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news
Picture 16.pngHelmet cam cycle campaigner gets website threats
Cycling campaigner and road.cc regular Joby Spragg has received threats of violence after his methods of filming bad drivers were revealed in the national press.
Joby, who posts here as jobysp, uses a helmet-cam to record the antics of motorists on his way in to work in Manchester. The results are posted on his website www.fightbaddriving.co.uk in an attempt to shame thoughtless drivers who cause near-misses.
The campaign caught the attention of the national press, but the publicity has led to some unwelcome attention. “The articles have also lead to some ridiculous comments,” he wrote on his site, “and I’ve read a couple of forum posts about killing me like a dog and running me off the road and my wife accidentally stumbled across these. Really people. Really? All joking aside – that's not funny. Threats aren’t issued to the government when they run their drink drive campaign? There are lots of charities out there that advertise and campaign for safer road use too.
“The video clips aren’t used for any form of malice – they are just here to make a point and draw out discussion. For instance – the big green boxes at the front of most road junctions these days (ASLs) are there for cyclists – allowing drivers the ability to see the cyclist in front and not have them in their blind spot – which is dangerous for both parties. Just because there isn’t a cyclist in front of you when you pull over the junction doesn’t mean their won’t be a cyclist there in 2 minutes.”
Joby denies that he's waging a 'one-man war' against drivers. Instead, he's attempting to make people aware of accident blackspots.
He wrote: “I don’t want to find out in three weeks time that someone has been crushed to death under a car at Denton Roundabout whilst crossing the road – knowing that I could have started questioning the council about the traffic light system there and actively trying to do something about it, rather than ignore what is definitely a problem at this roundabout.
“The site has been going for a good while and hasn’t just sprung up out of nowhere. The first clip was posted back in October of last year. Since then, the site has gone through a series of changes all for the better. It is slowly becoming a community and I invite everyone (drivers, cyclists and pedestrians) to submit footage to the site. If we all notice there is a serious blackspot we can do something about it – even just making people more aware is enough sometimes.”
However, the negatives have been countered by a lot of positive press. Joby says the site has been supported by cyclists, drivers, 'driclists' (cyclists who drive) and motorbikers. “ I’ve even, if the comments are to be believed, had a person who was involved in one of the clips post onto the website – which is fantastic,” he said. “He nearly hit the side of me whilst pulling out of a side road. It wasn’t his fault, it wasn’t my fault, nor was it the van's fault that was parked obscuring the driver's view – it's the council's fault for the way they’ve laid out the parking bays along Manchester Road. But he had the courtesy at the time to get out of his vehicle and make sure I was OK and has even popped on here to support the site.”
Joby says the filming will continue until councils install traffic-calming measures at the accident blackspots caught on his camera.
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13 comments
No such thing as bad publicity - keep up the good work
I regularly tap windows at lights and say "s'cuse me mate your indicators are not working!" after they try them the follow up goes "it's just that you didn't signal when you pulled out in front of me"....Etc.
Usual response is a SMIDSY or similar.
Good on you Joby though, I am sure there are lots of times when every cyclist wishes they had a camera running? Once got the red mist and nearly had this (old) guy out the window of his car. He had accelorated past me in order to do a left turn yards later. Managed some amazing circus tricks to stay on and then the adrenaline kicked in.... Not my finest moment but he was not looking and it would have been good to show him.
Wish there were more with your spunk mate, perhaps those that take their camera skiing or training should wear it on their commute!
the more sites such as this that spring up through out europe the more "drivers" will pay attention to their safety, safety from ridicule and the law!
i was riding in barcelona with team T-mobile in 2001 when an idiot jumped out with a crowbar. the team broke up in laughter but alone you would think twice!
Any police officer who refuses to help find the "ip address " is not doing his job!
Keep up the GOOD WORK! email skippi [at] ausi.com
I wish I had a helmet camera on Christmas day, when I was hit by a U-turning car.
The driver stopped to ask me if I was ok, but then she went away without giving me the driving licence details I asked her for.
Luckily no major damage or injuries, but I needed to spend some 40£ to fix my bike and nobody is going to pay for that (no witnesses, so no satisfaction even if I managed to write the plate number down).
Plus another driver that gets away with a SMIDSY.
Keep it going, Joby!
Joby - getting the IP addresses can be easily done or so I'm told by my IT colleagues. The cops now have departments that handle cyberstalking and threats and so on. It's always best to report any such threats and also to follow up and make sure any threats are dealt with appropriately. The more people the police deal with, the more bad drivers they'll be able to identify in all likelihood, reducing the risks for vulnerable road users such as cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists and also for other car, truck and bus drivers. Aggressive drivers should have no place on the road so it's a good idea for everyone to use every legal means available to ensure these people lose their driving entitlement. Report them and get the nutters off the road, the longer the better. Bear in mind that each fatality on the road costs the British economy around £500,000 so it's not just a personal cost we're talking about but an economic one too. Money talks.
Yup LondonCalling - you've got it spot on.
Tameside Advertiser ran a good story and all that its got is positive responses.
OldRidgeback - Ip addresses...
I think that the negative comments are a result of the press saying he was "secretly filming", which put a nasty spin on the story (and it's not true).
Typical of the newspaper that reported it. We know which one it is....
It's not a surprise that there have been threats. The sort of psychotic morons who cause so many road rage incidents can hardly be expected to change their behaviour or realise that their behaviour is not acceptable. Any threats should be recorded and reported to the police. It is not difficult to track the IP address of the person posting malicious comments and an official warning for threatening behaviour might make the offender realise that the Internet is not quite so impersonal after all. Should they continue, threatening behaviour is a criminal charge and is taken quite seriously in court.
The last person I would threaten to run off the road is someone with a bloody great camera on his head filming the evidence. Perhaps an IQ test should be added to the driving theory test.
@M rSock
LOL - your right - I won't notice judging by some of the vids - haha
@Jon Burrage
Cheers Jon, and your right. As I say on the site 99.99% of the drivers I meet on the way home are patient, kind and courteous. Shame about the other 0.01%.
Its great that this is causing some people to take notice...not good about the threats. A huge number of drivers are very courteous but its the few that arent that scare the hell out of me. A great site making a very strong point.
LOL