UKC

After three close pass incidents in the last week, and an argument with an idiotic bus driver ("but I didn't kill you, what's your problem?") fortunately not an argument with a bus, I feel I need to invest in cameras for the bike, so need some advice.

Any recommendations?

Is two best, front and back?

Handlebar mounted or  helmet mounted?

Anything else to think about?

Also, where do I stand legally if my argument with the bus driver was 50% swear words from side? Would that affect any prosecution?

Cheers, GTE

Helmet mounted and cyclical recording are very worthwhile. 

Funnily enough I have one for sale BNWT.

It depends how filthy your mouth is and what you actually said. anything that could be seen as a threat will go against you. (As obviously would anything racist, homophobic etc.

Also depends how long it goes on for... an initial outburst will be seen as heat of the moment. If you are still fing and blinding 10 minutes later then less so

Probably also depends on the % of swear words offered by the other party

eta: It wouldn't effect any serious prosecution of the third party though, but it just might attract a public order offence too

FWIW most buses have CCTV all over and GPS and they will have recorded it the incident themselves. 

A quick message/phone call to the bus company with the location, time and number of the bus service will allow them to identify the bus and driver.  Just ask them to review the recording and have a word with the driver if it looks dodgy. 

Point out that there is no good business case for a bus to have a close encounter with a bike and no good business case for a driver that is willing to engage in a heated debate (presumably while driving a bus and responsible for passengers and the company image and presumably with someone they've seriously worried with their inconsiderate/dangerous driving).

Round where I am this does seem to have an effect on the space I get out on my bike in the subsequent weeks - I presume they review the near miss and issue a general memo reminding the drivers to back off.

It definitely beats the heated argument solution.

Funny you should ask this as I'm just uploading a video of a close pass to YouTube as we speak. The cameras I use are a pair of these: https://chilli-tech.com/content/new-bullet-action-camera/ mounted front and rear. 

They catch more registration plates than they miss, have rolling recording and a battery charge will do a week's commuting, which is about five hours for me.

I've been impressed. To see them in action, here's a wee video of the aforementioned incident: youtube.com/watch?v=R3aTC9g1xRw&

I run cycliq's front and back. They've survived a couple of Winters and rain. Image resolution is great.

Close passes and left hooks get put on social media with the vehicle MOT & tax checked, and if a company vehicle the company tagged in as well.

I cycle.

I'm struggling to see what your problem is with that YouTube video you posted.

I run Cycliqs and the battery life is rubbish, but for commuting they are fine.  

I see you angry pirate and raise you this for a close pass - right at the end of the clip 4.40 in, at this point I am trying to stop in order to transition to the cycle lane on the other side of the road.  I no longer use this junction as it's insanely dangerous, as demonstrated by our friend the Ford Ranger.  God, but the video brings back memories of cycle commuting that winter in the wind and rain, at one point I come out with "You're going to squash me like a ripe sausage".

youtube.com/watch?v=6kqi4bm0vk8&

For me the value in cameras is twofold - one if someone is a complete dickwad you can report them to the police with the knowledge that something might be done, which makes you feel at least slightly empowered, the second is when things go south you can review your own riding and see if you could have done better.  Of the two the second is probably more helpful!

I agree, it's difficult to see from the video but you can see the car pull in front of me at the end. What you can't see is that it actually does this whilst alongside me and I had to brake sharply to drop behind them and avoid a collision. 

After a close call with an HGV (driver gave me space overtaking but then pulled back in before their trailer had actually cleared me) I set about investigating cameras for my commuter bike. I already have an Olfi 1.5 camera which is good but its battery life not amazing. I was considering a Cycliq rear, but not so interested in the Cycliq front as I already have a good light.  One model that took my interest was the Drift Ghost cameras - look pretty subtle and have I think 5 hours of battery life, might be worth checking out? Never got round to buying them as the pandemic hit and I have been WFH since.  

I've been using a Veho Muvi K2 NPNG on a K-edge bar mount. Works pretty well and gives a stable image, but the low position isn't ideal for identifying drivers.

Helmet cam is better for that, but you'll get lots of movement with your head and I'm fundamentally loathe to attach a solid lump to my head, for obvious reasons.

I've got a second one to attach at the back with another K-edge saddle mount, but their mount isn't a perfect match with the GoPro style and needs some fettling to get it to fit.

I had a drift ghost, camera was nice and image was good but it was a pain to mount to the helmet and the app didn't work with the most recent version of Android so you had to connect to a computer... Which after 3 months made it freeze so I got rid. 

Bought a Kaiser Baas which went missing in the post for a month (now for sale here... https://m.pinkbike.com/buysell/2931265/) and ended up using one of the Chilli tech ones. I see they've just done a mkii Chilli tech which will hopefully improve the image quality and sort out the date stamp. 

Just curious.  A question to cyclists using rear-facing cameras:

Do you ever get clear images of drivers using their mobile phones (and their registration numbers).  If so, ever tried pinging those to the police?  Did anything come of it?

I use those as well and they are very good - clear images and lightweight on bike. A very bad close pass driver was sacked by his company after seeing my video

I actually had a police officer threaten me with a Section 5 public order offense after I handed them footage of an unambiguous dangerous driving incident some years back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAShGD2qvik&lc=Ugx5kNBkdF7ufx8Pe4Z4AaAB...

In hindsight, Plod was looking for any excuse to avoid doing anything about the incident and I gave him one on a plate. He also cited my non-usage of cycle lanes later in the longer footage as evidence of my "attitude" and a reason not to do anything. Wish I'd called his bluff on it.

In short, I'd advise against swearing. Not because it's a public order offense, but because it only serves to heighten tensions rather than calm them.

Seemed to blindly follow the first car overtaking when there was pretty clearly another car coming the other way. I'd imagine it felt like somewhat of a close shave to the poster!

Just out of interest did you execute a right turn shortly after the video ended?

No. What makes you ask that?