We got wind of BBC Radio 5 Live's Nicky Campbell hosting a segment during his Thursday show about reporting third-party helmet camera and dash-cam footage to the police so, naturally, thought we'd check it out and report back...
To our delight (and relief) there were some quite interesting and sensible points raised as listeners called and texted in, while Campbell spoke to Bryn Brooker, head of road safety at Nextbase (the dash-cam brand behind the Nextbase reporting portal).
Introduced with an 'Accidental Partridge'-worthy Campbell scrambling to get through to his guest... "Hi Bryn, are you there for me, Bryn? For everyone? Ready to go? Bryn? Bring on Bryn! Are you there Bryn? HELLO! YAY!"... the presenter went on to read out a text from a listener, Ally in Newcastle: "Cyclists with cameras are grassing snitches... motorists with dash-cams are responsible citizens doing their civic duty. Symptomatic of all our transport policies really"
That's enough material for this entire blog post, to be honest. An interesting point. As per Nextbase's own figures, more than 33,500 videos were submitted to police via the National Dash Cam Safety Portal in 2023 up until the end of November, a 30 per cent increase on the same period in 2022, most apparently coming from dash-cams.
And yet, any length of time looking at the topic in the sewers of social media will find accusations of 'grassing' and 'snitching' labelled at cyclists who do so. Less so about the other road users who do the similar. In fact, camera cyclists' bad rap even reached the Britain's Got Talent stage in 2022 as comedian, and eventual winner, Axel Blake made it past the auditions with his cyclist bit, prompting judge Amanda Holden to weigh in on cyclists with cameras that are"asking for trouble". So, for starters, why? What is it about cyclists filming and reporting road offences which causes outrage when the majority of reports to the police come from cameras within vehicles?
Speaking on the wider third-party reporting point, Nextbase's head of safety said: "In five years over 100,000 offences have been reported and personally I've seen this making a real difference, enabling the police to take action on dangerous drivers. For me this people doing their civic duty. If you see a dangerous driver driving recklessly, almost causing a collision, then I think most people want to do something about that."
"The police are being inundated," came Campbell's reply...
"The police are actually finding this is saving time, the great thing about the portal is it was set up with the police and traditionally if you take a piece of footage to the police they would have to fill out a witness statement, take time to fill it out. With the system that's been set up that statement is taken automatically, so all they're asked to do is look at the footage. Is action required? Yes or no. If it is the witness statement is already there, ready to go.
> Here's what to do if you capture a near miss, close pass or collision on camera while cycling
"Actually, we calculated that over the last five years it saved an estimated 91 years of police time..."
Campbell reacted: "Oh, that's an extraordinary stat... an interesting interpretation of what some people are saying is just a mountain of extra stuff for police... but, it makes sense..."
"If you think about it," Nextbase's Brooker replied. "People have got phones and dash-cams. Evidence exists. Before this portal existed the police did have to go to people's houses to collect the data or people had to fill in a witness statement manually. That time is saved and it allows them to go and do other things."
The full episode is here, the discussion about cameras and third-party reporting coming just after the hour mark...
"Cyclists with cameras are grassing snitches... motorists with dash-cams are responsible citizens": BBC radio discussion looks at third-party reporting (and why do some cyclists get such a hard time for it?)https://t.co/H6Eguch46Y#cyclingpic.twitter.com/yfxnlC77Im
— road.cc (@roadcc) February 2, 2024
brooksby: "'Cyclists with cameras are grassing snitches... motorists with dash-cams are responsible citizens...'
"I presume that is the same as: a motorist at 20mph is carefully driving with care and consideration, whereas a cyclist at 20 mph is dangerously speeding and out of control."
Geoff Ingram: "Unless there is a MGIF driver behind the cyclist, at which point he is crawling along, holding everybody up."
Ah, Schrödinger, our old friend. Good to see you again...
ChasP: "I think a lot of the criticism of cyclist's reports are of phone use in slow or stationary traffic which many motorists wrongly see as ok."
Smoggysteve: "This whole culture of calling people snitches is ludicrous. Are we talking about Merseyside gang wars here or something? People will piss and moan about insurance costs rising but when efforts are put in place to try and reduce incidents on the roads ie using phones while driving or aggressive behaviour the same people will talk about grasses recording law breakers. Seriously! What do they want?"
Voxpop: 15 minute cities pic.twitter.com/ZDZU7vIX2Z
— alistair green (@mralistairgreen) February 1, 2024
Must have been inspired by that comic who does the parody MP skits... you know, the one where he rattles off a known conspiracy theory about 15-minute cities while speaking in Parliament... ah, wait a second...
> Tory MP attacks 15-minute city concept with known conspiracy theory
In the week when the Tour of Britain and Women's Tour disappeared off the UCI calendar the only positive news we've got for you comes from across the Irish Sea. Cycling Ireland has announced the Rás Tailteann and Rás na mBan races will enjoy increased funding for 2024. Wouldn't that be nice?
The funding will be provided by the Department of Sport and with support from Sport Ireland and both races will receive an equal share of funding for the first time. Cycling Ireland thanked the relevant ministers and Department of Sport and Ireland for the support that, it says, "ensures the events take place in 2024".
Cycling Ireland Chief Executive Officer, James Quilligan, said: "Cycling Ireland is delighted to announce an increase in funding for the 2024 Rás Tailteann and Rás na mBan from the Department of Sport and Sport Ireland. Both races are led by an incredible group of volunteers, and we look forward to working with both as event partners in 2024.
"The races are among the most important on the Irish calendar and showcase the very best of Irish cycling and have attracted many top international cyclists throughout their storied histories. We'd like to thank Minister Martin, Minister Byrne, the Department of Sport and Sport Ireland's support of the races."
Rás Tailteann Race Director, Ger Campbell, added: "All of us at Cairde Rás Tailteann are thrilled with the announcement of the increase in funding. With the costs involved in promoting the event it's a huge boost for the race. It will allow us to plan our budget earlier this year and put in place important structures to make the event even better. The Rás is hugely important to Ireland's sports calendar, and we look forward to the continued success for the event going forward. It's a huge boost for the event."
[Ed Sykes/SWpix.com]
How much bang for their buck did Dumfries and Galloway Council get out of bringing the paracycling events to the region during the UCI Cycling World Championships? Plenty, according to an independent analysis of the economic impact of the six-figure investment, reported by the Daily Record.
The events, held between August 9 and 12 created a direct economic impact of £1,888,277, a figure defined as "the total amount of additional expenditure within a defined geographical area, which can be directly attributed to staging an event".
"The council's investment of £130,000 was instrumental in achieving a direct economic impact of over £1.8m for businesses in Dumfries and
Galloway," the report stated.
In the breakdown of estimated spending, it is suggested the accomodation sector would have benefited from 4,532 booked bed nights, totalling around one million pounds in extra spending, while it is estimated more than £540,000 was spent by athletes, teams, spectators and staff on food, drink and other items.
> Cyclists and pedestrians could enjoy traffic-free Cheddar Gorge once a month under new plan
This has gone down well with you lot...
alchemilla: "This is long- overdue. Good luck to them, I hope it works out and eventually gets extended. Cheddar Gorge is a site of special scientific interest with rare Cheddar Pinks growing there, and of course the goats and sheep. It's incredible that this magnificent location has been allowed to be ruined for visitors by the noise and fumes of vehicles for too long."
Rendel Harris: "Amen. Average speed cameras at top and bottom would be a good addition, I went there once early on a spring morning and it was paradise, once on a summer afternoon and it was crammed with idiots with supercars and hot hatches treating it like a rally track. Superbikes (the motorised kind) were pretty bad too."
don simon fbpe: "I'd like to see something like this in Eryri, particularly roads around Yr Wyddfa. Sounds like a great idea."
Robert Hardy: "Restricted to once a month I hope it doesn't become dominated by sport cyclists, families ambling along on their bikes, child seats and trailers amongst pedestrians at little more than walking pace presents a pleasant picture."