The Cyclist Strikes Back

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
reohn2
Posts: 45158
Joined: 26 Jun 2009, 8:21pm

Re: The Cyclist Strikes Back

Post by reohn2 »

I think the reason dashcam videos are being put up on social media sites,is inform others as to what's happening on the roads due to a lack of effective policing,even when footage is passed on to the police,and inadequate sentencing in the unlikely event offenders be charged.
People are fed up with appalling driving,it can be frightening,also people see dashcam footage as a true record of events against liars and false wittnesses should they be involved in crash or incident.
In the case of the linked videos we only get a partial story but it illustrates unacceptable behaviour on the part of the cyclists in both incidents.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
MikeF
Posts: 4339
Joined: 11 Nov 2012, 9:24am
Location: On the borders of the four South East Counties

Re: The Cyclist Strikes Back

Post by MikeF »

reohn2 wrote:
boliston wrote:there was a similar one in bristol today
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/brist ... ing-279266

The cyclist looks to be a thug and a moron,OTOH if he gets that kind of abuse day in day out he perhaps just snapped,there's no excuse for that kind of violence though.
I'm not sure how you jump to that conclusion, but obviously the reporting has given you that view. :wink: He's just been knocked off his bike as far as we can see in the video.

Look at the anticyclist reporting. First the video which seems to show him preceding from the ASL against a red light. Maybe he shouldn't have done that but we don't know if it was a danger or anything else about that manoeuvre. Next the video cuts to following a car and obscures what happens. What did actually happen? We don't know. All we know is the bike and car collide and the car has pulled halfway out of the junction. The cyclist doesn't look badly hurt, but the way he takes off his helmet and carries the bike looks as though the bike was damaged. No wonder he is angry. He presumably thinks it futile to get compensation?

"The 35-year-old, originally from Aberdare in Wales, said he saw what happened clearly despite the video not being the best quality."
No he didn't. The vehicle in front obscured his view. All he appears to have seen was the same as shown on the video.

"It seemed to happen in such slow motion, even though cyclist had been going so fast the car in front of me couldn't overtake him, I even saw the dark green Mazda pull out slowly."
What might that that have been - 20mph? Why should the car need to overtake??? We have a strange perception of safe speed.

"It seemed to happen in such slow motion,even though cyclist had been going so fast the car in front of me couldn't overtake him, I even saw the dark green Mazda pull out slowly."
Even though my view was obscured by the car in front. :roll:

"It seemed to happen in such slow motion, even though cyclist had been going so fast the car in front of me couldn't overtake him, I even saw the dark green Mazda pull out slowly."
ie the cyclist was the only one travelling fast.
"It takes a genius to spot the obvious" - my old physics master.
I don't peddle bikes.
Bonefishblues
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Joined: 7 Jul 2014, 9:45pm
Location: Near Bicester Oxon

Re: The Cyclist Strikes Back

Post by Bonefishblues »

If one looks at the camera footage it is taken from the centre, or ever so slightly to the left of centre, from the area of the rear view mirror. Now look at the footage and notice the position of the camera car, which is to the rh of the lane. It's entirely possible that the driver had a view of events ahead from his road positioning.

ETA
And of course, cars aren't solid objects, they have windows.
reohn2
Posts: 45158
Joined: 26 Jun 2009, 8:21pm

Re: The Cyclist Strikes Back

Post by reohn2 »

Mike
Read in to it what you will,I see a quite stocky cyclist involved in a collision which looks to me that the Mazda pulled out on the cyclist,and to be the drivers fault.
What happens immediately after the collision is bizzare,the cyclist opens the car door and punches the driver repeatedly,the driver who could've been a young or elderly wo/man is at a complete disadvantage being sat so low and unable to get out of the car in a hurry drives off presumably in fright.
My immediate response should I or any reasonable and sane person riding the bike in such circumstances,wouldn't have been to go in swinging.I may have shouted a bit,such as "WT* are you doing" etc, but never would initialize any violence.

That's what lead me to my conclusion that the cyclist's actions were moronic and thuggish.
Furthermore if his bike was damaged he'd just eliminated any chance of any recompense,which also leads me to conclude he's also an idiot to boot.
YVMV,but in the absence of any other evidence I'm sticking to that opinion.

Edit; to add to what Boney posted,cameras don't always see what people see.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
boliston
Posts: 60
Joined: 5 Jul 2013, 6:35pm
Location: Taunton
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Re: The Cyclist Strikes Back

Post by boliston »

i'm amazed by the sheer number of general anti cycling comments in a local paper for what is supposed to be a "cycling city".
people saying things like the cyclist was not wearing hi-vis, not using the cycle lane (there isn't one), jumping a red light (nothing to indicate the happened), some are saying he should have checked for cars coming out of side roads and even someone saying he should have been using the cycle path on the other side of the river.
reohn2
Posts: 45158
Joined: 26 Jun 2009, 8:21pm

Re: The Cyclist Strikes Back

Post by reohn2 »

boliston wrote:i'm amazed by the sheer number of general anti cycling comments in a local paper for what is supposed to be a "cycling city".
people saying things like the cyclist was not wearing hi-vis, not using the cycle lane (there isn't one), jumping a red light (nothing to indicate the happened), some are saying he should have checked for cars coming out of side roads and even someone saying he should have been using the cycle path on the other side of the river.

Was that about one of the two incidents in this thread or another one?
Incidents reported in online newspapers with a comments section always bring out the trolls and mindless idiots.
The internet makes it very easy to post prejudiced tripe .
-----------------------------------------------------------
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
MikeF
Posts: 4339
Joined: 11 Nov 2012, 9:24am
Location: On the borders of the four South East Counties

Re: The Cyclist Strikes Back

Post by MikeF »

reohn2 wrote:Mike
Read in to it what you will,I see a quite stocky cyclist involved in a collision which looks to me that the Mazda pulled out on the cyclist,and to be the drivers fault.
What happens immediately after the collision is bizzare,the cyclist opens the car door and punches the driver repeatedly,the driver who could've been a young or elderly wo/man is at a complete disadvantage being sat so low and unable to get out of the car in a hurry drives off presumably in fright.
My immediate response should I or any reasonable and sane person riding the bike in such circumstances,wouldn't have been to go in swinging.I may have shouted a bit,such as "WT* are you doing" etc, but never would initialize any violence.

That's what lead me to my conclusion that the cyclist's actions were moronic and thuggish.
Furthermore if his bike was damaged he'd just eliminated any chance of any recompense,which also leads me to conclude he's also an idiot to boot.
YVMV,but in the absence of any other evidence I'm sticking to that opinion.

Edit; to add to what Boney posted,cameras don't always see what people see.
I don't condone what happened, and it seems bizarre but I could understand someone reacting like that. I don't think any of us have enough information from that clipped video to draw any conclusions. I don't know what to make of it. eg Was it a stunt? Did the car driver and the cyclist know each other or had a previous confrontation? Nevertheless I still think the purpose of the article is to stir up anti cyclist sentiment.
"It takes a genius to spot the obvious" - my old physics master.
I don't peddle bikes.
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