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by Raph
21 Apr 2022, 1:05am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?
Replies: 66
Views: 5212

Re: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EuBzqELf6M

That’s very similar to two recent examples I have on camera (I was cycling in both) where the danger wasn’t to me but to the oncoming vehicle. Mine were much closer to a collision but basically the same thing. No response from Operation Snap to the first one so I didn’t bother with the second one. I’ve got a lot going on at the moment so taking on the local plod for their overly friendly attitude to dangerous driving is a bit beyond me, but as soon as the pressure’s off a bit I’ll get into writing some emails... which I imagine will get similarly ignored.
by Raph
2 Apr 2022, 9:50pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?
Replies: 66
Views: 5212

Re: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?

I know they participate cos that's where I uploaded the vid. But maybe it's that the vid wasn't about me being in danger - I simply witnessed someone else very nearly being pranged head-on as a van overtook me in what would otherwise have been a textbook manner.

Or it simply confirms that as I suggested before, someone has to be injured or killed first. Which makes a nonsense of the concept of "dangerous driving" - means you can drive like an @rse and it's perfectly ok, not considered dangerous until you've actually hit someone. All those close passes are fine then.

More likely Northamptonshire cops have more important stuff to do - my mum's house got broken into while she was away, a guy smashed a basement window and started selling drugs and messing up the place - Northamptonshire cops said it was a "civil matter" and nothing to do with them.. we had to sort it out ourselves.
by Raph
2 Apr 2022, 8:30pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?
Replies: 66
Views: 5212

Re: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?

Thanks gazza, I suppose posting it is better than doing nothing. Sadly I'm in Northamptonshire and the cops here are the biggest do-nothing merchants, and not just about road traffic incidents. Plenty of examples available from personal experience! At least when you do bump into them they're helpful and sociable though - the met used to give it the full darth vader before thinking of saying hello.
by Raph
1 Apr 2022, 3:31pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?
Replies: 66
Views: 5212

Re: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?

deeferdonk - indeed that's a very common excuse by drivers and onlookers alike, often said with a tone of total sanity, like any reasonable person would agree that the driver only had two choices - shove you off the road or smash head-on into someone coming the other way. The third and most blindingly obvious option which never occurs to any of these morons is if it's too narrow to overtake safely, DON'T OVERTAKE. It's baffling to me that nobody sees the flaw in the mentality that says it's ok to drive in a manner where you'll have to choose who you kill and who you magnanimously spare. They often talk about it as though they're being so brave taking on a tough choice - "of course I'll hit the cyclist, after all the oncoming car might have a child in it!" (that's a real quote), but the thing that narrows it down to pure cowardice is that if it's a slow tractor in their way with big spiky things on it they generally keep back until it's safe - but when endangering someone else, suddenly they're really brave.

thirdcrank - thanks for that. Sadly our MP is Andrea Loathsome, we've written to her a few times about various issues, the replies are always crammed with irrelevant guff about how fantastic she is... utterly pointless, but as you suggest maybe the police and crime commissioner might respond a bit more coherently. I'll try that.
by Raph
1 Apr 2022, 11:31am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?
Replies: 66
Views: 5212

Re: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?

Well... one month on and not a word from Operation Snap, I'm so glad I bothered :roll: .

And the other day there was an almost identical manoevre from a delivery van, overtaking me perfectly with loads of space... but right into the face of an oncoming car that had to squash up into a hedge and stop to avoid a head-on smash, as though the driver hadn't seen that someone was coming the other way, and this on a pretty straight bit of road with perfect visibility. Should I report that and get no response again? Or did I get no response last time because effectively I'm not the plaintiff, I merely witnessed the near-miss? Or do they only bother after someone dies?

The time I actually got physically attacked the cops gave me loads of "oh how awful for you" sympathy, traced the driver but basically did nothing even though the driver did come really close to enable the passenger to reach - I've been wondering for some time whether the law is really any use at all.
by Raph
26 Feb 2022, 8:01pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?
Replies: 66
Views: 5212

Re: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?

Well, it's getting gradually worse but still nowhere near what it was like in London when I lived there 30 years ago. Bad driving was always accompanied by self-righteousness even after the most obvious offences, and often with threats of violence.

Here it's mostly good vibes, with only the very occasional hardnut Kray twin behave-alike asserting dominance, but actually the more common danger is drongos that don't look ahead and then get into an uncompromising situation where they'll happily compromise the cyclist rather than just slow down as they would for a tractor or horsebox.


Sorry yeah - .org.uk, not .co.uk, but I did get on the correct one last year and couldn't find where to post up a vid.


Unless I actually get shunted and bike smashed and broken bones etc, I'm never after a conviction, I merely want that driver to know that they were noticed, logged, and the next occurrence could cost them points or lose them their license.

There's still a really slack attitude among motorists, even mates of mine - people generally laugh about how crap their driving is, whoops butterfingers, "what am I like!!!" as though it were a trivial matter like cooking gone wrong, whereas I personally know several people who's careers have been terminated by drivers casually cocking up. Two involved dooring - both were musicians, both had to give up playing due to dislocated and messed up shoulders. Another one was cut up, front wheel caught on a bumper, was dragged half a mile as the driver pretended nothing had happened and carried on driving. But some motorists always regard themselves as the victims somehow. I'm sure yesterday's incident would have been laughed about afterwards - "guess wot we nearly hit this transit van, you shoulda seen the guy's face!!!" ...etc...

Anyway, since typing the above I've spent over an hour reporting this on Operation Snap. I'm only really hoping a word in the ear of the driver might help avoid a future scrape that could end a lot worse.

Reminds me: I've got to reset the dates/times on all the cameras, it was an hour and a half ahead for some reason. Hope that doesn't mess up the evidence. (An hour and a half later it was after dark, so at least there's some evidence FWIW that my camera's time was out!)
by Raph
26 Feb 2022, 12:58am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Where to post vids of dangerous driving?
Replies: 66
Views: 5212

Where to post vids of dangerous driving?

I used to send vids of dangerous driving to roadjustice.co.uk. Is there an equivalent now?

I'm reluctant to post up vids on youtube with number plates visible, and sadly sending them to the cops is pointless, they didn't do anything when I was physically attacked by a passenger out of a transit van, or when another white van hero tried to crush me against a bollard, or when a 10-ton truck passed me with less than 6" to spare... but a database of bad driving is probably still a good idea so incidents can be cross-referenced.

Today's fun moment was a driver giving me a perfectly reasonable amount of space by moving over... into the path of an oncoming van - and then swerving in to avoid a head-on collision. The van driver had to pull over sharpish and stop.

This kind of thing is happening more and more - several times recently someone's overtaken without considering what's coming the other way e.g. round a blind bend, then had to push me off the road to avoid a head-on prang. The other day a ***** was behind me at the lights, I was going straight on so not indicating, when the lights changed I took off as normal and she revved up, overtook and cut left right in front of me, missing my front wheel by a whisker and almost hitting a traffic island cos she'd miscalculated. Maybe she was making a point about the "changes to the highway code", which strangely as far as I know has never suggested that motorists can turn left across cyclists. I didn't bother keeping the vid but I think I've got to start logging these incidents.

I'm thinking that if there isn't a website to post up vids then I'll probably go the way of others and just post them up on youtube for public view. There's a youtube about Devon & Cornwall cops that are taking action on vids submitted to them - today's one would definitely meet the criteria but I don't know who to send it to as the local cops here are pretty "laisser faire" about this kind of thing.
by Raph
8 Oct 2021, 12:51am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...
Replies: 40
Views: 2837

Re: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...

Well, I'm glad you didn't go for the Chilli cam cos I've now done the first couple of rides with it, and it's better than the old one but still pretty terrible. As you say, in the right light it picks up number plates, but in bright sunlight they're washed out and totally blank, and when it gets dark they reflect your bike light and are also washed out and blank... And generally in low light the detail becomes really awful and blotchy.

So it's back to the Garmin Virb, and having to change battery every 2 hours. But I've got a stack of spares and I usually manage to pick a quiet bit of road to change it on the move so I don't even have to stop. The other pain is having the erase it each time as it doesn't record over old material, it just bleeps and stops recording when full.
by Raph
1 Oct 2021, 9:49am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...
Replies: 40
Views: 2837

Re: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...

Depends what happens - death threats are quite common from motorists, it's useful evidence, as is being able to prove you haven't incited any hostility by giving them an earful. When a camera is on the bars the internal "seismic" bike noise is some 20-30db louder than anything else.

I few years ago I had a case of a van driver trying to pin me against a bollard, this was accompanied by a load of him shouting through the open passenger window - in that case it was all unintelligible anyway, but catching malicious intent would have been very useful. Also a forward facing handlebar mounted camera would have caught nothing other than me wobbling towards a bollard, no proof of anything whatsoever.
by Raph
30 Sep 2021, 9:34pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...
Replies: 40
Views: 2837

Re: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...

Right, so let's find out if the OP is in Norfolk!

My point that you may have missed was that audio wasn't critical as it's rubbish anyway on the bullet cam (and most action cams for that matter) so not much lost by having road and brake noise, hence partly making your point that audio isn't critical.

It's never gonna catch 100% but on the bars often catches 0%. If on the other hand it follows what you're looking at it catches most of what you saw. And the rear camera covers the remaining direction you're unlikely to be looking in. Cops I've sent vids to have commented on the quality and usefulness of the vids - tho none of them in Norfolk I should add.

From what you say it sounds like you reckon all helmet cams are a potential killer, totally fair point of course and it's good to have that opinion as part of the discussion, nevertheless I don't think it was in the original question was it?
by Raph
30 Sep 2021, 4:27pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...
Replies: 40
Views: 2837

Re: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...

Actually one aspect of having a camera on your bars is that the audio is pretty much totally road/bearing/brake noise, but on the Chilli bullet cam if you use the waterproof rear cover, the audio is fairly worthless anyway so you wouldn't be losing much. For me it's more a matter of the video being not just straight ahead but catching stuff like passengers taking a swipe leaning out of car/van windows (one such vid went to the cops last year), a handlebar cam wouldn't have caught that. A handlebar mounted camera often misses the relevant bits of action. The solution might be to use two, pointing outwards 45deg left & right, maybe on the ends of the bar like where you'd put a mirror. Hmmm...
by Raph
30 Sep 2021, 2:52pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...
Replies: 40
Views: 2837

Re: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...

The Virb is rubber-coated plastic, the Chilli camera is aluminium. If you're worried about the Virb then I wouldn't go near the Chilli either, especially as it'll probably nestle between ridges in the helmet therefore nearer your skull and is held by elastic webbing which I can't imagine breaking, whereas the Virb sits quite high on a moderately secure but very breakable clip with two small spring-loaded dogs that engage holes in the camera.

Yes the zip tie is pretty feeble, it only goes through one small hole in the mount - I only used the plural because it's not long enough so it's two daisy-chained, which doubles the failure points, and "various" was cos of many different configurations to get it vaguely stable. When I first put it on my previous helmet I did break it off deliberately just to see what would give first (didn't like the helmet anyway so took the risk) - the clip and camera came off together, the zip tie gave way and the helmet didn't even dent. The hole in the mount is meant for a tiny thumbscrew - limits the zip tie to tiny so you can't use a fat one anyway.

Also in either case (Chilli or Virb), it's right on top, which is the least likely impact point - hence many helmets of old prioritising sides rather than top in the days before making them from expanded polystyrene. (remember the "skid lid"? Sides only, big hole in the top!)

The worst from that point of view was the Contour Roam, as it went on the side, though you can turn the lens 90deg so could fit it on top in theory.

The issue of helmet safety pretty much counts out putting anything on any helmet - I've had this discussion many many times. If your head hits something head-on it doesn't matter how breakable the furniture is, it'll still go right through into your head.

mjr wrote: 30 Sep 2021, 1:34pm
Raph wrote: 30 Sep 2021, 12:19am

Garmin Virb fitted on the helmet (with various zip ties)
at least ride like my head was lots more vulnerable than riding bare-headed.
I do anyway. If I regularly tore around through city centre traffic I'd probably think up something else. Where I live I'm more likely to hit tarmac at an angle than anything head-on. But anyway I was actually commenting on picture quality and battery life - put it on the bars if you prefer (I did for a while), I think some of the attachments are same as Go-Pro.
by Raph
30 Sep 2021, 11:20am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...
Replies: 40
Views: 2837

Re: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...

I've just found that in bright sunshine the Chilli bullet cam sometimes wash out number plates so they're unreadable. And it's definitely not HD unless HD stands for something other than high definition!!

Back to the Garmin Virb then...
by Raph
30 Sep 2021, 10:25am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...
Replies: 40
Views: 2837

Re: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...

Yes I've mostly stopped using a saddlebag in favour of a bottle cage tub for tools & spare tubes etc. and a triangular bag that goes within the frame... but when I do use a saddlebag the camera goes on the frame, on the seat tube below the seat clamp and just peeking between the seat stays - gets slightly more mud spray there but still works.
by Raph
30 Sep 2021, 12:19am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...
Replies: 40
Views: 2837

Re: OK time for a helmet cam methinks...

Looks like you've probably got enough advice there already, but for what it's worth... I've used quite a few:

The Chilli tech rear camera is absolutely excellent - image quality is really good, can't remember what the internal battery is rated for but I've never yet run out of battery up to 4-hour rides, it incorporates a light which isn't great and I don't use cos I use a separate rear light. Advantages: cycle record (records over earliest clips so you never have to erase anything) and one-touch record, so no guessing whether it's recording or not - if it's on it's recording. No disadvantages I can think of, I love it.

Before that I used a Cycliq Fly6 - not bad, not great pic quality, good runtime (similar to above), one-touch record, cycle record, internal battery, and incorporates a really good rear light (ditto didn't tend to use it)

For front cameras - the Chilli bullet helmet camera is excellent in a couple of ways but the picture quality isn't so great - the previous version was really terrible, the Mk2 is much better, but still not all that brilliant, though probably good enough just for evidence. Battery life rated at 4 hours, haven't had a chance to test that yet. Removable battery so you can get a spare and extend that 4-hours. Also one-touch, also cycle record, and it's quite light, which is why I've just bought a couple...

...to try and ween myself from my ultimate fave so far which is the Garmin Virb fitted on the helmet (with various zip ties) - I've had this for a couple of years now, absolutely fantastic, really excellent pic quality, so good I've used it for youtube music videos, and it's really well made and totally reliable. One-touch record (well, a slider), but NOT cycle record so you have to remember to erase it. Runtime only about 2-hours but a removable battery so I bought a few spares, always take one along and swap it during the ride. If you've got neck issues it might be a bit heavy.

I used a Contour Roam II for ages, one-slide record, not cycle record but easy one-button card format so no menus just press a button for 5 seconds to erase, not particularly great picture but again good enough for evidence. Only about 3 hours runtime, and internal battery so that's yer lot.


I think the comment about linking to an external battery is beside the point and nothing to do with ignorance; you've already got lights and other faff, you don't want extra hassle - everything should be as simple and fool-proof as possible; one-touch record, not having to erase the thing, and easy fitting to the bike are essential to make it useable on a daily basis. More stuff to connect up makes more risk of stuff going wrong.

None of the above involves any image stabilisation - I've never needed it, though it can be done later on software e.g. iMovie.


In short the only one I'd really rave about is the Chilli rear camera - truly excellent, and I'm not looking for anything else, it's just brilliant!

The front one is pretty good in almost every way, just not great image quality, so I might go back to the Garmin Virb, and I'm watching this thread in the hope of some good tips!