[Vercors]

Hi, I should be grateful for recommendations for a camera, to be attached to bike or helmet, for submitting footage to the police. (I have been thinking about it for a while, but on Friday I was struck by an object deliberately thrown at me entirely unprovoked from an oncoming vehicle, so now is the time. I reported that to the police but I’m dependent on whether they can find CCTV footage of the incident.) I have in mind to record close passes and other bad driving to submit to the police. Presumably front and rear cameras would be advisible, fairly light if possible as I want to use it primarily on leisure cycling and be able to swap it between bikes reasonably easily. Thanks in advance.

Topic

[OnTheRopes]

For a rear camera I cannot

For a rear camera I cannot recommend this rear camera highly enough, 7 hours battery life, 60fps, 1080p. Half the size of a Fly 6 

Currently you have to order direct from HK until there is a UK distributor, I have just ordered the new Version 2 rear camera and previously had the V1. I believe they are working on a front camera.

 

https://www.facebook.com/TOOO-Cycling-105347488077019

[HoarseMann]

Sriracha wrote:

Sriracha wrote:

before it drowned did your Fly12 at least catch the idiot who drenched you?

It will have written the video data to the SD card, but it’s likely the file will be corrupt.

I’ve had success using HandBrake to repair a corrupt Cycliq file and recover most of the video footage.

[IanMSpencer]

Sriracha wrote:

Sriracha wrote:

100%, acting on near-misses is precisely the logic that drives industrial H&S improvement. Serious consequences are invariably foreshadowed by near misses, and could have been averted if the lessons of those rehearsals were implemented. To that extent, I wonder whether submitting them to your MP and/or Councillor would be appropriate as well. If our great leaders regularly received brief clips of near misses maybe the issue will move up their priority list one half notch.

Having worked in the steel industry in the 1980s, I can remember the days of the big sign outside the main sites with (non-zero) deaths and serious injuries counts. The problem is that there is a mindset in the “road using industry” that non-zero KSIs are acceptable. In turn, that informs the courts that reasonably careful drivers are allowed a few KSI’s in their driving career.

If a pilot was allowed the tolerance of a car driver… well, I don’t need to say more except that as drivers our driving interacts with many more people on a journey than a pilot when you consider it, yet we are held to far lower standards. That’s not even a cycling issue, is it?

[Sriracha]

hawkinspeter wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

It’s very important to submit close passes (assuming a willing police force) even if they don’t have “serious consequences”

100%, acting on near-misses is precisely the logic that drives industrial H&S improvement. Serious consequences are invariably foreshadowed by near misses, and could have been averted if the lessons of those rehearsals were implemented.

To that extent, I wonder whether submitting them to your MP and/or Councillor would be appropriate as well. If our great leaders regularly received brief clips of near misses maybe the issue will move up their priority list one half notch.

[IanMSpencer]

Now you’ve got me wondering..

Now you’ve got me wondering… I was so miffed about trying to dry it out and revive it, I’m not sure I did. Time for a rummage!

 

Edit: Found it! I realise I’d given up turning it on in group rides because the batteries didn’t last. I used it for riding the 5 miles to and from the ride from home where as a single cyclist I had innumerable incidents (espeically the wild eyed loons of the school run). In a bunch, we get abuse but we’ve never had a collision and we’ve been able to communicate effectively enough to cope with some dangerous passes.

[hawkinspeter]

IanMSpencer wrote:

I agree, and what I then realised was that it was rarely worth even reviewing, because it was not reasonable to expect the police to deal with an event that did not have serious consequences, or not contact the employer, what was I really going to do with it aside from fume?

One of the issues, I guess, is, even from a video, you can’t prove intent and in our minds often we view these incidents as intent – but even, for example, my handful of this weeks’ perceived punishment passes could equally have been incompetent motorist fixated on getting back to “their” side of the road  ASAP – inspite of clear vis.

It’s very important to submit close passes (assuming a willing police force) even if they don’t have “serious consequences” as it’s that kind of driving that puts off people who want to try active travel. It’s also pro-actively persuading poor drivers to pay more attention and care.

[IanMSpencer]

hawkinspeter wrote:

I don’t feel the need to confront them anymore – I’ll just remember where the incident happened to check the footage later on.

I agree, and what I then realised was that it was rarely worth even reviewing, because it was not reasonable to expect the police to deal with an event that did not have serious consequences, or not contact the employer, what was I really going to do with it aside from fume?

One of the issues, I guess, is, even from a video, you can’t prove intent and in our minds often we view these incidents as intent – but even, for example, my handful of this weeks’ perceived punishment passes could equally have been incompetent motorist fixated on getting back to “their” side of the road  ASAP – inspite of clear vis.

[hawkinspeter]

Sriracha wrote:

Sriracha wrote:

I think the “mindset” is also a factor. Many will deny it, but having a camera can make you want to get bustards.

I think that’s only whilst it’s still new. I’ve found that having cameras provides a calming influence on my riding. If someone does a close-pass or something dangerous, then I don’t feel the need to confront them anymore – I’ll just remember where the incident happened to check the footage later on.

[stonojnr]

I’ve never felt personally I
I’ve never felt personally I’ve had to go that hard looking for footage to capture, if that was my goal, which it definitely isn’t.

Most rides produce something I could post on a YouTube channel if I wanted to follow that route, I do post some videos there, but its not the purpose of why I have a camera recording rides.

It’s about submitting evidence of the very worst drivers I encounter who have put my life at risk, to the police to tackle and hopefully make the roads abit safer for all cyclists.

[stonojnr]

Another Cycliq12 user, after
Another Cycliq12 user, after trying several cameras its the easiest to get along with ive found for all my short & longer rides and I’ve had issues on reliability with other makes, once got left hooked by a bus only to find my GoPro had decided to stop recording by itself midride with no notice.

Interesting point on the maintenance part, as I’ve got an archive after 4 years of over 1000 incidents, taking 1TB of storage up, basically for no reason, as I’ve probably only reported 1% of those to the police in total, and I only publish a handful of the very worst to YouTube, I guess I had visions of doing one of those compilation videos,but it just takes too much time.

[Sriracha]

Good point about the
Good point about the maintenance overhead. Exactly the same happened to me with my car dashcam (Nextbase). Once the novelty wore off I stopped checking the footage. When I needed it I found it had stopped recording a while back.

I think the “mindset” is also a factor. Many will deny it, but having a camera can make you want to get bustards.

And by the way, before it drowned did your Fly12 at least catch the idiot who drenched you?

[IanGlasgow]

Another vote for Cycliq.

Another vote for Cycliq.

I’m now on my third Fly12 (Cycliq upgraded the original when it developed an intermitent fault to a 12ce, I replaced that one with another the same after an accident sent it skittering across the road because I stupidly hadn’t attached the tether).

And 2nd Fly6 – likewise I upgraded the original 6v to a 6ce (gen2) a few years back. I’ve never had any issues. I’ve kept the 6v for when I rent a bike – the velcro strap is quick n easy to attached to any seatpost.

They’re not perfect (the 6ce gen3 seems to have a reputation for water ingress). But my experience has been that they’re at least as good as any other lights I’ve tried, customer service can be slow but is good (unlike others I could name) and battery life is decent (unlike most action cameras).
They’re expensive but the Black Friday sale helps. Alternatively wait for a new model and get the old one reduced (I got my original 6 and 12 half price – which made the 12ce they upgraded my to very cheap!).

If you want a cheaper alternative, Lidl sometimes make copies. I had their Fly6v equivalent (it cost £40) but it kept switching itself off so I got a refund under warranty and bought the actual Fly6v instead (for £50).

 

[IanMSpencer]

My (original) Fly12 demised

My (original) Fly12 demised on a wet day when a driver thought it was acceptable to drive at speed through flood water and it felt exactly like having 6 buckets of freezing water flung over me simultaneously!

Original Fly6 still working (I think) with decent battery life but every now and again the memory card would need a poke due to getting too many locked segments or something like that, so I’d find that I didn’t have a record on days when I wanted it. I gave up setting the date, there was a knack to setting up a special file which I didn’t have.

That last point is important. You will have incidents every day, but once you get through the novelty factor, life is simply too short to review the footage (like some of the YouTube warriors do). So you need to be buying these with the intent to only review genuinely prosecutable footage that is worth police time. On the other hand, you do need to check the operation of them, and on these devices that means getting the card out and checking some footage to make sure it is recording. It’s a commitment.

I stopped using my camera about 2 years ago. I concluded that the mindset it induced was not conducive to a healthy mental state when cycling. I now point to my Garmin or light when motorists look like they are going to get silly and shout “Camera!”. That is quite effective.

I had a car camera too, and there have been several incidents, but having got a cheap Amazon one, it too was amazingly unreliable for getting in a mess – it would lose its date and therefore only record over old footage – so it would fill up with new footage, reset to 2010, then not be able to delete the old footage automatically because it wasn’t!

[Awavey]

Not at first glance, but I
Not at first glance, but I note the Fly6 and Fly12 bundles come with lens protector film and a silicone case which no doubt helps on water protection, which might solve two of the biggest bugbears I have with their cameras.

[Gimpl]

So you’re not interested then

So you’re not interested then? 

[Author]

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