I'm thinking of moving my front GoPro to the rear.

I went back and read this again, and it scares the hell out of me. The driver of the truck wasn't paying attention for a LONG time prior to clipping you. I mean, you were pretty much lit up like a Christmas tree. Makes me want to switch to riding MUPs so all I have to worry about is mowing down ignorant joggers.

I've been thinking about that a lot lately, and I think the answer is yes. Worse yet ... many seem to be proud of it.

"No one in this world, so far as I know - and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me - has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people."

~ H.L. Mencken

The fly6 looks like it works great, and the video is very clear. My problem with it is that if you had a serious accident and nobody turned it off, it would record over the accident in 5 hours ... Am I wrong?

Regards, Dick

Anyone know what the record time is as far as battery life and memory on the FLY6 ?

I could not read a single thing on anything that had letters or numbers including the license plates of the cars going by. Not a very clear video in my eyes, especially one for the purpose of recording an accident with a bicycle.

I think I read on the web site that recording time is 5 hours. It comes with a 8Gb card, but I assume a 16 or 32 would work fine.


Only took a quick look yesterday at DCRainMaker's site talking about the FLY6. Just my initial impression, but I don't think I would want to use that device because the output lumins is not very high. To me, the brighter, the better. Bright enough to be annoying to those behind me.

About recording over previously recorded video... if the FLY6 is like every other type of SD card based recording system, new video will NOT overwrite files on the card. Instead, your camera will just shut off because there is no space available. The FLY 6 comes with a 8 gig card. That's big enough that your battery will die before you run out of space, (assuming you begin a ride with a fully charged battery and a blank SD card).

Which brings up a question. Video drains batteries pretty fast. Are there two batteries in the unit, one for video and one for the light? Or, just a single battery and your light will be useless when the video depletes the battery.

All in all, the FLY6 has an attractive price point. I would just want something brighter. (I believe I read on the FLY6 web site that the next generation will have a brighter light, but not by much.) Problem with a single device that records video and drives a bright light . . . they both are big power consumers and a battery strong enough to give a decent usage time between charges would be pretty large.

Just my opinion. A dim light is better than nothing. Just be sure to use it on strobe mode, (during the day - don't think strobes are legal at night).

Pretty sure the posted video was sized down for web delivery. Isolating a frame from the raw video with a little bit of high pass filtering should yield plate numbers.

The Fly6 will loop the recording once the memory card is full. Their site says the included 8 gig card will record about 2 hrs worth of video before it starts overwriting the earliest on the card. As for what happens in an accident, their site says, "...we included an incident protection function where if your bike is tilted over at more than 45 degrees for more than 3 seconds, it will trigger a footage cut off that will stop recording and turn off the device after one hour. With the included 8GB microSD card this would mean you'll have captured and saved roughly the hour before the incident and the hour after (subject to the device still working and having sufficient battery remaining). This protects the most important footage & audio for your use later."

Glad you're alive.
Hope you heal well.

glad I haven't seen the video.

Positive and healing thoughts, Metric Man. Good you're still around.

Came up behind a cyclist a couple weeks ago about 3:30 on a sunny afternoon and I spotted his brightly colored jersey at least a mile away. I knew what I was seeing right away as that stretch of road is popular with local cyclists and I'm always on the watch for them. We reached an intersection about the same time and I hung back as I was making a right turn and didn't want to cut him off. It wasn't until I made my turn and got within 15 feet of him that I noticed his red strobe. I was going to say something but he took off across the intersection before I could get his attention. I had my eyes on him the entire time and never saw his strobe until I was literally on top of him, it was pretty much useless. As to night time legality it would depend on your local laws but I run multiple strobes at night and have had several favorable comments from the police and motorists.

I've seen this before, too. LEDs will continue to work until the battery is completely dead; but they do so with steadily dimming output. It's easy to check that it's blinking and assume it's OK.

In 3 of my 4 incidents with cars over the last 30 years, it's been mirrors that tagged me, 2 of those were LEO's :(. The 4 was t-bone into a left turner. I've been lucky in that only two of these resulting in me on the pavement, the other two were just some nasty bruises.

Using mirrors on the bike is a good thing, but it has to be part of the normal scan, if you are looking in the mirror you aren't watching what is in front of you. In some motorcycle safety courses and combat pilot training they teach the same concept, and it applies to us as cyclist. Threat assessment. Scan, Evaluate, Prepare, Act, Repeat. Always know what is around you, but even that won't protect you all the time.We have to change the culture of drivers first, and that only happens as more people get out and ride.

We can get angry, but the reality is, hostility breeds hostility. So long as we live in the us versus them hive mentality, we perpetuate the loop. Educate, be nice, engage and help change the culture that makes it 'popular' to "hate bicyclists" or to "hate cagers".

I'm thrilled that the OP survived this, and is handling it as gracefully as he is. I just hope that we as cyclists can follow his lead and be graceful about it as well.

Depends on the blinkie. I have a Radbot 1000 & a Cygolite Hotshot on the rear--I've told that, during the day, the lights can be seen from quite far back.

I've gone to 32gb card with the fly6 unit.. I was only getting ~3hrs out of a 16gb card.. usually less.

All of this accident talk has made me order a Road ID tag today!

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How about one of those RFID ?? thingies they insert under the skin of dogs and cats? If they were all inserted in the same place, it could be easily found by medical personnel and have a LOT of info on it that would be readable by some sort of scanner device. Allergies, address, etc.????

Sorry, if this happened to me, I sure wouldn't go about it gracefully at all. The OP has his way of dealing with a situation such as this, and I have mine, especially in light to the motorist's incompetence, whether if it was done deliberately or not.

They'd probably have to consult a Vet to come in and read the device......................woof!

What a completely horrendous video. I'm so glad you are okay.

Concur.

Not even one moment....

No one should assume I have not pursued this any further. Counsel has been obtained.

Metric,

Damn! Good luck on your recovery and take your time! Damn!

M

OP, 'twas another poster who suggested magnanimity.

I feel you deserve from the driver a good deal of pay, and driver a good deal of loss.

Yes, I was posting with an iPhone and didn't grab the correct quote, apologies.

I just want all to know that while I hold no grudge against the driver, that does not mean there will be no repercussions from his actions. I personally can't keep bitterness and hatred in my heart against this man, it will eat me up. I have obtained counsel in Texas and they are pursuing many different avenues to obtain "justice" in this matter.

Wow this is really a horrific video of what happened to you. I hope you have a very speedy recovery and hope everything works out for you in the future. I have ridden the roads here in Texas for over 20 years and coming form Ventura Ca.the drivers here in Texas do suck!

I ride with 2 blinking strobe lights on back of my bikes, but imho rather lights or gopro it will never be enough safety for the rider as so many drivers feel they own the road.

gary

Glad you are still with us Metric Man. Also glad you are pursuing justice. Heal fast.

It's troubling that the police chief's statement seems to imply it would have been okay to hit him if he'd been in the travel lane. The truck driver had a responsibility to not hit a vehicle in front of him, regardless of lane positioning. Hitting someone who was on the shoulder should have added *another* ticketable offense, not provided the only one.

OMG. My worst nightmare and why I try to ride on trails. I am glad you are OK. With that kind of speed, a rear view mirror wouldn't help you avoid it. You are lucky to be alive. I really don't know the circumstances of the driver, but I hope justice is fairly doled out. I see drivers veer on and off the shoulder a lot, and pulling up besides them they are either texting (usually) or on their cell or dialing and distracted.

I haven't read every response, but it should be in the police investigation to recall the drivers cell phone records in such a serious accident.

Metric Man, I'm glad you survived and I hope you fully and quickly recover.

That was brutal.