Cycling UK Forum

...on giving us space!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq1x7TOvXCo

I got so incensed last week that I made this video. I had driver after driver cut me up, pull out on me or drive within an inch of my handlebars. Last week just seemed to bring them all out from under their little stone. Then I hear that a work colleage has been knocked off (he's now fine, but the driver drove off, he was unable to get the plates).

Things are getting stupid here in Southampton. This morning I'm approaching a bin lorry thats parked up loading the rubbish in and a van driver guns it past me. He's not waiting for me. No problem I'll just go after, only I cant because I get cut up by another moron who'd decided their need to pass is greater than my need for safety. The front of their bonnet was soooo close! Frankly I hope they wrap their cars around a tree rather than another cyclist, pedestrian, etc. I wish them no personal harm but maybe the loss of transport will make them more appreciative of what they have?

Do you think the CTC would like to use the video? How much does it cost to run ads on the TV?

That was a very good video: simple and effective. I think the CTC would be wise to invest in airing videos like this on TV. There are also some real-clips that people record using helmet cams, some of the incidents they witness are pretty hairy, if only these could also be aired on TV, as well as submitted to the police, that would have an effective outreach - as opposed to a forgettable one day course or minor note in a theory test.

Good work.

Cheers matey!

Annoyingly the no10 petitions site hasnt approved or even rejected my petition asking for more helmet research (followed by making the data public). It seems they have an agenda to slowly allow the legislation of helmets to come through. It will be a bit of a shock to the public when head injuries fail to fall and they realise it was the fact that drivers should have taken more care in the first place.

Sorry. I'm feeling very miltant lately.

While I think it would be a good idea to have some ads (and definitely funded by the DfT, not the CTC, may I add!), I'm not sure the usual hard hitting safety adverts would fit well with the CTC's current "safety in numbers campaign". In other words, I fear the predominantly effect would be to dissuade would-be cyclists rather than change driver behaviour. (So helmet-cam footage would be a definite no-no!). What I think would be better is something carefully designed to be optimistic, doom free, and something to show people that cycling is a bona fide means of getting from place to place.

I can't knock your movie-making skills though, downfader. Good work. As a traditional hard hitting ad, it's as good as anything I've seen on my tellybox!

downfader wrote:It will be a bit of a shock to the public when head injuries fail to fall and they realise it was the fact that drivers should have taken more care in the first place.

It won't be a shock at all, because they won't even notice. And if they did, they wouldn't care.

I have often found fear of retribution to be the greater deterrant in all honesty.

rbrian wrote:

downfader wrote:It will be a bit of a shock to the public when head injuries fail to fall and they realise it was the fact that drivers should have taken more care in the first place.

It won't be a shock at all, because they won't even notice. And if they did, they wouldn't care.

I can totally verify the last statement from the situation in Australia. almost all Australians (cyclist and non-cyclist) view compulsary helmet laws as a necessary safety requirement, like seatbelts, motorcycle helmets and anti-drink driving laws. People don't think to ask a simple question like "Did helmet laws reduce cyclist head injuries?"

The Aussie laws won't be changing anytime soon.