Death Threats For Online Vigilante Cyclist

[sabretache]

From sky news:

Judging by the puffing and blowing he's clearly not on an e-bike But thought this might interest the forum anyway:

A cyclist who films dangerous drivers has vowed to keep posting the videos on YouTube despite receiving death threats.
The doctor has vowed to keep on filming. David Brennan, a Glasgow doctor, uses a camera strapped to his helmet to catch offenders in the act as he bikes to and from work.

He has filmed near misses, dangerous over and undertaking as well as drivers speeding through red lights. Dr Brennan - who also posts footage of cyclists and pedestrians behaving badly - says he just wants to get the road safety message across.

As well as receiving death threats and foul abuse from angry drivers, he has also been condemned by police. But despite the controversy, he plans to continue filming. He told STV's Scotland Today: "What I have learned from this is to just be careful what I post on the internet."I am not out to antagonise anybody. I am trying to convey the message that all road users should be equal and that there should be more respect on the roads."

 

[flecc]

Sky are slow off the mark!

This was on the BBC around a month or more ago.

I doubt the good doctor realises just how much cameras can distort perspectives and give misleading impressions.

I don't think this is something an amateur should be doing however well intentioned.
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[HarryB]

I agree about the distortion. After watching the clips it is a wonder anybody rides a bicycle at all, looks very scary. Not sure it was the good doctor's intention to reduce the number of cyclist.

 

[sabretache]

Sky are slow off the mark!

This was on the BBC around a month or more ago.
I doubt the good doctor realises just how much cameras can distort perspectives and give misleading impressions.
I don't think this is something an amateur should be doing however well intentioned.
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Well, I posted it more as a bit of graveyard humour than with with intent to convey any serious message.

Also, having been on the receiving end of animal-rights vigilantee's armed with cameras (not to mention noxious sprays and the odd pick-axe handle) for donkey's years, I too have a deep-seated aversion to self-appointed do-gooders. No doubt the doctor means well but then we all know what the road to hell is paved with don't we?

 

[stokepa31]

If your going to mess arouind with Donkey's Years your gonna get trouble like that all the time

Paul

 

[sabretache]

If your going to mess arouind with Donkey's Years your gonna get trouble like that all the time

Paul

I'm a dab hand at pig's years too yuh know - always making them with things - wife says so -especially when it comes to preparing food - oh dear.

 

[flecc]

Also, having been on the receiving end of animal-rights vigilantee's

My sympathies on suffering those maniacs. I bet they all keep animals prisoner (aka pets).
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[Caph]

I bet they all keep animals prisoner (aka pets).
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I picked up two rescue cats a few years ago and it took several months before one of them stopped hiding in any nook or cranny available to him at every opportunity. Even now he is still scared of baseball caps. I like to think that he will live out the rest of his life happy. They come and go when they please but they're never gone for longer than a few hours at a time.

I must dust off my old dictionary and look up the word prisoner again. It seems to have changed meaning a lot in recent times.

 

[flecc]

No problem with that Citrus, but many pet owners are nowhere near so sensible or considerate. Not just ill treatment, the kindness often being cruelty too, making prisoner apposite.

Seeing the behaviour of these protesters at times, I wouldn't trust them with any living creature, their thoughtless release of a handful of mink leading to wholesale slaughter of native species. Not too much caring there.
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[giguana]

I reckon Jeremy Clarkson should be prosecuted for telling people that speeding on country roads is not dangerous, it just gives old blokes with no knowledge of extreme sports the idea that speeding down country roads is exciting and should be done for the sake of it.

 

[flecc]

I reckon Jeremy Clarkson should be prosecuted for telling people that speeding on country roads is not dangerous, it just gives old blokes with no knowledge of extreme sports the idea that speeding down country roads is exciting and should be done for the sake of it.

Why "old" blokes giguana?

In my local lanes it's the young drivers who are most likely to do this. Some kill themselves in consequence, the last one two weeks ago this Friday and a mile away. He was a 21 year old who didn't make the bend in his Golf GTI on his way home and met a mature large tree head on. I've since cycled past groups of his mourning friends and relatives at the tree on three occasions.

We've had many deaths in the lanes and local roads in the 40 years I've lived here, but not a single old person among them, though it's evident that some old'uns have caused the odd accident, but not through speeding.

The sort of people who take notice of Clarkson are those you see in his audience, which never includes the old. They've generally got more sense.
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[Citrus]

Eh??

No problem with that Citrus,
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That was Caph you were replying to and not me I believe, as I haven't posted in this thread until now I don't know how you could have confused us - we don't even look alike.... and my voice is higher

 

[HarryB]

I wondered how long it would take for Jeremy Clarkson to make an appearance in our forum - is this the first time?

 

[flecc]

That was Caph you were replying to and not me I believe, as I haven't posted in this thread until now I don't know how you could have confused us - we don't even look alike.... and my voice is higher

Sorry, should've gone to Specsavers.
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[flecc]

I wondered how long it would take for Jeremy Clarkson to make an appearance in our forum - is this the first time?

No, in September last I posted and Ian responded below:

Jeremy Clarkson, four references
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[HarryB]

No, in September last I posted and Ian responded below:

Jeremy Clarkson, four references
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Well you don't quite blame all the worlds ills on Jeremy Clarkson in that thread and in the interest of balance it should be pointed out that the other Top Gear presenters James May and Richard Hammond are keen cyclists.

Could I nominate Nigel Havers who is a far more insidious figure. He regularly peddles his anti-cycling claptrap in the mainstream newspapers. This in the mailOn yer bikes! | the Daily Mail
but virtually the same article appeared in the Independent. As well as not being a very good actor he has no sense of humour and so he has my nomination.

 

[flecc]

Newspaper motoring columnists always seem to be the worst Hal, and I pride myself on getting a onetime motoring correspondent kicked off the South London Guardian group newspapers over his phobic anti-cycling stance.

As for Clarkson, I don't take him seriously since, having no other talent, he does what he does only for the money. If being green paid better he'd have gone in that direction.
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[mk1]

. He regularly peddles his anti-cycling claptrap in the mainstream newspapers.

The correct use of the word peddles!

 

[flecc]

Yes, at long last Martin.

I've long since given up on trying to get people to spell pedal and pedalling correctly.

For some odd reason they use peddle and peddling, which of course means selling.

The oddest thing is that they don't call cyclists pedlars, real inconsistency.
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[Footie]

Cameras distortions aside - I find it refreshing that someone has decided to rattle the cager’s cage. Sometime actions speak louder than words.

As for people like Nigel Havers, who obviously (from the newspaper article) has a personal dislike for overly assertive cyclists. He’s only sounding off his own opinions.

On yer bikes! | the Daily Mail

I find it ironic how he claims to have developed a green conscience. Especially when you see the fast cars he's had in the past.

Me and my motors: Nigel Havers - Times Online

I do agree with Nigel Havers in that cyclist should abide by the law (stop at red lights and stay off the pavement) - after all there’s a whole section in the High Way Code specifically addressing the law applying to them.

However, when it comes to being quarrelsome, cyclists are not the only ones.
As a regular cyclist I’ve found I must be very assertive otherwise I get pushed into the gutter with all the other crap. I often find myself getting very angry and sometimes swearing at inconsiderate drivers. Being considerate to cyclists is something some drivers don't understand or care about.

Unfortunately, there’s no sure-fire way to identify these ass-wipes on our roads. They can be old, young, in posh cars or old bangers. It doesn't matter what they drive, but if they hit a cyclist they will hurt them or even kill them.

Being big and brash means everyone notices you and thereby reduces the ever-immortal words being spoken down at you, while your sprawled on the deck (dressed like a day-glow canary); “Sorry mate I didn’t see you”.
Remember the stupidity of the law; it is up to the cyclist (or pedestrian) to prove the driver was at fault (very difficult if your dead).

So I say be big and be brash but stay within the law – and if any of them buggers hit you, make sure you get in touch with a good lawyer fast
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