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news
Bottle Throwing Van Man (credit - idontpayroadtax on YouTube).pngIs this a legal first? Cyclist's helmet cam footage helps convict driver
In what is thought to be the first time that footage from a cyclist’s helmet camera has helped secure a conviction, a van driver has reportedly been cautioned for assault and charged with driving without due consideration, resulting in him being fined and receiving five points on his driving licence, according to the website iPayRoadTax.com.
In June this year, the website, which was founded to dispel myths about “road tax” – abolished in 1937, but which cyclists are regularly accused of not paying – highlighted a YouTube video in which a van driver and cyclist exchanged words after the cyclist was cut up, the incident ending with the driver throwing a bottle of orange juice at the bike rider before speeding off.
The whole incident was captured on the cyclist’s helmet-mounted camera, and you can also read the full exchange on the iPayRoadTax website. The footage was subsequently taken down from YouTube, with the anonymous cyclist, whose YouTube user name is idontpayroadtax, telling Carlton Reid, the founder of iPayRoadTax, that the driver had been reported to the police and he did not want to prejudice the case, which has now been decided.
Although there are a large number of cyclists who post helmet cam footage of bad driving they witness on their rides, including road.cc user Joby Spragg, we believe this is the first time that footage from a cyclist’s helmet-cam has helped secure a conviction, although if you know of any such cases, we’d be glad to set the record straight.
However, away from cycling, private film from head-mounted cameras has been successfully used in evidence before. In 2008, in the first case of its kind, Darren Ingham from Salford was convicted of a public order offence and given a two-year supervision order after stopping on his bike to threaten and abuse two traffic wardens who were issuing parking tickets.
In the meantime, you can show your support for iPayRoadTax by sporting one of their pretty stylish jerseys made by Foska.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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37 comments
A result!
As a well known user of helmet cameras and publishing footage online, i've yet to get someone convicted. Not that it is my aim to do such a thing. This is dispite being run of the road several times and being assaulted.
I am buying one.
Can you write us a guide and recommend some kit please editors?!
yeah, okay.
Im still not convinced by the whole 'no such thing as road tax' argument.
Ok, so i know tax you pay on a car is not 'road tax' but thats the general term used by EVERYONE to describe our vehicle tax system and to randomly quote 'no such thing blah blah..' is just asking for people to ignore everything you say. We should be pushing to remind people that cyclists arnt required tax and the current system is based on emissions anyway, not focusing on what the correct terminoligy is.
There are lots of 'general terms' which used to be used but fell out of favour because it became impolite or offensive to use them.
Saying 'road tax' is not offensive per se but when used to hate on cyclists it's a term of abuse that needs to be tackled.
The great majority of nice, kind, well-meaning motorists who use the term 'road tax' don't have it in for cyclists but I'd wager they genuinely believe VED pays for roads, and that as cyclists don't pay VED they are allowed to use the roads on sufferance not by right.
I don't think I'm typically a reactionary kind of bloke - but the driver of the van should be imprisoned for such behaviour. A few pounds and five points? He's probably the type who'll continue driving long after his licence has been revoked anyway. On a sidenote: those iPayRoadTax jerseys - what are they supposed to do, really? Offer cyclists safe passage? Can't see that working.
Simon, you'd be surprised.
Standard cycling jerseys with bike brands or Tour de France sponsors elicit not a second of recognition from drivers, but a dirty great big VED disc is something they recognise, and often react to.
And this isn't just me saying this. I've reported on others who have had taxi drivers talking to them about roads funding cos of the jersey (there's one 'conversation' on YouTube).
The tax disc graphic is an attention grabber. Now, whether any motorists will ever change their opinions of cyclists and our "non-payment of road tax" is another matter, but the very fact the subject gets broached has got to be a positive.
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