War on Britain's Roads NOW BBC1

Capt'n Midnight

War on Britain's Roads
BBC 1, 21:00 - 22:00

Documentary using cycle helmet camera footage to give a unique insight into the unfolding tension and conflict on Britain's roads. From everyday incidents that get out of hand between cyclists and motorists, to stories of near-death experiences and fatal collisions, the programme shows that the battle between two wheels and four has never been so intense. It shows both sides of the story, retelling dramatic incidents from both the cyclist's and driver's point of view.

ThisRegard

Sounds like the visual equivalent of one of those After Hour or Motors threads on cyclists.

buffalo

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056819139

Why oh why must it be characterised it as a war? Much easier to call it a collection of idiots. Will anybody come out of this looking good?

colm_gti

Your man with the glasses is a moron!

Capt'n Midnight

just noticed it was on and changed over

TBH looks more like something you'd see on SKY, thought it would have been more informative.

shaka

Jumping lights is just plain stupid

buffalo

This is Cynthia's story - it's inspiring to see some good come from a death.

http://citizenactionmonitor.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/cycling-death-uk-mom-takes-on-global-giant-and-wins/

buffalo

Also, I think this is the website of the guy with glasses - Gaz. I recognise the voice from his videos.

http://www.sillycyclists.co.uk/

edit: also
http://www.youtube.com/user/gaz545
http://www.youtube.com/user/CycleGaz
http://www.youtube.com/user/sillycyclists

happytramp

Brilliant!! A happy ending by giving everyone something they can agree on........ Hipsters on brakeless fixies are complete twats!!

Tenzor07

buffalo wrote: »

This is Cynthia's story - it's inspiring to see some good come from a death.

http://citizenactionmonitor.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/cycling-death-uk-mom-takes-on-global-giant-and-wins/

Heartbreaking, what a brave woman...

Caroline_ie

I am glad my mother didn't watch it.

buffalo

I don't think the alleycat race added to it. Up to then it had been a story about regular people making their way in and out of work, or just cycling around. The underlying message had been clear - sure we're all just people, using different methods of transport.

The race was like a sensational headline tacked on at the end, so that they could get some publicity.

happytramp

buffalo wrote: »

The race was like a sensational headline tacked on at the end, so that they could get some publicity.

It was 100% purely there to bookend the debate. Give the drivers P.O.V, then the cyclists P.O.V, then neutralise everyone's pent up frustrations by giving them a 'easy' target to vent on. i.e muppets that everyone hates. Personally I think it worked. I instantly forgot everything that had happened in the previous hour and just ranted at my girlfriend about them.

Wishbone Ash

colm_gti wrote: »

Your man with the glasses is a moron!

He was embarassing. I thought he did a complete dis-service to all the ordinary decent cycling commuters. He seemed to totally overact to fairly mundane traffic encounters and I couldn't see anything wrong with the taxi driver's driving. The taxi driver came across as very reasonable.

Caroline_ie wrote: »

I am glad my mother didn't watch it.

I glad my mother, wife, and daughter didn't watch it!

The incident with the artic oil tanker was pretty scary alright. Is that cyclist the annoying Scot who has loads of stuff on You Tube?

I didn't think "Traffic Droid" :rolleyes: did us any favours either. I'm surprised that cyclist who he pulled back by his backpack didn't deck him.

Cycle cops bit was interesting. It would be great to have a job which gives the opportunity to gain physical fitness and get paid for it.

tomasrojo

MPs have joined motoring and cycling groups to condemn a BBC1 documentary which purports to show the "war" between cyclists and other vehicles on British roads, with some warning that it could actually endanger cyclists by wrongly stereotyping them as reckless.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/30/cycling-documentary-bbc1-road

buffalo

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

He was embarassing. I thought he did a complete dis-service to all the ordinary decent cycling commuters. He seemed to totally overact to fairly mundane traffic encounters and I couldn't see anything wrong with the taxi driver's driving. The taxi driver came across as very reasonable.

I felt like he provoked the response in that instance. He was alright in taking the lane, and the taxi came in a little bit close for comfort, but Gaz had left himself plenty of space on the inside to move into, but didn't. It was the cycling equivalent of a car driver doing close a overtake because you're not in the cycling lane.

I used to watch his videos a couple of years ago, and he captured some crazy cycling and driving. Maybe the fame has gone to his head a bit, and he's become "traffic droid"-lite.

And yes, traffic droid was outrageous, but when he had the little breakdown, I felt for him. Then I started thinking that it was a bit like when Bruce Wayne's parents were killed. To the Batbike!

Konkers

Have never cycled in London but have noticed the numbers of cyclists have gone through the roof in the last 2/3 years. Have friends who do short commutes through London on bikes and they say it's grand for the most part.

I did think it was quite sensationalist (both extrems)...... but they brought both sides together quite neatly (3 cyclists, both taxi drivers and the Lorry driver and the Mother of one of the cyclists - was she not great???).

I got the impression from the other thread on this progamme yesterday that the last piece was a race filmed for commercial purposes???????????

Konkers

buffalo wrote: »

And yes, traffic droid was outrageous, but when he had the little breakdown, I felt for him. Then I started thinking that it was a bit like when Bruce Wayne's parents were killed. To the Batbike!

:pac: agreed.

smackyB

No mention anywhere of the inadequate cycling infrastructure which causes a lot of these conflicts in the first place..

Wishbone Ash

Konkers wrote: »

Have never cycled in London

I only cycled in London once. I hired a bike and did 90km over the course of a day. I didn't notice anything particularly different about the traffic as such, but the road surfaces seemed much more slippery that in Dublin and there appeared to be an excessive amount of surface ironmongery. I would have liked to do the same route on my own bike for a proper comparison.

(Watching the track standing at the major junctions was most interesting and I didn't see a single clipless incident! )

CramCycle

Cycled in London for years when I was younger and again recently on a work trip. No different than here other than I thought it was easier to predict what people were going to do, and the majority +99.9% stuck to driving with common sense.

So in revision, it was better than cycling here.

beans

Haven't seen the piece, but thought I'd chime in on London cycling in general.

I've cycled a 34km round-trip through London from north to south-west every day for the past 2 years or so. I've commuted through Dublin for years before. Initially, I thought London drivers more considerate, and predictable than those at home. Infrastructure-wise, the roads on my route are good, lanes are well-defined and respected. Cycle-lanes exist, but are not very useful and occasionally dangerous, albeit less often so than Dublin's.

Recently, I've noticed more and more dangerous driving - ninja lane-changes and sudden, unannounced left-hand turns for the most part, but undertaking on a roundabout this morning was a new one. Every day recently, I've had at least one near-miss, or witnessed some road-user do something stupidly dangerous.

Cyclists are on the most part well-trained and well-behaved. Like anywhere, lots of bikes on paths / salmoning / alleycat lunacy / autopiloting etc to be witnessed too.

Hungrycol

beans wrote: »

Haven't seen the piece, but thought I'd chime in on London cycling in general.

I've cycled a 34km round-trip through London from north to south-west every day for the past 2 years or so. I've commuted through Dublin for years before. Initially, I thought London drivers more considerate, and predictable than those at home. Infrastructure-wise, the roads on my route are good, lanes are well-defined and respected. Cycle-lanes exist, but are not very useful and occasionally dangerous, albeit less often so than Dublin's.

Recently, I've noticed more and more dangerous driving - ninja lane-changes and sudden, unannounced left-hand turns for the most part, but undertaking on a roundabout this morning was a new one. Every day recently, I've had at least one near-miss, or witnessed some road-user do something stupidly dangerous.

Cyclists are on the most part well-trained and well-behaved. Like anywhere, lots of bikes on paths / salmoning / alleycat lunacy / autopiloting etc to be witnessed too.

Whats Salmoning?

colm_gti

Hungrycol wrote: »

Whats Salmoning?

Slapping bad drivers wit a wet salmon?

Dermot Illogical

Hungrycol wrote: »

Whats Salmoning?

It's when you go against the flow of traffic to the tuna 'I want to ride my bicycle'.

positron

I caught it last night - and thought it was very good.

Great cam clips and interviews and very real human stories from both sides of the debate. I could not believe how the two vans could over take a cyclist on both sides at the same time like that - that is beyond any reason or sense. A lot of proper tw*t drivers, but even more often than not the drivers genuinely hasn't seen the cyclist(s). And a lot of cyclists taking all sort of stupid risk like overtaking a truck on the left when the truck is indicating to turn left etc. It was hard to watch over all.

And the gang of cyclists nut cases riding all over the place scattering pedestrians and endangering everyone on the road near the end of the program - if one of them crashes into me, it wouldn't end well - even at the risk of ending up on a video on Youtube.

colm_gti

positron wrote: »

I could not believe how the two vans could over take a cyclist on both sides at the same time like that - that is beyond any reason or sense.

Well what was he doing cycling in the middle of two lanes in the first place? If you looked ahead you could see that they were both turning left.

I think a lot of the driver reactions were provoked by the cyclists, especially by that twat in the glasses who gave the impression that he was morally superior to everyone in a car. In that video with the taxi driver that was completely in the right, when he started clapping, I'd be embarrassed to be a cyclist in his vicinity...utter moron! There's one thing holding your lane, but it's a hole other thing taking up a lane when you don't have to just to provoke a motorist!

happytramp

colm_gti wrote: »

Well what was he doing cycling in the middle of two lanes in the first place? If you looked ahead you could see that they were both turning left.

I was confused by this too. Both lanes were turning left, would the safest position not have been on the inside of the inner lane? From where he was positioned I would have imagined that being passed on both side to be fairly common place.

Ole Rodrigo

He could have been positioning himself for a right turn after coming around the corner. Even at that, he should have taken a wider position to ensure nobody could overtake.

positron

colm_gti wrote: »

Well what was he doing cycling in the middle of two lanes in the first place? If you looked ahead you could see that they were both turning left.

Perhaps he was in the wrong place, and perhaps he provoked it. But if I were a van driver, I wouldn't dream of driving so close to a cyclist, not to mention when another van is already squeezing the cyclist from the other side. Not unless I have a serious lack of respect for human (or any) life. It doesn't matter if someone was wrong - it doesn't give me the power to punish them for it - imho, of course.

Tenzor07

Whatever about being overtaken by the van with the trailer, being undertaken by the other van is just as dangerous, one slip/wobble left or right and he was finished...

Mycroft H

Up on you tube for those that missed it.

ThisRegard

ThisRegard wrote: »

Sounds like the visual equivalent of one of those After Hour or Motors threads on cyclists.

What did I say

It's Friday again over in Motors.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056825598

ashleey

I'm thinking of applying for a nationality change. Just in case it's not possible: not everyone from London has a big belly and a flat cap and wants a fight.

GlennaMaddy

Just watched the first 2mins and heart is pounding:eek:

Mycroft H

At least there was nothing about helmets

feck sake lads

colm_gti wrote: »

Well what was he doing cycling in the middle of two lanes in the first place? If you looked ahead you could see that they were both turning left.

I think a lot of the driver reactions were provoked by the cyclists, especially by that twat in the glasses who gave the impression that he was morally superior to everyone in a car. In that video with the taxi driver that was completely in the right, when he started clapping, I'd be embarrassed to be a cyclist in his vicinity...utter moron! There's one thing holding your lane, but it's a hole other thing taking up a lane when you don't have to just to provoke a motorist!

Totally agree that guy gaz if he was cycling with me i would give him a slap dont mind the car drivers, who tho hell does he think he is total moran:mad:

niceonetom

Gave up trying to watch it. Why aggravate myself like that.

daragh_

I think the key lesson is that bad things happen to cyclists with head cams. They probably should be banned.

RainyDay

daragh_ wrote: »

I think the key lesson is that bad things happen to cyclists with head cams. They probably should be banned.

The cyclists or the cams?

daragh_

RainyDay wrote: »

The cyclists or the cams?

Both. Also cars, buses and the BBC.

colm_gti

daragh_ wrote: »

Both. Also cars, buses and the BBC.

But what about helmets?

snubbleste

DailyMail - 'I'd happily run him over': Cyclist who took part in controversial BBC documentary inundated with hate messages and death threats

Gareth Williams, 24, provided the BBC with footage filmed using a helmet camera for The War on Britain's Roads which was aired last night. But the urban cyclist has since been inundated with hate messages with many taking to Twitter accusing him of being 'antagonistic' and 'confrontational' towards drivers

RainyDay

snubbleste wrote: »

DailyMail - 'I'd happily run him over': Cyclist who took part in controversial BBC documentary inundated with hate messages and death threats

'Daily Mail' incites hatred and division shocker.

Moflojo

snubbleste wrote: »

DailyMail - 'I'd happily run him over': Cyclist who took part in controversial BBC documentary inundated with hate messages and death threats

He really does come across as an arrogant twat in that film, makes me angry just looking at him.

He could be the next big meme???

Ole Rodrigo

daragh_ wrote: »

I think the key lesson is that bad things happen to cyclists with head cams. They probably should be banned.

A new cycling tribe is emerging - ' The Crusading Commuter ' :pac:

DirkVoodoo

"BBC in clever ploy to distract public over Jimmy Saville inquiry by reigniting their hatred of cyclists".

SerialComplaint

ror_74 wrote: »

A new cycling tribe is emerging - ' The Crusading Commuter ' :pac:

Oooh nice - do we get capes? and tights? and underpants outside the tights?

Moflojo wrote: »

He really does come across as an arrogant twat in that film, makes me angry just looking at him.

He comes across to me as assertive, not arrogant. Is there anything in the words that he says that you particularly disagree with?

The taxi-man didn't seem to get, after all that discussion and conversation, that if he was near enough to the cyclist for the cyclist to slap him, then he was too close. He kept saying that he had passed the cyclist, but if he had passed him, the cyclist wouldn't have been able to slap the taxi.

Moflojo

SerialComplaint wrote: »

He comes across to me as assertive, not arrogant. Is there anything in the words that he says that you particularly disagree with?

He literally looks down his nose at people, for starters.

There's a fine line between being assertive and being an asshole when you're cycling in the city and he's so far on the asshole side of that line that it's a dot to him.

As for the words that he says?

"You have to be brave to take over a lane" (paraphrase)

"I try to teach drivers when they're wrong" (paraphrase)

"I ride my bike fast, so if I'm going as fast as other traffic they should treat me like a car" (paraphrase)

He's arrogant and he's foolish. He remains in dangerous positions on the road for the sake of proving points to drivers. His only reaction to dangerous manouvres appears to be a reflex to get the best possible angle of his own impending doom for his helmetcam. He is an accident waiting to happen.

enas

Moflojo wrote: »

He literally looks down his nose at people, for starters.

SerialComplaint asked you if there's anything he said that you disagree with. Here you're just reiterating your unfounded statement.

Moflojo wrote: »

There's a fine line between being assertive and being an asshole when you're cycling in the city and he's so far on the asshole side of that line that it's a dot to him.

There's no line between being assertive and being an asshole. Just elaborate more on your thought. I think what you really mean is that you think cyclists that dare being assertive (i.e. who don't move out of your way in one way or another) are being assholes. Have the courage of your opinions at least.

Moflojo wrote: »

"You have to be brave to take over a lane" (paraphrase)

Indeed you have to be brave, what you disagree with here? If anything, his taxi incident proves this.

Moflojo wrote: »

[…](paraphrase)
[…](paraphrase)

You are indeed paraphrasing what he says, so that doesn't really make your point in any objective way.

Moflojo wrote: »

He's arrogant and he's foolish. He remains in dangerous positions on the road for the sake of proving points to drivers.

Obviously, you have no clue what you're talking of. My big regret with this "documentary" is that it didn't go anywhere near explaining how and why cyclists ride the way they do. I have the feeling people with prejudice against cyclists will have them reinforced (as in "look at how those arrogant non-road-tax paying cyclists cycle in the middle of the road as if they owned the road…" etc. -- well pretty much what you've just said).

Moflojo wrote: »

His only reaction to dangerous manouvres appears to be a reflex to get the best possible angle of his own impending doom for his helmetcam. He is an accident waiting to happen.

Right. Usual b.s. about helmet cams. Why am I even replying in fact.

droidus

There's a middle ground here. He is quite clearly, an asshole. He's also, in general, correct.