Look man, you're on candid camera

[cyclintom]

There are quite a few people now equipping their bikes with front and rear cameras. And the best one's have a rotating period of 12 hours or so.

They are now turning this evidence over to the police for close passes and throwing things at you. And then all it takes is corroborating evidence from a witness which is another cyclist in your group.

There is at least one bill working it's way through the California legislature that requires the police to accept photographic evidence as proof without secondary corroboration.

If the courts start removing licenses perhaps it will have an impact on a Cars Are King civilization.

 

[SirJoe]

I'm glad they finally are doing something about this. It can be really dangerous being hit by something if you aren't expecting it.

 

[cyclintom]

How often do you expect to be hit by a car or pedestrian?

 

[sharkantropo]

Front and rear cameras to have a complete of a reckless driver. Nothing more eloquent than that. Hope that California legislation is enacted, otherwise loner bikers are less chances to prove felonies in the court.

 

[cyclintom]

I'm a little ambivalent about it. Let's face it - there is a large segment of women that can't drive worth beams. So when they see you on the road they concentrate on your to be sure they miss you. What this does is cause them to actually get very close to you. Many cyclists are so tired of this threat that they are likely to waste the court's time trying to remove these people's licenses that in fact pose no real danger to a cyclist other than worrying them.

There are also many smart-alecky young driver's that simply drive so fast that they don't have time to give you enough clearance. These people should NOT be charged with close passes but with speeding and they wouldn't be in these cases.

So the cameras can fix some problems while causing others.

 

[ZXD22]

Without this law enacted, loner bike riders would be vulnerable even with cameras mounted and filming. Hopefully it passes so us lonely bikers get equal fighting power.

 

[Djordje87]

I really try to take as much as I can of the bike. I am not a big fan of gadgets on bicycle. I have to think about cameras while I am driving or when I park my bike. Here people still everything they can. So I guess I would have to take them of when I park and carry them with me. No way but it is useful if something happens. I usually solve these problems without camera or the police. Living in a country like Serbia makes you a bit crazy.

 

[ballyhara]

Living in a country, where people drive like crazy, I think that's amazing. I would love to take some evidence, specially when drivers tend to tailgate on you. We've had a lot of biker's accidents, because they have been thrown out of the road, by very evil drivers that don't care about them. I've been pushed aside too, and I was shocked, for a brief moment, I thought my head was going to hit the road walk.

 

[DenisP]

I'm glad that something is being done to curb the behavior of aggressive motorists. I mean, I drive a car occasionally myself, but I see no reason to be so rude towards cyclists. Sure, I understand that some cyclists don't obey road rules and cause trouble on the road, but that doesn't mean every cyclist is that way. I mean, I've run into my fair share of rude motorists but I don't throw them all into the same bunch.

The problem is that they don't face severe enough penalties, if any at all. Once motorists start seeing that they have to respect cyclists or pay the fine, it might curb their behavior.

 

[Chuckabutty]

Most of my riding is on sidewalks. Very few people to get in the way. I don't need a camera to defend against bad drivers. I found that in Florida, drivers have learned to expect cyclists to do stupid things. For instance, I would be on a sidewalk, approaching a side road. I have a mirror to watch for cars that would be turning into the road I'm about to cross. I have been stopping and waving them on, but they sit there and wave me across. So now I still watch, carefully, and prepare to stop if necessary, but once I see the car has slowed enough, I'll just keep riding and give the driver a wave of thanks.

I used to have a Go-Pro on my motorcycle helmet, but got rid of it because I rarely used it. I now see Walmart is selling a Sony camera that looks like a Go-Pro but at less than half the price. I don't know how good they are, but I'm tempted to get one just to film parts of my bike rides. I'm also tempted to get a dash cam for the car, after seeing so many Russian crashes on YouTube, filmed with dash cams. They could be very useful in the event of crossing paths with a dangerous driver.

 

[Henrywrites]

This is going to put to bed cases of drunk drivers hitting the bike riders and going away with it easily as the case have always been in the past. Having that type of camera on your bike is a sure way to keep evidence of everything that happens in your cycling life. I'm happy that we are all getting to protect ourselves in one way or the other.