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Home / Culture / Video

Mountain Bike Rider Captures Bad Drivers on Helmet Cam

By Jeff Barber
May 27, 2010

13 comments

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Check out this video from CNN.com:

Poor guy commuting on his mountain bike nearly gets hit by cars on multiple occasions. He says he rides with the helmet camera now as a witness because he’s had so many near misses and it seems like a good idea to us. Maybe he should try riding with flashing red and blue lights to get drivers’ attention. 🙂

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Jeff Barber

Jeff Barber has been mountain biking since 1992 and has tested hundreds of mountain bikes and components. He is the co-founder of Singletracks and serves as Editor in Chief. Contact him at [email protected].

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13 Comments

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TomG12 2009
May 28, 2010

A lot of drivers just aren't looking for bikers. Their minds aren't registering them, because they're looking for cars. Its not right, but I just always assume the driver doesn't see me. Because at the end of the day physics wins. Don't throw yourself in front of a mindless driver just because you have the right away. You may win some big lawsuit, but you may not be able ride again. The car was absolutely in the wrong, but I could tell that the red car didn't see him. The Biker should have slowed down. Adding light would also help or maybe even a nice big orange helmet.

0 reply

trek7k
May 28, 2010

Agreed Tom. I don't ride on the road often but when I do I have very few close calls, probably because I do as you say and assume drivers don't see me. At the end of the day it doesn't matter whose fault an accident is - it sucks for everyone involved.

0 reply

ChiliPepper
May 29, 2010

All I can really say is this.....both the drivers and the bike rider were in the complete wrong here in this video. Total irresponsibility on both the drivers and the bike rider by far. I see this each and every time I ride urban, being urban assault or urban commute. Bike riders and vehicle operators alike not following the rules of the road and showing no responsibility nor accountability for their own actions. I follow the rules of the road and like Tom mentioned, you always have to assume that the driver doesn’t see you, even though that is nothing but a cop out for the driver. In the long run though, that is just an excuse that a vehicle operator uses and just proves they have NO responsibility nor accountability for their actions. This also applies to bike riders as well.

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trek7k
May 29, 2010

Good point spec, I sorta picked up on the issue with the red car too but figured I wasn't understanding the situation. Yeah, if the red car was "trying to make the light" that means it was green/yellow when he entered the intersection and red for the bike rider.

0 reply

AboveTheRidge Georgia // 2007
May 27, 2010

Great idea! It would probably benefit a lot of road cyclists to do the same. It would be nice to see if a justification came out of it during an insurance investigation for those that are unfortunate enough to be hit, and have the driver claim the cyclist did something when the camera could tell a different story, even perhaps on a clear day capture the driver texting or yammering uselessly on their cell phones. Worst case scenario, it could prove to be a vital piece of video in the event of a tragedy. Good for him for doing that and taking the time to parse out the morons from all of his footage and get it into the public eye. Keep on brother!

0 reply

spech79 2010
May 29, 2010

Hey trek, great site here. Im not trying to step on toes, its just this video is the exact description of how NOT to ride safely on the road. Dont want to see anyone become another statistic.

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spech79 2010
May 29, 2010

Hmm, I'm confused as to why anyone would think that in 3 of those stuations the driver would be at fault?????? The only one I saw that was the drivers fault would be the jackass truck driver. Again, the red car has either a green or a yellow light, biker blew through his red light, bikers fault. The nightime one who knows what really happined, my bets are this biker's just a douche rider and made the situation more than it was. The parking lot is obvious recklessness on the riders part, flying through a parking lot and not even giving drivers a chance to see you is asking for trouble, bikers fault. Do you folks drive? Put yourself in those vehicles and honestly see if you would've seen him. No friggin way. Just because you hop on a bike does NOT suddenly make you king of the road, and in a car vs bike, the car will win. Use your heads out there.

0 reply

BUDDAH 2010
May 27, 2010

I've been commuting to work now going on 4 weeks and I must say I've had some close calls but what angers me the most is, when a car passes me up or I pass up the car and they are texting which is illegal to do so now in Colorado and they don't even notice. I had a incident where I rode up next to the car and the guy was texting driving really slow and I rode next to the car for a whole city block in a residential and he didnt notice. That's some scarry s#!t. I just might have to go out and get one....

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AK_Dan 2007
May 28, 2010

It wont make a difference in the court system for a while, (too much old school thinking) but if more riders do start using them and making the video's pubic eventually they may start to notice. A guy at a LBS in Tucson brought up a good point during our conversation last winter; a community being 'bike freindly' should go all the way to prosecution.

0 reply

Corey Maddocks Colorado // 2008
May 30, 2010

Let me preface this with the fact that I have been a regular bike commuter in the Denver Metro area for going on 3 years now.

Just like when I'm driving my own car, I see a lot of other drivers doing bonehead things and it is up to me to drive or ride defensively and protect myself. In the example of the red car in the video, I would have ducked behind the car. (to the right from the riders perspective) That way I don't get hit, the car gets where it's going, and everybody parts as (alive) friends.

More to the point, the red car either had a green/yellow light, as previously speculated, or more likely the light had just turned red and they had been waiting for oncoming traffic to clear before making its left turn. Either way, the car is already in the intersection and has the right of way.

In my opinion, this rider is looking for and semi provoking these altercations in order to get the video and create a sensation on youtube. In my personal commuting, I don't really see any more weirdness than I would in my car, it's just more heart-pounding when I'm on my bike!

To be fair, I have seen just as many cyclists breaking the law as I have cars. This includes blowing through red lights and stop signs, abusing the pedestrian laws, riding in the wrong direction on streets and cutting of cars in order to make questionable left turns.

Overall, I think we cyclists here in Colorado have it pretty good due mostly to the popularity of cycling here which helps raise awareness among the general public. On top of that, we recently passed sweeping new bicycle safety laws that very clearly define the responsibilities, and penalties, for drivers. It also made some changes in the way cyclists are to behave on the road, and defines some penalties for us as well.

I've been meaning to hook up my helmet cam for my work commute, and debunking this dude is just the motivation I needed.

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spech79 2010
May 29, 2010

Um, Did anyone actually WATCH the video?? This dude is a complete dumbass. If the initial red car is "trying to make the light" Then this dude just blew though a red light...rules of the road apply to bikes too diptard. We dont know what happined prior, but he runs right up on the second car (in the dark mind you) and then kicks the friggin car?? Then he's haulin ass through a parking lot and literally shaved the ass off the car that went in front of him, and he expects the other driver to see him???? I seriously hope this recklous dumbass isnt any type of spokesman for any type of biking I'm a part of.

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InlandEmpireMTB 2009
May 31, 2010

Wow. That first clip was a close call for sure!

-Eric @ InlandEmpireMTB - http://inlandempiremtb.blogspot.com

0 reply

AK_Dan 2007
May 29, 2010

Yea I caught a lot of that too, especially cutting through the parking lot. Riders need to take responsibilty as well- personally I try to ride on the less traveled/less traffic side streets and follow the rules.

0 reply

Tagged: commuting, helmet camera, video, culture

First published May 27, 2010 @ 14:02:59