I’m currently experimenting with a bike-mounted video camera. Initial results have been better than expected. I’m not aiming to share endless boring ride clips (which are a frankly as tedious as hell, like somebody else’s holiday snaps), but hopefully capture some snippets of life on a bike in a variety of places. Second run out yesterday after sorting out the best mounting position, I captured these on a brief errand run on a gloomy, wet Brownhills High Street.
The camera is mounted on the bike, not me, so the field of view is quite unsettling. I do actually look round, signal and so on, but helmet cam type footage just makes me seasick, to be honest.
The above clip shows two things – one, that my road position wasn’t far enough out from the kerb, thus enabling the driver to cut round me like that – and two – check out the state of those potholes, now over twelve months old, both with their own ecosystems. This is fairly typical driver behaviour, and remember that a significant number of cyclists come to harm under left-turning vehicles. I abhor left-hand cycle lanes for that reason. I had a feeling from his impatience behind me that this was going to happen, so wasn’t taken by surprise.
Negotiating the upper end of Brownhills High Street and the island. I’m further out this time, as overtaking here can stop you getting in position. I quite like this island, it’s reasonably safe if you’re confident. Particularly amused by the copper on the pedestrian crossing thanking me for stopping.
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loved the videos bob..keep them coming mate..
excellent quality mate
and your right about left hand turns, twice I got knocked off by cars doing exactly that, one time leaving me with knee ligament damage.
l saw a lady knocked off her bike outside “McDonalds” in Brownhills, by an idiotic driver doing exactly the same as the driver in your video. [A left hand turn up Ogley Road].Luckily she wasn’t seriously hurt.
As a novice cycle rider, l never feel safe on roads……..l prefer to stick to canal towpaths.l’d have to be feeling suicidal to attempt the island in Brownhills.
keep the videos coming….very interesting
Great…Its fascinating to see how the place and roads have changed since last time i was there….6 yrs… :-/
Sitting here in sunny Australia, I sometimes wonder whether I did the right thing in emigrating. Then I see Brownhills High Street on a wet grey day, and realise, yes, I did! cheers Bob!
The Passat driver’s behaviour was just twattish, to be honest: I don’t think your positioning was wrong: more that (s)he didn’t look/think ahead enough and failed to evalute your relative speed to his correctly, but the number of drivers unable or unwilling to do so (and not just to cyclists) is sizeable, so as you say, you need to anticipate it.
Good footage Bob. The low down perspective is odd at first but I can imagine the issues with viewing helmet cam. Clear images and it reinforces my view on the awful state of A&B roads from a bike perspective.
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