Bikes and Cars: Three Feet!

Hey I use that same model of camera on my bike. I started filming my commutes here after a bus and an ambulance ran me off the road during the same week. I decided that if even bus drivers will try to hit me, then there's really no hope and I should be prepared to collect evidence of the inevitable.

FYI, do not take this guy's example and put a camera (or light. or anything) on your helmet. Helmets need to slide when you hit the pavement to avoid neck injury. That's why helmets are covered in hard plastic. Modifying the helmet surface makes them less safe because they're more likely to catch on the road.

Edited by skavoovie 2009-11-05 11:34 PM

Did you watch the story, Fil?

You are right.  He was off to comment on the wording of another post!

Great find Peter!

hmmm. Poor video aside, I can see both sides of this issue.
I didn't see to many "ground shots", but it looks to me he wasn't taking advantage of paved shoulders very often. Sure, it could have been pretty rough, which means I would have been on the painted line or to the left of it, but I'll always get on a smooth paved shoulder when I can.
Second, This guy was out in weather where SNOWPLOWS were SNOWPLOWING!
Sorry, but this is asking for trouble. Even if the streets were cleared, I'd have second thoughts about biking on the streets. There's always slick spots, streets narrowed by snow that isn't plowed to the curb, nervous (about slick roads) drivers, and the fact that 99% of people don't expect bikes in the winter.
From the riders point of view, yeah, he had some very close calls.
I also noticed that license plates, and driver faces were NOT visible in these shots. Maybe if they were in slo-mo or freeze framed.

I'm actually pretty lucky. Most of my bike routes are in country roads, and I live in a small city thats pretty quite traffic wise during the day.

Great video, thanks.  This is a subject that hits a nerve with me after being hit last year.  However, I also noticed that the shoulder to the right of the white line usually looked paved even though he was the the left of the lane and in traffic.  A good rule of thumb (and one I always live by) is to stay as close to the line as possible when there is no shoulder and get on the shoulder if it is paved.

Very suprised at the Brookfield Police and the city attorney who backed them up though.  Shouldn't they know the law?

Edited by kbreitz 2009-11-06 2:55 PM

I am not sure what roads you all ride on, but normally, due to gravel and/or debris, it is nearly impossible to ride on the true shoulder of the road.