps they deny responsibly to provide it.
Kent Police take a different view in the interests of Legitimacy to inform the victim generally about their complaint and the outcome. Your ride may vary...
As hirsute suggested the local variations are frustrating, and I suppose results from the local democracy for the elected PCC & MPs to set the priority. Thus Kent and Lancashire have different priorities and behaviour.
They're willing to tell me court outcomes if it goes to trial (generally I'll know anyway as called as a witness) but not any sanction below that, so they won't say if a video resulted in a warning letter, course or fine+points. It is indeed madly frustrating, one would have thought it is in the police's interest to let one know what they consider worth submitting to cut down on (what they regard as) non-serious submissions.
Weird how no one has mentioned getting them "for the clicks".
Don't worry, I'm sure a PBU will be along shortly to tell us how anyone sharing their footage anywhere but with the police is fuelling a fake war between motorists and cyclists…
So we can go out looking for trouble...?
And just like that, probably not PBU but another of the same set of drive-through opinions did precisely that on t'other thread.
I was on a country road, in the arse end of no where, when I got hit by a poorly driven car in August 2018, which I received life threatening injuries.
I was *lucky* that there was a paramedic unit about 6 cars behind that was able to stop, and keep me alive until reinforcement could arrive.
In my particular case, the driver stopped ... But he could have kept going - and then there would have been nothing, unless someone else had a dashcam.
Along with a limp, I've been left with a TBI and an increased chance of dementia.
I ride with a Fly 12 on the front, and a Fly 6 on the back, rather than an action cam ... And there's two main reasons.
1. The Cycliq chassis - especially the 12 - seems pretty solid, and will easily survive another 60mph impact. By survive, I mean SD Card has adequate protection so that it will finish writing the file before it gives up. At least then if the shit ever happens again, and the driver fecks off, hopefully the camera has the evidence.
2. I record all my rides - from leaving the house to getting back home, edit them and shove them on YouTube. It's a library for when the dementia kicks in and my memories have gone.
Catching people being twunts is a side effect, not the primary reason for me.
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