Well now I have finally got my bike back on the road after one-month layoff (leaky water pump gasket, replacement had to be ordered from Japan), and have figured out how to mount my camera onto my flip-front helmet, I am finally in a position to take exciting videos of my commute to/from work etc (although Iāve not yet figured out how to get rid of the wind noise)
To mark this momentous occasion I was hoping to be able to post something from todayās commute and sure enough, South Londonās van drivers didnāt let me down. Hereās a guy who jumped a red light, on the wrong side of the road :hehe:
But at least he stopped to let me ride on by. And he gave me an interesting 1st vid to post
Others with helmet cameras should feel free to use this thread to share your hilarious experiences with London traffic.
And more fun this morning with a bus in Brixton, a very close shave and will post up the video tonight.
These incidents are typical of what we all deal with on a daily basis but over the years I have become desensitised to them and just move on, not giving them a second thought. Itās great fun videoing them though, and posting them up here
I recognize that junctionā¦itās in West Croydon, right? Always try to avoid it as the phasing is odd and people often seem to run the red light there. You might be better off turning right up Montague Road and then left onto London Road instead?
Thanks David, youāre right it is dangerous, at least two fatal accidents there over the past couple of years, one involving a car that crashed into the wall you can see there on the left with two of the occupants (teenagers) killed, also a motorcyclist doing a wheelie at the other end of the road, and lost control.
The road itself is fine, itās the people who use it who tend to make it, er, interesting :unsure:
You also get stabbings there, and thatās where some of the worst of the rioting took place, including the torching of almost an entire shopfront including Greyhound Motorcycles.
Iām the same, some days it doesnāt faze me others Iāll unleash a few choice words and arm signals at them - like this morning when I got told to look where I was riding by some twat jaywalking mid-corner in Victoria - he got more than he bargained for!!
I agree the van appears to have jumped a red light - no excuse for that. But you were pretty quick off the mark too; strictly speaking you should wait for a green light before moving off. Yes, I know no-one does but if you are going to move on red and amber you need to be ready for drivers like the person in the van.
Personally these days I tend not to filter to the front and stay one car back from the front (letting them move out first).
Exactly, and I like to think I was ready as you describe, I just donāt usually expect them to come flying from the wrong side of the road lol.
To be fair, he was motioning me to go pretty well from the off and certainly before I entered the junction, so I was never in any danger or ājumping the amberā. He had to do that as I was in his way, as he was driving a long wheelbase van and had a tight turning due to being in the wrong side of the road :hehe: It was just funny to see the van appear so quickly in that naughty spot.
Hereās this morningās incident. Ok, I know the Highway Code states āBuses, coaches and trams. Give priority to these vehicles when you can do so safely, especially when they signal to pull away from stopsā and I was fully prepared to give way to him but I thought I had time to sneak past behind the van. Instead he accelerated quicker than I thought was possible for a bus, and claimed he didnāt see me :crazy:
Great fun though. Itās these little challenges that makes biking in London so interesting
Was it a red light? I canāt really tell from the vid, but you started moving on a yellow from what I saw and well, sorry, when you do that expect more close calls.
As for wind noise, you can always add music or have a 2nd recorder by the can for sound.
I like bus drivers and try to be nice and let them go first noweven when I donāt have too. Give them a little wave too. Works too as now some local bus drivers note its me and let me pass first in return.
But a few bus drivers drive like they own the road and are utterdickheads.
What is written in the Highway code is advisory and not always legallybinding, the bus driver in your vid might not have seen you at first? But afterhe had he was being an arse, and if he had hit you, the Bus driver, not you,would have ended up in front of the local magistrate.
Yes so do I, sometimes three or four times on a single commute, but over the years you just accept it and I try to turn it into a positive. Never had the chance to video it before now though :hehe:
No video today as it was raining this morning, so you probably wouldnāt have seen much. A pity as there was more fun to be had; forgotten what it was now though. I tend to forget all about these incidents after about one minute.
Silentwalker - the light had turned red for the van, then amber for me. I always tend to start edging forward on amber (but not into the actual junction unless I know itās clear) as a result of being tailended by an impatient driver in about 1998 when I did what you do. I went in this instance because the van was motioning me to go, and it seemed to be the safest/most sensible thing to do under the circumstances. Look at the driverās hand movements in the vid. And thanks for the sound advice - I just have to think of a suitable soundtrack :hehe:
I tend to be slower off the lights these days than I used to - plus I look when Iām going across.
Too many cars/vans go through red lights - Iāve given up seeing how quick I can get off the line the millisecond the lights go amber as itās an easy way to get killed on a motorbike.
Iām still trying to sort my own vidssound out. I guess a few people rip favourite tracks, but I wanted to stayclear of copyright infringement claims. So I make my own music using Acid MusicStudio, but I think I saw a button on YouTube that lets you pick a song whichfits the length of your vid. after youāve uploaded it.
Back to real sound, I gather theissue with my cam is it is a Contour 1080 HD, and when they designed it thejust dumped the mike on the bottom of the casing with little thought to airnoise. But I have looked on the web for suggestions, and far as I canunderstand the professionals use something like a furry rat over the mike. Thefur traps air forming a dead space which in turns limits the vibration of airand QED the wind noises. So what I have to do is prowl the place to see if Ihave something that could be a furry rat and then how to temp stick in place totest it.