[QUOTE 2190915, member: 1314"]By nature of the videos themselves and the “type” of person who uses them – mainly men – they’re not really representative of the London cycling community. I don’t mean the cycling cam-corder men are bad because they are cam-corder men – I love Gaz, BentMikey and Origamist and consider them great cycling role models who care about, and work for, London cycling – just that they are not really representative of the wider London cycling community. In fairness, if I think about my route, SW London ‘burbs/CS7 which I know very well, blokes are probably representative of about 2/3s of the commuting cyclists.
And the videos are edited for the dramatic bits – the incidents etc, so given with the kind of rider who uses them they do give a skewed picture of what the London roads are actually like. I assert confidently that London roads are safer then those in the countryside or in the ‘burbs, and on days off, I actually choose to cycle in London to relax, rather than head for the Surrey Hills or whatever.
I get the programme was as much about the novelty of cycling cam-corders as anything – that novelty bundled into a war/road-space package to theme it and sell it. I think it’s time, with the London cycling boom, that there was a thoughtful, insightful documentary about London cycling aimed at all ages – get the kids cycling to schools, Sunday pashley occasional, the Velodromists etc – showing how SAFE, liberating , efficient and fun cycling in London actually is. Perhaps that’s something LCC or CTC should put their weight behind.[/quote]
There are definitely some cycle camera guys around that are very militant and I guess it's good to have an extreme counterbalance to every kind of behaviour, i.e. the motorists who are militantly anti-cyclist, so I get your point that a lot of the footage won't depict your average cyclist.
However, it's surprising just how many cyclists are using cameras these days who are just your standard commuter pootling along to work and back. Both me and my partner have cameras, I upload the bad incidents to Youtube when I've either made a complaint or to highlight something particularly stupid or unusual.
He never uploads his to the web but will send copies to the companies of people who have done something stupid, i.e. one guy in a van who sped past him to run a red light and swerving violently in the road ahead to miss another vehicle coming from the side on green.
We won't get the notoriety of other camera cyclists as our footage isn't quite so dramatic (even though the above example looked a bit hairy)... and long may it remain that way!
