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Victory claimed for harassment campaign by “mob of decent people” as helmet cam cyclist deletes Youtube and Twitter accounts

Deacon Thurston caught 12 drivers illegally using handheld mobiles in one day – and became the target of abusive and threatening tweets in apparently co-ordinated attack

An Edinburgh cyclist who earlier this week tweeted about how in one day he had filmed 12 drivers illegally using handheld mobile phones at the wheel has deleted his Twitter and YouTube accounts after being targeted with sustained abuse on social media – with some of those involved in the pile-on urging people in London to take similar action against helmet camera user CyclingMikey.

Using a handheld communications device while driving is punishable by a £200 fine and six penalty points, even if the vehicle is stationary, and many police forces welcome submissions of footage of motorists flouting the law so that action can be taken against them.

On Wednesday, we reported how one of those motorists filmed by cyclist Deacon Thurston had previously been spotted breaking the law by him using their phone while driving at the exact location where his latest footage had been captured.

> Cyclist catches 12 drivers using phones behind the wheel in an hour

However, he did not submit the footage to Police Scotland because of the time it would have taken to submit the dozen separate videos, with the force having scrapped plans last year to launch a dedicated portal that would have made it easier for people to upload footage to it.

Deacon Thurston 01

Thurston regularly posted videos of law-breaking drivers to his now-deleted social media channels, and also featured a number of times in the local press – making him a target for some Twitter users.

And according to a screengrab shared on Twitter by DalstonLTN of a tweet from one user of the social network, it was a co-ordinated attack on Thurston that led to him deleting his accounts.

“Today, a mob of ‘decent’ people harassed a cyclist for reporting a driver playing a game on his mobile phone,” wrote DalstonLTN, with the screengrabbed tweet applauding “a victory for decent people” in forcing Thurston off social media, and retweeting a post which read “Deacon Thurston is a grass – pass it on.”

One of the people replying to that screenshotted tweet wrote: “Gorgie and Lochend combined to take down @deaconthurston – it’s time for the London football brethren to unite and take down @MikeyCycling C’mon all Arsenal/Spurs/etc fans, you know what to do.”

That post was written by a Heart of Midlothian fan, with the club’s Tynecastle stadium located in the Gorgie district in the west of the Scottish capital, while cross-city rivals Hibernian’s ground lies next on Easter Road, next to the area of Lochend.

One cargo bike rider replying to DalstonLTN joked that trying to unite fans of the two North London football clubs might be wishful thinking, saying: “Fortunately, not even helmet camera cyclists are sufficient to get Arsenal and Spurs fans t o agree on anything. Unless the cammer in question supports Chelsea ofc..”

More seriously, a selection of comments made on social media about Thurston makes for uncomfortable reading, including extreme insults as well as threats of violence.

DalstonLTN pointed out that while Thurston had deleted his account, the ones that those comments were still active on the social network and asked Twitter Support: “When a thousand people insult, threaten with violence, wish harm, harass, encourage hate against someone reporting a driving offense, what is your process?

One Twitter user pointed out that the platform expressly prohibits posting the type of abuse directed at Thurston, and urged fellow users to report those engaging in it.

Another said: “If the videos themselves weren't enough, this reaction shows just how normalised this behaviour is.

“Does anyone really believe someone playing a [video] game in traffic is going to carefully put it away, and move off safely, once the car ahead moves?

On the same day as Thurston tweeted to say that he had filmed a dozen drivers using handheld mobile phones illegally, Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Cox of Lincolnshire Police, the national lead for fatal collision investigation, tweeted his thanks to members of the public who submit such footage.

> How can road violence against cyclists be stopped? DCS Andy Cox on episode 7 of the road.cc Podcast

“We will never know how many lives have been saved, but in my opinion, this approach is certainly life-saving,” he wrote. “Police and the Public working together to reduce road danger.”

In response to one Twitter user who suggested that mobile phone use was only a factor in 0.02 per cent of the 1,870 road deaths in 2019, DCS Cox replied: “29 people lost their life in a crash due to phone distraction in 2018 (20 last year),” equivalent to 0.37 of those deaths.

“That’s many lives lost needlessly because of the criminal actions of those selfish drivers,” he added:

“Please do not down play this criminality or belittle the benefits of road crime reporting.”

And just today the senior police officer congratulated a Twitter user who said that they had stopped using a handheld mobile phone while driving thanks to the efforts of campaigners such as CyclingMikey.

> “Tired of road crime” – CyclingMikey on episode 16 of the road.cc Podcast

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39 comments

Avatar
ubercurmudgeon | 1 year ago
3 likes

All that is being requested of drivers is they put their phones away before operating dangerous equipment in public spaces. Yes, that means engaging with the real world for a short while, but they can always catch up on what the Kardashians are doing, or hurl online abuse at supporters of a different football tribe the next time they're sitting on the crapper.

That's not a lot to ask. In fact, it is so little that it has been made the law, in a country whose political system is set up to discourage legislation if it displeases swing voters. And yet a lot of the same people who're bullying those trying to get such laws enforced, feel entitled to demand that cyclists wear dayglo clothing to make up for their own lack of attention, and a helmet so they can feel better about driving too close to us. Those, that is, who don't want us off "their" roads entirely.

Avatar
alansmurphy | 1 year ago
5 likes

"In response to one Twitter user who suggested that mobile phone use was only a factor in 0.02 per cent of the 1,870 road deaths in 2019, DCS Cox replied: “29 people lost their life in a crash due to phone distraction in 2018 (20 last year),” equivalent to 0.37 of those deaths."

 

It'd be nice to turn up at their family gathering and pick the 29 that are dispensable...

 

Avatar
Rik Mayals unde... | 1 year ago
12 likes

I reported a woman to Lancs police 3 years ago for texting as she was driving. It was all caught on my headcam, she argued that she needed to text her daughter at school and she was in traffic anyway so ' it wasn't as if she was doing 70 on the motorway', before telling me to fuck off, driving on whilst still texting. I gave the footage to Lancs police, only to be told that they were too busy to pursue it, and it was not in the public interest, and, unbelievably, 'she does have a point, she's only in slow moving traffic so wouldn't cause an accident!!" 

This was the point I lost all faith in Lancs police and never bothered reporting any more. I have absolutely no faith in the police any more and wouldn't help them in any way. And this comes from someone who used to be a police volunteer.

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IanMSpencer replied to Rik Mayals underpants | 1 year ago
3 likes

I think it might not be too long before we think the same way about the NHS - I won't bother to pop down to A&E to get my head stitched up from a trip because it's too much bother for everyone.

Police are under-resourced and covering for their bosses it seems, rather than kicking up a stink. When I last dealt with the neighbourhood police, it became apparent that the local force were expected to cover 30,000 houses with roughly 8 hours policing a day.

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wtjs replied to Rik Mayals underpants | 1 year ago
10 likes

This was the point I lost all faith in Lancs police and never bothered reporting any more

Fear not! I am the Angel on your right shoulder. I am reporting enough for both of us, I have a complaint in with LC about LC which Ben Wallace has asked me to submit and relay the report to him-LC Professional Standards are really, really crap so it should be hilariously bad; I have a FoI about a falsified FoI response issued by LC about OpSnap Lancs; and another FoI about the actual penalty for this close-pass (this was in the days before OpSnap stopped responding to any submission) which resulted in the evasive LC 'Action Letter' of 22.2.22

https://upride.cc/incident/4148vz_travellerschoicecoach_closepass/

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NOtotheEU replied to wtjs | 1 year ago
5 likes

Watching the video I thought "he must mean the next zebra crossing because there is no way a coach could fit thr . . . . . WOAH"

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wtjs replied to NOtotheEU | 1 year ago
4 likes

Watching the video I thought "he must mean the next zebra crossing because there is no way a coach could fit thr . . . . . WOAH"

There's no job for you at Lancashire Constabulary!

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BalladOfStruth | 1 year ago
19 likes

This doesn’t surprise me in the least. Take a look at the comments on social media whenever there’s a post by a Road Policing Unit either mentioning speeding/speed cameras or stopping unroadworthy vehicles. It’s 99.99% bile and claims that this is all just a "waste of Police time" and that they should be out there "catching robbers and murderers".

People just don’t think driving offences are “real crime”, they don’t see the issue with being 5-10mph over the limit, or using the phone at low speeds, or having bald tyres, etc. The fact that “decent people just driving around, minding their own business” kills 3.5 times more people per year than “real” violent crime, is something that seems to be lost on most people in the UK.

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Safety | 1 year ago
5 likes

The more you read about stories like this in Scotland the more Police Scotlands attitude to upholding the law and protecting vulnerable road users becomes untenable. However I am not hopeful of change any time soon.

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mattw | 1 year ago
5 likes

I'm also missing the @NaughtyDrivers account, which has vanished too.

My comments are:

1 - Malicious Communications Act may be applicable.

2 - Whilst we need standard bearers (and CyclingMikey in particular is excellent), a movement which is nameless and faceless is perhaps a stronger long-term alternative in some ways.

Avatar
wtjs | 1 year ago
4 likes

It doesn't matter what AndyCoxDCS says or writes about reporting and enforcement- dodgy police forces like Lancashire are paying no attention at all. There has been no response whatsoever from Lancashire Constabulary to this woman Porsche driver of KD10 WER on the phone at exactly 12:36:58 on 17.1.23, reported the same night at 7pm.

https://upride.cc/incident/kd10wer_porsche_mobilephone/

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belugabob | 1 year ago
15 likes

1/ Anybody calling somebody else a grass or a snitch, would appear to have questionable ethics/morals themselves.

2/ The irony of a twitter user with a relatively anonymous handle calling somebody, who uses their real name, a coward is probably lost on the accuser.

3/ I wonder how many of the threatening posts were made by professional' drivers, and what their employers would think about their attitude towards road safety?

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Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
9 likes

Even though Mikey is getting harassed too he's trying to reach out to Deacon if he wants a friendly ear.

https://twitter.com/mikeycycling/status/1619648987723857922?s=61&t=k2yKg...

(pass it on)

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hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
11 likes

It's more than time for the police to step up and perform their job.

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
7 likes

This is now happening to Cycling Mikey, with faked screenshots accusing him of being a paedo.  https://twitter.com/cybergibbons/status/1619451655904428033

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Hirsute replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
4 likes

Someone altered some wiki page on him recently.
Highly offensive and libellous.
I'm not going to state the content though.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
5 likes

Yes, those changes happened around the same time a multiple-PBU was changing wiki's under their first PBU name on there, then referencing the changes here with his latest one.* Of course it might not have been them as those vile statements happened from an ip address account, not a named one although they did seem to happen in the period the named account was suspended. Probably just coincidence.

I wonder, from Jack's comments, whether the PBU is constantly emailing them about being banned again in a similar way he seemed to be arguing with  Wiki mods on there.. 

*the one when he pretended to not be English and used offensive characteristics on how someone foreign might interact. Of course his "supporters" didn't seem to answer when asked if they thought that was being racist. 

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Hirsute replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
0 likes

This one was more recent than that. Not sure how you would check though, as earlier, not going to repeat the offensive claim.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
3 likes

If you go to the Wiki page in question and click view history, you can check changes. Hit the "prev" link next to any name or address and it shows you changes. It was the 21st Jan where someone added the attrociousness, then changed his nickname to "proper grass" once the first change was fixed.

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Rome73 | 1 year ago
5 likes

If only there were more Traffic Police out there. 

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HoarseMann replied to Rome73 | 1 year ago
6 likes

...on bicycles, catching mobile phone using drivers.

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essexian replied to HoarseMann | 1 year ago
4 likes

They would be self funding if there were. 

However....we don't want drivers feeling like there is a war on motorist going on do we..... 

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Fignon's ghost | 1 year ago
11 likes

Keep up the good work DT.

Never let the scumbags get to you.

Your actions are likely to save the lives of some vulnerable road users and quite probably reduce the severity of those injuries sustained in others.

Motorists have responsibilities. Get over it.

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Rua_taniwha | 1 year ago
0 likes

Is social media required to make police reports in Edinburgh? 

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Rendel Harris replied to Rua_taniwha | 1 year ago
9 likes

Rua_taniwha wrote:

Is social media required to make police reports in Edinburgh? 

I believe there is an error in the article in that Mr Thurston's original tweet (screenshot below) did not say that he had reported the dozen drivers, he said that he didn't because Police Scotland's refusal to adopt an online portal submissions process meant that it would take him two hours for each one and he didn't have time, so he was posting to protest against the fact that PS are making it so difficult to report illegal driving.

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Simon_MacMichael replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
3 likes

Thanks for clarifying, story now updated.

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giff77 replied to Rua_taniwha | 1 year ago
5 likes

It's now getting to that stage. The present set up for reporting driving offences is rathe convoluted. 

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
10 likes

The appalling actions of the entitled motorists, hounding someone proving that they are illegal, dangerous and callous, from social media should be called out, and the companies involved should be banning those people.  Anyone condoning their actions or excusing the phone drivers should be forced to attend the inquests of the next road death in their area, and to talk to the family and friends of the deceased; maybe then they'll understand that this isn't a victimless crime.

Avatar
Flintshire Boy | 1 year ago
2 likes

 

FFS, journo:

 

- a cAr is stationAry,

 

- a pEn is stationEry.

.

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to Flintshire Boy | 1 year ago
13 likes

Even I, as a born and bred pedant, find your criticism of this article irrelevant and trite, completely missing the point.  People are dying, and the people pointing out that drivers still put lives at risk are being hounded, and all you can think about is spelling?

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