I think seeing it and reporting it is fine but actively looking for it may cross the line into vigilantism and helps fuel the anger some drivers feel towards cyclist. More high visibility police officers in bikes policing motorists as well as cyclists would be the best solution.
My dad, David Sinar, was killed by a then 20 year old woman, Amber Potter, on the A11 in Norfolk due to mobile phone use. No one should have to go through what we have all because of some selfish individual cannot be completely self absorbed of themselves whilst driving! My father was still to this day one of the best cyclist I have ever met, setting the land speed record and winning countless titles up and down the country, all to be brought to an abrupt end due to a modern fad in todays society. Mum and I recently went to GMB to discuss these modern matters, thank you CM for keeping the roads safer and hopefully teaching many drivers that driving is a privilege and NOT a right!
So sorry for your loss, and thank you for raising awareness. I look forward to the day when people like Mikey have nothing to report because drivers are making good choices, staying aware, and simply obeying the law to make it safer for all.
@@Thepoomaster517 I am sorry for your loss, my best wishes to you and your family. I too lost a great friend and my coach Mike Bloom, to a cement lorry driver on his phone whilst Mike was out training on his bike. The driver is out now but the sentence was way too short for what he did. Mike hung on to life for six day's before he Succumbed to his multiple crush injuries. He was my friend and a father figure to me he was a fit and active 75 year old.
He's not creating a divide between cyclists and motorists, he's creating a divide between dangerous drivers and everyone else. Anyone thick enough to use a phone behind the wheel deserves the punishment, simple
He 100% is creating a divide. Plenty of times, when a driver makes a bad judgement when changing lanes or turning from side roads, you will see mikey accelerate at full speed towards the driver, putting himself in danger just to give said driver a pointless telling off for their easily fixable mistake. He could easily lower his speed and keep behind such drivers but chooses not to, just so he can act tough and superior in front of his audience. Ashley neal has done a fantastic job at summing up mikey's reckless antics.
@TrainBusFanUK Nope he is 0% creating a divide. Because other people's response to his actions is 100% their responsibility. Every single person has the ability to choose between learning positively, or being resentful of a lesson. To quote Marcus Aurelius on that: "If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone."
@ watch ashley neal's analysis videos and you will see what I mean. There are plenty of occasions where he is so focused on reprimanding a particular driver that he ignores any bad cycling he sees around him. Fed up of seeing just how many people are glazing him in this comment section.
@ also why do you expect all drivers to react positively and politely to him when he can often act towards them in an aggressive and threatening manner?
@ Expect? Who said expect? I pointed out that everyone has the choice, not what I expect they'll do. If I can remain composed when a maniac driver totally in the wrong nearly hits my car, then rages and actually threatens me, then any of Mikey's drivers should find it much easier. (since they are actually in the wrong, and Mikey is not imposing anything unjust). I simply make the decision that no amount of hot air can change the truth. Mikey bearing witness to their crimes does not change their crimes one iota. Mikey commenting on it doesn't change it either. They are as guilty whether they are caught or not. They are responsible for their own actions and attitudes and how they clean up their mess. A person with strong accountability will learn positively from being called out for a road crime even if is delivered rudely. Because truth does not depend on presentation. A person with weak accountability will resent the person who caught them, rather than learning positively. They will try pick holes in the presentation, or the tone, to try deflect from the truth that they have done wrong, or just call names and swear. (see Graham's Heirarchy of Disagreement).
It's a scandal that so many modern cars have giant Ipads on their dashboards that you have to use to do simple functions like switching on heated seats etc, to my mind these are as dangerous as someone using their mobile phones.
They've changed the Euro NCAP safety ratings now so that cars can't get a 5 score if manufacturers use them rather than buttons. My car has one, buttons would be far simpler and safer.
Becoming independent might be the best thing to ever happen to GCN. Films like this are insightful, well produced and thought provoking - well done for not just presenting the one perspective but challenging it too! As a cyclist in London my general rule of thumb (sadly) is "you can be right and dead". Car brain is, unfortunately, a thing, so I'm all for making someone think twice about how they're behaving on the road and realising we're all people with lives, families and different stories. I don't know if confronting people and irritating someone in a car makes the streets safer though. I'd err on film, report, leave it at that.
Hey Matt, Thank you - appreciate the kind words. Glad you thought that of this film and those we've published recently. I agree, personally I wouldn't confront people again - but still, I see the effect that journey cam users have had as a whole after spending the day with Mike. I think that challenge needed to be there, to make us all think about our own actions when using the road. Thanks for the comment, Conor
I would say that violent confrontations are rare and a lot of people will be in shock if you catch them. Like they feel powerless and plus they are being recorded so they will think twice. I actually got into a physical confrontation not with the driver who close passed me but with a passerby known to the driver. He put his hands on me and grabbed me by my coat. I countered my matching the force he put on me and shouting at him to let go of me as I knew he wouldn’t do anything and it was best for both of us. I’m a boxer and I was more afraid that I was going to hurt him if I were to seriously punch him. His chin was exposed and I could’ve KOed him with an uppercut as he much taller than me but I chose not to. Plus I was outnumbered because all of his mates came out and surrounded me. I wasn’t really intimidated to be honest and that might be because I’m from South London. My one was an anomaly to be fair and an unusual and unexpected end result.
I hope videos like this one will raise awareness outside the UK of the benefits of allowing citizens to report certain types of traffic violations to police. Because first the laws have to exist to permit this kind of reporting and enable the police to take action. For example, in my city there has been some interest in enabling citizens to report drivers parked in bike lanes, but it hasn't made it into law yet. And that's something I wouldn't need a GoPro, or even my bike, to take action on! I mean that's something I see every time I walk out my front door and walk a block or two. Like mobile phone use, there are some types of offenses for which video evidence is more or less incontrovertible. But there need to be practical reporting tools and the police need to have the legal authority to issue civil violations to the owner of record, like they do already with speeding and red light camera tickets.
I don't want to see other road users injured by some idiot on the phone! It's as bad as drink driving in my mind. We wouldn't think twice about reporting a drink driver. No road user would!
The divide between motorists and cyclists has always been there. The fact that motorists are being called out for mostly phone use is upsetting them. Motorists make poor choices and don’t like being found out. If it stops motorists using their phones that has to be a good thing for every road user doesn’t it? The motorists that do it have been doing it everyday until rumbled. The other thing to bear in mind is motorists report other motorists poor driving on their dashcams in such large amounts that there are tv programmes about it. It amazes me that people use phones in sign written vehicles too🤷🏼♂️ Finally, motorists kill vulnerable road users, cyclists are vulnerable road users, it is not cyclists killing motorists.
If this stops at pointing out bad driver behaviour, I'm all for it. However, on social media, allmost all accounts that share bad motorist behaviour footage, talk about motorists vs. cyclists and it's as polarizing as some motorists being hostile online to cyclists in general. Once we understand it's just bad and good people / behaviour on different means of transportation, it's not about group vs. group anymore and that's much needed.
"The fact that motorists are being called out for mostly phone use is upsetting them." Cyclists want to ignore the highway code, including not having lights at night and using phones while riding, and get upset about being called out for it. Hypocrisy. At the exact moment of typing this, Mike mentions going through red traffic lights, which coming from a cyclist really can't be taken seriously.
@@chrisdavidson911I have a copy of the highway code on my phone, which I have pulled out a few times to correct motorists. I have never either in my car or on my bikes ran a red light in 50 years, you have just generalised all bike riders/cyclists as bad road users. It's a small minority that has been blown out of proportion by social media.
In my experience it is very often the road-user at fault who is most angry. Whether it be car-vs-car or whatever. I think it has to do with increasing narcissism in society, and perceived "ego injury" when they are called out. Their peepee shrinks to the size of a tic-tac and they think the only way to reclaim it is narcissistic rage, rather than fixing their behaviour.
On Conner's point about feeling that it's an invasion of someone's private space when you stick a camera on them when they're in their car. I think that's part of the problem. In modern cars, particularly expensive ones, you're so isolated from the outside world it is easy to forget that in reality you're still sharing the road with others with immediate and dangerous consequences if you mess up. We need a shock reminder sometimes to remember that others exist outside our insulated safe metal boxes. Just the same as being embarrassed when someone spots you picking your nose in the car... everyone can see you! Obviously that's never happened to me! Good video Conner.
Hey Gary, Thanks for the comment! This was a big take away for me too from the day with Mike.. I totally agree with you. Maybe car design should aim to reverse this in future? Cheers for the kind words and thanks for watching, Conor
Spot on. I think a lot of drivers actually believe what they see around them is happening on a TV screen and their actions have no impact on what's around them
I know Mikey personally, and have ridden with him. He's genuinely this nice guy in the video. He's emphatically not a vigilante, just a good citizen, making our roads safer, and highlighting dangerous activity so we can all learn to be safer and more aware on the roads. As he frequently points out, he is not the biggest reporter of these offences in London, and, as the video mentions, drivers' reports outnumber those from cyclists. We've all got a role to play in road safety.
Trust me, mikey may seem like a nice guy at first but when you make the smallest mistake and cause him the slightest inconvenience, he will do everything he can to retaliate back at you and make you feel miserable. Such as when once a pedestrian accidentally stepped out in front of him and mikey responded with vicious threats of violence. He will also not hesitate to hit the block button if you criticise his actions and do not fall for his own narrative. Never do you see him reflect and learn from potential mistakes, he just thinks that he's always right and everyone else is wrong just because he's the one with a camera.
You go to jail if you kill anybody unless you do it in a car 🚗💀 Sad fact is these drivers don’t have respect. And incompetent and negligent forces like Thames Valley Police don’t prosecute. I’ve sent 100+ recording, been knocked off and driven at and squashed all with footage and Thames Valley Police didn’t prosecute a single one. If it wasn’t for the police’s lack of action people like Mikey wouldn’t have to go to such lengths
hi, thanks for the comment and we are sorry to hear about the footage you have captured in the past. Do you feel Thames Valley Police have a particularly poor stance on this? 0/100 prosecutions for the offenses does seem strange to us
A few years ago I submitted footage of myself being car doored to the Met Police. They sent me a letter saying they were not going to take any action because there was insufficient evidence (apparently the whole incident on video and the perpetrator admitting responsibility was 'insufficient'), that there was no supporting CCTV footage (I looked on the local council website, there was a CCTV camera less than 100m away) and that it was a 'damage only' incident, despite me also submitting photos of the injuries sustained, which needed hospital treatment. The police quite frankly don't care about motoring offences.
In America, one could argue that all cyclists should be legally allowed to carry firearms concealed. In gun-crazy land, why not? The problem is, drivers have their hands on a deadly weapon. And they use them! They use their vehicles to bully, intimidate, threaten, do damage, injure and kill. And when confronted by others, they lash out. In other words, the innocent public in their paths should simply be allowed to defend themselves with equal lethal force. And since cyclists (and pedestrians) don't have a 4,000 lb., 350 HP weapon at their fingertips, they should have an alternative. Thus the firearm. Would drivers change their behavior knowing many cyclists are armed and ready to defend themselves? Many might. Hell, maybe most of 'em would! Helmet cam footage of a driver going after a cyclist who then shoots them dead? Judge would say, "Got what he deserved! Now compensate the cyclist victim for the trauma caused!" That would be justice. Ultimately, the solution is NOT more violence, but less. Requiring drivers behave and obey the law is the better route. We all will be much happier if drivers could simply take the responsibility of driving seriously. But the CAUSES of driver poor behavior are another matter. Stressed-out people living on the edge, struggling to make ends meet and fearing for their futures play a HUGE part in our societal issues. When people are mistreated by society, they lash out. Road rage is a natural result, as is crime, drug addiction, domestic violence, and so much else.
@@JLobber Police forces vary dramatically in their attitudes to motoring offences, and submitted camera footage. Some are great (West Midlands, and Surrey? IIRC). Others are dangerously useless.
The fact that his activity leads to prosecution very clearly means he's NOT a vigilante at all. Motorists just like saying that because they like committing crimes and they don't like it that they're being caught. The divide is between lawbreakers and upstanding citizens. It just so happens that the vast majority of motorists are criminals.
He’s a vigilante. Simple. He uses his RUclips channel as a form of punishment by humiliation. In front of nearly 100k subscribers with millions of views. Sometimes the subjects have not been prosecuted. This is not reasonable behaviour and he should be stopped from doing it without anonymisation.
@@marblex If you think he is a vigilante, then you don't know the meaning of the word. A vigilante takes the law into their own hands. Reporting to the police is not vigilanteism.
@ Rubbish. Driving is a public activity in a public space. The fact that these people are not publicly humiliated immediately for their recklessness and violence is just an oversight from the public, which is rectified in RUclips. If you don't want to be humiliated, don't do humiliating things. End of story.
Excellent activity. Society is so distracted, impatient and anti cyclist attitude has stopped me from riding. When certain idiots see the opportunity to get revenge they do. I’ve been brake checked, side swiped, threatened. If they do attempt to kill me, is it attempted man slaughter. If not it should be. I’m a husband, father, son and insured car driver who used to ride in preference to drive. Now I just drive at the speed limits, which really annoys other drivers, who just have to get a cars length ahead. This madness needs to stop. Law enforcement is critical. Cameras and enforcement is unfortunately essential.
hi thanks for comment, it sounds like you have had some daunting experiences in the past. Hopefully this video helps raise awareness to keep everyone safer on the roads 👍
I'm in similar shoes. I'm a 52 year long avid cyclist, from daily commuting to road and mountain biking. Even occasional unicycling. I'm a former commercial driver, current motorcycle endorsement holder and avid driver. Racing technical criteriums in college taught me how to enjoy the twisties in a Porsche! That said, I DETEST the driver behavior I see on a many-times-a-day basis. It's INSANE in the SF Bay Area. Habitual lawlessness on the part of drivers. Even the "good" drivers are horrible behind the wheel. (Like the lady in the $80k Mercedes SUV who pulled an illegal u-turn into a motorcyclist. She was pregnant, so she had to hurry of to ask her doctor if her "precious little cargo" was ok! Unreal.) And then there are the criminals behind the wheel. Case in point: I return to town after a wonderful mountain bike ride. Instead of heading straight home, I decide to head to the local park to warm down. So I get in the left turn lane and wait at the red light behind a car. (Look driver, I didn't run the red! Something drivers complain about, right?) Along comes a driver behind me honking like a total lunatic as he comes to a stop behind me at the red light. He exits his vehicle to yell at me, "GET OUT OF THE ROAD!" So reply, "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? I *AM TRAFFIC!* " Complete idiot, lunatic committing assault on me. He exited his vehicle thinking I'd shrink and run away. He was a little surprised when I turned to him and stood up to his aggression The asshole had his hand in his pocket, so I didn't know if he had a gun. He slunk back to his car and eventually drove off. This is the shit happening all the time. And I'm in California where it's FAR better than other places in the US. Might start carrying a gun if it gets worse. Sick of being the victim.
My uncle was a lifetime cyclist who was cycling to work across Birmingham one day when a truck just rolled over him and killed him. If Mikey stops one person being killed he has succeeded. If you don’t know by now what the law is regarding driving and mobile phones you must have been living under a stone. Mikey I salute you.
from someone who almost had their right leg severed from just above the calve due to a driver using a phone I would suggest that penalties are too lenient right now (car went in to the back of me. headlight shattered on my bike and the momentum carried the glass / polycarb.. forward slicing through muscle and embedding part way in to bone). Still remember waking up wit ha crowd around me and all i wanted to do was stop my Garmin and check my bike.
I don't think you can improve the society via snitching. I know that the UK has no written constitution, poorly defined state power limits, and weak privacy laws. But even then, snitching should not be encouraged. People will avoid minor offense if they understand the rules and think that the rules make sense. People might or might not avoid minor offense because it's likely that someone will film them and snitch, but will remember being watched. It seems that a lot of people in the UK don't understand the cost. It breaks elementary trust in the society, this is a basic takeaway from 20th-century history.
Not sure it will improve road safety, might make the government abit richer through all the money from the fines 😂 feel like he's just annoying people to be honest , people will always break the rules of the road , an unfixable problem unfortunately I would say
Even before watching I had an impression of a cyclist just making motorist more angry towards us "like ohhh great". But after watching the whole video, you really see he started doing that to protect us cyclist and other road users, he's a hero in disguise, a car not paying attention can destroy someone life or cause death, grateful to have someone in the world reminding people to be careful on the road, thank you GCN & Mickey !!
Come try this in South Africa 😂. Great video however, love that Connor challenged and questioned Mikey’s methods and didn’t just report blindly. Mikey is ultimately doing a great job.
I don't think he would last in America either, But then again.. I gotta be honest Im surprised he's lasted at all anywhere. Never been to London but I know they're not absent violent crime maybe he just hasn't met the right person yet.. *shrug*
The thing is, if the same nice motorist crashed into you cause they were distracted on their phone, how would you feel about it, even with no major injuries, it is still frustrating and a terrifying experience
The nice motorist wasn't moving. People who genuinely only check/use their phone whilst stationary are obviously not adding much road risk. The law, however, does not distinguish.
@@xxwookey In my country you are allowed to drink and drive. You just must be under the limit. (however very few people exercise this freedom and it is frowned on). But in other countries you cannot even have open alcohol in the car. That's what the blanket ban on phone use is kinda like. When the temptation is right there accessible it's likely to be abused. And as s they mentioned it takes time to adjust back to the surroundings. So actually they ARE a road risk.
At the end of the day, the roads are a public space. You wouldn't feel bad about telling someone off for littering in a public park, so you shouldn't feel bad about this.
In 'Murica, that kind of thing will get you shot! We've fallen so far as a society, enforcing societal norms puts one's life in danger. And with Treasonous Trump at the helm, this will only get worse. Far worse.
Great video. You covered this in a balanced way far better than nearly anyone calling themselves a journalist in a large media organisation has before. The irrational hate by some people is blind to the fact it's our children walking on the pavements and crossing our roads. Its our family members undertaking journeys in cars that are killed or seriously injured by distracted drivers too, not just cyclists. I got knocked down from behind in 2017 while cycling around 20 mph by someone distracted who wasn't even allowed to be in the bus lane. It was a clear day and there were another 3-4 cyclists a short distance ahead of me in the bus lane too. The Police action resulted in a warning about the manner of their driving and no action was taken due to lack of evidence. Since then I've cycled with a camera. I got no issue reporting you if I see you on the phone while driving. Some drivers make it so obvious they are driving in a distracted and dangerous manner that I can send 3-4 videos a week to the Met and its rare they won't be writing to them.
Thank you, really appreciate the comment. Personally, I really see how more wide spread camera use can calm people's behaviour on the roads and make them more accountable. Spending the day with Mikey really opened my eyes to it. Sorry to hear you were knocked down, but glad to hear you've been cycling since. Hope this video can make everyone more aware about road safety issues and whats at stake. Conor
I find people being cavalier about breaking the rules of the road so rude. By doing it, they are essentially saying, 'my convenience is more important than your safety.'
This is one of the best videos GCN has done because it highlights that accountability for offences on the road are an important part of making the roads safer for everyone. Maximum respect to Mike for so respectfully documenting these types of offence. Because usually, if you've ever been involved in an accident with a motorist when the driver is at fault - there usually isn't a camera around to support your version of events to ensure a fair and justified prosecution. But it must be said in the interest of balance and fairness that we should all be responsible and law abiding on the roads. So I'll just say this without prejudice and as a lifelong cyclist in London of 40+ years - my suspicion of why drivers are so disdainful of, and aggressive towards cyclists is because many cyclists regularly and repeatedly break the law by going through red lights - all the time. This is a particularly common thing to see in London where easily 10-20% cyclists just ignore red lights. I would imagine that those drivers that react badly to being filmed while committing offences behind the wheel react badly especially because a cyclist is bringing their offences to light, and this makes this type of work by someone like Mike even harder. We've all experienced extreme driver aggression, some of us have been deliberately knocked off by drivers with zero accountability, and I don't think it's a stretch to reason that many aggressive drivers are made more angry towards cyclists because they see us as a group breaking the law repeatedly and all the time everywhere. Of course, this is not to makes excuses for any violent behaviour at all - specifically what I'm saying is that there should be a campaign within the cycling community to be equal ambassadors for each other because this would result in making the road safer for other road users and all cyclists. Keep up the good work!
Completely agree. Lifelong London cyclist here too of 35 years. Waiting at the lights you can feel the anger from the drivers behind you when loads jump the lights. I’m not saying the cyclists are likely to cause harm. But i hate being the first rider in line to get the angry treatment for someone elses law breaking
Your 1st sentence sums up the main cause of frustration in motorists that unless law enforcement is on the spot and takes action there is no way of holding bad cyclists accountable when any video of a motor vehicle can lead to prosecution
Gotta say - I felt safer cycling in London than I do in Bristol. I felt like London drivers always expected to share the road with cyclists even if they didn't necessarily like it, and were more vigilant as a result. A lot of Bristol's cycling infrastructure forces cyclists into areas shared with pedestrians, but because its an option there's a lot more resent from motorists when you ride on the road instead.
I’m a cyclist living in Sydney, but recently visited London and hired a bike. I was surprised to find that I didn’t have a single problem from car drivers. The only problems I observed were the massive rule breaking by people riding e-bikes (mostly delivery riders)! They were constantly running red lights, and dodging in and out of traffic in ways that I would not. If you want to experience a place where there is a real problem of drivers endangering cyclists, come visit Sydney.
IF you are used to city cycling, London is the safest (UK) city to cycle in. However, if you are not a regular city cyclist, I can understand why some find it an overwhelming and confusing nightmare, and feel smaller less populated large towns/cities are safer.
I record my commutes and report drivers. Mikey's clips are tame in comparison. Here you get drivers blowing through compulsory stops at full speed as I approached in the cycle lane. Or drivers so engrossed in their phone that they drive past me then immediately drift fully over the cycle lane, sometimes nearly taking me out. Or pulling out suddenly with no indicating. Parking in cycle lanes on top of no-parking lines, even on top of the bicycle symbol. Or doing a u-turn without indicating OR looking! What I've found is: the *vast majorty* of drivers confronted (95%) care more about their ego than road-user's safety. They'll stare blankly, they'll deny it, they'll deflect it, they'll play dumb, they'll brandish anger... anything except just saying "sorry I'll be more careful". One driver of a business vehicle, I asked why he didn't stop at the stop sign. He said "I DID STOP!". I told him "it's on camera". Reported to police and his employer. Because it would be irresponsible of me to let him go on as a career driver when he's so out of touch with reality, or so arrogant and dishonest.
It’s a fascinating point that Connor makes about feeling like he’s invading peoples privacy by looking into their car. I think this may be a large part of the divide between car drivers and other road users. Drivers do not fell like they are outside, on the road, exposed like cyclists and pedestrians.
That was my takeaway as well. When you're using the road, it's not your "personal space" - you're occupying a public road that is to be shared. Cyclists have just as much right to use it the same way. But it's easy to feel entitled when you're comfy in your cage physically separated from the environment. Mikey helps break that illusion.
Hey Adrian, Thanks for the comment - agree, this was a big take away from my day with Mikey too. Just hadn't looked at it in this way before, subconsciously it's like you assume the inside of a car is totally private - but it's not the case! Thanks for watching, Conor
As someone who commutes by bike to work in Toronto, I had to start wearing a camera as drivers in general are aggressive and use road violence against anyone who is not in a car. The major difference in Toronto Canada is the law always favours drivers even when they kill someone. There is very little enforcement when it comes to road safety and a whole lot of victim blaming, and when you have a provincial government that has outlawed bike lanes it puts an even bigger target on pedestrians and people on bikes backs.
It's so sad to hear this. I lived in Toronto in the late 1970s and commuted to work by bike, and only once experienced bad behaviour by a driver (a cab driver who pulled out into the road just as I was passing, and I nearly ended up with my wheels pushed into the streetcar tracks). - There was a lot of traffic 48 years ago, but I guess thare's a whole heap more nowadays.
This is a tough one... But the fact that Mike constantly questions himself and reflects on whether he crosses a line shows me that his intentions are rooted in improving road safety rather than simply provoking reactions. His response to Connor’s questioning isn’t defensive, instead he engages in the debate and remains open to seeing other perspectives. For that reason, I feel this approach might actually be more positive than negative. After all, the topic gets attention and sparks discussion. However, I do also understand that Mike's behaviour is perceived as extremely annoying.
Well done Mikey, keep doing what you’re doing. People will always react badly to being caught doing something they shouldn’t, and that’s simple, just don’t do it. We need more of you to police the roads.
Another fabulous video on an important topic. I'm so glad that GCN is not shying away from this kind of subject matter, and you covered it well - it was a genius idea to join Cycling Mikey. Thanks!😃
When I was still riding my motorbike, I almost had an accident because someone changed lanes while using a phone. I think using a phone while driving or even riding a bike is quite dangerous. The problem seems to be that there are (is?) quite a lot of people who are not really aware of this. That's why I think that he is doing a great job to make more people aware of this. Especially with his kind way of doing it. Nobody likes being caught. So I can understand why some people might overreact. Just watching that London traffic is kind of stressful but I hope that most of them see his point after some reflection afterwards.
Thanks! I almost got taken out yesterday by a delivery scooter rider who was fiddling with his dash mounted phone whilst riding down Holland Park Avenue. That reminds me I need to report him today.
Anything that distracts you from keeping your eyes on the road, is dangerous. Phones are particularly problematic, because the content they display are often designed to capture your attention. But it's not limited to phones, but at least for the last two decades, phones were the main offender. Modern cars that put everything on a fucking touch screen are just as bad.
Unfortunately that's the only way to get car drivers to respect the rules and the laws. Mostly they get away with any behaviour as long as nobody is seriously injured.
My reason for enjoying the more confrontational videos is to see some of the more arrogant drivers being put in their place. I'm well aware that most are decent people, but theres some nasty ones out there who feel like they can get away with anything. They need to know that's not the case! Great video and nice one Connor for getting stuck in!
I really like this kind of content very much. It's so important to have discussions about traffic safety, the bad impact of motonormativity and so on. So please carry on 😊
I've had 3 prosecutions but would have much more if the Scottish police invested in road safety reporting like you do in England. I watch Mikey occasionally and as a commuter/ leisure cyclist I believe need more rather than generations that say it's "too dangerous on our roads to cycle". This is so defeating debilitating and does not do our children any favour. Thanks for inviting Mikey on GCN.
Not being an apologist for the Police in Scotland, but the law actually isn't on their side. Corroboration is required in Scots Law (I.e. a second witness) and so videos aren't enough for them to act. There is a campaign to end this, as it is also the reason so many other crimes end up in civil and not criminal court where the rules are different. I've had a few incidents myself, most notably in Paisley where drivers seem to think that cyclists aren't allowed in the right hand lane of the 2 lane roads through the town (30mph limit) even if they are turning right ahead.
I think he's a hero since he sometimes deliberately puts himself in dangerous situations. Those situations are usually relatively controllable, most people are hesitant about harming others deliberately in broad daylight with a camera pointing at them, but there have been situations where people have run into Mikey to bully him off the road. It's not his decision to prosecute, he merely reports and lets the executive/judiciary decide if those situations are worthy of prosecution. Since the police is actively encouraging reporting he's not a vigilante, as he said that would be scratching paint or slapping door mirrors (which I have to admit have done in dangerous situations). All in all I'd love Mikey being out of business because everyone sticks to the rules of the road, but since seemingly more and more people are willing to break the law you need such people. He said and wrote numerous times he'd love being out of business as well. 20:16: I like that Mike gave the thumbs up to the driver falling back after the driver wasn't able to overtake before the obstacle. That's called positive reinforcement which I like doing as well. A couple of times I went out of my way to tell people explicitly that they were good drivers, for example when a driver slowed down for every priority-to-the-right street where hedges prevented line of sight. A couple of 100 metres later he parked anyway so I stopped at a good distance to let him know I wasn't going to tell him off but to commend him. Unfortunately there are way more situations where I have to whistle or yell at people to stop their dangerous behaviour, but I still won't stop giving positive reinforcement.
Deliberately putting himself in danger doesn't make him a hero. He only does it so he can get the driver into more trouble and act tough and superior in front of his audience.
@TrainBusFanUK Nope, it's to provide immediate feedback and prevent a dangerous situation for people coming around a blind corner in the case of "Gandalf Corner". He seems to be the person to do that regardless whether he will upload it to RUclips or not. If you're getting a ticket a couple of weeks after you broke the law many people just pay it and continue to break the law since it's so unlikely to get caught. If you're being stopped while breaking the law, in front of many other people nonetheless, you're more likely you'll reflect your behaviour and keep more to the law afterwards.
@ I'm not talking about stopping drivers at gandalf corner, thats a totally separate matter. I'm referring to instances where a driver makes a poor decision such as changing lanes or emerging from side roads at the wrong time. The safest thing to do in these cases is to slow down and keep behind the driver to minimise risk for all, but mikey always feels this need to give the driver a telling off for their mistake, which he does by accelerating at full speed to get in front of the driver, putting himself at serious risk of harm as often the driver does not notice him trying to put up a fight for space until its too late. This is the exact reason why so many call him a vigilante. If you want a better understanding of what I mean, you can watch ashley neal's numerous videos analysing mikey's riding.
Road cyclists should have a 360 camera on them, like how some motorcyclists do. No matter how safe you're trying to be, it takes one distracted/inconsiderate driver to cause an accident.
And we should avoid the term 'accident' when talking about this stuff. It's not just chance: there are reasons, and what happens are collisions or incidents. Check out the 'guidelines for road collision reporting' for chapter and verse.
One thing that I think about alot is how people don't "feel right" when reporting or even confronting dangerous drivers is the phraze "complacency is complicity". That makes me think hard precicely because dangerous driving and deaths and injuries caused by drivers has become normalized, when in any other scenario (with similar outcomes) people would be outraged and actively demanded adress of the situation.
He's a good egg :) My dad is disabled because someone who wasn't paying attention ran him over. It'll never happen to you until it does. He's educating people or at least making them aware.. and the law never bothers people who don't break it.
It's so great that Mikey is putting the effort into publicising motorists using their phones whilst driving. It's so dangerous for everyone on the road, including the driver themselves. Motorists use dashcams all the time so why shouldn't cyclists? Keep up the good work.
Been following Mikey for a while now. What I'm most impressed by is how calm and unfazed he seems even in dangerous confrontations. Never heard him raise his voice.
There’s a big difference between 1) using a camera to record your rides so you have evidence in case there’s an incident (in much the same way as dashcam in a car) and 2) deciding to go around looking for people who are technically breaking the law, but one that’s hopelessly flawed (they could be legally texting using a mounted phone, which is equally dangerous).
Selam! I would say it isn’t technically breaking the law as it doesn’t matter if you are moving or not. Having a handheld phone while driving is illegal. Even off duty police officers do what Mikey does, where they will knock on windows of drivers using the phone while stationary. It’s way harder to text on a dash mounted phone and you could say the same thing about typing in an address on a car infotainment screen while driving, it’s not illegal. A lot of same drivers who use a phone behind a wheel are very likely the same drivers who speed through residential areas as “no one there” in same way people will say no one around while they are texting when there are cyclists filtering. Mikey said you can’t report drivers for speeding so this is a way of killing two birds with one stone, happy Timkat by the way!
To the question of mobile phones as a danger, the answer is unequivocally yes. I ride in mostly suburban/rural roads and while cars are few, the likelihood of someone being distracted is very high, and at a high rate of speed. Enough close calls to give me pause as to whether I give up road cycling and stick to gravel and indoors…
People using their phones while driving is not ok, it's an obvious distraction that needs to be prevented. I'm not so sure that I'm convinced about someone using their phone whilst stationary in traffic is a significant threat. It seems to me that the worst case is someone misses the light change... annoying but not dangerous, is there another element that I'm missing?
No, you're absolutely correct. The law is stupid. When stationary it's impossible for anyone to get hurt. When moving, it's thoroughly dangerous. But that's the law. In a cradle, you can tap away on it *while driving* but can't pick it up when not moving.
@@DarrenMansell Yep. I never understood why it's suddenly ok to use your phone if it's attached to the dashboard? Just like these cars with touchscreen everything. Just as bad as texting. I think if your handbrake is on then no problem. Once it's released no messing with touchscreens/phones.
I guess the thought is that if they use it while at a red light there is a decent chance they also use it while driving. But it is my gut reaction as well that it seems too extreme to report people standing still for phone usage (especially if they are not familiar with the city and really just using a navigation app). But overall I think this is a great initiative by the police to accept and act on such videos. Afaik here in Germany there would be no chance of that as there is also no law that makes the owner of a vehicle accountable for the actions of the driver. So every report I heard that prosecution stopped investigating because they were "unable to identify the driver" (even with Dashcam videos of those; so seems like rather unwilling). And that is usually regarding dangerous driving not "minor" offences like phone usage
Before passing distracted driver laws, the accident statistics were thoroughly studied... in the case where a driver is looking down at their phone when stopped at a red light, and failed to notice the driver in front has moved on after the light changed then quickly accelerated to catch up before assessing the traffic/road conditions, thus colliding with another driver or cyclist or pedestrian.
recently i have been close passed by a guy who then couldnt drive a straight line, at the next red light i was next to him and saw that he was in a zoomcall on his phone... people are just too reckless and don't even notice it, so good that someone makes them realize
@@gcn sadly its pretty common, but the zoomcall was a first, made me a bit speechless to be honest. comes right after a guy with phone in one hand and mcdonalds drink in the other, steering with the knees i guess...
Had two car crashes - both dash cam has been critical. 1st the other party wrote a whole lie with drawings. 2nd left me in hospital and police said my dash cam alone knocks 6-12 months off the investigation! From a safety point - no issue with what he is doing. Good for him!! From a cycling point of view - drivers don’t like cyclists. If it was just reporting incidentally fine but going out looking for issues and/or delaying traffic will also ultimately create more tension as they will just see it as a cyclist.
I’ve driven behind people while they’ve been on their phones many times,on motorways they sway over lanes or sway within a lane touching the hazard lines separating the lanes,in traffic queues they move left then right trying to drive straight, roll over junctions they’re meant to stop at,if you think about it once your attention is on your phone there’s a delay to focus back on other things such as a conversation with someone your with because you can’t concentrate on two things at once, that concentration lag also happens while driving from phone to driving,this is also where an accident could happen,being on the phone especially messaging or txting is like having micro sleeps because their attention is on the phone not on driving, they’re oblivious to everything going on around them, your calls/ txts/emails aren’t more important than someone’s life,BTW cars /vehicles aren’t the problem it’s the drivers just as bad cycling such as going through red lights isn’t the bicycles fault it’s the rider.
3:31 I was close-passed on a country road in rural Mid Wales. I responded as I normally do with a frustrated yell. The driver stopped (first time in 12 years) got out and confronted me - shouting about me being 'one of those London ones' (I was born and bred around here!) I had to stand my ground. Eventually, he got in his car shouting: 'fine, send it to the police, I don't care'. I don't have a camera, just letting him know he was too close. But he has clearly been radicalised by watching these things on Twitter and decided to take it out on me! Very worrying. I should say that this is not a criticism of Cycling Mikey - glad to see poor driving being held to account
As for the tiredness of cycling in London- one of the toughest cycles I did was 80km cycle using every bridge from Kingston to Tower Bridge and with all the stopping and starting and concentrating I was exhausted.
Having been in a fatal accident on the M4 when a van driver drove into the back of static traffic without breaking I have no doubts that any form of distraction whilst driving is very dangerous. He hit the car behind so hard that having smashed it five metres down the road, still had enough momentum to completely destroy the car I was in as well. When he hit us, he went up in the air and landed on top of us. It does beg the question on the current trend for big screens in cars and having to scroll through menus to adjust the heating etc..
Watching Mikey's videos encouraged me to ride with a GoPro on me during every ride. I use a Hero 9 black with an external battery so I can record in 4K/30FPS for hours with zero stopping to change batteries or what have you.
If road users obeyed the law then he wouldn’t feel the need to do this. If road users obeyed the law then they wouldn’t get angry about him doing this. Lesson of the day…obey the law and then he will be out of business.
You don't have to brake the law to have this mikey bloke ride up to you and start a heated argument over something petty. In one of his videos he makes violent threats towards a pedestrian who accidentally walked out in front of him, when he could have easily been polite and mature and asked him to pay more attention when crossing.
I think governments make it way way to easy to get a drivers license, which means that the average person has the skill of a first month mountain biker. The straight green trails are about 90% safe. Every single day I see drivers doing everything but drive behind the wheel. Conor's comments about being responsible for the safety of yourself and others when driving any vehicle on the road were spot on. Most barely look out for themselves.
I don't think I can divide my attention looking into other people's car when I'm focusing on not getting killed on the road! But I've caught sooo many bad drivers on my Gopro just riding around.
Brave guy in this day and age. Totally applaud what he’s doing (and indeed what all the other dashcammers do). Wonder whether it’s being on a bicycle that gets people riled up for the most part ….? Shame there aren’t more coppers on bikes doing his job
Yeah it is. People get surprised and feel humiliated that someone that they perceived as lesser than them is getting them punished. Drivers hate cyclists irrationally and for the sake of it. It’s like racists being beat up by an ethnic minority of something. The people who hate him for the whole confronting bit and just tell him to report it and move on are just massive pussies. Compared to the general population, Mikey is a brave person as he confronts people when he wants to unlike the pussies who tell him to move on “because it’s dangerous”. Most of these drivers won’t do anything as a lot of them are civilised and need education. If you have combat training experience then you will be good in physical confrontations anyway.
Conor is obviously a super tough guy, having been a professional cyclist but he's a lover, not a fighter. Fair play to him getting out of his comfort zone here.
Excellent interview. Thanks for sharing your thoughts after your ride, Conor. I too would not feel comfortable adopting these tactics but am grateful that Mikey does what he does to raise awareness and help make the roads safer for everyone, especially cyclists.
I like the idea of calling out bad drivers but the concept of how they approach drivers is awful. There are many situations where they increase danger by antagonising and name calling drivers. I feel those drivers will hate us even more and may even take it out on the next cyclist they meet. 😪 I personally keep my mouth shut, record and upload it on the police portal. Let them handle it. They will listen to the police more than me calling them a tw*t.
100% he’s being confrontational and self righteous. I ride all the time and fully support having more bike infrastructure. That said he’s simply looking for trouble. Not his job to act like an amateur cop. He says he’s simply riding to wherever he needs to go. But that’s not the case. He’s stopping. Going back and confronting people. It’s not needed at all. He’s just going to make people mad. Take a cam. Record stuff. And when things require reporting then report it. But don’t confront people like he’s doing. I have a dash cam and have reported a few drivers for very dangerous offences. I have never confronted the driver. It would serve no benefit to do so. And any cop will say the exact same thing: don’t take the law into your own hands by confronting people.
It’s not really taking the law into your own hands? People who say this surely don’t even talk to strangers. Most of confrontations rarely get violent and maybe people shouldn’t be afraid all the time. I’ve been in physical confrontations, I’ve been outnumbered even, I’m not afraid of no one. You are far more likely to be killed by the drivers Mikey usually reports than be killed in some kind of physical confrontation at least in the UK.
Well said and I think same. He's actively looking for it and in a confrontational manner. Of course it's wrong to be on phone when driving but he should record, send in to Op Snap and leave it at that.
Greatest respect for Mikey, making safer roads for others. His response to Conor's interrogation here shows what an intelligent and fair minded man he is. There's every reason to carry on; making the world a safer place, gently.
I've been commuting by bike for 25 plus yeaars. Cell phones weren't an issue back then but a good number of drivers still had a weird hatred for cyclists. This will not increase that level of hatred. Like many things, stuff is just more highlighted now.
No problem with reporting people but Mikey drives confrontation, is rude and is antagonistic towards others. I notice he was on his best behaviour today rather than some of his previous behaviours. As a cyclist I don't like the culture war that Mikey and others feed. It's just counterproductive.
Video it, get the evidence send it to the police. Don't antagonise and don't get involved in the name calling and threats Mikey has at times and not post it and monitise it.
Fair play to him, I think it’s brilliant what he’s doing. Phone use whilst using a vehicle is as bad as drink driving yet somehow seems socially acceptable. Should be instant ban if caught
I'm very anti-car, and generally applaud Mikey, but I must admit, busting someone for checking their phone when fully stopped feels completely unnecessary. Would love if he focused more on blocking bike lanes, not checking for bikes, and other genuinely dangerous behavior.
That's not the case, though. You're creating a scenario that doesn't exist. There is no excuse for it. It's dangerous and it is illegal for good reason. I'm a cyclist. I see the danger of mobile phone use with drivers daily.
I don't have the time or interest to go slow enough to catch phone use while stopped. There are far more dangerous things that I report daily. Like parking in the cycle lane, blocking the cycle lane, crossing into the cycle lane without looking or indicating, pulling out or u-turning without looking or indicating, blowing through compulsory stops, blowing through red lights (especially when pedestrians or cyclists are about to cross). However I have had a driver drift several times across the cycle lane because he was engrossed in his phone. I was beside him at 45kph and he got such a surprise when I knocked on his window and he had to look up from whatever was so much more important.
I think he's 100% correct. I wouldn't have the nerve to do it so it's great that people like him are here. Brilliant job Mikey. And as he says, he just gives the evidence and leaves it to the police to make the decision.👏👍
I'm all for reporting shit drivers, and the growing army of camera-toting cyclists are doing a great job. Mikey on the other hand I feel has slipped from this goal into being more concerned with growing his brand. He's as arrogant and condescending with fellow cyclists online as he is with drivers on the street, and this too easily allows people to label all cyclists with these attributes. Overall I don't think he's helping.
If someone is blaming all cyclists for the actions of one, then perhaps they should be asking themselves why they're not doing the same with motorists.
Say it as it is .. his main motivation is money and content and the only reason you 2 are connecting is to connect and improve your subscriber list.......... I hope someone follows him in his life and digs up dirt on him that we can all dwell in !... Millions of people while stationary in traffic look at their phones WHAT he should be doing is catching people who are on the motorway for example and going through red lights ! but starting on people for looking at their phones stationary at lights is not good.
@@jd1700 He ( Mikey ) is a danger to other drivers because he keeps taking his focus off the road.. And according to GCN it takes 20 seconds to get that road awareness back !!
I don't mind him busting people but when he got the van driver to lower her window and talked to her like he was a cop, what was that about, why did he feel she specifically owed him specifically an apology. That was weird. Send the report ok but is he fishing for conflict? I was on his side before that.
Conor, to the question of have roads become safe. It's difficult to put a metric to this, but if even one person stops disregarding the public's safety and stops using their phone while driving because of the fear of getting caught, then yes, it is safer for all.
Oh believe me, he has a dark side which is not too difficult to come across. You only have to make the tiniest mistake in front of him and you will quickly find out.
@@JP-qc1lg totally disagree, like I said I've spoken to him personally. If people didn't use their phones when driving they wouldn't have any issues with him
Cycling Mikey is an absolute hero! Someone using their phone pulling while out of a parking spot drove into me and broke my wrist. I have no sympathy for them -if it was their own life they were risking they wouldn't do it.
Clcyling mikey doesn't give a toss about cyclists breaking the rules, only mtororists. What was shocking was he didnt give a damn about an old lady that had her ankle slashed by a cyclist on the pavement then did a runner, only interested in motorists. That corner he catches motorists on wrong side of the road, he lets cyclists by with the excuse that he doesnt stop them incase they fall over, what a hypocrite. When he records somebody , instead of just sending the footage to the police , he antagonizes them to get content and generate hatred. Cycling mikey has no right to block the road at ghandalfs corner as has no authority ,not being a policeman.
Because to stop them he'd need to grab onto them or their bike, which puts him at the risk of being charged with assault, and them at the risk of injury. Car drivers aren't at the risk of injury unless they crash into another motor vehicle.
He comes across as petty and vindictive going for any target. Ridiculous shopping that woman in the van sat in a 1/4 mile of stationary traffic. He caused more of danger and disruption there than the phone use. What he should do in those situations is just give a friendly warning that it is illegal even in that situation Fair enough shopping someone if he catches someone on the phone while driving along or driving dangerously. But if he is costing people hundreds of £ and points and losing their jobs it should be for being actually dangerous not just for a technical breach. Would he accept it if he had someone going round filming him and fining him for every infringement?
Thanks for the comment RB. I can see your point of view on this - I guess my counter is that whilst traffic is stationary, as I said in the video, it is still a distraction to be on your phone. That is why it's against the law. Isn't it fair to say that if you drive on the road, you have to accept the laws of the road and why they are there? For your own safety and everyone else's?
You’re arguing FOR someone breaking the law. No matter what your or my opinions are, this is still illegal. It is very naive to assume that people who use their phone whilst stationary do not use it when they are in motion. And, as mentioned, the cognitive impairment lasts up to 27 seconds after they put the phone down. That is a long time in which to have a diminished concentration on driving a vehicle.
@ yes but I also don’t think these things should be punitive just for the sake of it. That woman was causing no danger whatsoever. She was parked, and had time to observe her surroundings before moving off or had time to make a move if an emergency vehicle needed to get through etc. For absolutely insignificant rule breaks like that I’m all for a polite or even stern warning but going straight to a fine and points and insurance increase or maybe a ban is ridiculous. Basically just wasting police and court time and resources. Not all rules are enforced in a black and white manner, look at speeding. You have the limits but generally don’t have them enforced until 10%+2mph over. I’m really not a fan of people being reported by other members of the public, who are generally doing it to get a little kick and power trip out of it rather than any genuine concern for the greater good of the world, if they are reporting people for anything less than what would equate to dangerous or careless driving. You get people making innocent mistakes at junctions and the like and someone who caught it on camera reports them for their own little bit of excitement and the person making an innocent harmless mistake gets done, where if the mistake was made infront of a copper they would either see it as such and let it go or give the person a little talk. It erodes peoples faith in eachother and makes them nervous to go about their daily lives just in case they do something infront of the wrong person. Guess it is a good job we don’t have number plates on all our bikes as can you imagine the numbers who would get reported for all sorts of things.
@ I’m arguing for not handing out over the top punishments for non events and making society worse. If you catch someone doing it while driving along or driving dangerously having just been on their phone then fill your boots. And before anyone suggests it no I haven’t been done for being on my phone. I can’t see things like distraction and still being distracted for 27 seconds as part of the argument as they are not the illegal parts. You are allowed to play with your phone as much as you like and be infinitely distracted by it even driving along as long as it isn’t in your hand. Which is even sillier as 99% of people will be safer with it in their hand anyway as it is a more familiar hold and requires less distraction to operate. Then it is even sillier as I can’t be on my phone while driving but it is absolutely fine for me to be driving along chatting to 10 other cars via hand held walkie talkie.
@@gcn 'Isn't it fair to say that if you drive on the road, you have to accept the laws of the road and why they are there?' People accept the spirit of the law which is arguably more important. The law is rigid, road situations are fluid. Would it be fair to do unsafe but legal things on the road ? IMO there was nothing dangerous about the woman in the van because she was obviously prepared and ready to move off as soon as the traffic started to move again.
Do you think this falls into vigilanteism? 👀
No. He’s only reporting bad driving and loads of drivers do this with their dashcams as well
@@gcn no. Responsible citizenship
Yes.
It is being a responsible citizen and protecting everyone on the road, not just cyclists!
I think seeing it and reporting it is fine but actively looking for it may cross the line into vigilantism and helps fuel the anger some drivers feel towards cyclist. More high visibility police officers in bikes policing motorists as well as cyclists would be the best solution.
My dad, David Sinar, was killed by a then 20 year old woman, Amber Potter, on the A11 in Norfolk due to mobile phone use. No one should have to go through what we have all because of some selfish individual cannot be completely self absorbed of themselves whilst driving! My father was still to this day one of the best cyclist I have ever met, setting the land speed record and winning countless titles up and down the country, all to be brought to an abrupt end due to a modern fad in todays society. Mum and I recently went to GMB to discuss these modern matters, thank you CM for keeping the roads safer and hopefully teaching many drivers that driving is a privilege and NOT a right!
I'm so sorry to read about your dad. I hope our collective reporting efforts will save a few other families the same experience.
So sorry for your loss, and thank you for raising awareness. I look forward to the day when people like Mikey have nothing to report because drivers are making good choices, staying aware, and simply obeying the law to make it safer for all.
So sorry to read about your father. Sending our thoughts to you and your family.
I remember reading about this firstly sorry, its horrible on all levels and her sentence was a complete joke.
@@Thepoomaster517 I am sorry for your loss, my best wishes to you and your family.
I too lost a great friend and my coach Mike Bloom, to a cement lorry driver on his phone whilst Mike was out training on his bike.
The driver is out now but the sentence was way too short for what he did.
Mike hung on to life for six day's before he Succumbed to his multiple crush injuries.
He was my friend and a father figure to me he was a fit and active 75 year old.
He's not creating a divide between cyclists and motorists, he's creating a divide between dangerous drivers and everyone else. Anyone thick enough to use a phone behind the wheel deserves the punishment, simple
He 100% is creating a divide. Plenty of times, when a driver makes a bad judgement when changing lanes or turning from side roads, you will see mikey accelerate at full speed towards the driver, putting himself in danger just to give said driver a pointless telling off for their easily fixable mistake. He could easily lower his speed and keep behind such drivers but chooses not to, just so he can act tough and superior in front of his audience. Ashley neal has done a fantastic job at summing up mikey's reckless antics.
@TrainBusFanUK Nope he is 0% creating a divide. Because other people's response to his actions is 100% their responsibility. Every single person has the ability to choose between learning positively, or being resentful of a lesson. To quote Marcus Aurelius on that: "If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone."
@ watch ashley neal's analysis videos and you will see what I mean. There are plenty of occasions where he is so focused on reprimanding a particular driver that he ignores any bad cycling he sees around him. Fed up of seeing just how many people are glazing him in this comment section.
@ also why do you expect all drivers to react positively and politely to him when he can often act towards them in an aggressive and threatening manner?
@ Expect? Who said expect? I pointed out that everyone has the choice, not what I expect they'll do. If I can remain composed when a maniac driver totally in the wrong nearly hits my car, then rages and actually threatens me, then any of Mikey's drivers should find it much easier. (since they are actually in the wrong, and Mikey is not imposing anything unjust). I simply make the decision that no amount of hot air can change the truth. Mikey bearing witness to their crimes does not change their crimes one iota. Mikey commenting on it doesn't change it either.
They are as guilty whether they are caught or not. They are responsible for their own actions and attitudes and how they clean up their mess. A person with strong accountability will learn positively from being called out for a road crime even if is delivered rudely. Because truth does not depend on presentation. A person with weak accountability will resent the person who caught them, rather than learning positively. They will try pick holes in the presentation, or the tone, to try deflect from the truth that they have done wrong, or just call names and swear. (see Graham's Heirarchy of Disagreement).
It's a scandal that so many modern cars have giant Ipads on their dashboards that you have to use to do simple functions like switching on heated seats etc, to my mind these are as dangerous as someone using their mobile phones.
We know exactly what you mean. Many modern vehicles are full of gadgets which could easily distract motorists from paying attention.
They've changed the Euro NCAP safety ratings now so that cars can't get a 5 score if manufacturers use them rather than buttons.
My car has one, buttons would be far simpler and safer.
Great point, I can’t do much in the car without using a digital screen
@@gcn will you no longer have presenters to pieces to camera whilst driving now as you have in the past? I remember both Manon and Hank doing some.
100% right.
Becoming independent might be the best thing to ever happen to GCN. Films like this are insightful, well produced and thought provoking - well done for not just presenting the one perspective but challenging it too!
As a cyclist in London my general rule of thumb (sadly) is "you can be right and dead". Car brain is, unfortunately, a thing, so I'm all for making someone think twice about how they're behaving on the road and realising we're all people with lives, families and different stories. I don't know if confronting people and irritating someone in a car makes the streets safer though. I'd err on film, report, leave it at that.
Hey Matt, Thank you - appreciate the kind words. Glad you thought that of this film and those we've published recently. I agree, personally I wouldn't confront people again - but still, I see the effect that journey cam users have had as a whole after spending the day with Mike. I think that challenge needed to be there, to make us all think about our own actions when using the road. Thanks for the comment, Conor
I would say that violent confrontations are rare and a lot of people will be in shock if you catch them. Like they feel powerless and plus they are being recorded so they will think twice. I actually got into a physical confrontation not with the driver who close passed me but with a passerby known to the driver. He put his hands on me and grabbed me by my coat. I countered my matching the force he put on me and shouting at him to let go of me as I knew he wouldn’t do anything and it was best for both of us. I’m a boxer and I was more afraid that I was going to hurt him if I were to seriously punch him. His chin was exposed and I could’ve KOed him with an uppercut as he much taller than me but I chose not to. Plus I was outnumbered because all of his mates came out and surrounded me. I wasn’t really intimidated to be honest and that might be because I’m from South London. My one was an anomaly to be fair and an unusual and unexpected end result.
I hope videos like this one will raise awareness outside the UK of the benefits of allowing citizens to report certain types of traffic violations to police. Because first the laws have to exist to permit this kind of reporting and enable the police to take action. For example, in my city there has been some interest in enabling citizens to report drivers parked in bike lanes, but it hasn't made it into law yet. And that's something I wouldn't need a GoPro, or even my bike, to take action on! I mean that's something I see every time I walk out my front door and walk a block or two.
Like mobile phone use, there are some types of offenses for which video evidence is more or less incontrovertible. But there need to be practical reporting tools and the police need to have the legal authority to issue civil violations to the owner of record, like they do already with speeding and red light camera tickets.
I'm not a cyclist, I'm a motorist. Mikey is a legend and a good guy.
I don't want to see other road users injured by some idiot on the phone! It's as bad as drink driving in my mind. We wouldn't think twice about reporting a drink driver. No road user would!
The divide between motorists and cyclists has always been there. The fact that motorists are being called out for mostly phone use is upsetting them. Motorists make poor choices and don’t like being found out. If it stops motorists using their phones that has to be a good thing for every road user doesn’t it? The motorists that do it have been doing it everyday until rumbled.
The other thing to bear in mind is motorists report other motorists poor driving on their dashcams in such large amounts that there are tv programmes about it.
It amazes me that people use phones in sign written vehicles too🤷🏼♂️
Finally, motorists kill vulnerable road users, cyclists are vulnerable road users, it is not cyclists killing motorists.
anything that means improving road safety for all road users is a plus point for us!
If this stops at pointing out bad driver behaviour, I'm all for it. However, on social media, allmost all accounts that share bad motorist behaviour footage, talk about motorists vs. cyclists and it's as polarizing as some motorists being hostile online to cyclists in general. Once we understand it's just bad and good people / behaviour on different means of transportation, it's not about group vs. group anymore and that's much needed.
"The fact that motorists are being called out for mostly phone use is upsetting them."
Cyclists want to ignore the highway code, including not having lights at night and using phones while riding, and get upset about being called out for it. Hypocrisy. At the exact moment of typing this, Mike mentions going through red traffic lights, which coming from a cyclist really can't be taken seriously.
@@chrisdavidson911no more than drivers. Yet the difference is cyclists primarily harm themselves while drivers harm others.
@@chrisdavidson911I have a copy of the highway code on my phone, which I have pulled out a few times to correct motorists.
I have never either in my car or on my bikes ran a red light in 50 years, you have just generalised all bike riders/cyclists as bad road users. It's a small minority that has been blown out of proportion by social media.
Imagine drivers being caught for driving dangerous and illegally whle using their phone and somehow that makes people angry about cyclists
Those people are angry about cyclists anyway (bizarrely).
In my experience it is very often the road-user at fault who is most angry. Whether it be car-vs-car or whatever. I think it has to do with increasing narcissism in society, and perceived "ego injury" when they are called out. Their peepee shrinks to the size of a tic-tac and they think the only way to reclaim it is narcissistic rage, rather than fixing their behaviour.
@@jonchapman4448 Yeah but they pay £10 per month road tax so should be able to endanger children by driving whilst on WhatsApp 🙄
Hero!
'Justice feels like oppression to the privileged.'
That goes along with the comment that there is more phone usage in luxury cars
On Conner's point about feeling that it's an invasion of someone's private space when you stick a camera on them when they're in their car. I think that's part of the problem. In modern cars, particularly expensive ones, you're so isolated from the outside world it is easy to forget that in reality you're still sharing the road with others with immediate and dangerous consequences if you mess up. We need a shock reminder sometimes to remember that others exist outside our insulated safe metal boxes. Just the same as being embarrassed when someone spots you picking your nose in the car... everyone can see you! Obviously that's never happened to me! Good video Conner.
Very good point here
Hey Gary, Thanks for the comment! This was a big take away for me too from the day with Mike.. I totally agree with you. Maybe car design should aim to reverse this in future? Cheers for the kind words and thanks for watching, Conor
Spot on. I think a lot of drivers actually believe what they see around them is happening on a TV screen and their actions have no impact on what's around them
I know Mikey personally, and have ridden with him. He's genuinely this nice guy in the video. He's emphatically not a vigilante, just a good citizen, making our roads safer, and highlighting dangerous activity so we can all learn to be safer and more aware on the roads. As he frequently points out, he is not the biggest reporter of these offences in London, and, as the video mentions, drivers' reports outnumber those from cyclists. We've all got a role to play in road safety.
Thank you so much!
This is definitely vigilantism. The incidents are nothing to do with his ride.
Trust me, mikey may seem like a nice guy at first but when you make the smallest mistake and cause him the slightest inconvenience, he will do everything he can to retaliate back at you and make you feel miserable. Such as when once a pedestrian accidentally stepped out in front of him and mikey responded with vicious threats of violence. He will also not hesitate to hit the block button if you criticise his actions and do not fall for his own narrative. Never do you see him reflect and learn from potential mistakes, he just thinks that he's always right and everyone else is wrong just because he's the one with a camera.
@TrainBusFanUK I don't recognise this description
@ ruclips.net/video/GSHBeReBYFU/видео.html
You guys have soooo up'd your game in the quality and relevance of your videos. Fantastic job here. Thank you. Cheers
Thank you!
You go to jail if you kill anybody unless you do it in a car 🚗💀
Sad fact is these drivers don’t have respect. And incompetent and negligent forces like Thames Valley Police don’t prosecute. I’ve sent 100+ recording, been knocked off and driven at and squashed all with footage and Thames Valley Police didn’t prosecute a single one.
If it wasn’t for the police’s lack of action people like Mikey wouldn’t have to go to such lengths
hi, thanks for the comment and we are sorry to hear about the footage you have captured in the past. Do you feel Thames Valley Police have a particularly poor stance on this? 0/100 prosecutions for the offenses does seem strange to us
A few years ago I submitted footage of myself being car doored to the Met Police. They sent me a letter saying they were not going to take any action because there was insufficient evidence (apparently the whole incident on video and the perpetrator admitting responsibility was 'insufficient'), that there was no supporting CCTV footage (I looked on the local council website, there was a CCTV camera less than 100m away) and that it was a 'damage only' incident, despite me also submitting photos of the injuries sustained, which needed hospital treatment. The police quite frankly don't care about motoring offences.
@@gcnYes, TVP have been very poor on processing public-submitted footage in time to do anything about it.
In America, one could argue that all cyclists should be legally allowed to carry firearms concealed. In gun-crazy land, why not?
The problem is, drivers have their hands on a deadly weapon. And they use them! They use their vehicles to bully, intimidate, threaten, do damage, injure and kill. And when confronted by others, they lash out. In other words, the innocent public in their paths should simply be allowed to defend themselves with equal lethal force. And since cyclists (and pedestrians) don't have a 4,000 lb., 350 HP weapon at their fingertips, they should have an alternative. Thus the firearm.
Would drivers change their behavior knowing many cyclists are armed and ready to defend themselves? Many might. Hell, maybe most of 'em would! Helmet cam footage of a driver going after a cyclist who then shoots them dead? Judge would say, "Got what he deserved! Now compensate the cyclist victim for the trauma caused!" That would be justice.
Ultimately, the solution is NOT more violence, but less. Requiring drivers behave and obey the law is the better route. We all will be much happier if drivers could simply take the responsibility of driving seriously.
But the CAUSES of driver poor behavior are another matter. Stressed-out people living on the edge, struggling to make ends meet and fearing for their futures play a HUGE part in our societal issues. When people are mistreated by society, they lash out. Road rage is a natural result, as is crime, drug addiction, domestic violence, and so much else.
@@JLobber Police forces vary dramatically in their attitudes to motoring offences, and submitted camera footage. Some are great (West Midlands, and Surrey? IIRC). Others are dangerously useless.
The fact that his activity leads to prosecution very clearly means he's NOT a vigilante at all. Motorists just like saying that because they like committing crimes and they don't like it that they're being caught. The divide is between lawbreakers and upstanding citizens. It just so happens that the vast majority of motorists are criminals.
By your reasoning the 'vast majority' of cyclists are also criminals.
He’s a vigilante. Simple. He uses his RUclips channel as a form of punishment by humiliation. In front of nearly 100k subscribers with millions of views. Sometimes the subjects have not been prosecuted. This is not reasonable behaviour and he should be stopped from doing it without anonymisation.
@@marblex Have you tried reporting him to the police? The police take a very dim view of vigilantes so would surely want to see him stopped
@@marblex If you think he is a vigilante, then you don't know the meaning of the word.
A vigilante takes the law into their own hands. Reporting to the police is not vigilanteism.
@ Rubbish. Driving is a public activity in a public space. The fact that these people are not publicly humiliated immediately for their recklessness and violence is just an oversight from the public, which is rectified in RUclips. If you don't want to be humiliated, don't do humiliating things. End of story.
Excellent activity. Society is so distracted, impatient and anti cyclist attitude has stopped me from riding. When certain idiots see the opportunity to get revenge they do. I’ve been brake checked, side swiped, threatened. If they do attempt to kill me, is it attempted man slaughter. If not it should be. I’m a husband, father, son and insured car driver who used to ride in preference to drive. Now I just drive at the speed limits, which really annoys other drivers, who just have to get a cars length ahead. This madness needs to stop. Law enforcement is critical. Cameras and enforcement is unfortunately essential.
hi thanks for comment, it sounds like you have had some daunting experiences in the past. Hopefully this video helps raise awareness to keep everyone safer on the roads 👍
I've stopped too. Need to go live somewhere where it is safe to cycle!
I'm in similar shoes. I'm a 52 year long avid cyclist, from daily commuting to road and mountain biking. Even occasional unicycling. I'm a former commercial driver, current motorcycle endorsement holder and avid driver. Racing technical criteriums in college taught me how to enjoy the twisties in a Porsche!
That said, I DETEST the driver behavior I see on a many-times-a-day basis. It's INSANE in the SF Bay Area. Habitual lawlessness on the part of drivers. Even the "good" drivers are horrible behind the wheel. (Like the lady in the $80k Mercedes SUV who pulled an illegal u-turn into a motorcyclist. She was pregnant, so she had to hurry of to ask her doctor if her "precious little cargo" was ok! Unreal.)
And then there are the criminals behind the wheel. Case in point:
I return to town after a wonderful mountain bike ride. Instead of heading straight home, I decide to head to the local park to warm down. So I get in the left turn lane and wait at the red light behind a car. (Look driver, I didn't run the red! Something drivers complain about, right?) Along comes a driver behind me honking like a total lunatic as he comes to a stop behind me at the red light. He exits his vehicle to yell at me, "GET OUT OF THE ROAD!" So reply, "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? I *AM TRAFFIC!* "
Complete idiot, lunatic committing assault on me.
He exited his vehicle thinking I'd shrink and run away. He was a little surprised when I turned to him and stood up to his aggression
The asshole had his hand in his pocket, so I didn't know if he had a gun. He slunk back to his car and eventually drove off.
This is the shit happening all the time. And I'm in California where it's FAR better than other places in the US.
Might start carrying a gun if it gets worse. Sick of being the victim.
I have noticed the last few years at the traffic lights it takes 20-30 seconds before anybody starts moving as they are all on their phones...
My uncle was a lifetime cyclist who was cycling to work across Birmingham one day when a truck just rolled over him and killed him.
If Mikey stops one person being killed he has succeeded. If you don’t know by now what the law is regarding driving and mobile phones you must have been living under a stone.
Mikey I salute you.
from someone who almost had their right leg severed from just above the calve due to a driver using a phone I would suggest that penalties are too lenient right now (car went in to the back of me. headlight shattered on my bike and the momentum carried the glass / polycarb.. forward slicing through muscle and embedding part way in to bone). Still remember waking up wit ha crowd around me and all i wanted to do was stop my Garmin and check my bike.
If it makes the roads safer, nothing to dislike about this!
I don't think you can improve the society via snitching. I know that the UK has no written constitution, poorly defined state power limits, and weak privacy laws. But even then, snitching should not be encouraged. People will avoid minor offense if they understand the rules and think that the rules make sense. People might or might not avoid minor offense because it's likely that someone will film them and snitch, but will remember being watched. It seems that a lot of people in the UK don't understand the cost. It breaks elementary trust in the society, this is a basic takeaway from 20th-century history.
Exactly. Only those guilty of breaking the laws would oppose Mikey.
Not sure it will improve road safety, might make the government abit richer through all the money from the fines 😂 feel like he's just annoying people to be honest , people will always break the rules of the road , an unfixable problem unfortunately I would say
How is it he rides alongside the traffic, splitting lanes? Is that legal
@@themcguires3562 yep, legal in the UK
Even before watching I had an impression of a cyclist just making motorist more angry towards us "like ohhh great". But after watching the whole video, you really see he started doing that to protect us cyclist and other road users, he's a hero in disguise, a car not paying attention can destroy someone life or cause death, grateful to have someone in the world reminding people to be careful on the road, thank you GCN & Mickey !!
Thank you kindly!
We are so happy we were able to portray the message in a fair way
Well done for assessing further information and changing your mind - it's a bit of a rarity on the net these days.
Come try this in South Africa 😂. Great video however, love that Connor challenged and questioned Mikey’s methods and didn’t just report blindly. Mikey is ultimately doing a great job.
The Quantums wouldn't be the issue here, but instead the public
I don't think he would last in America either, But then again.. I gotta be honest Im surprised he's lasted at all anywhere.
Never been to London but I know they're not absent violent crime maybe he just hasn't met the right person yet.. *shrug*
The thing is, if the same nice motorist crashed into you cause they were distracted on their phone, how would you feel about it, even with no major injuries, it is still frustrating and a terrifying experience
The nice motorist wasn't moving. People who genuinely only check/use their phone whilst stationary are obviously not adding much road risk. The law, however, does not distinguish.
@@xxwookey In my country you are allowed to drink and drive. You just must be under the limit. (however very few people exercise this freedom and it is frowned on). But in other countries you cannot even have open alcohol in the car. That's what the blanket ban on phone use is kinda like. When the temptation is right there accessible it's likely to be abused. And as s they mentioned it takes time to adjust back to the surroundings. So actually they ARE a road risk.
At the end of the day, the roads are a public space. You wouldn't feel bad about telling someone off for littering in a public park, so you shouldn't feel bad about this.
In 'Murica, that kind of thing will get you shot!
We've fallen so far as a society, enforcing societal norms puts one's life in danger.
And with Treasonous Trump at the helm, this will only get worse. Far worse.
Great video. You covered this in a balanced way far better than nearly anyone calling themselves a journalist in a large media organisation has before. The irrational hate by some people is blind to the fact it's our children walking on the pavements and crossing our roads. Its our family members undertaking journeys in cars that are killed or seriously injured by distracted drivers too, not just cyclists.
I got knocked down from behind in 2017 while cycling around 20 mph by someone distracted who wasn't even allowed to be in the bus lane. It was a clear day and there were another 3-4 cyclists a short distance ahead of me in the bus lane too. The Police action resulted in a warning about the manner of their driving and no action was taken due to lack of evidence. Since then I've cycled with a camera. I got no issue reporting you if I see you on the phone while driving. Some drivers make it so obvious they are driving in a distracted and dangerous manner that I can send 3-4 videos a week to the Met and its rare they won't be writing to them.
Thank you, really appreciate the comment. Personally, I really see how more wide spread camera use can calm people's behaviour on the roads and make them more accountable. Spending the day with Mikey really opened my eyes to it. Sorry to hear you were knocked down, but glad to hear you've been cycling since. Hope this video can make everyone more aware about road safety issues and whats at stake. Conor
I find people being cavalier about breaking the rules of the road so rude. By doing it, they are essentially saying, 'my convenience is more important than your safety.'
This is one of the best videos GCN has done because it highlights that accountability for offences on the road are an important part of making the roads safer for everyone. Maximum respect to Mike for so respectfully documenting these types of offence. Because usually, if you've ever been involved in an accident with a motorist when the driver is at fault - there usually isn't a camera around to support your version of events to ensure a fair and justified prosecution. But it must be said in the interest of balance and fairness that we should all be responsible and law abiding on the roads. So I'll just say this without prejudice and as a lifelong cyclist in London of 40+ years - my suspicion of why drivers are so disdainful of, and aggressive towards cyclists is because many cyclists regularly and repeatedly break the law by going through red lights - all the time. This is a particularly common thing to see in London where easily 10-20% cyclists just ignore red lights. I would imagine that those drivers that react badly to being filmed while committing offences behind the wheel react badly especially because a cyclist is bringing their offences to light, and this makes this type of work by someone like Mike even harder. We've all experienced extreme driver aggression, some of us have been deliberately knocked off by drivers with zero accountability, and I don't think it's a stretch to reason that many aggressive drivers are made more angry towards cyclists because they see us as a group breaking the law repeatedly and all the time everywhere. Of course, this is not to makes excuses for any violent behaviour at all - specifically what I'm saying is that there should be a campaign within the cycling community to be equal ambassadors for each other because this would result in making the road safer for other road users and all cyclists. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for such a detailed comment and appreciation of our work and the video ❤
Nah. Motorists are quick to excuse poor behavior from other motorists as isolated cases, even when common or prevalent.
Completely agree. Lifelong London cyclist here too of 35 years. Waiting at the lights you can feel the anger from the drivers behind you when loads jump the lights. I’m not saying the cyclists are likely to cause harm. But i hate being the first rider in line to get the angry treatment for someone elses law breaking
Your 1st sentence sums up the main cause of frustration in motorists that unless law enforcement is on the spot and takes action there is no way of holding bad
cyclists accountable when any video of a motor vehicle can lead to prosecution
Motorists just want to endanger people, but the mean bicycle guy won't let them. It's the peak of unfairness!! 😢😢
He's wearing a USCSS Nostromo shirt. I already like him.
Wooohooo! I wondered if someone would notice.
Gotta say - I felt safer cycling in London than I do in Bristol. I felt like London drivers always expected to share the road with cyclists even if they didn't necessarily like it, and were more vigilant as a result. A lot of Bristol's cycling infrastructure forces cyclists into areas shared with pedestrians, but because its an option there's a lot more resent from motorists when you ride on the road instead.
This is not vigilantism. This is a citizen *reporting* crimes, not enforcing the law in his own way. There is a big difference.
I’m a cyclist living in Sydney, but recently visited London and hired a bike. I was surprised to find that I didn’t have a single problem from car drivers. The only problems I observed were the massive rule breaking by people riding e-bikes (mostly delivery riders)! They were constantly running red lights, and dodging in and out of traffic in ways that I would not. If you want to experience a place where there is a real problem of drivers endangering cyclists, come visit Sydney.
IF you are used to city cycling, London is the safest (UK) city to cycle in. However, if you are not a regular city cyclist, I can understand why some find it an overwhelming and confusing nightmare, and feel smaller less populated large towns/cities are safer.
I record my commutes and report drivers. Mikey's clips are tame in comparison. Here you get drivers blowing through compulsory stops at full speed as I approached in the cycle lane. Or drivers so engrossed in their phone that they drive past me then immediately drift fully over the cycle lane, sometimes nearly taking me out. Or pulling out suddenly with no indicating. Parking in cycle lanes on top of no-parking lines, even on top of the bicycle symbol. Or doing a u-turn without indicating OR looking! What I've found is: the *vast majorty* of drivers confronted (95%) care more about their ego than road-user's safety. They'll stare blankly, they'll deny it, they'll deflect it, they'll play dumb, they'll brandish anger... anything except just saying "sorry I'll be more careful". One driver of a business vehicle, I asked why he didn't stop at the stop sign. He said "I DID STOP!". I told him "it's on camera". Reported to police and his employer. Because it would be irresponsible of me to let him go on as a career driver when he's so out of touch with reality, or so arrogant and dishonest.
I applaud him.... Bringing wreckless driving to justice and the public eye...
he's a fanny.
They're reckless, so less likely to be wreckless. ;)
I'll see myself out...
It’s a fascinating point that Connor makes about feeling like he’s invading peoples privacy by looking into their car. I think this may be a large part of the divide between car drivers and other road users. Drivers do not fell like they are outside, on the road, exposed like cyclists and pedestrians.
That was my takeaway as well. When you're using the road, it's not your "personal space" - you're occupying a public road that is to be shared. Cyclists have just as much right to use it the same way. But it's easy to feel entitled when you're comfy in your cage physically separated from the environment. Mikey helps break that illusion.
There's no expectation of privacy in public.
Hey Adrian, Thanks for the comment - agree, this was a big take away from my day with Mikey too. Just hadn't looked at it in this way before, subconsciously it's like you assume the inside of a car is totally private - but it's not the case! Thanks for watching, Conor
As someone who commutes by bike to work in Toronto, I had to start wearing a camera as drivers in general are aggressive and use road violence against anyone who is not in a car. The major difference in Toronto Canada is the law always favours drivers even when they kill someone. There is very little enforcement when it comes to road safety and a whole lot of victim blaming, and when you have a provincial government that has outlawed bike lanes it puts an even bigger target on pedestrians and people on bikes backs.
Hi, thanks for the comment. Did you see our video on road rage recently?
It's so sad to hear this. I lived in Toronto in the late 1970s and commuted to work by bike, and only once experienced bad behaviour by a driver (a cab driver who pulled out into the road just as I was passing, and I nearly ended up with my wheels pushed into the streetcar tracks).
- There was a lot of traffic 48 years ago, but I guess thare's a whole heap more nowadays.
This is a tough one... But the fact that Mike constantly questions himself and reflects on whether he crosses a line shows me that his intentions are rooted in improving road safety rather than simply provoking reactions. His response to Connor’s questioning isn’t defensive, instead he engages in the debate and remains open to seeing other perspectives.
For that reason, I feel this approach might actually be more positive than negative. After all, the topic gets attention and sparks discussion. However, I do also understand that Mike's behaviour is perceived as extremely annoying.
Well done Mikey, keep doing what you’re doing. People will always react badly to being caught doing something they shouldn’t, and that’s simple, just don’t do it. We need more of you to police the roads.
Another fabulous video on an important topic. I'm so glad that GCN is not shying away from this kind of subject matter, and you covered it well - it was a genius idea to join Cycling Mikey. Thanks!😃
Thank you so much for your support
When I was still riding my motorbike, I almost had an accident because someone changed lanes while using a phone. I think using a phone while driving or even riding a bike is quite dangerous. The problem seems to be that there are (is?) quite a lot of people who are not really aware of this. That's why I think that he is doing a great job to make more people aware of this. Especially with his kind way of doing it. Nobody likes being caught. So I can understand why some people might overreact. Just watching that London traffic is kind of stressful but I hope that most of them see his point after some reflection afterwards.
Thanks! I almost got taken out yesterday by a delivery scooter rider who was fiddling with his dash mounted phone whilst riding down Holland Park Avenue. That reminds me I need to report him today.
Anything that distracts you from keeping your eyes on the road, is dangerous. Phones are particularly problematic, because the content they display are often designed to capture your attention. But it's not limited to phones, but at least for the last two decades, phones were the main offender. Modern cars that put everything on a fucking touch screen are just as bad.
Unfortunately that's the only way to get car drivers to respect the rules and the laws. Mostly they get away with any behaviour as long as nobody is seriously injured.
My reason for enjoying the more confrontational videos is to see some of the more arrogant drivers being put in their place. I'm well aware that most are decent people, but theres some nasty ones out there who feel like they can get away with anything. They need to know that's not the case!
Great video and nice one Connor for getting stuck in!
I really like this kind of content very much. It's so important to have discussions about traffic safety, the bad impact of motonormativity and so on. So please carry on 😊
OK Commie😅
Indeed, my favourite videos.
I've had 3 prosecutions but would have much more if the Scottish police invested in road safety reporting like you do in England.
I watch Mikey occasionally and as a commuter/ leisure cyclist I believe need more rather than generations that say it's "too dangerous on our roads to cycle". This is so defeating debilitating and does not do our children any favour. Thanks for inviting Mikey on GCN.
Not being an apologist for the Police in Scotland, but the law actually isn't on their side. Corroboration is required in Scots Law (I.e. a second witness) and so videos aren't enough for them to act. There is a campaign to end this, as it is also the reason so many other crimes end up in civil and not criminal court where the rules are different.
I've had a few incidents myself, most notably in Paisley where drivers seem to think that cyclists aren't allowed in the right hand lane of the 2 lane roads through the town (30mph limit) even if they are turning right ahead.
@cruachan1191 thanks for this everydays a learning day
I think he's a hero since he sometimes deliberately puts himself in dangerous situations. Those situations are usually relatively controllable, most people are hesitant about harming others deliberately in broad daylight with a camera pointing at them, but there have been situations where people have run into Mikey to bully him off the road.
It's not his decision to prosecute, he merely reports and lets the executive/judiciary decide if those situations are worthy of prosecution. Since the police is actively encouraging reporting he's not a vigilante, as he said that would be scratching paint or slapping door mirrors (which I have to admit have done in dangerous situations).
All in all I'd love Mikey being out of business because everyone sticks to the rules of the road, but since seemingly more and more people are willing to break the law you need such people. He said and wrote numerous times he'd love being out of business as well.
20:16: I like that Mike gave the thumbs up to the driver falling back after the driver wasn't able to overtake before the obstacle. That's called positive reinforcement which I like doing as well. A couple of times I went out of my way to tell people explicitly that they were good drivers, for example when a driver slowed down for every priority-to-the-right street where hedges prevented line of sight. A couple of 100 metres later he parked anyway so I stopped at a good distance to let him know I wasn't going to tell him off but to commend him. Unfortunately there are way more situations where I have to whistle or yell at people to stop their dangerous behaviour, but I still won't stop giving positive reinforcement.
Deliberately putting himself in danger doesn't make him a hero. He only does it so he can get the driver into more trouble and act tough and superior in front of his audience.
@TrainBusFanUK Nope, it's to provide immediate feedback and prevent a dangerous situation for people coming around a blind corner in the case of "Gandalf Corner". He seems to be the person to do that regardless whether he will upload it to RUclips or not. If you're getting a ticket a couple of weeks after you broke the law many people just pay it and continue to break the law since it's so unlikely to get caught. If you're being stopped while breaking the law, in front of many other people nonetheless, you're more likely you'll reflect your behaviour and keep more to the law afterwards.
@ I'm not talking about stopping drivers at gandalf corner, thats a totally separate matter. I'm referring to instances where a driver makes a poor decision such as changing lanes or emerging from side roads at the wrong time. The safest thing to do in these cases is to slow down and keep behind the driver to minimise risk for all, but mikey always feels this need to give the driver a telling off for their mistake, which he does by accelerating at full speed to get in front of the driver, putting himself at serious risk of harm as often the driver does not notice him trying to put up a fight for space until its too late. This is the exact reason why so many call him a vigilante. If you want a better understanding of what I mean, you can watch ashley neal's numerous videos analysing mikey's riding.
Road cyclists should have a 360 camera on them, like how some motorcyclists do. No matter how safe you're trying to be, it takes one distracted/inconsiderate driver to cause an accident.
And we should avoid the term 'accident' when talking about this stuff. It's not just chance: there are reasons, and what happens are collisions or incidents. Check out the 'guidelines for road collision reporting' for chapter and verse.
One thing that I think about alot is how people don't "feel right" when reporting or even confronting dangerous drivers is the phraze "complacency is complicity". That makes me think hard precicely because dangerous driving and deaths and injuries caused by drivers has become normalized, when in any other scenario (with similar outcomes) people would be outraged and actively demanded adress of the situation.
He's a good egg :)
My dad is disabled because someone who wasn't paying attention ran him over. It'll never happen to you until it does. He's educating people or at least making them aware.. and the law never bothers people who don't break it.
It's so great that Mikey is putting the effort into publicising motorists using their phones whilst driving. It's so dangerous for everyone on the road, including the driver themselves. Motorists use dashcams all the time so why shouldn't cyclists? Keep up the good work.
Been following Mikey for a while now. What I'm most impressed by is how calm and unfazed he seems even in dangerous confrontations. Never heard him raise his voice.
Great work again by Connor and the team. Another well balanced, non biased feature 👍
Thank you ❤
How about a club, encouraging others to follow in Mikey's path, maybe call it the Collective Alliance of Mikeys, or CAM.
If it makes the roads safer, I salute you and GCN. Thanks for the video.
Thank you
There’s a big difference between 1) using a camera to record your rides so you have evidence in case there’s an incident (in much the same way as dashcam in a car) and 2) deciding to go around looking for people who are technically breaking the law, but one that’s hopelessly flawed (they could be legally texting using a mounted phone, which is equally dangerous).
Selam! I would say it isn’t technically breaking the law as it doesn’t matter if you are moving or not. Having a handheld phone while driving is illegal. Even off duty police officers do what Mikey does, where they will knock on windows of drivers using the phone while stationary. It’s way harder to text on a dash mounted phone and you could say the same thing about typing in an address on a car infotainment screen while driving, it’s not illegal. A lot of same drivers who use a phone behind a wheel are very likely the same drivers who speed through residential areas as “no one there” in same way people will say no one around while they are texting when there are cyclists filtering. Mikey said you can’t report drivers for speeding so this is a way of killing two birds with one stone, happy Timkat by the way!
To the question of mobile phones as a danger, the answer is unequivocally yes. I ride in mostly suburban/rural roads and while cars are few, the likelihood of someone being distracted is very high, and at a high rate of speed. Enough close calls to give me pause as to whether I give up road cycling and stick to gravel and indoors…
People using their phones while driving is not ok, it's an obvious distraction that needs to be prevented.
I'm not so sure that I'm convinced about someone using their phone whilst stationary in traffic is a significant threat.
It seems to me that the worst case is someone misses the light change... annoying but not dangerous, is there another element that I'm missing?
No, you're absolutely correct. The law is stupid. When stationary it's impossible for anyone to get hurt. When moving, it's thoroughly dangerous. But that's the law. In a cradle, you can tap away on it *while driving* but can't pick it up when not moving.
@@DarrenMansell Yep. I never understood why it's suddenly ok to use your phone if it's attached to the dashboard? Just like these cars with touchscreen everything. Just as bad as texting. I think if your handbrake is on then no problem. Once it's released no messing with touchscreens/phones.
I guess the thought is that if they use it while at a red light there is a decent chance they also use it while driving.
But it is my gut reaction as well that it seems too extreme to report people standing still for phone usage (especially if they are not familiar with the city and really just using a navigation app). But overall I think this is a great initiative by the police to accept and act on such videos. Afaik here in Germany there would be no chance of that as there is also no law that makes the owner of a vehicle accountable for the actions of the driver. So every report I heard that prosecution stopped investigating because they were "unable to identify the driver" (even with Dashcam videos of those; so seems like rather unwilling). And that is usually regarding dangerous driving not "minor" offences like phone usage
Before passing distracted driver laws, the accident statistics were thoroughly studied... in the case where a driver is looking down at their phone when stopped at a red light, and failed to notice the driver in front has moved on after the light changed then quickly accelerated to catch up before assessing the traffic/road conditions, thus colliding with another driver or cyclist or pedestrian.
@OriginalTrev that's a good point, ty
recently i have been close passed by a guy who then couldnt drive a straight line, at the next red light i was next to him and saw that he was in a zoomcall on his phone...
people are just too reckless and don't even notice it, so good that someone makes them realize
That's pretty scary isn't it?
@@gcn sadly its pretty common, but the zoomcall was a first, made me a bit speechless to be honest. comes right after a guy with phone in one hand and mcdonalds drink in the other, steering with the knees i guess...
Had two car crashes - both dash cam has been critical. 1st the other party wrote a whole lie with drawings. 2nd left me in hospital and police said my dash cam alone knocks 6-12 months off the investigation!
From a safety point - no issue with what he is doing. Good for him!!
From a cycling point of view - drivers don’t like cyclists. If it was just reporting incidentally fine but going out looking for issues and/or delaying traffic will also ultimately create more tension as they will just see it as a cyclist.
I’ve driven behind people while they’ve been on their phones many times,on motorways they sway over lanes or sway within a lane touching the hazard lines separating the lanes,in traffic queues they move left then right trying to drive straight, roll over junctions they’re meant to stop at,if you think about it once your attention is on your phone there’s a delay to focus back on other things such as a conversation with someone your with because you can’t concentrate on two things at once, that concentration lag also happens while driving from phone to driving,this is also where an accident could happen,being on the phone especially messaging or txting is like having micro sleeps because their attention is on the phone not on driving, they’re oblivious to everything going on around them, your calls/ txts/emails aren’t more important than someone’s life,BTW cars /vehicles aren’t the problem it’s the drivers just as bad cycling such as going through red lights isn’t the bicycles fault it’s the rider.
Connor, I love how you guys tap into all these cycling-related topics and report on them. Thank you!
3:31 I was close-passed on a country road in rural Mid Wales. I responded as I normally do with a frustrated yell. The driver stopped (first time in 12 years) got out and confronted me - shouting about me being 'one of those London ones' (I was born and bred around here!) I had to stand my ground. Eventually, he got in his car shouting: 'fine, send it to the police, I don't care'. I don't have a camera, just letting him know he was too close. But he has clearly been radicalised by watching these things on Twitter and decided to take it out on me! Very worrying. I should say that this is not a criticism of Cycling Mikey - glad to see poor driving being held to account
As for the tiredness of cycling in London- one of the toughest cycles I did was 80km cycle using every bridge from Kingston to Tower Bridge and with all the stopping and starting and concentrating I was exhausted.
This guy is my hero. I call out these dangerous & crazy drivers too.
Having been in a fatal accident on the M4 when a van driver drove into the back of static traffic without breaking I have no doubts that any form of distraction whilst driving is very dangerous. He hit the car behind so hard that having smashed it five metres down the road, still had enough momentum to completely destroy the car I was in as well. When he hit us, he went up in the air and landed on top of us. It does beg the question on the current trend for big screens in cars and having to scroll through menus to adjust the heating etc..
Mikey FTW with the Nostromo shirt!
Watching Mikey's videos encouraged me to ride with a GoPro on me during every ride. I use a Hero 9 black with an external battery so I can record in 4K/30FPS for hours with zero stopping to change batteries or what have you.
If road users obeyed the law then he wouldn’t feel the need to do this. If road users obeyed the law then they wouldn’t get angry about him doing this.
Lesson of the day…obey the law and then he will be out of business.
You don't have to brake the law to have this mikey bloke ride up to you and start a heated argument over something petty. In one of his videos he makes violent threats towards a pedestrian who accidentally walked out in front of him, when he could have easily been polite and mature and asked him to pay more attention when crossing.
I think governments make it way way to easy to get a drivers license, which means that the average person has the skill of a first month mountain biker. The straight green trails are about 90% safe. Every single day I see drivers doing everything but drive behind the wheel. Conor's comments about being responsible for the safety of yourself and others when driving any vehicle on the road were spot on. Most barely look out for themselves.
I don't think I can divide my attention looking into other people's car when I'm focusing on not getting killed on the road! But I've caught sooo many bad drivers on my Gopro just riding around.
Brits are so polite... I wish I could see them recording this sort of video here in Sao Paulo.
Brave guy in this day and age. Totally applaud what he’s doing (and indeed what all the other dashcammers do). Wonder whether it’s being on a bicycle that gets people riled up for the most part ….? Shame there aren’t more coppers on bikes doing his job
Yeah it is. People get surprised and feel humiliated that someone that they perceived as lesser than them is getting them punished. Drivers hate cyclists irrationally and for the sake of it. It’s like racists being beat up by an ethnic minority of something. The people who hate him for the whole confronting bit and just tell him to report it and move on are just massive pussies. Compared to the general population, Mikey is a brave person as he confronts people when he wants to unlike the pussies who tell him to move on “because it’s dangerous”. Most of these drivers won’t do anything as a lot of them are civilised and need education. If you have combat training experience then you will be good in physical confrontations anyway.
Conor is obviously a super tough guy, having been a professional cyclist but he's a lover, not a fighter. Fair play to him getting out of his comfort zone here.
Mike is doing a great public service. Keep going Mike!
Excellent interview. Thanks for sharing your thoughts after your ride, Conor. I too would not feel comfortable adopting these tactics but am grateful that Mikey does what he does to raise awareness and help make the roads safer for everyone, especially cyclists.
awareness and accountability is not negativity
I like the idea of calling out bad drivers but the concept of how they approach drivers is awful. There are many situations where they increase danger by antagonising and name calling drivers. I feel those drivers will hate us even more and may even take it out on the next cyclist they meet. 😪 I personally keep my mouth shut, record and upload it on the police portal. Let them handle it. They will listen to the police more than me calling them a tw*t.
Ah, mystery solved. I always wondered, Mikey, why you always touch your camera, when you ride up on someone. Now I know.
Yeah, it makes sense now to many non-action camera experts too!
Not all heroes wear capes - more power to Mikey. Keep on reporting 🙌
100% he’s being confrontational and self righteous. I ride all the time and fully support having more bike infrastructure. That said he’s simply looking for trouble. Not his job to act like an amateur cop. He says he’s simply riding to wherever he needs to go. But that’s not the case. He’s stopping. Going back and confronting people. It’s not needed at all. He’s just going to make people mad. Take a cam. Record stuff. And when things require reporting then report it. But don’t confront people like he’s doing. I have a dash cam and have reported a few drivers for very dangerous offences. I have never confronted the driver. It would serve no benefit to do so. And any cop will say the exact same thing: don’t take the law into your own hands by confronting people.
It’s not really taking the law into your own hands? People who say this surely don’t even talk to strangers. Most of confrontations rarely get violent and maybe people shouldn’t be afraid all the time. I’ve been in physical confrontations, I’ve been outnumbered even, I’m not afraid of no one. You are far more likely to be killed by the drivers Mikey usually reports than be killed in some kind of physical confrontation at least in the UK.
complacency is complicity... if you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem
Well said and I think same. He's actively looking for it and in a confrontational manner. Of course it's wrong to be on phone when driving but he should record, send in to Op Snap and leave it at that.
Greatest respect for Mikey, making safer roads for others. His response to Conor's interrogation here shows what an intelligent and fair minded man he is. There's every reason to carry on; making the world a safer place, gently.
I've been commuting by bike for 25 plus yeaars. Cell phones weren't an issue back then but a good number of drivers still had a weird hatred for cyclists. This will not increase that level of hatred. Like many things, stuff is just more highlighted now.
Hes a legend, if only we all had the time and the patience to do this we'd massively improve driver behaviour.
No problem with reporting people but Mikey drives confrontation, is rude and is antagonistic towards others. I notice he was on his best behaviour today rather than some of his previous behaviours. As a cyclist I don't like the culture war that Mikey and others feed. It's just counterproductive.
How would you deal with it then 🤔
Patience and empathy. And politeness. @@JamesSmith-ly2ef
Video it, get the evidence send it to the police. Don't antagonise and don't get involved in the name calling and threats Mikey has at times and not post it and monitise it.
Connor handled it better the Mikey often does. He drives interaction for views I believe.
@@PeaksWandererHe is making huge money on RUclips by being acting like a snitch.
Fair play to him, I think it’s brilliant what he’s doing. Phone use whilst using a vehicle is as bad as drink driving yet somehow seems socially acceptable. Should be instant ban if caught
I'm very anti-car, and generally applaud Mikey, but I must admit, busting someone for checking their phone when fully stopped feels completely unnecessary. Would love if he focused more on blocking bike lanes, not checking for bikes, and other genuinely dangerous behavior.
That's not the case, though. You're creating a scenario that doesn't exist. There is no excuse for it. It's dangerous and it is illegal for good reason. I'm a cyclist. I see the danger of mobile phone use with drivers daily.
I don't have the time or interest to go slow enough to catch phone use while stopped. There are far more dangerous things that I report daily. Like parking in the cycle lane, blocking the cycle lane, crossing into the cycle lane without looking or indicating, pulling out or u-turning without looking or indicating, blowing through compulsory stops, blowing through red lights (especially when pedestrians or cyclists are about to cross). However I have had a driver drift several times across the cycle lane because he was engrossed in his phone. I was beside him at 45kph and he got such a surprise when I knocked on his window and he had to look up from whatever was so much more important.
@@BC-wj8fx finally a cyclist with sense.
I think he's 100% correct. I wouldn't have the nerve to do it so it's great that people like him are here. Brilliant job Mikey. And as he says, he just gives the evidence and leaves it to the police to make the decision.👏👍
more motorists are reported by car Dash Cam video than cyclists reporting with cycle cam.
If he isn't coercing people into breaking the law then he's doing good work, making people aware of actions that pose a danger.
Turn in your neighbors for everything they do against the rules.
so just want trump wants? lmoa, cry harder
@@mikeboyd-k8m Not everything involves trump. This is a cycling channel.
Double Rations!
I do much the same here in Winnipeg, Canada. Good to see others taking road safety so seriously across the pond!
I'm all for reporting shit drivers, and the growing army of camera-toting cyclists are doing a great job. Mikey on the other hand I feel has slipped from this goal into being more concerned with growing his brand. He's as arrogant and condescending with fellow cyclists online as he is with drivers on the street, and this too easily allows people to label all cyclists with these attributes. Overall I don't think he's helping.
If someone is blaming all cyclists for the actions of one, then perhaps they should be asking themselves why they're not doing the same with motorists.
@@EdamL22 I don't disagree, but as with red light-jumpers I don't see any reason to give these idiots extra ammo.
Say it as it is .. his main motivation is money and content and the only reason you 2 are connecting is to connect and improve your subscriber list.......... I hope someone follows him in his life and digs up dirt on him that we can all dwell in !... Millions of people while stationary in traffic look at their phones WHAT he should be doing is catching people who are on the motorway for example and going through red lights ! but starting on people for looking at their phones stationary at lights is not good.
Yeah its only against the law! Who cares
@@jd1700 He ( Mikey ) is a danger to other drivers because he keeps taking his focus off the road.. And according to GCN it takes 20 seconds to get that road awareness back !!
I don't mind him busting people but when he got the van driver to lower her window and talked to her like he was a cop, what was that about, why did he feel she specifically owed him specifically an apology. That was weird. Send the report ok but is he fishing for conflict? I was on his side before that.
Her assumption is that he is a law enforcer. If he choose to confront, he should declare straight away that he’s just neighbourhood watch
@@MutzHDhe also spoke like he was police.
She chose to talk to me - I guess because she saw the camera motorcycle and me verbally mentioning the evidence I'd seen.
@FTA38yearfreeride And? What should he do, demonetize his channel? He might give a lot to charity, we have no idea.
@FTA38yearfreeride good for him.
Conor, to the question of have roads become safe. It's difficult to put a metric to this, but if even one person stops disregarding the public's safety and stops using their phone while driving because of the fear of getting caught, then yes, it is safer for all.
Wheyhey I love mikey, spoken to him personally nice genuine guy.
Oh believe me, he has a dark side which is not too difficult to come across. You only have to make the tiniest mistake in front of him and you will quickly find out.
Doesn’t come across as a nice guy. Comes across as a clown.
@@JP-qc1lg totally disagree, like I said I've spoken to him personally.
If people didn't use their phones when driving they wouldn't have any issues with him
Cycling Mikey is an absolute hero!
Someone using their phone pulling while out of a parking spot drove into me and broke my wrist. I have no sympathy for them -if it was their own life they were risking they wouldn't do it.
I think is very good idea. Go Mike!!!
Clcyling mikey doesn't give a toss about cyclists breaking the rules, only mtororists.
What was shocking was he didnt give a damn about an old lady that had her ankle slashed by a cyclist on the pavement then did a runner, only interested in motorists. That corner he catches motorists on wrong side of the road, he lets cyclists by with the excuse that he doesnt stop them incase they fall over, what a hypocrite.
When he records somebody , instead of just sending the footage to the police , he antagonizes them to get content and generate hatred.
Cycling mikey has no right to block the road at ghandalfs corner as has no authority ,not being a policeman.
Because to stop them he'd need to grab onto them or their bike, which puts him at the risk of being charged with assault, and them at the risk of injury. Car drivers aren't at the risk of injury unless they crash into another motor vehicle.
He comes across as petty and vindictive going for any target.
Ridiculous shopping that woman in the van sat in a 1/4 mile of stationary traffic. He caused more of danger and disruption there than the phone use. What he should do in those situations is just give a friendly warning that it is illegal even in that situation
Fair enough shopping someone if he catches someone on the phone while driving along or driving dangerously. But if he is costing people hundreds of £ and points and losing their jobs it should be for being actually dangerous not just for a technical breach.
Would he accept it if he had someone going round filming him and fining him for every infringement?
Thanks for the comment RB. I can see your point of view on this - I guess my counter is that whilst traffic is stationary, as I said in the video, it is still a distraction to be on your phone. That is why it's against the law. Isn't it fair to say that if you drive on the road, you have to accept the laws of the road and why they are there? For your own safety and everyone else's?
You’re arguing FOR someone breaking the law. No matter what your or my opinions are, this is still illegal. It is very naive to assume that people who use their phone whilst stationary do not use it when they are in motion. And, as mentioned, the cognitive impairment lasts up to 27 seconds after they put the phone down. That is a long time in which to have a diminished concentration on driving a vehicle.
@ yes but I also don’t think these things should be punitive just for the sake of it. That woman was causing no danger whatsoever. She was parked, and had time to observe her surroundings before moving off or had time to make a move if an emergency vehicle needed to get through etc. For absolutely insignificant rule breaks like that I’m all for a polite or even stern warning but going straight to a fine and points and insurance increase or maybe a ban is ridiculous. Basically just wasting police and court time and resources.
Not all rules are enforced in a black and white manner, look at speeding. You have the limits but generally don’t have them enforced until 10%+2mph over.
I’m really not a fan of people being reported by other members of the public, who are generally doing it to get a little kick and power trip out of it rather than any genuine concern for the greater good of the world, if they are reporting people for anything less than what would equate to dangerous or careless driving.
You get people making innocent mistakes at junctions and the like and someone who caught it on camera reports them for their own little bit of excitement and the person making an innocent harmless mistake gets done, where if the mistake was made infront of a copper they would either see it as such and let it go or give the person a little talk.
It erodes peoples faith in eachother and makes them nervous to go about their daily lives just in case they do something infront of the wrong person.
Guess it is a good job we don’t have number plates on all our bikes as can you imagine the numbers who would get reported for all sorts of things.
@ I’m arguing for not handing out over the top punishments for non events and making society worse.
If you catch someone doing it while driving along or driving dangerously having just been on their phone then fill your boots. And before anyone suggests it no I haven’t been done for being on my phone.
I can’t see things like distraction and still being distracted for 27 seconds as part of the argument as they are not the illegal parts. You are allowed to play with your phone as much as you like and be infinitely distracted by it even driving along as long as it isn’t in your hand. Which is even sillier as 99% of people will be safer with it in their hand anyway as it is a more familiar hold and requires less distraction to operate.
Then it is even sillier as I can’t be on my phone while driving but it is absolutely fine for me to be driving along chatting to 10 other cars via hand held walkie talkie.
@@gcn 'Isn't it fair to say that if you drive on the road, you have to accept the laws of the road and why they are there?'
People accept the spirit of the law which is arguably more important. The law is rigid, road situations are fluid. Would it be fair to do unsafe but legal things on the road ? IMO there was nothing dangerous about the woman in the van because she was obviously prepared and ready to move off as soon as the traffic started to move again.