Driver Reactions To A Rear Mounted Video Camera.

[Philistine]

I took out my new (new but superseded) Fly6 for its maiden voyage along the M5 Shoulder yesterday. I was struck by how much room drivers seemed to be leaving me, and I wondered whether they were knowledgeable enough to recognize what the Fly6 was, and behaved accordingly. When I got home I replayed the footage of the entire journey (I won't be making a habit of this but at the moment it still has new toy status). I estimate 95% of drivers altered course as they approached me to give me more clearance. The remaining 5% held their line. Nobody moved closer to me. I don't think anyone was closer than a metre, although a few might have been closer than the 1.5 metres that the faster speed of the motorway mandates.

Today I went out on a different bike, intending to ride bike paths and back streets, and the Fly6 stayed at home. Despite my intentions I finished up riding the last six km or so along the M5 and - guess what - a close pass every hundred metres. Am I becoming paranoid or do other Fly6 users experience the same phenomenon?

[RonK]

You are talking yourself into it.

Few drivers would be observant enough to realise that you have a rear-mounted camera.

[westab]

You are talking yourself into it.

Few drivers would be observant enough to realise that you have a rear-mounted camera.

Agree with RonK - I have even had close friends who care about me and know my bike drive past me and not even register seeing me when I show up to a common destination 5min later.

This is at 6:30am on Saturday morning with nothing else on the road - my estimation if you are not a threat or worry and not in the way you are not there. This is why sometimes when riding on Multi lane roads when not being seen could have consequences I make sure that there is something to catch drivers attention.

Generally most drivers are great but they also are not in the habit of looking for bicycles.

[Jmuzz]

I doubt they can see, can you pick it from a regular strobe at a few car lengths away?

Probably just your perception bias, may also be related to the effectiveness of whichever light you had, a better light or flash pattern may actually make people more safety concious.
Possibly time of day/week, Friday afternoon always gets the crazys in a rush for example.

Possibly driver bias to different bikes too? A lot of people hate race bikes and Lycra but aren't hostile to a commuter/tour bike.

[Derny Driver]

I have helmet mounted GoPro. Drivers dont miss that.

[AUbicycles]

Agree with the responses - it is not obvious to others that you have a camera but the lights and 'non-standard' flashing patterns can have an effect.

While cycliq did put out the idea that drivers would djust their behaviour when they know they are being filmed, I have never see this as an immediate effect rather if drivers become generally aware that some bike riders have cameras, they will generally take more care.

However Dashcams are fairly popular but I am not sure how much this is directly influencing the behaviour of other drivers.

[Philistine]

Thank you for your comments. Your view is unanimous - I was being paranoid - although everybody was too polite to say so directly.
It is easy for a cyclist to slip into the mindset of "everyone is out to get me" because the tiny proportion of drivers who really are out to get you are the ones who make the biggest and most lasting impression.

When I first began riding the M5 shoulder, I noticed that a surprising proportion of trucks would pass me, leaving a reasonable gap, and within 50 metres or so of passing me, would move to the edge of the breakdown strip, or sometimes slightly over it. I thought the drivers were trying to intimidate me. Eventually, I tumbled to the fact that a truck does not have much room for lateral movement without changing lanes, and they were actually moving to the opposite edge of the lane as they passed me (to give me more room) before correcting, and sometimes over-correcting, once they were safely past.

[NhiTrac]

I used to ride the M5 shoulder twice a day, 5 times a week for a year or two.

Its pretty hard to be closed shaved while youre on the shoulder, unless youre to the very far right of it?

Personally I think this is one of those 'in my head' things. Sometimes i dont even realise a rider in front has a fly6 until Im right behind them. For a car driving pass you at 100km/hr+, really doubt they'll be able to recognise the fly6 and go "oh crap he's got a camera".

edit: spelling

[Philistine]

I used to ride the M5 shoulder twice a day, 5 times a week for a year or two.

Its pretty hard to be closed shaved while youre on the shoulder, unless youre to the very far right of it?

I do spend a lot of time on the far right. The rubbish on the breakdown strip is worse than I have ever known it, and you get a slightly cleaner passage on the right hand side, closer to the motor vehicle lane. This might irritate some drivers and encourage them to close shave me. More likely I'm simply invisible because I'm not directly in front of them, and I get close shaved because they happen to be driving close to the left hand side of the lane.

[NhiTrac]

I used to ride the M5 shoulder twice a day, 5 times a week for a year or two.

Its pretty hard to be closed shaved while youre on the shoulder, unless youre to the very far right of it?

I do spend a lot of time on the far right. The rubbish on the breakdown strip is worse than I have ever known it, and you get a slightly cleaner passage on the right hand side, closer to the motor vehicle lane. This might irritate some drivers and encourage them to close shave me. More likely I'm simply invisible because I'm not directly in front of them, and I get close shaved because they happen to be driving close to the left hand side of the lane.

Contact the M5 mob and request a sweeper for a particular section. They will do this on request if the debris are bad enough as I've done this in the past.

[antigee]

a while back had a couple of situations on the same ride where I thought the drivers were checking for a camera

1/. waiting to cross at a shared ped crossing - couple of peds as well as me - driver waiting to turn onto the road with the ped crossing - pulls out after lights had changed to amber looks at lights decides to keep going and passes on red over the crossing - peds have stepped out but car is on far side from them -driver looks up and down me as passes- reckon was looking to see if I'd caught on camera a very obvious dangerous move

2/. situation normal - double white centre line - too narrow to pass with oncoming traffic - I'm out from the edge to avoid being dangerously squeezed - ute behind several blasts of horn and engine revving / weaving stuff - then passes well wide and slow - either a conversion of biblical proportions or aware his bad behaviour might be on record

[Aushiker]

Few drivers would be observant enough to realise that you have a rear-mounted camera.

Agree. Mind you I have pointed to my rear camera [well in one incident the empty case ] and it was surprisingly effective in moderating the motor vehicle operators behaviour

[Mulger bill]

You are talking yourself into it.

Few drivers would be observant enough to realise that you have a rear-mounted camera.

Agree with RonK - I have even had close friends who care about me and know my bike drive past me and not even register seeing me when I show up to a common destination 5min later.

This is at 6:30am on Saturday morning with nothing else on the road - my estimation if you are not a threat or worry and not in the way you are not there. This is why sometimes when riding on Multi lane roads when not being seen could have consequences I make sure that there is something to catch drivers attention.

Generally most drivers are great but they also are not in the habit of looking for bicycles.

Plus 1 more to both!
It's my estimation that this phenomenon is much more widespread than believed and seems to drive a lot of the "Sykerlists! They aallll break the law aaallll the time!!1!!!11!!!" narrative.

[djw47]

I took out my new (new but superseded) Fly6 for its maiden voyage along the M5 Shoulder yesterday. I was struck by how much room drivers seemed to be leaving me, and I wondered whether they were knowledgeable enough to recognize what the Fly6 was, and behaved accordingly. When I got home I replayed the footage of the entire journey (I won't be making a habit of this but at the moment it still has new toy status). I estimate 95% of drivers altered course as they approached me to give me more clearance. The remaining 5% held their line. Nobody moved closer to me. I don't think anyone was closer than a metre, although a few might have been closer than the 1.5 metres that the faster speed of the motorway mandates.

Today I went out on a different bike, intending to ride bike paths and back streets, and the Fly6 stayed at home. Despite my intentions I finished up riding the last six km or so along the M5 and - guess what - a close pass every hundred metres. Am I becoming paranoid or do other Fly6 users experience the same phenomenon?

You've experienced confirmation bias - you've convinced yourself that because you've invested in a camera, the camera is altering other people's behaviour because you think it should. There is no way any driver would notice a fly 6 camera - they almost certainly wouldn't know what it was (neither would most other cyclists) and would need to get really close to see it was a camera, particularly if the red light was on. IMHO, 95% of drivers do alter course as they approach cyclists - very few people actually want to kill or seriously injure others.

[RobertL]

To be honest, as a cyclist in a group of other cyclists I barely register whether someone has a Fly6 or just a red light on the rear - and I know what a Fly6 looks like. They are pretty inconspicuous.