Anti-cycling agenda on road.cc...

ktache wrote:

I'm guessing that the 100+ cyclists killed on our roads every year, or the 300+ pedestrians, 40 odd of whom were killed on the pavement went "looking for it"

Having a camera doesn't make a vigilante.  I think you may need to look up the definition.

paulsrod wrote:

I agree with others on here, seems to be over reporting of this stuff. Anyone wanting to start cycling would be put off!! I've notched up 50 years on the roads this year started in Devon, South London, Oxford and until 2016 37 years in the Bristol Area now back in Devon and have been fairly lucky iover the years in respect of bad situations. Sure there are shit motorists out there, as are there bad cyclists. If you regualrly communte in a large town / city, you are going to face some agro by  generally impatient britain.you can go looking for confrontationas well which doesn't do our cause any favours, and the Police just don't have the resources to check evey piece of video sent in.  All this vigilante stuff with cameras is depressing.  Bit of give and take, Yes we have rights but most of us do this cycling lark for pleasure - even commuting. I've said this before on here , why don't road cc start an E Petrition to get the bad driving and state of our roads debated in Parliailment?   Rant over

How is recording an incident anything to do with taking the law into your own hands?

Why don't the police have the resources to check every video? It's easier for them to have the evidence recorded and handed to them rather than having to try and be everywhere to catch the idiots.

Debate cycling in parliament? You're definitely kidding with that suggestion.

hawkinspeter wrote:

Why don't the police have the resources to check every video?

The police do have the resources.  When the familiar bleating about 'lack of resources' goes up, what people fail to realise is that in this country - as long as you're talking about non-political issues - the police have a remarkable degree of 'independence'.   So here in London for example, if the police are not out nicking drivers, it isn't because there aren't enough police officers.  It's that the people who make the decisions - Cressida Dick and her management team with input from the Mayor of London, the Home Office, the CPS and (when the occasion merits) the Security Service - consider it less important than for example, 'malicious communications' on social media.

And the reason that it is considered less important than that (and less important than a lot of other issues which are prima facie insignificant but which get plod turning up mob-handed) is that we live in a culture where car ownership and driving are normalised, and where as a result, society considers death and injury through use of motor vehicles to be a price worth paying for the 'benefits' that those vehicles bring.  

You cannot change a culture overnight.  You can either stay and fight, or you can get out.  

paulsrod wrote:

I agree with others on here, seems to be over reporting of this stuff. Anyone wanting to start cycling would be put off!! I've notched up 50 years on the roads this year started in Devon, South London, Oxford and until 2016 37 years in the Bristol Area now back in Devon and have been fairly lucky iover the years in respect of bad situations. Sure there are shit motorists out there, as are there bad cyclists. If you regualrly communte in a large town / city, you are going to face some agro by  generally impatient britain.you can go looking for confrontationas well which doesn't do our cause any favours, and the Police just don't have the resources to check evey piece of video sent in.  All this vigilante stuff with cameras is depressing.  Bit of give and take, Yes we have rights but most of us do this cycling lark for pleasure - even commuting. I've said this before on here , why don't road cc start an E Petrition to get the bad driving and state of our roads debated in Parliailment?   Rant over

Vigilante??
I got a camera because of the number of close passes and people pulling out in stead of giving way.
I don't need to look for stuff or provoke anything to create a situation.

paulsrod wrote:

All this vigilante stuff with cameras is depressing.  Bit of give and take, Yes we have rights but most of us do this cycling lark for pleasure - even commuting. I've said this before on here , why don't road cc start an E Petrition to get the bad driving and state of our roads debated in Parliailment?   Rant over

So is CCTV surveillance - at ATMs, in banks, shops and pubs etc, also "vigilantism"? Or do you only object to cyclists recording and reporting crime?

I guess you don't like dashcams and in-car black box monitoring either.What about mobile phone records being used in driving prosecutions? And I suppose speed limiters are infringing your human rights. All part of the phoney 'War on the motorist'.

If the police don't have the resources to watch videos then pressure your local force to provide them with the resources. Road crime is real crime.

A petition is pissing in the wind. More than 6 MILLION people signed the petition to revoke Article 50 and Theresa May just gave them the finger and said 'Fuck you'.

As for debating the roads and driving in Parliament, you must be having a laugh!!!  That bunch of feckless gravy train riders (with a few honourable exceptions) couldn't care less about cyclists.

hawkinspeter wrote:

It's important to not exaggerate the dangers, but I think it's also foolish to not report/discuss the poor driving and conflict that happens on the road.

Agreed.

I agree. Nothing ever gets fixed if you don't know about the problem.

While the seemingly endless stream of near-miss, aggression, incidents might seem bad, compared to the mainstream media's obsession with violent crime, war and unrest abroad, immigrants,  benefit cheats blah blah blah, it's small beer.

Some of the stories on here are from other countries so if you filter those out and then consider that road.cc normally only feature a single Near Miss video per day I think that's not so terrible.

My experience is that the vast majority of drivers are courteous and considerate. However, that doesn't stop me wanting things to be much better on the roads and for dangerous, aggressive and wilfully incompetent drivers to be removed from the road.

The culture of entitlement among drivers needs to change. That's not going to happen if road.cc, CUK and other outlets paint a sweet picture with sunflowers and smiling cyclists of all ages able to ride 2-abreast everywhere, unafraid of confrontation, injury or death.

I want my kids, their friends, anyone and everyone to be able to get on a bike and go for a ride without harrassment. Is that too much to ask?

ktache wrote:

It's so  we can reply to them with wit, finely crafted arguements, spittle fueled rants and squirrely pictures.  We all know how bad it is out there.  We are a community, it's why I'm here.  I'm a mountainbiker, aero, drop bars and skinny tyres are not my thing, but I get around on the roads, commuter and utility cyclist, never driven so aparently a "Golden" cyclist.   I recently signed up to singletrack, great website, and I've been reading it longer than this one, but it was to read some of the articles that were part hidden.  I just don't feel part of that particular community.  I will talk to any cyclist when out, I love the whole bicycle thing.  

I love you guys.

Fuck off, hippy.  

Anyway, I'm quite sad not to be a 'golden cyclist'.   Although for some reason, every time I hear 'golden' these days, my mind puts the word 'rain' after it.  

ktache wrote:

It's so  we can reply to them with wit, finely crafted arguements, spittle fueled rants

I did try spittle as a fuel once, but have to report it was not a total success.  Very good for flecking the opposition though.

StoopidUserName wrote:

Got a lot of love for road.cc but yeah, in real life I only very rarely get the sort of shit reported daily on here, and I've a 40 mile daily commute into and out of London...this and social media in general do give a false impression of what the roads and motorists are really like. News does need to be reported however, just needs a better balance maybe?

“40 mile daily commute into and out of London”...sheesh...I take my hat off to you....not sure i’d have the patience. All road?