digger

In my case; I did.

Again, I cast doubt on the motorists challenge to the authenticity of the video. I am the owner of the video, and I testified to its authenticity.

As I stated, simply implying that the video could be altered is not sufficient argument. If so, then any evidence could be "tampered with" and thus not admissible. I also stated that, if the court wished, it could determine the time I called police, and the time the officer showed up at my door, to give further credence to the video authenticity; as the time to edit 4,600 frames, times 2 cameras, would not be possible.

It all comes down to who is most convincing; I did my homework before court. Motorist did not.

Easy peasy; lemon squeezy.

digger

There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Helmet
Pro: Better ability to point camera
Con: Lots of panning as your head moves. Maybe an issue with camera degrading ability of helmet to protect head in an accident. May find additional weight an issue.

Handlebar
Pro: Steady (er) video (maybe road vibration or movement due to rough roads)
Con: Cannot point the camera, limited to straight ahead.

I chose helmet mount. I had concern about the camera negatively affecting impact protection of the helmet. However, I mounted it on top, with the thought that I would more likely hit on 1 of the 4 sides; front, rear, left or right side. I figured that if I landed on top of my head, then I'm likely in very serious trouble anyway.

digger

Have you accessed this encoding chip? I've been crashing around online and cannot find anything on accessing it to read any meta data.

Shimagnolo

When I first tried a camera on the bicycle some years back, it was the old ATC2K, and I put it on the handlebars. The vibration was HORRIBLE, and the only thing you could hear in the audio was the vibration transmitted through the bike frame. So I switched to helmet mount.

Over at https://dashcamtalk.com/ I've seen discussions of use of dash cams on motorcycles, and a mfgr commented they had tried, but the vibration issues were a headache.

dragoonO1

I was a hit and run victim. A pickup truck driver blew a stop sign, and ran into me from behind while I was performing a left turn through the intersection. Because I had only one camera at the time mounted on the handlebars, the video didn't capture the suspect or his vehicle.* If I had a helmet mount, the camera would have recorded the front of the truck, including the plate, when I looked behind me prior to impact.

I now have 2 cameras. One is a helmet mount, and the other is mounted facing the rear. A handlebar mount records whatever is in the path of your bike, while a helmet mount essentially records everything that you look at.

* There are a few frames in the crash video that show the front of the truck as it approached the intersection while I was entering the intersection, but the camera was perpendicular to the vehicle. The video that I recorded was extremely useful to the responding police officer and for insurance purposes. The officer was able to establish the facts of the incident and documented that in the police report.

I am reluctant to discuss any further details. Everything I wrote has been established in the police report (The camera footage was instrumental in proving the suspect was completely at fault.) and is therefore public record.

digger

Yes, I had vibration issues as well. The mounting seemed secure, but the vibration up through high pressure tires, into an unsuspended frame, was not acceptable. I tried software to remove it, but no luck.

I'm surprised that there is vibration in a dash mount for a motorcycle. I would have thought the lower pressure tires and suspension would remove that.

By the by, one other thing I should mention, is to find instances of video used in court, taken by a citizens' personal camera. Below are some examples, but are Canadian. When I cited these examples, there was little hope for the motorist after that.

- The June 2011 Stanley Cup riots. Police used video and photos of cell phones, obtained from social media sites to identify the rioters, about 60 of them.
Riot charges - News - CBC Player

Vancouver riot charges - The National - CBC Player

Another video used as evidence by police was in Vancouver in March 2015.
Road rage suspect arrested after punch caught on video - British Columbia - CBC News

GovernorSilver

Thanks. I was suspecting the helmet mount would be less susceptible to road vibration, since the rider's body is a shock absorber.

Still, I'm intrigued by Cycliq's Fly6 rear facing cam/tail-light and their upcoming head-light that also doubles as a camera.

Just thinking it would be fun to take videos of my rides once in a while. I do ride on a couple of 2-3 lane busy streets when I commute by bike - not all the way on my commute, but enough to have to overcome my fears of sharing the road with cars.

Chris516

My forward-facing camera, I have on a Chest Mount Strap. I am still trying to decide, how I would mount a rear-facing camera.

GovernorSilver

I'm thinking I'd get the Fly6 to use as the tail-light/rear facing camera when I get my 2nd bike. My current bike is ok, but it does have some shortcomings - thinking of something more conducive to speed, especially on the street portions of my commute, yet still capable of handling a light to moderately loaded pannier, and light off-road use (like that narrow path on the DC side connecting to the MUP on the 14th St. bridge - if there's a cyclist coming the other way, I have to hop on that short dirt path).

Shimagnolo

The Clear Creek Courant is the local paper of Clear Creek County: Motorcyclist's video lands SUV driver a souvenir summons | ClearCreekCourant.com

Chris516

That motorist will be squawking a different tune now. The name of the road doesn't imply to be stupid. The SUV driver was stupid.

Shimagnolo

We had a case here in Boulder County CO. The cyclists were not wearing cameras, but improvised by pulling out their smart phones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8QSgMipZGc

Here is what the motorist got:

James Ernst pleaded guilty to two counts of harassment -- a Class 3 misdemeanor -- and two counts of improper use of a horn -- a traffic offense. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped two counts of driving too slowly. Ernst also will be required to undergo anger management and do community service.

Source: Erie man accused of honking at cyclists sentenced to 12 months probation - Boulder Daily Camera

Chris516

Didn't that one go viral?

GovernorSilver

^ No accounting for what kind of crazy/senile drivers one might encounter. Glad he didn't kill either cyclist.

Shimagnolo

Well, it was big news here, but I only live a dozen miles away.
The CNN video has nearly half a million views, so I think that would qualify as viral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwnAbcmWrCA

digger

I'm having great success with the Fly6. I haven't yet to reach the end of battery life on a ride; longest ride so far was 4.5 hours, with the brightest blinking setting.

A larger memory card will ensure the video does not overwrite in that time.

If you want to save a video on a card, I suggest swapping out, to prevent overwriting.

Chris516

True
My memory card that I have is 64GB. But swapping out is still a good recommendation. Do you have it forward, or rear, facing?

ItsJustMe

Regarding helmet versus bike mounting - if your roads are anything like mine, bike mounting is almost a non-starter. Any camera mounted on my bike vibrates so much that the video is quite blurry. This is a bit of a problem with my rear facing camera. The Fly6 is even a little blurry. I think it's minimized on the seat post since it's centered between the two wheels so bumps in the road are halved/averaged. When I mounted the cams on the rear rack, I had to get the mount absolutely as stiff as possible or it bounced around like a yoyo. With a really stiff mount, it just vibrates so as long as I'm moving the video just appears a bit blurry (but vehicles and behavior is still apparent). Up on the handlebars the shock transfers straight up from the front wheel and the video is quite bad. On the helmet it's fine.

Also on the helmet, if I'm in an incident, the cam is much more likely to be pointing at anything relevant happening after the crash, and recording audio that may bear on the outcome, than if it's strapped to the bike lying somewhere on the road.

seeker333

and a year later:

Honking harassment: Erie man's probation revoked, reinstated - Boulder Daily Camera

digger

My Fly6 is rear facing. The mount and the angled back of the camera are designed for mounting on a seat post.

But, I guess you could devise a method for pointing it forward and leave the red light off.

I have a helmet mounted Contour HD for forward viewing.

GovernorSilver

Cycliq is working on a front facing camera that will double as a head-light and alarm (like a car alarm):

https://cycliq.com/product/fly12

Shimagnolo

Ooh! I missed this part of the story!!!
Thanks!

GovernorSilver

The roads and MUPs I typically ride on are relatively smooth. I recall the GoPro recordings that my brother-in-law made of us cycling were not as shaky as I thought they would be.

I'm thinking I might get a GoPro because of the variety of mounts (helmet, handlebar, chest, etc.) just to record rides for fun, and whip out my iPhone to record incidents like those cyclists did with that crazy old motorist..

ItsJustMe

If it's just the mounts you're after, bear in mind that pretty much all of the cameras that look like a GoPro are compatible with GoPro mounts. You can buy an SJCAM for < $100 and use whatever GoPro mounts you would with the $300 GoPro.

Shimagnolo

GoPro is the worst camera for helmet mounting, due to the clunky box shape.

Better alternatives are:

Drift Stealth 2. Review here: Techmoan - Techmoan - Drift Stealth 2 - Smaller is better*

Or for even better quality and durability: Replay XD Introduces Prime X
It is waterproof, so tough you can drive a car over it, and so shock-proof that you can attach it to a firearm with a picatinny rail.
It is popular with video professionals, motor racing, and law enforcement.
A professional video guy I know uses this on his motorcycle helmet.
I plan to get one shortly.

And *both* of these cost less than a GoPro!!!