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news
Shimano CM-2000 camera - 1 (2).jpgHi-vis wearing pedestrian plans to wear camera after being hit by cyclists "multiple times"
A man from Swindon says he is planning on wearing a body camera because “nothing is being done” about reckless cyclists. John Bowie says he has been hit multiple times and claims to have been the victim of numerous assaults as a result of disagreements with cyclists.
Bowie told The Swindon Advertiser: “Over the time I have lived in Swindon, I have been a victim of cyclists striking me with their push bikes multiple times. I find it distressing and it makes me angry that nothing is being done.”
He claims that the most recent collision took place earlier this week and occurred despite his decision to venture onto the pavement in a hi-vis top.
Referring to another recent incident, he added: “Just last week when my wife used a wheelchair in town, she was narrowly missed by a cyclist speeding through. It has now come to the point where for my own safety I may need to wear a camera every time I go out, though I feel uncomfortable about doing this.”
Bowie pointed to Rule 64 of the Highway Code, which states: “You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement.”
However, under Home Office guidance issued in 1999, cyclists may ride on the footway as long as they do so considerately, and officers are required to exercise discretion when issuing fines.
Bowie also pointed to the high profile case of Charlie Alliston, who was convicted of causing bodily harm through wanton and furious driving following the death of pedestrian Kim Briggs in September.
“Following the recent national case of a woman killed by a cyclist, there are calls for the law to be updated, which I fully agree with. But I would go beyond that and look for a new department to be established to police the changed law, teach cycle safety and look at licensing push bikes.”
The licensing of bicycles was most recently in the news following Halfords’ Sharing the Road survey. 59 per cent of respondents said that bicycles should carry licence plates.
Responding to the results, Cycling UK observed that some people, “fail to appreciate the practicalities of imposing and enforcing regulations on children, the costs involved, or the public health and other implications of putting up further barriers to cycling. Fortunately, government has consistently reached the conclusion that such proposals are disproportionate and unnecessary.”
British Cycling said that suggestions such as a compulsory proficiency test and number plates, “are quite obviously non-starters.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- anotherflat 5 min 40 sec ago
Years ago, driving down a country lane in the pitch dark, the only thing that alerted me to the cyclist in front was their pedal reflectors (dark...
- AidanR 13 min 28 sec ago
You might be safer using one of these: https://yplac.co.uk/product/yplac-mini-stickers/
- I love my bike 23 min 25 sec ago
I live in an English city, where multiple times in the year, one side of the market square & high street (that are explicitly open to cycle...
- chrisonabike 23 min 35 sec ago
Wait a minute - coaster brakes not suited for descents? Someone better time-travel back and tell the embryonic MTB community......
- chrisonabike 26 min 43 sec ago
Argh! Now there's some kind of rat problem there too! Definitely no windows!
- quiff 2 hours 37 min ago
Fair point - I was restricting myself to pedal bikes. As I've never spent that kind of money on anything though (mortgage doesn't count), it's kind...
- brooksby 3 hours 40 min ago
And finally: I wonder how many of the "more than 3,000" signatures on that petition are actually locals, who live or work there (and are not just...
- Doug_D 5 hours 16 min ago
Another book suggestion - I can highly recommend "Lost Summers and Half-Forgotten Afternoons: A Mint Sauce collection" - a beautifully presented...
- mdavidford 7 hours 6 min ago
I think you're missing an opportunity to pack even more tech into it - add accelerometers that can detect whether they're pedalling or stepping....
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40 comments
Why is this even being reported...?
Its a bit like Reliant Robin found on the moon!
Why is this idiot getting column inches?
are you kidding? This is the most exciting thing that's happened in Swindon since they got that dysfunctional multi-roundabout thing!
Something to be said about wearing a camera, you record only a fleeting glimpse of everyone else's behaviour, but all of your own. If the pedestrian wears a camera it will be a useful exercise, he may also just show himself up to be an arse.
You think there's some doubt?
Bike Bullshit Bingoooooooo! He wins a £5 voucher for C&A
I think I'm going to post a link to the footage of my weekly London commutes for balance. It's all really fucking boring.
Vigilante, isn't that the label attached to someone looking for trouble and recording all their mishaps with other road users?
And a hi-vis wearing ped is just asking for a punch.
No it isn't, at least not in proper English.
Your second comment demeans you.
You don't get sarcasm much eh?
Mr Bowie says he's been struck "multiple times" so that could be two, but he doesn't give a time scale, so that could be over twenty years.
Perhaps he could get together with the dog walker in Kensington Gardens, Jay Miller, to compare notes on these dangerous speeding cyclists http://road.cc/content/news/231906-kensington-gardens-dog-walker-has-sta...
Having been knocked off three times by pedestrians, and narrowly avoided several other collisions, none of them my fault, I'm pretty sure that there are plenty of stupid pedestrians around. I made the mistake of looking on youtube and couldn't believe the number of vids https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=stupid+pedestrians+uk
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/15655675._Swindon_is_gridlocked_...
He looks well worth avoiding.
John Bowie, in happier days.
His own Facebook description of himself is "I'm nuts".
john bowie.jpg
Wake the F up you lazy bstard, the dog is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!
no way, he's your imaginary dog!
Whenever I walk I carry a large stick, everybody gives you more you space including vehicles, particularly when you start waving it around.
I find a big chainsaw more effective for that, although it helps when you start it going. The number of times that smart-phone-zombies are surprised to find their torso cut in half when they weren't looking where I was going.
Ive had a near miss as a pedestrian with bikes twice - both my fault, not the cyclists.
He will be another of these ‘I know my rights’ bell ends that deliberately takes no care or seeks out a confrontation just so he can be indignant.
And lets face it there are plenty of bike cam arseholes who do the same, though it is easier for them to find something to moan about, I’m not really sure where I would start looking for saucy and incident to recorded outwith the superhighways in London where running the pedestrian crossings seems to be OK for a good third of riders.
I'm almost 50. Walked to work for decades. Do a lot of running. I can't ever recall a cyclist on the pavement coming close to me let alone being knocked over multiple times. This poor guy is either very unlucky or blundering across bike paths - that's far more likely in my experience. People are drawn to walking in the bike portion of paths on pavements.
The bloke's clearly courting these incidents, I see some very inconsiderate cycling, but we'd all need to ride around with our eyes closed for your average ped to get hit as often as this mong.
Looking forward to seeing his footage.
Please could you try and make your point without the use of disability hate speech. Thank you.
[/quote] Please could you try and make your point without the use of disability hate speech. Thank you.[/quote]
Didn't think hate speech was used....checking the Oxford English definition states...
mong1
mɒŋ/
noun
Britishinformaloffensive
noun: mong; plural noun: mongs
a person who is stupid or who has learning difficulties.
Please could you try and make your point without the use of disability hate speech. Thank you.[/quote]
Didn't think hate speech was used....checking the Oxford English definition states...
mong1
mɒŋ/
noun
Britishinformaloffensive
noun: mong; plural noun: mongs
a person who is stupid or who has learning difficulties.
[/quote]Think you'll find it is short for Mongoloid which was the term used to describe people with Down's Syndrome, and yes it is derogatory in the same way as spaz (for spastic) is. You wouldn't call a person with Down's a mong......would you?
.
Oh give the "hate speech" nonsense a rest. I know two people living with disabilities and neither would get their knickers in a twist over use of the word "mong" as a general insult, because they are grown-ups.
And no, of course I wouldn't call a person suffering from Downs' a mong, because it would clearly be inappropriate in that context. But, as everyone including you knows, in this context, "mong" means a stupid person.
He's either the unluckiest man ever, causing these incidents himself, or full of shit.
I'm not convinced that he's telling the Swindon Advertiser the whole truth. I wonder How many of those pavements on which he's nearly been hit are actually shared-use where cyclists are allowed to be? How many times has he purposely stepped out to block cyclists he thinks are being antisocial/lawbreaking (which I get a lot)?
Only time will tell if he's been telling porkie pies. The camera doesn't lie as they say. I do wonder if he's stepped into the roadway a few times without looking. You have to ask what's going on inside his head and whether the problem's internal or external as he claims.
Yeah, you may well be right. There's a nutter on my daily commute who seems unable to grasp the concept of shared-use paths. He forces his family, including his very young children, to walk line abreast holding hands in order to block the entire width of the path when a cyclist approaches. He then verbally harasses the unfortunate individual, frequently threatening violence. I'm just hoping that one day he picks on someone who punches his lights out.
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