Advocacy & Safety - Cyclist in London records his daily interactions with motorist

One must remember that is only the selected highlights of a certain cyclist's commute, and doesn't necessarily reflect the cyclist's whole commute experience, as was the case of BF member Bikesafer yelling "Hey" at every motorist.

Granted, but shouting at motorists who cut in perhaps a little too close and requiring moderate changing of speed to roll with it does rather weaken the case against the odd motorist (which was a very rare creature in the part of the video I watched before getting bored of it) who did something truly stupid.

When trying to sort the wheat from the chaff it helps nobody when the person complaining throws piles and piles of chaff into the mix. Honestly, the cyclist in the video reminded me of my grandfather during his driving days when he'd constantly refer to "the sod who cut me up" when the driver in question had done nothing more unacceptable than pull into a space that happened to be in front of him.

At some point, riders realize

a)faster traffic wants to pass;
b) most will take any advantage to do so.

Agreed, although for "any advantage" I'd say in my experience most motorists will show declining levels of patience, i.e. the window of opportunity they look for gets progressively smaller the longer they follow you.


It looks like taking the lane in london presents the bicyclist as being 'in the way' and motorists take umbrage.

Depends on the road. London has some roads with 20mph limits where it's entirely possible cyclists will be as fast as the traffic. It has a lot of 30mph roads where most cyclists will be slower than traffic, until the traffic gets heavy. Then there are a few roads with higher limits (mostly out of the centre of town) although many are wide enough that a cyclist who is reasonably confident and can hold a straight line needn't be an issue and where "share the road" can easily work both ways.


Symbolic of the failure of planning for bikes and cars to simply share the same space on high volume, higher speed roads.

In London's case a large part of the issue is that some of the roads, in the centre of town at least, were designed in the days before there was such a thing as a car, so they were designed for horse-drawn carts. Since cycling as a mode of transport seems to have grown in popularity in recent years it's not entirely surprising that provision for cyclists wasn't considered a priority when the roads were built, in the same way that insulation wasn't a priority in houses built back in the days when heating oil was 5c/gall and there was no such thing as fibreglass.


Do these videos make cycling in london seem appealing to moms with kids in tow, elderly cyclists? hardly.

I'd be surprised if those groups would want to cycle into central London anyway. If they did I'd expect them to use quieter routes than the guy in the video used.

Honestly, the cyclist in the video reminded me of my grandfather during his driving days when he'd constantly refer to "the sod who cut me up" when the driver in question had done nothing more unacceptable than pull into a space that happened to be in front of him.

It's one thing when one is surrounded by sheet metal and steel, but another when it's flesh and bone. We cyclist have a far more "skin" involved in this commuting game.

It seems at times, that the driver doesn't always know what the heck to do when passing a cyclist. Today someone tried to pass me about 100 feet from a stop sign. I was going about 2mph slower than they were, so we both pretty much arrived at the stop sign at the same time. The car was stopped at the sign-- in the opposite lane. I looked over at them and said, "Really?" Then I couldn't help but laugh... it wasn't a dangerous situation because we were both going along at approximately 10 mph.
I can understand heavy traffic but this is light traffic, about 1-5 cars per minute. People are so programmed to pass cyclists that they will do so when there are oncoming vehicles, stop signs, 15-25 mph zones and narrow streets. And they aren't in a hurry, because they just sort of cruise along, aimlessly... :rolleyes:

My version of "to the mat" is more figurative than literal, our local law enforcement is very interested in curbing aggressive driving/poor,dangerous driving, which I vigorously will report. The cyclist in the video may not have that luxury of having law enforcement on his side, so YouTube looks to be his venue. Some cyclists will actively ignore an issue, while some while actively address it.

Fair enough, of course more figurative than literal, and I was using hyperbole as I don't really expect you on your bike to take a motorist in car 'to the mat.'

But what exactly is aggressive or poor, dangerous driving, and when does it warrant contacting law enforcement, and what is expected if you do contact them?

Most posters here seem to feel that Gaz' video shows him over-reacting to ordinary traffic. Yet he's shouting out license plate numbers as if those motorists have injured him and he expects that they should be held to account in some way. And there are a LOT of incidents in that video (collected over who knows how many days, weeks, months).

Does he contact police? If so what results does he get? If not...what the heck is the point?

Watch the first 10 seconds of this :lol:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYJBkLN-nC4

But what exactly is aggressive or poor, dangerous driving,

As a cyclist yourself, I would have thought you knew the answer to that question.


..... and when does it warrant contacting law enforcement, and what is expected if you do contact them?



Usually it comes down to my personal choice in if I felt that the incident was either intentional or from blatant carelessness/callousness. The most I expect from law enforcement is to document the motorist's actions, in case the same motorist is reported again on a future date by someone else, or in helping law enforcement establish a pattern if the motorist already has poor driving history.

He states on his website that he forwards some incidents to RoadSafe (dunno what that it, not from the UK) who then forward it to his local traffic unit for potential prosecution, or warning letters at the least.

I see nothing wrong with how he behaves in the situations showcased in his videos. He demands safety, courtesy, and people with attention spans greater than a goldfish.

Look what happens here for example (and he seems to be far less vocal):


http://youtu.be/W56egxE4Iyo

It's one thing when one is surrounded by sheet metal and steel, but another when it's flesh and bone. We cyclist have a far more "skin" involved in this commuting game.

Thanks for explaining that little gem. Makes it all the more important for us to be willing to give a little, rather than fight for the last inch of space between us and an early grave, no?

When I'm on two wheels I'm well aware that if I fight with a big metal box I'm going to lose. So for all I expect a degree of respect on the road I know very well that if I do encounter a total asshat in a car there's very little to be gained by fighting them too hard for the space, and on a more mundane level if someone does misjudge a space slightly I could either ease off on the speed a little or keep going full tilt until I have to brake hard so I can shout indignantly.

A driver who refused to give over a little, refused to ease off the gas a little to let another motorist filter into the lane, who insisted on not giving an inch to anyone else and who would rather continue to gain rapidly on someone else only to brake hard and blare the horn when they could have just eased off a little from some distance back, would rightly be called inconsiderate (and maybe a few other things). But when a cyclist does it suddenly the problem is everyone else? Sorry, don't buy it.

When I'm on two wheels I'm well aware that if I fight with a big metal box I'm going to lose.......



.....and motorists are keenly aware of this, with many motorists use this very potential to "bully" their way around a cyclist. The cyclist in the video has decided let certain motorists that their actions were not the best when operating around vulnerable road users.

.....and motorists are keenly aware of this, with many motorists use this very potential to "bully" their way around a cyclist. The cyclist in the video has decided let certain motorists that their actions were not the best when operating around vulnerable road users.

The cyclist in the video recorded so many "incidents" that were, in my opinion at least, perfectly normal inter-vehicle interactions that the odd time a motorist did something truly boneheaded it was lost among the dross.

Either way the brutal reality is that we all make mistakes, and sometimes the impact of those mistakes is that a collision occurs. The fact that we, as cyclists, have chosen a mode of transport that doesn't provide us with a metal box to protect us doesn't suddenly mean that nobody ever makes mistakes around us. Hence we need to be more aware of our surroundings and a lot more willing to "roll with it" than the cyclist in the video appears to be.

If taking to two wheels led to my blood pressure rising to the extent the video shooter's must have risen I think I'd take to the overcrowded trains as a less stressful option.

Either way the brutal reality is that we all make mistakes, and sometimes the impact of those mistakes is that a collision occurs......

Again, the cyclist is letting motorists know of their "mistakes", and hopefully that the motorist will remember the next time in not making the same "mistake" again.





If taking to two wheels led to my blood pressure rising to the extent the video shooter's must have risen I think I'd take to the overcrowded trains as a less stressful option.

Again, the we are only seeing a small portion of the cyclist's commute, and the rest possibly being rather subdued.

Again, the cyclist is letting motorists know of their "mistakes", and hopefully that the motorist will remember the next time in not making the same "mistake" again.

The cyclist is crying wolf so frequently that when he really does encounter something boneheaded the most likely response from anyone is that he's just blowing smoke again. It certainly didn't take very long of watching his video before I regarded his shouting as having no credibility at all.


Again, the we are only seeing a small portion of the cyclist's commute, and the rest possibly being rather subdued.

Either he's condensed months worth of cycling into a few minutes (in which case he's trying to make a point that isn't really there) or he's riding in a manner that generates "incidents" at a rate I wouldn't recognise at all from riding in the same city. Either way it's hard to take him seriously.