Originally Posted by
rpenmanparker
What is it about commuters wanting to record getting hit? Don't you have enough to worry about already without contemplating your next crash with a car. The fetish for revenge and/or justice is so unattractive. Just let it go.
This is actually what I was getting at in my previous post. I don't think it's necessarily a revenge fetish that motivates these folks, more the justice angle.
I feel that the more people there are out riding who are carrying cameras, the less all cyclists have to worry about getting hit in the first place. Honest accidents will still happen, yes, but the occasional rude, impatient or aggressive driver who has some myopic hatred of cylists and decides to run one off the road on purpose will think twice about doing so if he knows said cyclist probably has a video of the whole event with a mugshot and license plate ready to hand to a judge. The days of forcing a cyclist off the road into a ditch on a country road and driving away scot-free are quickly coming to an end. Yes, these are very rare events in the grand scheme but they do happen.
Like I said, I don't carry a camera either. But I don't have to in order to benefit from the trend. As the practice becomes more common, just knowing that there's increasing likelihood that a cyclist (not to mention other drivers and pedestrian passersby) has a camera on board is going to prevent alot of intentional stupidity.