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news
Farringdon altercation 1Are drivers fitting dash-cams to catch naughty cyclists?
Cyclists were the first British road users to use action cams to record their encounters with other road users, and we’ve all seen terrifying footage of Russian road lunacy. Now it seems British drivers are picking up dash-cams in a bid to prove that everyone else on the road is a menace — and especially cyclists.
According to Paul Gallagher and Rachael Kitson in the Independent, sales of dash-board mounted cameras are booming as drivers seek to record evidence of altercations with cyclists and other road users.
Halfords saw a 150 percent increase in sales of dash-cams over Christmas, though it’s estimated that only 3 percent of drivers are using one. A spokesman for Electronics website Digi4u said: "The product is particularly popular among taxi drivers who use it to monitor their on-call drives and use the video as evidence in insurance claims in case of an accident."
And despite the Independent’s initial comment that drivers are using cams to monitor cyclists, it seems that other drivers and insurance are bigger concerns.
Halfords in-car technology manager Alec James said: "Following an incident people are often reluctant to admit guilt and risk losing their no-claims discount. In addition, the surge in fraudulent 'crash for cash' claims is causing genuine concern among innocent drivers. The range of recording devices we now offer means that we can provide drivers with the means to produce evidence."
The police are quite keen on the idea too. Paul Marshall, Suffolk's deputy chief constable, said: "Increasing use is being made by the public of digital cameras to record evidence of offences which can be used by the police to support prosecutions. This is welcomed by Association of Chief Police Officers as quite often the only evidence available is an eyewitness account which is disputed by the alleged offender."
Our tame freelance motoring journo, Jamie Fretwell can see why drivers might want to be using dash-cams though. He said: “Cyclists and motorists have to share Britain's roads, and perhaps drivers have seen an increasing number of cyclists armed with helmet cameras and decided to play them at their own game.
“The only cyclists who will complain about motorists filming them are those who are jumping red lights or breaking the rules of the road. Those who have nothing to hide needn't worry about being filmed.“
So can we expect lots of video evidence helping police nail bad drivers and erven bad cyclists? Drivers relying on dash-cam footage might be in for frustration and disappointment if the experiences of cyclists with helmet cam evidence are anything to go by.
At the end of last week, Chi Yong La was told by the Metropolitan Police that they planned to take no action against the moped rider who allegedly attempted to kick Chi off his bike on January 16, even though Chi had clear helmetcam footage of the incident. Police said a “lack of independent witnesses” meant there was no “realistic prospect of achieving a successful prosecution”.
The police have as yet taken no action against the passenger of a white Audi who appears to have pushed a rider off his bike in Farringdon two weeks ago. Helmetcam footage of the incident from a witness clearly shows the car’s registration, and the rider involved has made a complaint, but a police spokesman said no arrest has been made.
In 2010, the authorities declined to take action against a driver caught on camera threatening to kill cyclist Martin Porter. Martin is also a senior lawyer who blogs as the Cycling Silk, but it nevertheless took two formal complaints about the handling of the incident before a prosecution occurred. The driver, Scott Lomas, was fined £250 and ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge as well as costs of £300 after pleading guilty to the offence of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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45 comments
Can't you just bracket out the sensationalism? Just as one has to with the unique 'spin' papers like the Independent (which is a very different paper to what it once was) and the Mail put on stories?
Anyway, I doubt these dashcams will allow us to catch up with Russia with respect to jaw-dropping youtube driving videos. We just can't compete in that regard.
As a lorry driver, hauling for a blue chip company (which are often targets for the "cash for crash" boys) I've been using a dash cam for years. In fact, many trucks have two, one facing forward and one facing the driver. I think they're a good thing, as they can also monitor the road manners of the truck driver, in addition to keeping tabs on what's going on outside the cab. You even find them on some trailers, so you can keep an eye on the vehicle behind you.
There is nothing to fear if you are a good driver.
"The product is particularly popular among taxi drivers who use it to monitor their on-call drives and use the video as evidence in insurance claims in case of an accident."
In my experience, whilst driving and cycling. Taxi drivers are usually the worst offenders, when it comes to bad 'road etiquette'. And while I just try to keep my head down and concentrate on my own behaviour, I can understand how things can get quite heated. Especially after some behaviours I've witnessed during my first year of road cycling. Quite a few times I've had my patience tested.
I'm not quite sure what this means, but take it as them recording their driving while on the meter?:
"The product is particularly popular among taxi drivers who use it to monitor their on-call drives..."
That would be convenient, as they usually keep their lunatic driving for when they're NOT having paying fares in the cab.
Loving the quote from Suffolk's deputy chief constable regarding video evidence, and it being appreciated by the ACPO, "as quite often the only evidence available is an eyewitness account which is disputed by the alleged offender." Could someone clue in the Metropolitan Police?
Overall, I wonder how many drivers' own video evidence will end up nailing them for cr*p driving?
And... you guys at Road.cc, maybe tone it down a bit... Sensationalist headline and write-up.
"...you guys at Road.cc, maybe tone it down a bit... Sensationalist headline and write-up."
But...then they'd have nothing to write about!
I read that on the weekend, there is no evidence other than conjecture in that article. It's a pretty shameless attempt by the Independant to stir up the whole car vs drivers debate.
If anything Road.cc should be highlighting the papers useless press rather than the near fictional subject!
Another Daily Mail-esque headline ;
"Are drivers tooling up with dash-cams to catch naughty cyclists?"
Answer: NO
Are drivers using dash-cams to record accident and collisions for insurance/legal purposes?
Answer: YES
"The police are quite keen on the idea too. Paul Marshall, Suffolk's deputy chief constable, said: "Increasing use is being made by the public of digital cameras to record evidence of offences which can be used by the police to support prosecutions. This is welcomed by Association of Chief Police Officers as quite often the only evidence available is an eyewitness account which is disputed by the alleged offender."
Except when you're being kicked by moped riders?
" drivers seek to record evidence of altercations with cyclists and other road users."
Such inflammatory language. The majority of drivers have them to prove fault in a collision. That's it. No need for war cries
I agree entirely. Anyone buying a cam and going to all the trouble of using it, just to vid a cyclist being naughty has issues. If there is an upsurge it's because what used to be straightforward insurance claims now get extremely litigious because of the money some people want to make as an earning opportunity and because of the wild claims they make in order to muddy the waters on blame. The tiniest little shunt and people claim whiplash. They rear end you and claim you pulled an emergency stop. Stuff like that. £200 for a cam is money well spent.
Exactly. It's not usually about cyclists, but about scumbag drivers. Example here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=70&t=1226016&mid=6643...
Worryingly, it is either acceptable evidence or it is not. The Police or CPS should not be able to pick and choose what is and isn't acceptable. If a dash mounted one on a cab is enough to prove liability, why is not a noggin mounted one also not sufficient?
Indeed, it is this sort of double speak that we hear that makes us lose faith in the policing. Or is it a case of one rule for motorists and another for cyclists, after all we don't pay road tax
I have no problem with this. I get disgruntled at bad cyclists too, they give cyclists a bad name & predudice drivers against us.
I'm sort of with you here, but it still makes me a bit uneasy. I suspect a lot of drivers, and the people who might end up looking at these videos, will basically be ignorant of cycling and so will lump in perfectly acceptable stuff like taking the lane with bad stuff like RLJing. The Clarkson twitter thing and the ASA ruling spring to mind here.
It may also serve to educate some motorists. I have in mind the Clarkson leaning out of a car to video a cyclist (quitr rightly) talking the lane, and the nonsense with the ASA last week. It might be quite amusing to be a fly on the wall at the police station as people wander in to deliver damning video evidence of cyclists obeying the highway code. A code with which many motorists are about as familiar as they are with the novels of Proust.
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