Cameras make you look for trouble

It was posted on a cycling forum that using a camera whilst cycling makes you look for trouble and that you are better off without them.

This response from the very well thought out MrOrigamist made me chuckle.

When they fitted flight data recorders (aka black boxes) to aircraft, pilots stated to behave differently. There were incidents of planes buzzing air traffic control towers, overshooting runways, doing loop the loops on the way to Malaga, playing chicken with each other, and worst of all, BA and Lufthansa Jumbo pilots would even engage in pretend dogfights over the channel. It’s madness, why do they persist with these flight data recorders when it’s obvious that pilots “instead of avoiding the accident…will have the tendency to go for it” same with cyclists, I suppose.

Cyclists are pack animals

At least that is what labyonnette of youtube thinks. He posted the following comment on my Why are cyclists using video cameras video.

Most of these incidents reflect a very sensitive individual who is over reacting to quite normal road occurences. Listen to the aggressive yelling, its typical of of you low IQ, low education, gay, self opinionated, paranoid prima donnas who think they own the road. You have absolutey NO tolerance of morists and you are pack animals often gathering together to intimidate motorists. Well boys you dont frighten me, I’ll cut you up at every opportunity. Give blood, run over cyclist every day

What a charming individual, with some incredible opinions about cyclists and those that choose to record what happens to them on the road. The road conditions and drivers are only normal to him, because that is the way he drives.

Filtering Videos

Apparently I’m filtering the videos I post. Not posting the stuff where I jump red lights or other crazy things that all cyclists do.

gaz545 and the majority of you arrogant cyclists are filtering the videos where you jump red lights.

Hahaha what crazy mumbo jumbo. Not once have I showed my self riding through a red light, maybe a few ambers but that is because I’m worried about the driver behind me not stopping. Why haven’t I showed any videos of myself cycling through red lights? That is a simple answer, I don’t!

You’re Looking for Trouble

I’m often told that I’m looking for trouble when I go out on my bicycle. After all, anyone that videos their bicycle ride is quite clearly acting up to the camera!

Comments range from

I ride a bike everyday and have never been aggressed in any way, so do thousands of others. The reason why is we aren’t looking for it.

to

it looks to me like you are looking for trouble and antagonising people for the benefit of the camera.

These comments come from all kinds of people, even from cyclists. They base this opinion around a few videos and presume that because I cycle in a position which they think is incorrect or because I did something different to what they would have done then I am acting up to the camera.

There are a few things to consider before making the assumption that I am looking for trouble. Distance, time, location, vehicle interactions and limited view.

Distance

My commute is 17 miles each way and I cycle to work and back again 5 days a week. Totalling my weekly mileage at 170 miles and that is not including the miles I do on the weekends. I miss a few days because of illness, holiday and occasionally bad weather. So my yearly mileage is normally around 7,000 miles. Much higher than the average cyclist.

Time

I work the 9 to 5, so the time I’m on the road is at rush hour, 170 miles a week at rush hour! Lots of traffic trying to get to work as quickly as possible and a few of them not thinking about anyone else but themselves.

Location

I commute from Croydon to central London. Whilst Croydon isn’t as big as central London, there is still a large quantity of traffic and I’m sure we are all aware of the traffic in central . I also follow some of the busiest routes in south London, with lots of different kinds of traffic all trying to get to their destination as quickly as possible.

Vehicle Interactions

In a single day I will have nearly a thousand interactions with other vehicles, by that I mean them passing me or me passing them. So weekly it’s +5,000 interactions but I only upload maybe 10 videos a week. Why? Because I’m not looking for trouble and most people drive safely. There are a few videos where at the time I think it was bad but on reflection it doesn’t look so bad on the video, in this case I don’t bother to upload the video

Limited View

Most of my videos show bad drivers, so of course it might look like I’m out looking for them. I rarely post videos of good drivers, mainly because they don’t get many as many views and it’s hard to see how good a driver really is.

Conclusion

I bet it doesn’t look like I’m antagonizing drivers or looking for trouble 99% of the time, and that is because I’m not, the other 1% is just down to people’s perceptions of a minority of incidences where they think they would have done better.
Pedal 7,000 miles in my shoes, ride 170 miles a week on the same roads as me and see how you react.

Cyclists aren’t allowed in the bus lane

At least that is what sparge2 thinks.

its a BUS LANE UM ITS FOR BUSSES SO GO AND FU CK OFF YOU PEOPLE ARE ARSHOLES STOP WASTING PEOPLES TIME AND GET A LIFE OH AND YES I DO LOTS OF MOUNTAIN BIKEING AND ON THE ROADS

Not every city or area lets cyclists use the bus lanes but in London we can, I understand that not everyone will be aware of this. But I have also been told to get out of the bus lane by a motorcyclist in London, haha!

No one should be punished for SMIDSY

so much going on especially driving in a busy city centre that smidsy is unavoidable. Imagine a car driver, looking at traffic ahead, signage, pedestrians, lights, and then undertaking bikes on the left… Its alot and no one should be punished for smidsy.

That is the opinion that Pentdad posted on one of my videos. The incident in question is a fairly generic SMIDSY in the form of a lane change. It isn’t clear in the video but i was forced to brake quite a bit to avoid being side swiped by the rear of the vehicle.

Whilst I would not wish for a driver to get banned for a SMIDSY, at present people do get punished for SMIDSY’s and those people are cyclists and motorcyclists. Road users need to be aware that 2 wheelers are harder to spot but not impossible, take your time and you will see them.

The Hardest Part of Cycling?

According to youtube user stomekz, who posted this on Episode 21 of Silly Cyclists, the hardest part of cycling is

hardest part of cycling is telling your parent that your gay

I think this sentence says a lot about the poster, the grammar is rather poor and he seems to know what the sexuality is of every cyclists. He appears to be using the word to describe anything which he dislikes or is opposed to, rather childish.