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Sinister fallout from BBC cycling documentary as helmet cam cyclist receives hate mail

Rider challenged poor and dangerous driving in The War On Britain’s Roads

A cyclist whose helmet camera footage featured in the controversial BBC documentary The War On Britain’s Roads has received aggressive hate mail in the wake of the programme's aring.

Gareth Williams, 24, who posts his helmet cam footage under the moniker CycleGaz, was featured in the programme which went out on Wednesday night.

Scenes showed him remonstrating with bad drivers, including a taxi driver who cut him up dangerously.

One user on Twitter said: “I’d happily run him over.”

But Gareth shrugged it off, saying he was used to abuse.

He told the Evening Standard: “The threats are no different, to be honest. I put stuff on YouTube and I get a lot worse than that.

"It’s hot air. People think they are anonymous on the internet. Come the real world, they will run away crying. I don’t think I’m at risk.”

He played it down, tweeting yesterday: “Apparently I’m getting death threats. That’s funny because I haven’t seen any.”He told the Standard: “None of the stuff that was directed at me  from that point of view  was what I would consider out of the norm.

"It’s fairly easy to deal with. I don’t think about it. I get lots of people on YouTube saying, ‘If I see you I will run you over. You are going to die.’ You get so used to it you just ignore it.”

He said that he was disappointed with the tone of the documentary, in common with a lot of cyclist viewers.

“It was initially about the people using [helmet] cameras or calling for safer cycling.

"It was more about the campaign side and what people have done and how we push things forward, and how we use the cameras.

"That was pushed to the BBC but it wasn’t edgy enough for them. At that stage it would have been difficult for me to say I want to back out.

“I think they kind of represented me as ‘Jack the Lad’ and a cocky, arrogant young guy, but I feel more of a balanced person than that.

"I comment on bad cyclists as well. I’m not just going for bad motorists.”

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32 comments

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Littlesox replied to a.jumper | 11 years ago
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a.jumper wrote:

I think YOU need to learn how to ride.

If you say so.

I don't defend my position on the road, I share it with other users.

I don't suffer confrontations, near misses or collisions with other road users.

If that means I occasionally aquiesce in the interests of my own saftey, then so be it.

Your view, as stated above, is that I have to learn how to ride. You are entitled to your opinion.

In the same way that I am entitled to mine about knuckle-heads that seem to want to own the road at all costs.

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hairyairey | 11 years ago
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Littlesox - are you sure about your post? How can you "share your position on the road" with other road users without letting them drive straight over you? This happened to me once just because I was waiting at the lights. The driver's excuse was he wasn't expecting to see a cyclist in the right turn lane, actually he just wasn't looking. He did take me to casualty for an X-ray in case my collar bone was broken and pay for a new wheel though.

The simple fact is (and most drivers don't even realise this) is that each road user is just as entitled to use the road as any other user. How often do you see drivers hesitant to turn right even when the road to the right is clear and they could go halfway out?

There is no right to overtake either, so you should position yourself nearer the middle where there isn't space to safely overtake (eg central refuges). That's what's meant by riding defensively.

As for the program, yes it may have given the impression that cyclists were aggressive however people with that opinion wouldn't have had their minds changed (it's a sad fact of life that the majority are stuck with their prejudices). Probably what spoke the most powerfully was the mother who lost her daughter in a collision with a cement mixer. More shocking was that the particular company was killing one cyclist on average per year.

I note that Eddie Stobart's haven't fitted extra mirrors to their vehicles yet. I shall be having words with them...

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