I think seeing it and reporting it is fine but actively looking for it may cross the line into vigilantism and helps fuel the anger some drivers feel towards cyclist. More high visibility police officers in bikes policing motorists as well as cyclists would be the best solution.
My dad, David Sinar, was killed by a then 20 year old woman, Amber Potter, on the A11 in Norfolk due to mobile phone use. No one should have to go through what we have all because of some selfish individual cannot be completely self absorbed of themselves whilst driving! My father was still to this day one of the best cyclist I have ever met, setting the land speed record and winning countless titles up and down the country, all to be brought to an abrupt end due to a modern fad in todays society. Mum and I recently went to GMB to discuss these modern matters, thank you CM for keeping the roads safer and hopefully teaching many drivers that driving is a privilege and NOT a right!
So sorry for your loss, and thank you for raising awareness. I look forward to the day when people like Mikey have nothing to report because drivers are making good choices, staying aware, and simply obeying the law to make it safer for all.
@@Thepoomaster517 I am sorry for your loss, my best wishes to you and your family. I too lost a great friend and my coach Mike Bloom, to a cement lorry driver on his phone whilst Mike was out training on his bike. The driver is out now but the sentence was way too short for what he did. Mike hung on to life for six day's before he Succumbed to his multiple crush injuries. He was my friend and a father figure to me he was a fit and active 75 year old.
Becoming independent might be the best thing to ever happen to GCN. Films like this are insightful, well produced and thought provoking - well done for not just presenting the one perspective but challenging it too! As a cyclist in London my general rule of thumb (sadly) is "you can be right and dead". Car brain is, unfortunately, a thing, so I'm all for making someone think twice about how they're behaving on the road and realising we're all people with lives, families and different stories. I don't know if confronting people and irritating someone in a car makes the streets safer though. I'd err on film, report, leave it at that.
Hey Matt, Thank you - appreciate the kind words. Glad you thought that of this film and those we've published recently. I agree, personally I wouldn't confront people again - but still, I see the effect that journey cam users have had as a whole after spending the day with Mike. I think that challenge needed to be there, to make us all think about our own actions when using the road. Thanks for the comment, Conor
I would say that violent confrontations are rare and a lot of people will be in shock if you catch them. Like they feel powerless and plus they are being recorded so they will think twice. I actually got into a physical confrontation not with the driver who close passed me but with a passerby known to the driver. He put his hands on me and grabbed me by my coat. I countered my matching the force he put on me and shouting at him to let go of me as I knew he wouldn’t do anything and it was best for both of us. I’m a boxer and I was more afraid that I was going to hurt him if I were to seriously punch him. His chin was exposed and I could’ve KOed him with an uppercut as he much taller than me but I chose not to. Plus I was outnumbered because all of his mates came out and surrounded me. I wasn’t really intimidated to be honest and that might be because I’m from South London. My one was an anomaly to be fair and an unusual and unexpected end result.
I hope videos like this one will raise awareness outside the UK of the benefits of allowing citizens to report certain types of traffic violations to police. Because first the laws have to exist to permit this kind of reporting and enable the police to take action. For example, in my city there has been some interest in enabling citizens to report drivers parked in bike lanes, but it hasn't made it into law yet. And that's something I wouldn't need a GoPro, or even my bike, to take action on! I mean that's something I see every time I walk out my front door and walk a block or two. Like mobile phone use, there are some types of offenses for which video evidence is more or less incontrovertible. But there need to be practical reporting tools and the police need to have the legal authority to issue civil violations to the owner of record, like they do already with speeding and red light camera tickets.
I think the hope is people admit they are wrong. Confronting people is a tough thing because to do some degree they'll just away with it forever if you just film it. But if you confront them they may sit in traffic the next time just because they also don't want the confrontation. Its hard to say if its resulting in anything other than more and more media attention. Maybe one day it'll cause cops to sit there instead of this guy
It's a scandal that so many modern cars have giant Ipads on their dashboards that you have to use to do simple functions like switching on heated seats etc, to my mind these are as dangerous as someone using their mobile phones.
They've changed the Euro NCAP safety ratings now so that cars can't get a 5 score if manufacturers use them rather than buttons. My car has one, buttons would be far simpler and safer.
I’m loving the direction GCN is heading these days! Thanks for highlighting safety and making cycling more accessible for everyone. Keep up the great work!
My mum was killed by someone who was distracted and on their phone to their wife at the time, this is why I support and started watching cycling mikey.
Another fabulous video on an important topic. I'm so glad that GCN is not shying away from this kind of subject matter, and you covered it well - it was a genius idea to join Cycling Mikey. Thanks!😃
In my experience it is very often the road-user at fault who is most angry. Whether it be car-vs-car or whatever. I think it has to do with increasing narcissism in society, and perceived "ego injury" when they are called out. Their peepee shrinks to the size of a tic-tac and they think the only way to reclaim it is narcissistic rage, rather than fixing their behaviour.
You don't have to imagine. The first step to being a bad person is convincing yourself that the horrible things you do are fine, actually. As a result, ANYONE that you confront for breaking the law in public will always act like you're the problem, not them. Edit: I just saw the first woman in the video go the "hand in the cookie jar" route, and I'm suddenly wondering if American scofflaws are a lot more belligerent than British ones.
I know Mikey personally, and have ridden with him. He's genuinely this nice guy in the video. He's emphatically not a vigilante, just a good citizen, making our roads safer, and highlighting dangerous activity so we can all learn to be safer and more aware on the roads. As he frequently points out, he is not the biggest reporter of these offences in London, and, as the video mentions, drivers' reports outnumber those from cyclists. We've all got a role to play in road safety.
Trust me, mikey may seem like a nice guy at first but when you make the smallest mistake and cause him the slightest inconvenience, he will do everything he can to retaliate back at you and make you feel miserable. Such as when once a pedestrian accidentally stepped out in front of him and mikey responded with vicious threats of violence. He will also not hesitate to hit the block button if you criticise his actions and do not fall for his own narrative. Never do you see him reflect and learn from potential mistakes, he just thinks that he's always right and everyone else is wrong just because he's the one with a camera.
I find people being cavalier about breaking the rules of the road so rude. By doing it, they are essentially saying, 'my convenience is more important than your safety.'
On Conner's point about feeling that it's an invasion of someone's private space when you stick a camera on them when they're in their car. I think that's part of the problem. In modern cars, particularly expensive ones, you're so isolated from the outside world it is easy to forget that in reality you're still sharing the road with others with immediate and dangerous consequences if you mess up. We need a shock reminder sometimes to remember that others exist outside our insulated safe metal boxes. Just the same as being embarrassed when someone spots you picking your nose in the car... everyone can see you! Obviously that's never happened to me! Good video Conner.
Hey Gary, Thanks for the comment! This was a big take away for me too from the day with Mike.. I totally agree with you. Maybe car design should aim to reverse this in future? Cheers for the kind words and thanks for watching, Conor
Spot on. I think a lot of drivers actually believe what they see around them is happening on a TV screen and their actions have no impact on what's around them
Very good point and 100% true. Filming people in public is not bad. Being on the phone while driving is anti-social behavior and needs to be treated accordingly. Same as filming someone littering or vandalism
You go to jail if you kill anybody unless you do it in a car 🚗💀 Sad fact is these drivers don’t have respect. And incompetent and negligent forces like Thames Valley Police don’t prosecute. I’ve sent 100+ recording, been knocked off and driven at and squashed all with footage and Thames Valley Police didn’t prosecute a single one. If it wasn’t for the police’s lack of action people like Mikey wouldn’t have to go to such lengths
hi, thanks for the comment and we are sorry to hear about the footage you have captured in the past. Do you feel Thames Valley Police have a particularly poor stance on this? 0/100 prosecutions for the offenses does seem strange to us
A few years ago I submitted footage of myself being car doored to the Met Police. They sent me a letter saying they were not going to take any action because there was insufficient evidence (apparently the whole incident on video and the perpetrator admitting responsibility was 'insufficient'), that there was no supporting CCTV footage (I looked on the local council website, there was a CCTV camera less than 100m away) and that it was a 'damage only' incident, despite me also submitting photos of the injuries sustained, which needed hospital treatment. The police quite frankly don't care about motoring offences.
In America, one could argue that all cyclists should be legally allowed to carry firearms concealed. In gun-crazy land, why not? The problem is, drivers have their hands on a deadly weapon. And they use them! They use their vehicles to bully, intimidate, threaten, do damage, injure and kill. And when confronted by others, they lash out. In other words, the innocent public in their paths should simply be allowed to defend themselves with equal lethal force. And since cyclists (and pedestrians) don't have a 4,000 lb., 350 HP weapon at their fingertips, they should have an alternative. Thus the firearm. Would drivers change their behavior knowing many cyclists are armed and ready to defend themselves? Many might. Hell, maybe most of 'em would! Helmet cam footage of a driver going after a cyclist who then shoots them dead? Judge would say, "Got what he deserved! Now compensate the cyclist victim for the trauma caused!" That would be justice. Ultimately, the solution is NOT more violence, but less. Requiring drivers behave and obey the law is the better route. We all will be much happier if drivers could simply take the responsibility of driving seriously. But the CAUSES of driver poor behavior are another matter. Stressed-out people living on the edge, struggling to make ends meet and fearing for their futures play a HUGE part in our societal issues. When people are mistreated by society, they lash out. Road rage is a natural result, as is crime, drug addiction, domestic violence, and so much else.
@@JLobber Police forces vary dramatically in their attitudes to motoring offences, and submitted camera footage. Some are great (West Midlands, and Surrey? IIRC). Others are dangerously useless.
I don't want to see other road users injured by some idiot on the phone! It's as bad as drink driving in my mind. We wouldn't think twice about reporting a drink driver. No road user would!
I can be in traffic, stuck, not moving at all. If I try to find a diversion on my phone (because it's an old car) this guy will film it, report it, and I get a fine or lose my license. But if a brand new car with 15 touch screens does the exact same thing, it's fine. Its a joke.
@@OTH89 using a phone in a cradle is dealt with under different laws to those that ban you from using the phone in your hands. It would be classed as driving without due care. But if you're moving a map in stationary traffic, it wouldn't be worth the police's time.
Been following Mikey for a while now. What I'm most impressed by is how calm and unfazed he seems even in dangerous confrontations. Never heard him raise his voice.
This gentleman is most probably saving lives, and he’s incredibly polite in the process. He’s giving a lot to his community and setting a fine example.
He's not creating a divide between cyclists and motorists, he's creating a divide between dangerous drivers and everyone else. Anyone thick enough to use a phone behind the wheel deserves the punishment, simple
He 100% is creating a divide. Plenty of times, when a driver makes a bad judgement when changing lanes or turning from side roads, you will see mikey accelerate at full speed towards the driver, putting himself in danger just to give said driver a pointless telling off for their easily fixable mistake. He could easily lower his speed and keep behind such drivers but chooses not to, just so he can act tough and superior in front of his audience. Ashley neal has done a fantastic job at summing up mikey's reckless antics.
@TrainBusFanUK Nope he is 0% creating a divide. Because other people's response to his actions is 100% their responsibility. Every single person has the ability to choose between learning positively, or being resentful of a lesson. To quote Marcus Aurelius on that: "If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone."
@ watch ashley neal's analysis videos and you will see what I mean. There are plenty of occasions where he is so focused on reprimanding a particular driver that he ignores any bad cycling he sees around him. Fed up of seeing just how many people are glazing him in this comment section.
@ also why do you expect all drivers to react positively and politely to him when he can often act towards them in an aggressive and threatening manner?
@ Expect? Who said expect? I pointed out that everyone has the choice, not what I expect they'll do. If I can remain composed when a maniac driver totally in the wrong nearly hits my car, then rages and actually threatens me, then any of Mikey's drivers should find it much easier. (since they are actually in the wrong, and Mikey is not imposing anything unjust). I simply make the decision that no amount of hot air can change the truth. Mikey bearing witness to their crimes does not change their crimes one iota. Mikey commenting on it doesn't change it either. They are as guilty whether they are caught or not. They are responsible for their own actions and attitudes and how they clean up their mess. A person with strong accountability will learn positively from being called out for a road crime even if is delivered rudely. Because truth does not depend on presentation. A person with weak accountability will resent the person who caught them, rather than learning positively. They will try pick holes in the presentation, or the tone, to try deflect from the truth that they have done wrong, or just call names and swear. (see Graham's Heirarchy of Disagreement).
The divide between motorists and cyclists has always been there. The fact that motorists are being called out for mostly phone use is upsetting them. Motorists make poor choices and don’t like being found out. If it stops motorists using their phones that has to be a good thing for every road user doesn’t it? The motorists that do it have been doing it everyday until rumbled. The other thing to bear in mind is motorists report other motorists poor driving on their dashcams in such large amounts that there are tv programmes about it. It amazes me that people use phones in sign written vehicles too🤷🏼♂️ Finally, motorists kill vulnerable road users, cyclists are vulnerable road users, it is not cyclists killing motorists.
If this stops at pointing out bad driver behaviour, I'm all for it. However, on social media, allmost all accounts that share bad motorist behaviour footage, talk about motorists vs. cyclists and it's as polarizing as some motorists being hostile online to cyclists in general. Once we understand it's just bad and good people / behaviour on different means of transportation, it's not about group vs. group anymore and that's much needed.
"The fact that motorists are being called out for mostly phone use is upsetting them." Cyclists want to ignore the highway code, including not having lights at night and using phones while riding, and get upset about being called out for it. Hypocrisy. At the exact moment of typing this, Mike mentions going through red traffic lights, which coming from a cyclist really can't be taken seriously.
@@chrisdavidson911I have a copy of the highway code on my phone, which I have pulled out a few times to correct motorists. I have never either in my car or on my bikes ran a red light in 50 years, you have just generalised all bike riders/cyclists as bad road users. It's a small minority that has been blown out of proportion by social media.
I ride in city traffic daily. And there is rarely a day, where I am not endangered by a motorist. It's a mixture of impatience (close passes, speeding, running red lights...) and inattention. Once, a small truck driver almost ran me over. I caught up to him at the next traffic light. I knocked on his window - expected an angry face. Instead, it was like waking him up from a deep sleep. He hadn't seen me at all. He was driving is truck in auto-mode. Most commonly, drivers don't realize how dangerous the stuff is that they do. They are not really there at all. As a cyclist, that is a luxury, I will never have. Not paying attention gets you killed in no time.
Even before watching I had an impression of a cyclist just making motorist more angry towards us "like ohhh great". But after watching the whole video, you really see he started doing that to protect us cyclist and other road users, he's a hero in disguise, a car not paying attention can destroy someone life or cause death, grateful to have someone in the world reminding people to be careful on the road, thank you GCN & Mickey !!
At the end of the day, the roads are a public space. You wouldn't feel bad about telling someone off for littering in a public park, so you shouldn't feel bad about this.
In 'Murica, that kind of thing will get you shot! We've fallen so far as a society, enforcing societal norms puts one's life in danger. And with Treasonous Trump at the helm, this will only get worse. Far worse.
He's a good egg :) My dad is disabled because someone who wasn't paying attention ran him over. It'll never happen to you until it does. He's educating people or at least making them aware.. and the law never bothers people who don't break it.
My uncle was a lifetime cyclist who was cycling to work across Birmingham one day when a truck just rolled over him and killed him. If Mikey stops one person being killed he has succeeded. If you don’t know by now what the law is regarding driving and mobile phones you must have been living under a stone. Mikey I salute you.
So sorry for the loss of your uncle. I agree with your sentiment. My soon to be brother in law was driving and was struck by a driver texting. All that texting can wait. It's not worth it.
Anyone caught texting should be fined and banned from Driving for 30 days. Second offense within 3 months given 6 month ban, third offense within 24 months, 10 year Driving ban. That would work a lot better.
The fact that his activity leads to prosecution very clearly means he's NOT a vigilante at all. Motorists just like saying that because they like committing crimes and they don't like it that they're being caught. The divide is between lawbreakers and upstanding citizens. It just so happens that the vast majority of motorists are criminals.
He’s a vigilante. Simple. He uses his UA-cam channel as a form of punishment by humiliation. In front of nearly 100k subscribers with millions of views. Sometimes the subjects have not been prosecuted. This is not reasonable behaviour and he should be stopped from doing it without anonymisation.
@@marblex If you think he is a vigilante, then you don't know the meaning of the word. A vigilante takes the law into their own hands. Reporting to the police is not vigilanteism.
@ Rubbish. Driving is a public activity in a public space. The fact that these people are not publicly humiliated immediately for their recklessness and violence is just an oversight from the public, which is rectified in UA-cam. If you don't want to be humiliated, don't do humiliating things. End of story.
Great video. You covered this in a balanced way far better than nearly anyone calling themselves a journalist in a large media organisation has before. The irrational hate by some people is blind to the fact it's our children walking on the pavements and crossing our roads. Its our family members undertaking journeys in cars that are killed or seriously injured by distracted drivers too, not just cyclists. I got knocked down from behind in 2017 while cycling around 20 mph by someone distracted who wasn't even allowed to be in the bus lane. It was a clear day and there were another 3-4 cyclists a short distance ahead of me in the bus lane too. The Police action resulted in a warning about the manner of their driving and no action was taken due to lack of evidence. Since then I've cycled with a camera. I got no issue reporting you if I see you on the phone while driving. Some drivers make it so obvious they are driving in a distracted and dangerous manner that I can send 3-4 videos a week to the Met and its rare they won't be writing to them.
Thank you, really appreciate the comment. Personally, I really see how more wide spread camera use can calm people's behaviour on the roads and make them more accountable. Spending the day with Mikey really opened my eyes to it. Sorry to hear you were knocked down, but glad to hear you've been cycling since. Hope this video can make everyone more aware about road safety issues and whats at stake. Conor
from someone who almost had their right leg severed from just above the calve due to a driver using a phone I would suggest that penalties are too lenient right now (car went in to the back of me. headlight shattered on my bike and the momentum carried the glass / polycarb.. forward slicing through muscle and embedding part way in to bone). Still remember waking up wit ha crowd around me and all i wanted to do was stop my Garmin and check my bike.
@@glenn1534 just points on his licence and had to attend a driving safety course. i still remember him sitting at the side of the road and I was asking him if he was ok. I also remember being asked where I lived - and in my mind i was thinking that they were going to give me a lift home because my mind wasn't fully aware of what was going on. with the adrenaline i was never in any pain. In the long term scheme of things my fitness actually improved. slowly got in to running which became somewhat of an addiction for a few years, probably because i spent so long waiting to get my compensation and wouldn't just take the first offer - so I couldn't afford a new bike at the time.
This is great content and Connor is a great presenter. Watching him have that confrontation a few weeks back was quite upsetting. This problem is happening in the states as well. Every day, when I commute to work in my car, I see people driving with their phone in their laps, only partially paying attention to the road in front of them. Distracted driving is a serious issue, especially for a cyclist. Not too long ago I was on a bike ride when a driver coming in the other direction swerved off the road, clearly not paying attention to the curving road ahead. Luckily he corrected before he hit anything but it was scary nonetheless. People are addicted to their phones and they can’t help themselves but constantly check it even when they’re driving.
I'm a cyclist Mike talks about keeping himself safe, NO Hi Viz dressed in black (my opinion creeping up on stationary vehicles), doesn't sit right with me
It doesn't matter if he's wearing hi-viz from head-to-toe. If a driver is fully concentrating on the phone in their lap, they're not going to see him, or any other cyclist.
Excellent activity. Society is so distracted, impatient and anti cyclist attitude has stopped me from riding. When certain idiots see the opportunity to get revenge they do. I’ve been brake checked, side swiped, threatened. If they do attempt to kill me, is it attempted man slaughter. If not it should be. I’m a husband, father, son and insured car driver who used to ride in preference to drive. Now I just drive at the speed limits, which really annoys other drivers, who just have to get a cars length ahead. This madness needs to stop. Law enforcement is critical. Cameras and enforcement is unfortunately essential.
hi thanks for comment, it sounds like you have had some daunting experiences in the past. Hopefully this video helps raise awareness to keep everyone safer on the roads 👍
I'm in similar shoes. I'm a 52 year long avid cyclist, from daily commuting to road and mountain biking. Even occasional unicycling. I'm a former commercial driver, current motorcycle endorsement holder and avid driver. Racing technical criteriums in college taught me how to enjoy the twisties in a Porsche! That said, I DETEST the driver behavior I see on a many-times-a-day basis. It's INSANE in the SF Bay Area. Habitual lawlessness on the part of drivers. Even the "good" drivers are horrible behind the wheel. (Like the lady in the $80k Mercedes SUV who pulled an illegal u-turn into a motorcyclist. She was pregnant, so she had to hurry of to ask her doctor if her "precious little cargo" was ok! Unreal.) And then there are the criminals behind the wheel. Case in point: I return to town after a wonderful mountain bike ride. Instead of heading straight home, I decide to head to the local park to warm down. So I get in the left turn lane and wait at the red light behind a car. (Look driver, I didn't run the red! Something drivers complain about, right?) Along comes a driver behind me honking like a total lunatic as he comes to a stop behind me at the red light. He exits his vehicle to yell at me, "GET OUT OF THE ROAD!" So reply, "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? I *AM TRAFFIC!* " Complete idiot, lunatic committing assault on me. He exited his vehicle thinking I'd shrink and run away. He was a little surprised when I turned to him and stood up to his aggression The asshole had his hand in his pocket, so I didn't know if he had a gun. He slunk back to his car and eventually drove off. This is the shit happening all the time. And I'm in California where it's FAR better than other places in the US. Might start carrying a gun if it gets worse. Sick of being the victim.
The thing is, if the same nice motorist crashed into you cause they were distracted on their phone, how would you feel about it, even with no major injuries, it is still frustrating and a terrifying experience
The nice motorist wasn't moving. People who genuinely only check/use their phone whilst stationary are obviously not adding much road risk. The law, however, does not distinguish.
@@xxwookey In my country you are allowed to drink and drive. You just must be under the limit. (however very few people exercise this freedom and it is frowned on). But in other countries you cannot even have open alcohol in the car. That's what the blanket ban on phone use is kinda like. When the temptation is right there accessible it's likely to be abused. And as s they mentioned it takes time to adjust back to the surroundings. So actually they ARE a road risk.
@xxwookey they are stationary looking at their phone. The traffic clears ahead of them. They see the gap and pull away hurriedly. Someone gets crunched as the driver bumps wheels over them
Come try this in South Africa 😂. Great video however, love that Connor challenged and questioned Mikey’s methods and didn’t just report blindly. Mikey is ultimately doing a great job.
I don't think he would last in America either, But then again.. I gotta be honest Im surprised he's lasted at all anywhere. Never been to London but I know they're not absent violent crime maybe he just hasn't met the right person yet.. *shrug*
@@annelisenorth8670 I cycle with my GoPro almost on a daily, I've never had near run ins while on the move. But he'd be at risk confronting them for sure👌
I’m a cyclist living in Sydney, but recently visited London and hired a bike. I was surprised to find that I didn’t have a single problem from car drivers. The only problems I observed were the massive rule breaking by people riding e-bikes (mostly delivery riders)! They were constantly running red lights, and dodging in and out of traffic in ways that I would not. If you want to experience a place where there is a real problem of drivers endangering cyclists, come visit Sydney.
IF you are used to city cycling, London is the safest (UK) city to cycle in. However, if you are not a regular city cyclist, I can understand why some find it an overwhelming and confusing nightmare, and feel smaller less populated large towns/cities are safer.
Yes and that is what is worrying me as it all seems one sides. Wrong is wrong, no matter who you are and what you drive but it becomes a dangerous thing when the finger is only pointed in one direction. Motorists do not make a distinction between normal and e-bikes, commuters and couriers, social and athletes. All they see is a bike. No matter the mode of transport, you have to behave in a predictable manner.
I haven't cycled in Sydney but here in Adelaide I've had some close fast driver close shaves and even had two collisions with cars from dri ers turning left and right. I've driven in the UK a lot but not for 9 years so the traffic is probably busier. I think.in general drivers drive slower and are more aware in Europe
As a lover and teacher of driving, I see the constant poor road use from every road user. As you said, you felt tired due to all the concentration from being so aware of others which I can completely relate to as a driving instructor. Aside driving, I myself cycle at times in and around the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. I can really appreciate what CyclingMikey is doing. Although at times it can be intense and maybe not the best interactions with others, he truly is calling people out for their wrong doings as constructively as possible. Fortunately, like the lady in the van using the mobile phone, there are some good interactions. I wish I could do this because I want to see road users held accountable for their poor actions, and I want to see effective change on our roads. But, it's not an easy task. I certainly prefer Mikey to Jeremy Vine as Mikey seems less confrontational and much nicer. At the end of the day, it's all about sharing the road and that we all have a shared responsibility. This video was really refreshing and has given me a more in-depth perspective on Mikey and cycling in London. Great work from all of you. Take care and stay safe. 🙏🏾
@ my pleasure. I wish I could give more as the video was very well put together, and seeing yourself and Mikey interact was quite heart warming. Keep up the great work! 🙏🏾
This is one of the best videos GCN has done because it highlights that accountability for offences on the road are an important part of making the roads safer for everyone. Maximum respect to Mike for so respectfully documenting these types of offence. Because usually, if you've ever been involved in an accident with a motorist when the driver is at fault - there usually isn't a camera around to support your version of events to ensure a fair and justified prosecution. But it must be said in the interest of balance and fairness that we should all be responsible and law abiding on the roads. So I'll just say this without prejudice and as a lifelong cyclist in London of 40+ years - my suspicion of why drivers are so disdainful of, and aggressive towards cyclists is because many cyclists regularly and repeatedly break the law by going through red lights - all the time. This is a particularly common thing to see in London where easily 10-20% cyclists just ignore red lights. I would imagine that those drivers that react badly to being filmed while committing offences behind the wheel react badly especially because a cyclist is bringing their offences to light, and this makes this type of work by someone like Mike even harder. We've all experienced extreme driver aggression, some of us have been deliberately knocked off by drivers with zero accountability, and I don't think it's a stretch to reason that many aggressive drivers are made more angry towards cyclists because they see us as a group breaking the law repeatedly and all the time everywhere. Of course, this is not to makes excuses for any violent behaviour at all - specifically what I'm saying is that there should be a campaign within the cycling community to be equal ambassadors for each other because this would result in making the road safer for other road users and all cyclists. Keep up the good work!
Completely agree. Lifelong London cyclist here too of 35 years. Waiting at the lights you can feel the anger from the drivers behind you when loads jump the lights. I’m not saying the cyclists are likely to cause harm. But i hate being the first rider in line to get the angry treatment for someone elses law breaking
Your 1st sentence sums up the main cause of frustration in motorists that unless law enforcement is on the spot and takes action there is no way of holding bad cyclists accountable when any video of a motor vehicle can lead to prosecution
@@andrewbaxter9010 I think red light jumping from cyclists is generally a pedestrian mentality (how many pedestrians obey a red man?) It is often the most inexperienced riders. who've just jumped on a lime bike etc. My issue is the lack of enforcement of traffic offences across the board. Drivers routinely run red lights too which is FAR more dangerous to other road users and pedestrians. I saw a car clearly run red this morning and 25m up the road the city police had pulled over an e bike delivery rider. There's just not enough police to deal with all the law breaking, which is why they need people like Mikey
As someone who commutes by bike to work in Toronto, I had to start wearing a camera as drivers in general are aggressive and use road violence against anyone who is not in a car. The major difference in Toronto Canada is the law always favours drivers even when they kill someone. There is very little enforcement when it comes to road safety and a whole lot of victim blaming, and when you have a provincial government that has outlawed bike lanes it puts an even bigger target on pedestrians and people on bikes backs.
It's so sad to hear this. I lived in Toronto in the late 1970s and commuted to work by bike, and only once experienced bad behaviour by a driver (a cab driver who pulled out into the road just as I was passing, and I nearly ended up with my wheels pushed into the streetcar tracks). - There was a lot of traffic 48 years ago, but I guess thare's a whole heap more nowadays.
I wont cycle on UK roads without a camera anymore, drivers are really aggressive towards cyclists, I mean literally went for a ride at the weekend, hadnt even gone more than 2mils from my house and Id already had 2 drivers deliberately try to "punish" pass me, for simply daring to exist as a cyclist in front of them on the road.
Reading all these comments as a dutchman makes me realize how lucky we are with our cycling infrastructure and laws protecting cyclists. Bike lanes seperated by verges and our (roughly translated) vulnerable road users law spring to mind. Said law makes car drivers liable for at least 50% of the damages in an accident. Even if the vulnerable road user made a mistake. This makes car drivers far more carefull towards cyclists. Another major thing is that 99% of car drivers all started out as cyclists. I have to admit that this is a cultural thing and cultures take long times to alter. Because of all that It often baffles me what arguments are used by anti-cyling parties in the english speaking world. However our situation also didn't happen overnight so hopefully with some perseverance shown by Mike other nations will follow suit. Not a fan of his method but maybe that's what it takes to inflict some change. Good luck.
I record my commutes and report drivers. Mikey's clips are tame in comparison. Here you get drivers blowing through compulsory stops at full speed as I approached in the cycle lane. Or drivers so engrossed in their phone that they drive past me then immediately drift fully over the cycle lane, sometimes nearly taking me out. Or pulling out suddenly with no indicating. Parking in cycle lanes on top of no-parking lines, even on top of the bicycle symbol. Or doing a u-turn without indicating OR looking! What I've found is: the *vast majorty* of drivers confronted (95%) care more about their ego than road-user's safety. They'll stare blankly, they'll deny it, they'll deflect it, they'll play dumb, they'll brandish anger... anything except just saying "sorry I'll be more careful". One driver of a business vehicle, I asked why he didn't stop at the stop sign. He said "I DID STOP!". I told him "it's on camera". Reported to police and his employer. Because it would be irresponsible of me to let him go on as a career driver when he's so out of touch with reality, or so arrogant and dishonest.
Oh please what complete bs. 20 seconds? If you’re going to lie at least make it vaguely realistic. The guy in this video is a grifter creep. F all to do with safety.
It’s a fascinating point that Connor makes about feeling like he’s invading peoples privacy by looking into their car. I think this may be a large part of the divide between car drivers and other road users. Drivers do not fell like they are outside, on the road, exposed like cyclists and pedestrians.
That was my takeaway as well. When you're using the road, it's not your "personal space" - you're occupying a public road that is to be shared. Cyclists have just as much right to use it the same way. But it's easy to feel entitled when you're comfy in your cage physically separated from the environment. Mikey helps break that illusion.
Hey Adrian, Thanks for the comment - agree, this was a big take away from my day with Mikey too. Just hadn't looked at it in this way before, subconsciously it's like you assume the inside of a car is totally private - but it's not the case! Thanks for watching, Conor
I really like this kind of content very much. It's so important to have discussions about traffic safety, the bad impact of motonormativity and so on. So please carry on 😊
Whilst I appreciate what he is doing, I am concerned that he is actively looking into people's vehicles whether they are innocent or not. I find that kind if behaviour disturbing. It isn't unlawful, as long as it is considered to be in a public place, but still, it raises questions in my mind as to the ethics of intentionally looking for offenders and therefore impinging on everyone regardless 🤷♀️
He distracting drivers pulling up alongside them and glaring at them putting a camera in their faces, looking into cars for footage for his youtube channel instead of watching where he's going and constantly riding on the wrong side of the road, changing lanes without looking behind or signaling he's a lot more dangerous than someone sitting stationary in a car on their phone.
@doomer8949 It was stated that he was riding along constantly looking into windows and that's what he appeared to be doing - that is at least as distracting as looking at a mobile phone but it is also very distracting to drivers. You are allowed to overtake but you shouldn't do that in the face of oncoming traffic and you should signal when you pull out to overtake. What he's doing is dangerous to himself and more importantly other road users - imagine a car driver driving along holding a mobile phone driving along filming cyclists as they drive past them that would be dangerous wouldn't it?
@@doomer8949 mostly stationery when going to people....that doesn't make sense. How does he approach people if he is stationery? What does mostly shimmery mean?
Well done Mikey, keep doing what you’re doing. People will always react badly to being caught doing something they shouldn’t, and that’s simple, just don’t do it. We need more of you to police the roads.
My reason for enjoying the more confrontational videos is to see some of the more arrogant drivers being put in their place. I'm well aware that most are decent people, but theres some nasty ones out there who feel like they can get away with anything. They need to know that's not the case! Great video and nice one Connor for getting stuck in!
Mikey has changed my behaviours. As a cyclist, being more aware of distracted drivers and as a vehicle driver, being aware of obeying the law and not being a threat to other road users and pedestrians.
What's the deal with riding in he middle of the lanes though? British thing for cyclists? Here in NZ We keep to the left and only enter a lane if we're turning or using that lane.
I've had 3 prosecutions but would have much more if the Scottish police invested in road safety reporting like you do in England. I watch Mikey occasionally and as a commuter/ leisure cyclist I believe need more rather than generations that say it's "too dangerous on our roads to cycle". This is so defeating debilitating and does not do our children any favour. Thanks for inviting Mikey on GCN.
Not being an apologist for the Police in Scotland, but the law actually isn't on their side. Corroboration is required in Scots Law (I.e. a second witness) and so videos aren't enough for them to act. There is a campaign to end this, as it is also the reason so many other crimes end up in civil and not criminal court where the rules are different. I've had a few incidents myself, most notably in Paisley where drivers seem to think that cyclists aren't allowed in the right hand lane of the 2 lane roads through the town (30mph limit) even if they are turning right ahead.
I think he's a hero since he sometimes deliberately puts himself in dangerous situations. Those situations are usually relatively controllable, most people are hesitant about harming others deliberately in broad daylight with a camera pointing at them, but there have been situations where people have run into Mikey to bully him off the road. It's not his decision to prosecute, he merely reports and lets the executive/judiciary decide if those situations are worthy of prosecution. Since the police is actively encouraging reporting he's not a vigilante, as he said that would be scratching paint or slapping door mirrors (which I have to admit have done in dangerous situations). All in all I'd love Mikey being out of business because everyone sticks to the rules of the road, but since seemingly more and more people are willing to break the law you need such people. He said and wrote numerous times he'd love being out of business as well. 20:16: I like that Mike gave the thumbs up to the driver falling back after the driver wasn't able to overtake before the obstacle. That's called positive reinforcement which I like doing as well. A couple of times I went out of my way to tell people explicitly that they were good drivers, for example when a driver slowed down for every priority-to-the-right street where hedges prevented line of sight. A couple of 100 metres later he parked anyway so I stopped at a good distance to let him know I wasn't going to tell him off but to commend him. Unfortunately there are way more situations where I have to whistle or yell at people to stop their dangerous behaviour, but I still won't stop giving positive reinforcement.
Deliberately putting himself in danger doesn't make him a hero. He only does it so he can get the driver into more trouble and act tough and superior in front of his audience.
@TrainBusFanUK Nope, it's to provide immediate feedback and prevent a dangerous situation for people coming around a blind corner in the case of "Gandalf Corner". He seems to be the person to do that regardless whether he will upload it to UA-cam or not. If you're getting a ticket a couple of weeks after you broke the law many people just pay it and continue to break the law since it's so unlikely to get caught. If you're being stopped while breaking the law, in front of many other people nonetheless, you're more likely you'll reflect your behaviour and keep more to the law afterwards.
@ I'm not talking about stopping drivers at gandalf corner, thats a totally separate matter. I'm referring to instances where a driver makes a poor decision such as changing lanes or emerging from side roads at the wrong time. The safest thing to do in these cases is to slow down and keep behind the driver to minimise risk for all, but mikey always feels this need to give the driver a telling off for their mistake, which he does by accelerating at full speed to get in front of the driver, putting himself at serious risk of harm as often the driver does not notice him trying to put up a fight for space until its too late. This is the exact reason why so many call him a vigilante. If you want a better understanding of what I mean, you can watch ashley neal's numerous videos analysing mikey's riding.
When I was still riding my motorbike, I almost had an accident because someone changed lanes while using a phone. I think using a phone while driving or even riding a bike is quite dangerous. The problem seems to be that there are (is?) quite a lot of people who are not really aware of this. That's why I think that he is doing a great job to make more people aware of this. Especially with his kind way of doing it. Nobody likes being caught. So I can understand why some people might overreact. Just watching that London traffic is kind of stressful but I hope that most of them see his point after some reflection afterwards.
Thanks! I almost got taken out yesterday by a delivery scooter rider who was fiddling with his dash mounted phone whilst riding down Holland Park Avenue. That reminds me I need to report him today.
Watching the footage I sympathise with what he is trying to achieve, however don't agree about how he's going about it. For example at 5min23 he's wearing all black, dark glass and hat (no helmet), riding on the wrong side of the road into the path of an oncoming lorry. What if that vehicle had to swerve and hit another cyclist or pedestrian? I feel that's more dangerous than someone sat stationary in traffic checking Google maps. Does he consider that his actions also have consequences?
I agree but also I wonder about those static drivers state of mind after those lights turn green and they drive off not 100% on the ball, thinking of that confrontation they just had, as some of them probably never use whilst driving but wait till they are static only to find out they've been reported anyways and waiting for the impending fine through the door, all this going through they're head whilst driving off. As a cyclist myself I'll always remember the time when I had to avoid a drunk guy screaming at me because he prob hated cyclists & I couldn't get the incident out of my head the rest of my journey.
Gotta say - I felt safer cycling in London than I do in Bristol. I felt like London drivers always expected to share the road with cyclists even if they didn't necessarily like it, and were more vigilant as a result. A lot of Bristol's cycling infrastructure forces cyclists into areas shared with pedestrians, but because its an option there's a lot more resent from motorists when you ride on the road instead.
I live in South London (Bromley). I used to live in North London, and still cycle everywhere in South, North and central London. Bromley is terrifying compared to those other locations. This is because the drivers are thick, aggressive South London scum and because the councillors here are, likewise, thick Tory scum with all sorts of ideological neuroses about traffic management and car usage (including hatred of 20 mph and LTNs: it feels like living in the 1950s). Traffic speeds are also much much higher in Bromley than in more central locations.
There's never been a single shred of scientific evidence of a bicycle helmet saving a life or preventing injury other than cuts and scrapes. No bicycle helmet has ever been labelled by its manufacturer as a safety device.
Fair play to him, I think it’s brilliant what he’s doing. Phone use whilst using a vehicle is as bad as drink driving yet somehow seems socially acceptable. Should be instant ban if caught
One thing that I think about alot is how people don't "feel right" when reporting or even confronting dangerous drivers is the phraze "complacency is complicity". That makes me think hard precicely because dangerous driving and deaths and injuries caused by drivers has become normalized, when in any other scenario (with similar outcomes) people would be outraged and actively demanded adress of the situation.
Unfortunately that's the only way to get car drivers to respect the rules and the laws. Mostly they get away with any behaviour as long as nobody is seriously injured.
It's so great that Mikey is putting the effort into publicising motorists using their phones whilst driving. It's so dangerous for everyone on the road, including the driver themselves. Motorists use dashcams all the time so why shouldn't cyclists? Keep up the good work.
Congrats on the video! just like you I have met Mikey personally in many occasions and he comes across as such a nice guy! I get my fair share of heat for reporting a few drivers, no surprise Mikey gets grief for doing such a thorough job.
Road cyclists should have a 360 camera on them, like how some motorcyclists do. No matter how safe you're trying to be, it takes one distracted/inconsiderate driver to cause an accident.
And we should avoid the term 'accident' when talking about this stuff. It's not just chance: there are reasons, and what happens are collisions or incidents. Check out the 'guidelines for road collision reporting' for chapter and verse.
@Fogwell94 Possibly, but not definitely, I do not agree with phone use in cars but in this video the most dangerous aspects are from the cycling crime crusaders. Not giving full attention to being in control of their vehicles as they are too preoccupied with looking into stationary cars. Then giving sermons at the roadside impeding the flow of traffic.
@@simonleeofficial but he is riding without due care and attention (road traffic act 1988 this applies to cyclists), his focus should be on the road ahead not looking into vehicles checking for illegal activity especially when overtaking in a built up area. In this clip the two people acting the most dangerously are the cyclists. Then bizarre altercations, holding up traffic. It's ridiculous. Any distraction to a driver or rider is obviously bad but like practically everything in life there are degrees of good or bad. And the least bad case of phone use is in stationary traffic and whilst it is not good( as the driver needs to react timely when traffic starts to move again) but if phone use was only ever in traffic jams it really wouldn't be "dangerous".
Anything that distracts you from keeping your eyes on the road, is dangerous. Phones are particularly problematic, because the content they display are often designed to capture your attention. But it's not limited to phones, but at least for the last two decades, phones were the main offender. Modern cars that put everything on a fucking touch screen are just as bad.
I thought it was only safe to overtake traffic when it is safe to do so. Didn't he drive on the opposite side of the road 5:35 into video when other road users were coming the other way. I'm a cyclist and this is something I wouldn't do. So may times I've seen cyclist at lights go through on red. I do feel he is forcing a divide between car and cyclist road users but some cyclist give us a bad name based on their riding. I can see this only going one way, with cyclist having to have reg plates on their bike and catch the unsafe cyclists which at the moment cannot be traced.
@@zouzela1AFAIK, filtering is legal in the UK. More generally, even if it weren't, cars are more dangerous due to their speed and weight so there's nothing hypocritical about demanding special care when driving one.
Ive never understood why all these people who want to use their phones while traveling aren't voting for public transit. You can look at your phone as much as you like on the train.
Conor is obviously a super tough guy, having been a professional cyclist but he's a lover, not a fighter. Fair play to him getting out of his comfort zone here.
recently i have been close passed by a guy who then couldnt drive a straight line, at the next red light i was next to him and saw that he was in a zoomcall on his phone... people are just too reckless and don't even notice it, so good that someone makes them realize
@@gcn sadly its pretty common, but the zoomcall was a first, made me a bit speechless to be honest. comes right after a guy with phone in one hand and mcdonalds drink in the other, steering with the knees i guess...
There’s a big difference between 1) using a camera to record your rides so you have evidence in case there’s an incident (in much the same way as dashcam in a car) and 2) deciding to go around looking for people who are technically breaking the law, but one that’s hopelessly flawed (they could be legally texting using a mounted phone, which is equally dangerous).
Selam! I would say it isn’t technically breaking the law as it doesn’t matter if you are moving or not. Having a handheld phone while driving is illegal. Even off duty police officers do what Mikey does, where they will knock on windows of drivers using the phone while stationary. It’s way harder to text on a dash mounted phone and you could say the same thing about typing in an address on a car infotainment screen while driving, it’s not illegal. A lot of same drivers who use a phone behind a wheel are very likely the same drivers who speed through residential areas as “no one there” in same way people will say no one around while they are texting when there are cyclists filtering. Mikey said you can’t report drivers for speeding so this is a way of killing two birds with one stone, happy Timkat by the way!
Please don't label Mikey as a vigilante, even for clickbait in the thumbnail. Reporting a crime is not vigilante justice, it's being a responsible road user keeping everyone safer. Vigilante justice would be dishing out a punishment himself, a world away from what Mikey does.
Agree with the sentiment but Mikey's main problem is the confrontation and escalation that seems to happen. This isn't required for any of his reports, but puts him and anyone considering behaving in a similar manner in potential danger. You never know who you're dealing with so it's better to simply capture what you happen to capture, try and de-escalate any potential situation, and move on. The only thing worse than an incompetent driver is one that's also now angry and/or flustered.
As a cyclist myself I found the lane splitting that Mike was doing to be very dangerous and arrogant. At about 5:35 in I saw him spit the lane against traffic even going over into oncoming traffic. In what world is that legal, safe or courteous.
It’s completely legal what are you complaining about? Just because you are low skilled rider and is scared of riding your bike against traffic doesn’t mean it’s an illegal. You just have bad balance and low spatial awareness,
@@danieltesfaye8517 It's not legal in the most US states and insults show me how stupid you are. You could have just disagreed and claimed its legal where you live but no
@@johnleonard5936 Why are you talking about legality when you are in a different country? Americans are so weird, they love bringing up the law when it’s convenient to criticise someone. So who’s stupid now?
As for the tiredness of cycling in London- one of the toughest cycles I did was 80km cycle using every bridge from Kingston to Tower Bridge and with all the stopping and starting and concentrating I was exhausted.
What Mikey does is fantastic. The system for reporting drivers is much more clunky here in Ireland, with no online portal. The UK has taken the lead on this and you are lucky to have people like Mikey (and others) who are trying to get even a tiny percentage of poor drivers to stop their behaviour.
I like the idea of calling out bad drivers but the concept of how they approach drivers is awful. There are many situations where they increase danger by antagonising and name calling drivers. I feel those drivers will hate us even more and may even take it out on the next cyclist they meet. 😪 I personally keep my mouth shut, record and upload it on the police portal. Let them handle it. They will listen to the police more than me calling them a tw*t.
People using their phones while driving is not ok, it's an obvious distraction that needs to be prevented. I'm not so sure that I'm convinced about someone using their phone whilst stationary in traffic is a significant threat. It seems to me that the worst case is someone misses the light change... annoying but not dangerous, is there another element that I'm missing?
No, you're absolutely correct. The law is stupid. When stationary it's impossible for anyone to get hurt. When moving, it's thoroughly dangerous. But that's the law. In a cradle, you can tap away on it *while driving* but can't pick it up when not moving.
@@DarrenMansell Yep. I never understood why it's suddenly ok to use your phone if it's attached to the dashboard? Just like these cars with touchscreen everything. Just as bad as texting. I think if your handbrake is on then no problem. Once it's released no messing with touchscreens/phones.
I guess the thought is that if they use it while at a red light there is a decent chance they also use it while driving. But it is my gut reaction as well that it seems too extreme to report people standing still for phone usage (especially if they are not familiar with the city and really just using a navigation app). But overall I think this is a great initiative by the police to accept and act on such videos. Afaik here in Germany there would be no chance of that as there is also no law that makes the owner of a vehicle accountable for the actions of the driver. So every report I heard that prosecution stopped investigating because they were "unable to identify the driver" (even with Dashcam videos of those; so seems like rather unwilling). And that is usually regarding dangerous driving not "minor" offences like phone usage
Before passing distracted driver laws, the accident statistics were thoroughly studied... in the case where a driver is looking down at their phone when stopped at a red light, and failed to notice the driver in front has moved on after the light changed then quickly accelerated to catch up before assessing the traffic/road conditions, thus colliding with another driver or cyclist or pedestrian.
It’s one thing to be commuting and finding law breakers. It’s another thing to be this guy who’s actively going out of his way to find lawbreakers. I’m a cyclist and this guy is unhelpful as
I’m not trying to be provocative. But how so? I truly believe (significantly) more fines should be issued (and in my country, the penalties need to be steeper.) - If the authorities are under-resourced to effectively police dangerous behaviour, then so what if citizens are performing the role of reporting (not enforcing)? I think the roads would be far better off if we had more citizens policing each other. Especially when it comes to behaviour that puts lives at risk.
@ you’re not trying to be provocative; thanks for the message! I don’t believe citizens policing each other is a good idea for society, to a certain degree that is. I mean, take the video for example. There’s a woman on her phone in traffic and he’s going to get her a ticket. She does pose some type of danger but it’s very minimal. Traffic in the centre of London is basically a gridlock so how on earth does that make the roads really unsafe for cyclists in regards to drivers on their phones? I’m from Australia and I find the worst offenders to be electric bikes and mo-ped drivers wizzing through traffic. They are insanely dangerous and it was a real eye opener coming over here seeing it
Excellent interview. Thanks for sharing your thoughts after your ride, Conor. I too would not feel comfortable adopting these tactics but am grateful that Mikey does what he does to raise awareness and help make the roads safer for everyone, especially cyclists.
If a driver chooses to drive at Mikey because he's standing in the road, it's the driver that is the vigilante: they are punishing someone according to their own rules. Mikey only acts according to the law and reports to the police; the opposite of vigilantism
Having been in a fatal accident on the M4 when a van driver drove into the back of static traffic without breaking I have no doubts that any form of distraction whilst driving is very dangerous. He hit the car behind so hard that having smashed it five metres down the road, still had enough momentum to completely destroy the car I was in as well. When he hit us, he went up in the air and landed on top of us. It does beg the question on the current trend for big screens in cars and having to scroll through menus to adjust the heating etc..
I’ve driven behind people while they’ve been on their phones many times,on motorways they sway over lanes or sway within a lane touching the hazard lines separating the lanes,in traffic queues they move left then right trying to drive straight, roll over junctions they’re meant to stop at,if you think about it once your attention is on your phone there’s a delay to focus back on other things such as a conversation with someone your with because you can’t concentrate on two things at once, that concentration lag also happens while driving from phone to driving,this is also where an accident could happen,being on the phone especially messaging or txting is like having micro sleeps because their attention is on the phone not on driving, they’re oblivious to everything going on around them, your calls/ txts/emails aren’t more important than someone’s life,BTW cars /vehicles aren’t the problem it’s the drivers just as bad cycling such as going through red lights isn’t the bicycles fault it’s the rider.
As a London cab driver, motorbike rider of 40 years AND a cyclist. I would have to say the biggest danger to pedestrians are cyclists jumping red lights and doing whatever the hell they like. It’s a shame they can’t be filmed and prosecuted! And its a shame that London’s streets are being managed by a totally useless organisation called TFL. It’s like the Wild West out there. Hire bikes/ kids on L plates trying to kill themselves delivering food. People two up standing on scooters. Electric bikes going faster than 20 mph. I’m not condoning what he’s doing. It’s a jungle out there. Stay safe.
Americans need to remember that cycling and walking are RIGHTS! You have a RIGHT to go where you please, as you please. There is no registration needed for your bicycle or shoes. No licensing needed to ride or walk, and no insurance needed for these activities. And since you're using PUBLIC rights-of-way, it makes your behavior that much more of a right. Driving, on the other hand, is a PRIVILEGE. There's ZERO right to drive. You must be properly trained, experienced and licensed. Your vehicle must be road-worthy and registered as well as insured. Yet drivers are the most entitled people using our public rights-of-way. They DEMAND everything! "Fix my roads!" (Yet they're the ones doing the damage.) "Damn traffic!" (Yet THEY ARE THE PROBLEM!) When's the last time a driver paid for the property damage they've done to public infrastructure? I know of NO insurance companies that pay for a smashed guard rail, crushed bus stop, or knocked over streetlight. Millions and millions of dollars of damage annually that WE pay for! Yet they feel totally entitled on the road. YOU have the RIGHT. They do not!
I think what this two-wheeled Karen is doing would be fine if he just refrained from telling people what they did wrong and that he'll be reporting them. This, to me, is bordering on impersonating a police officer (Conner sort of makes this point at the end of the video but then relents). The women he engaged with even said "it's your job" so she clearly believed he was acting in some official capacity and he did nothing to dissuade her of this notion (I think he embraces it). While this exchange was goin on, a line of cars formed behind them, all of whom were most likely not feeling warm and fuzzy towards cyclists. File the report and let the "actual" officials deal with it. Why create the possibility for confrontation? The most likely answer, of course, is that confrontations get more hits.
You live in the upside down world. She's the one who started the conversation and if you actually watched the video you'd understand Mickey is not comfortable with confrontation at all. Maybe pay more attention.
@@Avioto It's clear that his MO is to film people and then tell them what they're doing wrong. He even teaches Connor to do this and Conner expresses discomfort with it (a good part to pay attention to). I'm fine with the filming and reporting I just think it isn't necessary or helpful (or his job) to tell people what they did wrong.
I know its not law, but what about cyclists carrying selfie sticks with cameras on them, is that full control of a vehicle, especially when their either riding at speed or amongst traffic (and i am a cyclist and a car driver).
While it could be argued that deliberately seeking out and berating offenders could be the actions of a vigilante it is clear that he has crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic. That may be an i dicator of growing mental health issues. IT MUST ALSO TAKE 27 SECONDS FOR A DRIVER TO RE ORIEBTATE AFTER BEING DISTRACTED BY HIM LEERING AT THEM.
It’s definitely mental health related. He gets a sick satisfaction from causing misery the easiest way he knows how. He will literally pick and hyper focus on the most archaic traffic violation there is. If mobile phone use was legal tomorrow, his channel would be filled with seat belt violations
Do you think this falls into vigilanteism? 👀
No. He’s only reporting bad driving and loads of drivers do this with their dashcams as well
@@gcn no. Responsible citizenship
Yes.
It is being a responsible citizen and protecting everyone on the road, not just cyclists!
I think seeing it and reporting it is fine but actively looking for it may cross the line into vigilantism and helps fuel the anger some drivers feel towards cyclist. More high visibility police officers in bikes policing motorists as well as cyclists would be the best solution.
My dad, David Sinar, was killed by a then 20 year old woman, Amber Potter, on the A11 in Norfolk due to mobile phone use. No one should have to go through what we have all because of some selfish individual cannot be completely self absorbed of themselves whilst driving! My father was still to this day one of the best cyclist I have ever met, setting the land speed record and winning countless titles up and down the country, all to be brought to an abrupt end due to a modern fad in todays society. Mum and I recently went to GMB to discuss these modern matters, thank you CM for keeping the roads safer and hopefully teaching many drivers that driving is a privilege and NOT a right!
I'm so sorry to read about your dad. I hope our collective reporting efforts will save a few other families the same experience.
So sorry for your loss, and thank you for raising awareness. I look forward to the day when people like Mikey have nothing to report because drivers are making good choices, staying aware, and simply obeying the law to make it safer for all.
So sorry to read about your father. Sending our thoughts to you and your family.
I remember reading about this firstly sorry, its horrible on all levels and her sentence was a complete joke.
@@Thepoomaster517 I am sorry for your loss, my best wishes to you and your family.
I too lost a great friend and my coach Mike Bloom, to a cement lorry driver on his phone whilst Mike was out training on his bike.
The driver is out now but the sentence was way too short for what he did.
Mike hung on to life for six day's before he Succumbed to his multiple crush injuries.
He was my friend and a father figure to me he was a fit and active 75 year old.
Becoming independent might be the best thing to ever happen to GCN. Films like this are insightful, well produced and thought provoking - well done for not just presenting the one perspective but challenging it too!
As a cyclist in London my general rule of thumb (sadly) is "you can be right and dead". Car brain is, unfortunately, a thing, so I'm all for making someone think twice about how they're behaving on the road and realising we're all people with lives, families and different stories. I don't know if confronting people and irritating someone in a car makes the streets safer though. I'd err on film, report, leave it at that.
Hey Matt, Thank you - appreciate the kind words. Glad you thought that of this film and those we've published recently. I agree, personally I wouldn't confront people again - but still, I see the effect that journey cam users have had as a whole after spending the day with Mike. I think that challenge needed to be there, to make us all think about our own actions when using the road. Thanks for the comment, Conor
I would say that violent confrontations are rare and a lot of people will be in shock if you catch them. Like they feel powerless and plus they are being recorded so they will think twice. I actually got into a physical confrontation not with the driver who close passed me but with a passerby known to the driver. He put his hands on me and grabbed me by my coat. I countered my matching the force he put on me and shouting at him to let go of me as I knew he wouldn’t do anything and it was best for both of us. I’m a boxer and I was more afraid that I was going to hurt him if I were to seriously punch him. His chin was exposed and I could’ve KOed him with an uppercut as he much taller than me but I chose not to. Plus I was outnumbered because all of his mates came out and surrounded me. I wasn’t really intimidated to be honest and that might be because I’m from South London. My one was an anomaly to be fair and an unusual and unexpected end result.
I hope videos like this one will raise awareness outside the UK of the benefits of allowing citizens to report certain types of traffic violations to police. Because first the laws have to exist to permit this kind of reporting and enable the police to take action. For example, in my city there has been some interest in enabling citizens to report drivers parked in bike lanes, but it hasn't made it into law yet. And that's something I wouldn't need a GoPro, or even my bike, to take action on! I mean that's something I see every time I walk out my front door and walk a block or two.
Like mobile phone use, there are some types of offenses for which video evidence is more or less incontrovertible. But there need to be practical reporting tools and the police need to have the legal authority to issue civil violations to the owner of record, like they do already with speeding and red light camera tickets.
thank you so much for the comment and appreciating our films as well as your own experiences in London. 👍
I think the hope is people admit they are wrong. Confronting people is a tough thing because to do some degree they'll just away with it forever if you just film it. But if you confront them they may sit in traffic the next time just because they also don't want the confrontation. Its hard to say if its resulting in anything other than more and more media attention. Maybe one day it'll cause cops to sit there instead of this guy
It's a scandal that so many modern cars have giant Ipads on their dashboards that you have to use to do simple functions like switching on heated seats etc, to my mind these are as dangerous as someone using their mobile phones.
We know exactly what you mean. Many modern vehicles are full of gadgets which could easily distract motorists from paying attention.
They've changed the Euro NCAP safety ratings now so that cars can't get a 5 score if manufacturers use them rather than buttons.
My car has one, buttons would be far simpler and safer.
Great point, I can’t do much in the car without using a digital screen
@@gcn will you no longer have presenters to pieces to camera whilst driving now as you have in the past? I remember both Manon and Hank doing some.
100% right.
I’m loving the direction GCN is heading these days! Thanks for highlighting safety and making cycling more accessible for everyone. Keep up the great work!
Wow! Thank you so much for the feedback and the Super Thanks
My mum was killed by someone who was distracted and on their phone to their wife at the time, this is why I support and started watching cycling mikey.
Another fabulous video on an important topic. I'm so glad that GCN is not shying away from this kind of subject matter, and you covered it well - it was a genius idea to join Cycling Mikey. Thanks!😃
Thank you so much for your support
Imagine drivers being caught for driving dangerous and illegally whle using their phone and somehow that makes people angry about cyclists
Those people are angry about cyclists anyway (bizarrely).
In my experience it is very often the road-user at fault who is most angry. Whether it be car-vs-car or whatever. I think it has to do with increasing narcissism in society, and perceived "ego injury" when they are called out. Their peepee shrinks to the size of a tic-tac and they think the only way to reclaim it is narcissistic rage, rather than fixing their behaviour.
@@jonchapman4448 Yeah but they pay £10 per month road tax so should be able to endanger children by driving whilst on WhatsApp 🙄
You don't have to imagine.
The first step to being a bad person is convincing yourself that the horrible things you do are fine, actually.
As a result, ANYONE that you confront for breaking the law in public will always act like you're the problem, not them.
Edit: I just saw the first woman in the video go the "hand in the cookie jar" route, and I'm suddenly wondering if American scofflaws are a lot more belligerent than British ones.
same mentality to woman slaps butt pinching perv is making men violent;
or ukraine defending itself is antagonizing the russians.
I know Mikey personally, and have ridden with him. He's genuinely this nice guy in the video. He's emphatically not a vigilante, just a good citizen, making our roads safer, and highlighting dangerous activity so we can all learn to be safer and more aware on the roads. As he frequently points out, he is not the biggest reporter of these offences in London, and, as the video mentions, drivers' reports outnumber those from cyclists. We've all got a role to play in road safety.
Thank you so much!
This is definitely vigilantism. The incidents are nothing to do with his ride.
Trust me, mikey may seem like a nice guy at first but when you make the smallest mistake and cause him the slightest inconvenience, he will do everything he can to retaliate back at you and make you feel miserable. Such as when once a pedestrian accidentally stepped out in front of him and mikey responded with vicious threats of violence. He will also not hesitate to hit the block button if you criticise his actions and do not fall for his own narrative. Never do you see him reflect and learn from potential mistakes, he just thinks that he's always right and everyone else is wrong just because he's the one with a camera.
@TrainBusFanUK I don't recognise this description
@ ua-cam.com/video/GSHBeReBYFU/v-deo.html
I find people being cavalier about breaking the rules of the road so rude. By doing it, they are essentially saying, 'my convenience is more important than your safety.'
Exactly, like drivers speeding, I want to go somewhere fractionally quicker and if I endanger thousands of people so be it. Its very moronic.
This is not vigilantism. This is a citizen *reporting* crimes, not enforcing the law in his own way. There is a big difference.
On Conner's point about feeling that it's an invasion of someone's private space when you stick a camera on them when they're in their car. I think that's part of the problem. In modern cars, particularly expensive ones, you're so isolated from the outside world it is easy to forget that in reality you're still sharing the road with others with immediate and dangerous consequences if you mess up. We need a shock reminder sometimes to remember that others exist outside our insulated safe metal boxes. Just the same as being embarrassed when someone spots you picking your nose in the car... everyone can see you! Obviously that's never happened to me! Good video Conner.
Very good point here
Hey Gary, Thanks for the comment! This was a big take away for me too from the day with Mike.. I totally agree with you. Maybe car design should aim to reverse this in future? Cheers for the kind words and thanks for watching, Conor
Spot on. I think a lot of drivers actually believe what they see around them is happening on a TV screen and their actions have no impact on what's around them
Very good point and 100% true. Filming people in public is not bad. Being on the phone while driving is anti-social behavior and needs to be treated accordingly. Same as filming someone littering or vandalism
You go to jail if you kill anybody unless you do it in a car 🚗💀
Sad fact is these drivers don’t have respect. And incompetent and negligent forces like Thames Valley Police don’t prosecute. I’ve sent 100+ recording, been knocked off and driven at and squashed all with footage and Thames Valley Police didn’t prosecute a single one.
If it wasn’t for the police’s lack of action people like Mikey wouldn’t have to go to such lengths
hi, thanks for the comment and we are sorry to hear about the footage you have captured in the past. Do you feel Thames Valley Police have a particularly poor stance on this? 0/100 prosecutions for the offenses does seem strange to us
A few years ago I submitted footage of myself being car doored to the Met Police. They sent me a letter saying they were not going to take any action because there was insufficient evidence (apparently the whole incident on video and the perpetrator admitting responsibility was 'insufficient'), that there was no supporting CCTV footage (I looked on the local council website, there was a CCTV camera less than 100m away) and that it was a 'damage only' incident, despite me also submitting photos of the injuries sustained, which needed hospital treatment. The police quite frankly don't care about motoring offences.
@@gcnYes, TVP have been very poor on processing public-submitted footage in time to do anything about it.
In America, one could argue that all cyclists should be legally allowed to carry firearms concealed. In gun-crazy land, why not?
The problem is, drivers have their hands on a deadly weapon. And they use them! They use their vehicles to bully, intimidate, threaten, do damage, injure and kill. And when confronted by others, they lash out. In other words, the innocent public in their paths should simply be allowed to defend themselves with equal lethal force. And since cyclists (and pedestrians) don't have a 4,000 lb., 350 HP weapon at their fingertips, they should have an alternative. Thus the firearm.
Would drivers change their behavior knowing many cyclists are armed and ready to defend themselves? Many might. Hell, maybe most of 'em would! Helmet cam footage of a driver going after a cyclist who then shoots them dead? Judge would say, "Got what he deserved! Now compensate the cyclist victim for the trauma caused!" That would be justice.
Ultimately, the solution is NOT more violence, but less. Requiring drivers behave and obey the law is the better route. We all will be much happier if drivers could simply take the responsibility of driving seriously.
But the CAUSES of driver poor behavior are another matter. Stressed-out people living on the edge, struggling to make ends meet and fearing for their futures play a HUGE part in our societal issues. When people are mistreated by society, they lash out. Road rage is a natural result, as is crime, drug addiction, domestic violence, and so much else.
@@JLobber Police forces vary dramatically in their attitudes to motoring offences, and submitted camera footage. Some are great (West Midlands, and Surrey? IIRC). Others are dangerously useless.
I don't want to see other road users injured by some idiot on the phone! It's as bad as drink driving in my mind. We wouldn't think twice about reporting a drink driver. No road user would!
The cars were stationary...have you ever seen a stationary car kill somebody. You are a complete moron.
I can be in traffic, stuck, not moving at all. If I try to find a diversion on my phone (because it's an old car) this guy will film it, report it, and I get a fine or lose my license.
But if a brand new car with 15 touch screens does the exact same thing, it's fine.
Its a joke.
@@OTH89 Surely your car isn't so old that you can't find a phone cradle to fit it.
@@glenn1534 so if the phone is in a cradle I can use it? Since when is that legal?
@@OTH89 using a phone in a cradle is dealt with under different laws to those that ban you from using the phone in your hands. It would be classed as driving without due care. But if you're moving a map in stationary traffic, it wouldn't be worth the police's time.
Been following Mikey for a while now. What I'm most impressed by is how calm and unfazed he seems even in dangerous confrontations. Never heard him raise his voice.
"Hey Siri call the Police" in a whiney voice (driver acquitted)
This gentleman is most probably saving lives, and he’s incredibly polite in the process. He’s giving a lot to his community and setting a fine example.
He's not creating a divide between cyclists and motorists, he's creating a divide between dangerous drivers and everyone else. Anyone thick enough to use a phone behind the wheel deserves the punishment, simple
He 100% is creating a divide. Plenty of times, when a driver makes a bad judgement when changing lanes or turning from side roads, you will see mikey accelerate at full speed towards the driver, putting himself in danger just to give said driver a pointless telling off for their easily fixable mistake. He could easily lower his speed and keep behind such drivers but chooses not to, just so he can act tough and superior in front of his audience. Ashley neal has done a fantastic job at summing up mikey's reckless antics.
@TrainBusFanUK Nope he is 0% creating a divide. Because other people's response to his actions is 100% their responsibility. Every single person has the ability to choose between learning positively, or being resentful of a lesson. To quote Marcus Aurelius on that: "If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone."
@ watch ashley neal's analysis videos and you will see what I mean. There are plenty of occasions where he is so focused on reprimanding a particular driver that he ignores any bad cycling he sees around him. Fed up of seeing just how many people are glazing him in this comment section.
@ also why do you expect all drivers to react positively and politely to him when he can often act towards them in an aggressive and threatening manner?
@ Expect? Who said expect? I pointed out that everyone has the choice, not what I expect they'll do. If I can remain composed when a maniac driver totally in the wrong nearly hits my car, then rages and actually threatens me, then any of Mikey's drivers should find it much easier. (since they are actually in the wrong, and Mikey is not imposing anything unjust). I simply make the decision that no amount of hot air can change the truth. Mikey bearing witness to their crimes does not change their crimes one iota. Mikey commenting on it doesn't change it either.
They are as guilty whether they are caught or not. They are responsible for their own actions and attitudes and how they clean up their mess. A person with strong accountability will learn positively from being called out for a road crime even if is delivered rudely. Because truth does not depend on presentation. A person with weak accountability will resent the person who caught them, rather than learning positively. They will try pick holes in the presentation, or the tone, to try deflect from the truth that they have done wrong, or just call names and swear. (see Graham's Heirarchy of Disagreement).
You guys have soooo up'd your game in the quality and relevance of your videos. Fantastic job here. Thank you. Cheers
Thank you!
@gcn Yes, I appreciate you expanding beyond the small world of “the cyclist,” to other people who like to ride bikes.
The divide between motorists and cyclists has always been there. The fact that motorists are being called out for mostly phone use is upsetting them. Motorists make poor choices and don’t like being found out. If it stops motorists using their phones that has to be a good thing for every road user doesn’t it? The motorists that do it have been doing it everyday until rumbled.
The other thing to bear in mind is motorists report other motorists poor driving on their dashcams in such large amounts that there are tv programmes about it.
It amazes me that people use phones in sign written vehicles too🤷🏼♂️
Finally, motorists kill vulnerable road users, cyclists are vulnerable road users, it is not cyclists killing motorists.
anything that means improving road safety for all road users is a plus point for us!
If this stops at pointing out bad driver behaviour, I'm all for it. However, on social media, allmost all accounts that share bad motorist behaviour footage, talk about motorists vs. cyclists and it's as polarizing as some motorists being hostile online to cyclists in general. Once we understand it's just bad and good people / behaviour on different means of transportation, it's not about group vs. group anymore and that's much needed.
"The fact that motorists are being called out for mostly phone use is upsetting them."
Cyclists want to ignore the highway code, including not having lights at night and using phones while riding, and get upset about being called out for it. Hypocrisy. At the exact moment of typing this, Mike mentions going through red traffic lights, which coming from a cyclist really can't be taken seriously.
@@chrisdavidson911no more than drivers. Yet the difference is cyclists primarily harm themselves while drivers harm others.
@@chrisdavidson911I have a copy of the highway code on my phone, which I have pulled out a few times to correct motorists.
I have never either in my car or on my bikes ran a red light in 50 years, you have just generalised all bike riders/cyclists as bad road users. It's a small minority that has been blown out of proportion by social media.
I'm not a cyclist, I'm a motorist. Mikey is a legend and a good guy.
He's neither.
@@ajc4477 😂 you’re trolling now
I ride in city traffic daily. And there is rarely a day, where I am not endangered by a motorist. It's a mixture of impatience (close passes, speeding, running red lights...) and inattention. Once, a small truck driver almost ran me over. I caught up to him at the next traffic light. I knocked on his window - expected an angry face. Instead, it was like waking him up from a deep sleep. He hadn't seen me at all. He was driving is truck in auto-mode. Most commonly, drivers don't realize how dangerous the stuff is that they do. They are not really there at all. As a cyclist, that is a luxury, I will never have. Not paying attention gets you killed in no time.
Hero!
'Justice feels like oppression to the privileged.'
That goes along with the comment that there is more phone usage in luxury cars
Even before watching I had an impression of a cyclist just making motorist more angry towards us "like ohhh great". But after watching the whole video, you really see he started doing that to protect us cyclist and other road users, he's a hero in disguise, a car not paying attention can destroy someone life or cause death, grateful to have someone in the world reminding people to be careful on the road, thank you GCN & Mickey !!
Thank you kindly!
We are so happy we were able to portray the message in a fair way
Well done for assessing further information and changing your mind - it's a bit of a rarity on the net these days.
At the end of the day, the roads are a public space. You wouldn't feel bad about telling someone off for littering in a public park, so you shouldn't feel bad about this.
In 'Murica, that kind of thing will get you shot!
We've fallen so far as a society, enforcing societal norms puts one's life in danger.
And with Treasonous Trump at the helm, this will only get worse. Far worse.
He's a good egg :)
My dad is disabled because someone who wasn't paying attention ran him over. It'll never happen to you until it does. He's educating people or at least making them aware.. and the law never bothers people who don't break it.
... and doesn't punish sufficiently those who do.
I am sorry about what happened to your father.
In this case you are absolutely right
I’m sorry about your dad mate.
❤️
I'm so sorry about your dad
My uncle was a lifetime cyclist who was cycling to work across Birmingham one day when a truck just rolled over him and killed him.
If Mikey stops one person being killed he has succeeded. If you don’t know by now what the law is regarding driving and mobile phones you must have been living under a stone.
Mikey I salute you.
So sorry for the loss of your uncle. I agree with your sentiment. My soon to be brother in law was driving and was struck by a driver texting. All that texting can wait. It's not worth it.
I'm so sorry to read about your uncle. My condolences.
I hope that collectively all the citizens reporting road crime have saved at least a few lives.
Anyone caught texting should be fined and banned from Driving for 30 days. Second offense within 3 months given 6 month ban, third offense within 24 months, 10 year Driving ban. That would work a lot better.
The fact that his activity leads to prosecution very clearly means he's NOT a vigilante at all. Motorists just like saying that because they like committing crimes and they don't like it that they're being caught. The divide is between lawbreakers and upstanding citizens. It just so happens that the vast majority of motorists are criminals.
By your reasoning the 'vast majority' of cyclists are also criminals.
He’s a vigilante. Simple. He uses his UA-cam channel as a form of punishment by humiliation. In front of nearly 100k subscribers with millions of views. Sometimes the subjects have not been prosecuted. This is not reasonable behaviour and he should be stopped from doing it without anonymisation.
@@marblex Have you tried reporting him to the police? The police take a very dim view of vigilantes so would surely want to see him stopped
@@marblex If you think he is a vigilante, then you don't know the meaning of the word.
A vigilante takes the law into their own hands. Reporting to the police is not vigilanteism.
@ Rubbish. Driving is a public activity in a public space. The fact that these people are not publicly humiliated immediately for their recklessness and violence is just an oversight from the public, which is rectified in UA-cam. If you don't want to be humiliated, don't do humiliating things. End of story.
Great video. You covered this in a balanced way far better than nearly anyone calling themselves a journalist in a large media organisation has before. The irrational hate by some people is blind to the fact it's our children walking on the pavements and crossing our roads. Its our family members undertaking journeys in cars that are killed or seriously injured by distracted drivers too, not just cyclists.
I got knocked down from behind in 2017 while cycling around 20 mph by someone distracted who wasn't even allowed to be in the bus lane. It was a clear day and there were another 3-4 cyclists a short distance ahead of me in the bus lane too. The Police action resulted in a warning about the manner of their driving and no action was taken due to lack of evidence. Since then I've cycled with a camera. I got no issue reporting you if I see you on the phone while driving. Some drivers make it so obvious they are driving in a distracted and dangerous manner that I can send 3-4 videos a week to the Met and its rare they won't be writing to them.
Thank you, really appreciate the comment. Personally, I really see how more wide spread camera use can calm people's behaviour on the roads and make them more accountable. Spending the day with Mikey really opened my eyes to it. Sorry to hear you were knocked down, but glad to hear you've been cycling since. Hope this video can make everyone more aware about road safety issues and whats at stake. Conor
from someone who almost had their right leg severed from just above the calve due to a driver using a phone I would suggest that penalties are too lenient right now (car went in to the back of me. headlight shattered on my bike and the momentum carried the glass / polycarb.. forward slicing through muscle and embedding part way in to bone). Still remember waking up wit ha crowd around me and all i wanted to do was stop my Garmin and check my bike.
That's awful, hope you've had a speedy and full recovery
@@jaysee2213 thanks. It was back in 2016, so I have completely recovered since then. The compensation was very welcome too
What punishment did the driver receive? (I can already guess it's not appropriate for the crime, probably 3 points or a course)
@@glenn1534 just points on his licence and had to attend a driving safety course. i still remember him sitting at the side of the road and I was asking him if he was ok. I also remember being asked where I lived - and in my mind i was thinking that they were going to give me a lift home because my mind wasn't fully aware of what was going on. with the adrenaline i was never in any pain. In the long term scheme of things my fitness actually improved. slowly got in to running which became somewhat of an addiction for a few years, probably because i spent so long waiting to get my compensation and wouldn't just take the first offer - so I couldn't afford a new bike at the time.
This is great content and Connor is a great presenter. Watching him have that confrontation a few weeks back was quite upsetting. This problem is happening in the states as well. Every day, when I commute to work in my car, I see people driving with their phone in their laps, only partially paying attention to the road in front of them. Distracted driving is a serious issue, especially for a cyclist. Not too long ago I was on a bike ride when a driver coming in the other direction swerved off the road, clearly not paying attention to the curving road ahead. Luckily he corrected before he hit anything but it was scary nonetheless. People are addicted to their phones and they can’t help themselves but constantly check it even when they’re driving.
I'm a cyclist Mike talks about keeping himself safe, NO Hi Viz dressed in black (my opinion creeping up on stationary vehicles), doesn't sit right with me
It doesn't matter if he's wearing hi-viz from head-to-toe. If a driver is fully concentrating on the phone in their lap, they're not going to see him, or any other cyclist.
@@bromptinowner763 ‘creeping up’ is the right term there 😂
No helmet either. Unless that baseball cap is crash protection?
Excellent activity. Society is so distracted, impatient and anti cyclist attitude has stopped me from riding. When certain idiots see the opportunity to get revenge they do. I’ve been brake checked, side swiped, threatened. If they do attempt to kill me, is it attempted man slaughter. If not it should be. I’m a husband, father, son and insured car driver who used to ride in preference to drive. Now I just drive at the speed limits, which really annoys other drivers, who just have to get a cars length ahead. This madness needs to stop. Law enforcement is critical. Cameras and enforcement is unfortunately essential.
hi thanks for comment, it sounds like you have had some daunting experiences in the past. Hopefully this video helps raise awareness to keep everyone safer on the roads 👍
I've stopped too. Need to go live somewhere where it is safe to cycle!
I'm in similar shoes. I'm a 52 year long avid cyclist, from daily commuting to road and mountain biking. Even occasional unicycling. I'm a former commercial driver, current motorcycle endorsement holder and avid driver. Racing technical criteriums in college taught me how to enjoy the twisties in a Porsche!
That said, I DETEST the driver behavior I see on a many-times-a-day basis. It's INSANE in the SF Bay Area. Habitual lawlessness on the part of drivers. Even the "good" drivers are horrible behind the wheel. (Like the lady in the $80k Mercedes SUV who pulled an illegal u-turn into a motorcyclist. She was pregnant, so she had to hurry of to ask her doctor if her "precious little cargo" was ok! Unreal.)
And then there are the criminals behind the wheel. Case in point:
I return to town after a wonderful mountain bike ride. Instead of heading straight home, I decide to head to the local park to warm down. So I get in the left turn lane and wait at the red light behind a car. (Look driver, I didn't run the red! Something drivers complain about, right?) Along comes a driver behind me honking like a total lunatic as he comes to a stop behind me at the red light. He exits his vehicle to yell at me, "GET OUT OF THE ROAD!" So reply, "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? I *AM TRAFFIC!* "
Complete idiot, lunatic committing assault on me.
He exited his vehicle thinking I'd shrink and run away. He was a little surprised when I turned to him and stood up to his aggression
The asshole had his hand in his pocket, so I didn't know if he had a gun. He slunk back to his car and eventually drove off.
This is the shit happening all the time. And I'm in California where it's FAR better than other places in the US.
Might start carrying a gun if it gets worse. Sick of being the victim.
The thing is, if the same nice motorist crashed into you cause they were distracted on their phone, how would you feel about it, even with no major injuries, it is still frustrating and a terrifying experience
The nice motorist wasn't moving. People who genuinely only check/use their phone whilst stationary are obviously not adding much road risk. The law, however, does not distinguish.
@@xxwookey In my country you are allowed to drink and drive. You just must be under the limit. (however very few people exercise this freedom and it is frowned on). But in other countries you cannot even have open alcohol in the car. That's what the blanket ban on phone use is kinda like. When the temptation is right there accessible it's likely to be abused. And as s they mentioned it takes time to adjust back to the surroundings. So actually they ARE a road risk.
@xxwookey they are stationary looking at their phone. The traffic clears ahead of them. They see the gap and pull away hurriedly. Someone gets crunched as the driver bumps wheels over them
Come try this in South Africa 😂. Great video however, love that Connor challenged and questioned Mikey’s methods and didn’t just report blindly. Mikey is ultimately doing a great job.
The Quantums wouldn't be the issue here, but instead the public
I don't think he would last in America either, But then again.. I gotta be honest Im surprised he's lasted at all anywhere.
Never been to London but I know they're not absent violent crime maybe he just hasn't met the right person yet.. *shrug*
Hi there fellow SAfrican. Here in SA, he won't have a camera and or bike left.
@@annelisenorth8670 I cycle with my GoPro almost on a daily, I've never had near run ins while on the move. But he'd be at risk confronting them for sure👌
Vrystaat !
I’m a cyclist living in Sydney, but recently visited London and hired a bike. I was surprised to find that I didn’t have a single problem from car drivers. The only problems I observed were the massive rule breaking by people riding e-bikes (mostly delivery riders)! They were constantly running red lights, and dodging in and out of traffic in ways that I would not. If you want to experience a place where there is a real problem of drivers endangering cyclists, come visit Sydney.
IF you are used to city cycling, London is the safest (UK) city to cycle in. However, if you are not a regular city cyclist, I can understand why some find it an overwhelming and confusing nightmare, and feel smaller less populated large towns/cities are safer.
@@Bikey_McBeardfaceManchester is very good as well.
Yes and that is what is worrying me as it all seems one sides. Wrong is wrong, no matter who you are and what you drive but it becomes a dangerous thing when the finger is only pointed in one direction. Motorists do not make a distinction between normal and e-bikes, commuters and couriers, social and athletes. All they see is a bike. No matter the mode of transport, you have to behave in a predictable manner.
I haven't cycled in Sydney but here in Adelaide I've had some close fast driver close shaves and even had two collisions with cars from dri ers turning left and right. I've driven in the UK a lot but not for 9 years so the traffic is probably busier. I think.in general drivers drive slower and are more aware in Europe
As a lover and teacher of driving, I see the constant poor road use from every road user. As you said, you felt tired due to all the concentration from being so aware of others which I can completely relate to as a driving instructor.
Aside driving, I myself cycle at times in and around the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. I can really appreciate what CyclingMikey is doing.
Although at times it can be intense and maybe not the best interactions with others, he truly is calling people out for their wrong doings as constructively as possible. Fortunately, like the lady in the van using the mobile phone, there are some good interactions.
I wish I could do this because I want to see road users held accountable for their poor actions, and I want to see effective change on our roads. But, it's not an easy task.
I certainly prefer Mikey to Jeremy Vine as Mikey seems less confrontational and much nicer. At the end of the day, it's all about sharing the road and that we all have a shared responsibility.
This video was really refreshing and has given me a more in-depth perspective on Mikey and cycling in London. Great work from all of you. Take care and stay safe. 🙏🏾
hi! thanks very much for the comment and SuperThanks! as well as sharing your view from a driving instructor perspective.
🫶
@ my pleasure. I wish I could give more as the video was very well put together, and seeing yourself and Mikey interact was quite heart warming. Keep up the great work! 🙏🏾
Thank you kindly! I was for a while a gliding instructor, a different set of problems, but I feel your experience a little.
@ cheers! 🍻 Keep up the great work! 🙏
This is one of the best videos GCN has done because it highlights that accountability for offences on the road are an important part of making the roads safer for everyone. Maximum respect to Mike for so respectfully documenting these types of offence. Because usually, if you've ever been involved in an accident with a motorist when the driver is at fault - there usually isn't a camera around to support your version of events to ensure a fair and justified prosecution. But it must be said in the interest of balance and fairness that we should all be responsible and law abiding on the roads. So I'll just say this without prejudice and as a lifelong cyclist in London of 40+ years - my suspicion of why drivers are so disdainful of, and aggressive towards cyclists is because many cyclists regularly and repeatedly break the law by going through red lights - all the time. This is a particularly common thing to see in London where easily 10-20% cyclists just ignore red lights. I would imagine that those drivers that react badly to being filmed while committing offences behind the wheel react badly especially because a cyclist is bringing their offences to light, and this makes this type of work by someone like Mike even harder. We've all experienced extreme driver aggression, some of us have been deliberately knocked off by drivers with zero accountability, and I don't think it's a stretch to reason that many aggressive drivers are made more angry towards cyclists because they see us as a group breaking the law repeatedly and all the time everywhere. Of course, this is not to makes excuses for any violent behaviour at all - specifically what I'm saying is that there should be a campaign within the cycling community to be equal ambassadors for each other because this would result in making the road safer for other road users and all cyclists. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for such a detailed comment and appreciation of our work and the video ❤
Nah. Motorists are quick to excuse poor behavior from other motorists as isolated cases, even when common or prevalent.
Completely agree. Lifelong London cyclist here too of 35 years. Waiting at the lights you can feel the anger from the drivers behind you when loads jump the lights. I’m not saying the cyclists are likely to cause harm. But i hate being the first rider in line to get the angry treatment for someone elses law breaking
Your 1st sentence sums up the main cause of frustration in motorists that unless law enforcement is on the spot and takes action there is no way of holding bad
cyclists accountable when any video of a motor vehicle can lead to prosecution
@@andrewbaxter9010 I think red light jumping from cyclists is generally a pedestrian mentality (how many pedestrians obey a red man?) It is often the most inexperienced riders. who've just jumped on a lime bike etc. My issue is the lack of enforcement of traffic offences across the board. Drivers routinely run red lights too which is FAR more dangerous to other road users and pedestrians. I saw a car clearly run red this morning and 25m up the road the city police had pulled over an e bike delivery rider. There's just not enough police to deal with all the law breaking, which is why they need people like Mikey
As someone who commutes by bike to work in Toronto, I had to start wearing a camera as drivers in general are aggressive and use road violence against anyone who is not in a car. The major difference in Toronto Canada is the law always favours drivers even when they kill someone. There is very little enforcement when it comes to road safety and a whole lot of victim blaming, and when you have a provincial government that has outlawed bike lanes it puts an even bigger target on pedestrians and people on bikes backs.
Hi, thanks for the comment. Did you see our video on road rage recently?
It's so sad to hear this. I lived in Toronto in the late 1970s and commuted to work by bike, and only once experienced bad behaviour by a driver (a cab driver who pulled out into the road just as I was passing, and I nearly ended up with my wheels pushed into the streetcar tracks).
- There was a lot of traffic 48 years ago, but I guess thare's a whole heap more nowadays.
I wont cycle on UK roads without a camera anymore, drivers are really aggressive towards cyclists, I mean literally went for a ride at the weekend, hadnt even gone more than 2mils from my house and Id already had 2 drivers deliberately try to "punish" pass me, for simply daring to exist as a cyclist in front of them on the road.
Reading all these comments as a dutchman makes me realize how lucky we are with our cycling infrastructure and laws protecting cyclists. Bike lanes seperated by verges and our (roughly translated) vulnerable road users law spring to mind. Said law makes car drivers liable for at least 50% of the damages in an accident. Even if the vulnerable road user made a mistake. This makes car drivers far more carefull towards cyclists. Another major thing is that 99% of car drivers all started out as cyclists. I have to admit that this is a cultural thing and cultures take long times to alter.
Because of all that It often baffles me what arguments are used by anti-cyling parties in the english speaking world. However our situation also didn't happen overnight so hopefully with some perseverance shown by Mike other nations will follow suit. Not a fan of his method but maybe that's what it takes to inflict some change.
Good luck.
I applaud him.... Bringing wreckless driving to justice and the public eye...
he's a fanny.
They're reckless, so less likely to be wreckless. ;)
I'll see myself out...
@MTBScotland no, you are
3:50 he crossed the Central line! Absolute mad man!
I record my commutes and report drivers. Mikey's clips are tame in comparison. Here you get drivers blowing through compulsory stops at full speed as I approached in the cycle lane. Or drivers so engrossed in their phone that they drive past me then immediately drift fully over the cycle lane, sometimes nearly taking me out. Or pulling out suddenly with no indicating. Parking in cycle lanes on top of no-parking lines, even on top of the bicycle symbol. Or doing a u-turn without indicating OR looking! What I've found is: the *vast majorty* of drivers confronted (95%) care more about their ego than road-user's safety. They'll stare blankly, they'll deny it, they'll deflect it, they'll play dumb, they'll brandish anger... anything except just saying "sorry I'll be more careful". One driver of a business vehicle, I asked why he didn't stop at the stop sign. He said "I DID STOP!". I told him "it's on camera". Reported to police and his employer. Because it would be irresponsible of me to let him go on as a career driver when he's so out of touch with reality, or so arrogant and dishonest.
I have noticed the last few years at the traffic lights it takes 20-30 seconds before anybody starts moving as they are all on their phones...
Oh please what complete bs. 20 seconds? If you’re going to lie at least make it vaguely realistic. The guy in this video is a grifter creep. F all to do with safety.
@yeahiagree1070 I mean in the country I live...
@@yeahiagree1070 he's not wrong though, we all see it all the time and if you don't then maybe it's because you're too busy on your phone.
@@jaysee2213 Cars are not waiting at green lights for “20-30 seconds” looking at their phones.. Deluded liar.
Definitely not here in the UK. One second hesitation gets a beep.
It’s a fascinating point that Connor makes about feeling like he’s invading peoples privacy by looking into their car. I think this may be a large part of the divide between car drivers and other road users. Drivers do not fell like they are outside, on the road, exposed like cyclists and pedestrians.
That was my takeaway as well. When you're using the road, it's not your "personal space" - you're occupying a public road that is to be shared. Cyclists have just as much right to use it the same way. But it's easy to feel entitled when you're comfy in your cage physically separated from the environment. Mikey helps break that illusion.
There's no expectation of privacy in public.
Hey Adrian, Thanks for the comment - agree, this was a big take away from my day with Mikey too. Just hadn't looked at it in this way before, subconsciously it's like you assume the inside of a car is totally private - but it's not the case! Thanks for watching, Conor
I really like this kind of content very much. It's so important to have discussions about traffic safety, the bad impact of motonormativity and so on. So please carry on 😊
OK Commie😅
Indeed, my favourite videos.
Whilst I appreciate what he is doing, I am concerned that he is actively looking into people's vehicles whether they are innocent or not. I find that kind if behaviour disturbing. It isn't unlawful, as long as it is considered to be in a public place, but still, it raises questions in my mind as to the ethics of intentionally looking for offenders and therefore impinging on everyone regardless 🤷♀️
He distracting drivers pulling up alongside them and glaring at them putting a camera in their faces, looking into cars for footage for his youtube channel instead of watching where he's going and constantly riding on the wrong side of the road, changing lanes without looking behind or signaling he's a lot more dangerous than someone sitting stationary in a car on their phone.
he's allowed to overtake vehicles or filter traffic. He's also mostly stationary when going to someone's window
@doomer8949 It was stated that he was riding along constantly looking into windows and that's what he appeared to be doing - that is at least as distracting as looking at a mobile phone but it is also very distracting to drivers. You are allowed to overtake but you shouldn't do that in the face of oncoming traffic and you should signal when you pull out to overtake. What he's doing is dangerous to himself and more importantly other road users - imagine a car driver driving along holding a mobile phone driving along filming cyclists as they drive past them that would be dangerous wouldn't it?
@doomer8949 Read what you wrote. Doesnt make sense.
You srent allowed to overtake.into.oncomimg traffic while peeping in other folks windows
Exactly.
@@doomer8949 mostly stationery when going to people....that doesn't make sense.
How does he approach people if he is stationery?
What does mostly shimmery mean?
Well done Mikey, keep doing what you’re doing. People will always react badly to being caught doing something they shouldn’t, and that’s simple, just don’t do it. We need more of you to police the roads.
Motorists just want to endanger people, but the mean bicycle guy won't let them. It's the peak of unfairness!! 😢😢
My reason for enjoying the more confrontational videos is to see some of the more arrogant drivers being put in their place. I'm well aware that most are decent people, but theres some nasty ones out there who feel like they can get away with anything. They need to know that's not the case!
Great video and nice one Connor for getting stuck in!
Mikey has changed my behaviours. As a cyclist, being more aware of distracted drivers and as a vehicle driver, being aware of obeying the law and not being a threat to other road users and pedestrians.
What's the deal with riding in he middle of the lanes though? British thing for cyclists? Here in NZ We keep to the left and only enter a lane if we're turning or using that lane.
Uk cyclist are lawless. They don't like rules
I've had 3 prosecutions but would have much more if the Scottish police invested in road safety reporting like you do in England.
I watch Mikey occasionally and as a commuter/ leisure cyclist I believe need more rather than generations that say it's "too dangerous on our roads to cycle". This is so defeating debilitating and does not do our children any favour. Thanks for inviting Mikey on GCN.
Not being an apologist for the Police in Scotland, but the law actually isn't on their side. Corroboration is required in Scots Law (I.e. a second witness) and so videos aren't enough for them to act. There is a campaign to end this, as it is also the reason so many other crimes end up in civil and not criminal court where the rules are different.
I've had a few incidents myself, most notably in Paisley where drivers seem to think that cyclists aren't allowed in the right hand lane of the 2 lane roads through the town (30mph limit) even if they are turning right ahead.
@cruachan1191 thanks for this everydays a learning day
I think he's a hero since he sometimes deliberately puts himself in dangerous situations. Those situations are usually relatively controllable, most people are hesitant about harming others deliberately in broad daylight with a camera pointing at them, but there have been situations where people have run into Mikey to bully him off the road.
It's not his decision to prosecute, he merely reports and lets the executive/judiciary decide if those situations are worthy of prosecution. Since the police is actively encouraging reporting he's not a vigilante, as he said that would be scratching paint or slapping door mirrors (which I have to admit have done in dangerous situations).
All in all I'd love Mikey being out of business because everyone sticks to the rules of the road, but since seemingly more and more people are willing to break the law you need such people. He said and wrote numerous times he'd love being out of business as well.
20:16: I like that Mike gave the thumbs up to the driver falling back after the driver wasn't able to overtake before the obstacle. That's called positive reinforcement which I like doing as well. A couple of times I went out of my way to tell people explicitly that they were good drivers, for example when a driver slowed down for every priority-to-the-right street where hedges prevented line of sight. A couple of 100 metres later he parked anyway so I stopped at a good distance to let him know I wasn't going to tell him off but to commend him. Unfortunately there are way more situations where I have to whistle or yell at people to stop their dangerous behaviour, but I still won't stop giving positive reinforcement.
Deliberately putting himself in danger doesn't make him a hero. He only does it so he can get the driver into more trouble and act tough and superior in front of his audience.
@TrainBusFanUK Nope, it's to provide immediate feedback and prevent a dangerous situation for people coming around a blind corner in the case of "Gandalf Corner". He seems to be the person to do that regardless whether he will upload it to UA-cam or not. If you're getting a ticket a couple of weeks after you broke the law many people just pay it and continue to break the law since it's so unlikely to get caught. If you're being stopped while breaking the law, in front of many other people nonetheless, you're more likely you'll reflect your behaviour and keep more to the law afterwards.
@ I'm not talking about stopping drivers at gandalf corner, thats a totally separate matter. I'm referring to instances where a driver makes a poor decision such as changing lanes or emerging from side roads at the wrong time. The safest thing to do in these cases is to slow down and keep behind the driver to minimise risk for all, but mikey always feels this need to give the driver a telling off for their mistake, which he does by accelerating at full speed to get in front of the driver, putting himself at serious risk of harm as often the driver does not notice him trying to put up a fight for space until its too late. This is the exact reason why so many call him a vigilante. If you want a better understanding of what I mean, you can watch ashley neal's numerous videos analysing mikey's riding.
hero 😂 good grief.
When I was still riding my motorbike, I almost had an accident because someone changed lanes while using a phone. I think using a phone while driving or even riding a bike is quite dangerous. The problem seems to be that there are (is?) quite a lot of people who are not really aware of this. That's why I think that he is doing a great job to make more people aware of this. Especially with his kind way of doing it. Nobody likes being caught. So I can understand why some people might overreact. Just watching that London traffic is kind of stressful but I hope that most of them see his point after some reflection afterwards.
Thanks! I almost got taken out yesterday by a delivery scooter rider who was fiddling with his dash mounted phone whilst riding down Holland Park Avenue. That reminds me I need to report him today.
Watching the footage I sympathise with what he is trying to achieve, however don't agree about how he's going about it. For example at 5min23 he's wearing all black, dark glass and hat (no helmet), riding on the wrong side of the road into the path of an oncoming lorry. What if that vehicle had to swerve and hit another cyclist or pedestrian? I feel that's more dangerous than someone sat stationary in traffic checking Google maps. Does he consider that his actions also have consequences?
I agree but also I wonder about those static drivers state of mind after those lights turn green and they drive off not 100% on the ball, thinking of that confrontation they just had, as some of them probably never use whilst driving but wait till they are static only to find out they've been reported anyways and waiting for the impending fine through the door, all this going through they're head whilst driving off. As a cyclist myself I'll always remember the time when I had to avoid a drunk guy screaming at me because he prob hated cyclists & I couldn't get the incident out of my head the rest of my journey.
Should be wearing a helmet if safety is his concern
Shouldn't be using a phone. end off.
@ bore off mate people know the law, this guys doing it for the reaction videos nothing else
Gotta say - I felt safer cycling in London than I do in Bristol. I felt like London drivers always expected to share the road with cyclists even if they didn't necessarily like it, and were more vigilant as a result. A lot of Bristol's cycling infrastructure forces cyclists into areas shared with pedestrians, but because its an option there's a lot more resent from motorists when you ride on the road instead.
London is pretty good for cycling compared to much of the rest of the UK, that's for sure.
I definitely felt safe cycling in London. Drivers flow well with you
I live in South London (Bromley). I used to live in North London, and still cycle everywhere in South, North and central London. Bromley is terrifying compared to those other locations. This is because the drivers are thick, aggressive South London scum and because the councillors here are, likewise, thick Tory scum with all sorts of ideological neuroses about traffic management and car usage (including hatred of 20 mph and LTNs: it feels like living in the 1950s). Traffic speeds are also much much higher in Bromley than in more central locations.
Great work again by Connor and the team. Another well balanced, non biased feature 👍
Thank you ❤
He's wearing a USCSS Nostromo shirt. I already like him.
Wooohooo! I wondered if someone would notice.
@@CyclingMikey I did also in the beginning of the video. 😻
Like your work too, I wouldn't be brave enough. Ride on!
For someone that sees so much potentially dangerous behaviour, I’m amazed he chooses not to wear a helmet
Same, and I'm someone that agrees with him
There's never been a single shred of scientific evidence of a bicycle helmet saving a life or preventing injury other than cuts and scrapes. No bicycle helmet has ever been labelled by its manufacturer as a safety device.
Fair play to him, I think it’s brilliant what he’s doing. Phone use whilst using a vehicle is as bad as drink driving yet somehow seems socially acceptable. Should be instant ban if caught
One thing that I think about alot is how people don't "feel right" when reporting or even confronting dangerous drivers is the phraze "complacency is complicity". That makes me think hard precicely because dangerous driving and deaths and injuries caused by drivers has become normalized, when in any other scenario (with similar outcomes) people would be outraged and actively demanded adress of the situation.
Unfortunately that's the only way to get car drivers to respect the rules and the laws. Mostly they get away with any behaviour as long as nobody is seriously injured.
It's so great that Mikey is putting the effort into publicising motorists using their phones whilst driving. It's so dangerous for everyone on the road, including the driver themselves. Motorists use dashcams all the time so why shouldn't cyclists? Keep up the good work.
Congrats on the video! just like you I have met Mikey personally in many occasions and he comes across as such a nice guy!
I get my fair share of heat for reporting a few drivers, no surprise Mikey gets grief for doing such a thorough job.
If it makes the roads safer, I salute you and GCN. Thanks for the video.
Thank you
Road cyclists should have a 360 camera on them, like how some motorcyclists do. No matter how safe you're trying to be, it takes one distracted/inconsiderate driver to cause an accident.
And we should avoid the term 'accident' when talking about this stuff. It's not just chance: there are reasons, and what happens are collisions or incidents. Check out the 'guidelines for road collision reporting' for chapter and verse.
This guy is my hero. I call out these dangerous & crazy drivers too.
He likes the confrontation..using a phone in a traffic jam whilst stationary is a world away from a moving vehicle.
I mean, yes, but it's also a habit that makes you used at using your phone in the car, whether it's moving or not
@Fogwell94 Possibly, but not definitely, I do not agree with phone use in cars but in this video the most dangerous aspects are from the cycling crime crusaders. Not giving full attention to being in control of their vehicles as they are too preoccupied with looking into stationary cars.
Then giving sermons at the roadside impeding the flow of traffic.
I think he is just not so happy about his dad being killed, which i find understandable.
@@simonleeofficial but he is riding without due care and attention (road traffic act 1988 this applies to cyclists), his focus should be on the road ahead not looking into vehicles checking for illegal activity especially when overtaking in a built up area.
In this clip the two people acting the most dangerously are the cyclists. Then bizarre altercations, holding up traffic. It's ridiculous.
Any distraction to a driver or rider is obviously bad but like practically everything in life there are degrees of good or bad. And the least bad case of phone use is in stationary traffic and whilst it is not good( as the driver needs to react timely when traffic starts to move again) but if phone use was only ever in traffic jams it really wouldn't be "dangerous".
@@johnlewis5330 fair enough, but mikey couldn't care less which is the other part of it..
Connor, I love how you guys tap into all these cycling-related topics and report on them. Thank you!
Anything that distracts you from keeping your eyes on the road, is dangerous. Phones are particularly problematic, because the content they display are often designed to capture your attention. But it's not limited to phones, but at least for the last two decades, phones were the main offender. Modern cars that put everything on a fucking touch screen are just as bad.
I get you. But could the same not be said for bike mounted computers?
I thought it was only safe to overtake traffic when it is safe to do so. Didn't he drive on the opposite side of the road 5:35 into video when other road users were coming the other way. I'm a cyclist and this is something I wouldn't do. So may times I've seen cyclist at lights go through on red. I do feel he is forcing a divide between car and cyclist road users but some cyclist give us a bad name based on their riding. I can see this only going one way, with cyclist having to have reg plates on their bike and catch the unsafe cyclists which at the moment cannot be traced.
Seems a bit hypocritical for a guy who's preaching following the highway code and driving safely to be doing the opposite of that
@@zouzela1AFAIK, filtering is legal in the UK.
More generally, even if it weren't, cars are more dangerous due to their speed and weight so there's nothing hypocritical about demanding special care when driving one.
Ive never understood why all these people who want to use their phones while traveling aren't voting for public transit. You can look at your phone as much as you like on the train.
Conor is obviously a super tough guy, having been a professional cyclist but he's a lover, not a fighter. Fair play to him getting out of his comfort zone here.
Blokes a right div. Causing more disruption and dangerous actions
recently i have been close passed by a guy who then couldnt drive a straight line, at the next red light i was next to him and saw that he was in a zoomcall on his phone...
people are just too reckless and don't even notice it, so good that someone makes them realize
That's pretty scary isn't it?
@@gcn sadly its pretty common, but the zoomcall was a first, made me a bit speechless to be honest. comes right after a guy with phone in one hand and mcdonalds drink in the other, steering with the knees i guess...
There’s a big difference between 1) using a camera to record your rides so you have evidence in case there’s an incident (in much the same way as dashcam in a car) and 2) deciding to go around looking for people who are technically breaking the law, but one that’s hopelessly flawed (they could be legally texting using a mounted phone, which is equally dangerous).
Selam! I would say it isn’t technically breaking the law as it doesn’t matter if you are moving or not. Having a handheld phone while driving is illegal. Even off duty police officers do what Mikey does, where they will knock on windows of drivers using the phone while stationary. It’s way harder to text on a dash mounted phone and you could say the same thing about typing in an address on a car infotainment screen while driving, it’s not illegal. A lot of same drivers who use a phone behind a wheel are very likely the same drivers who speed through residential areas as “no one there” in same way people will say no one around while they are texting when there are cyclists filtering. Mikey said you can’t report drivers for speeding so this is a way of killing two birds with one stone, happy Timkat by the way!
Please don't label Mikey as a vigilante, even for clickbait in the thumbnail.
Reporting a crime is not vigilante justice, it's being a responsible road user keeping everyone safer.
Vigilante justice would be dishing out a punishment himself, a world away from what Mikey does.
He is a vigilante
A law breaking vigilante.
A danger
@@elliotwilliams7421 Your imbecility is a danger. Terrible to think that people like you are EVER permitted to drive any vehicle ever.
I do much the same here in Winnipeg, Canada. Good to see others taking road safety so seriously across the pond!
Agree with the sentiment but Mikey's main problem is the confrontation and escalation that seems to happen. This isn't required for any of his reports, but puts him and anyone considering behaving in a similar manner in potential danger. You never know who you're dealing with so it's better to simply capture what you happen to capture, try and de-escalate any potential situation, and move on. The only thing worse than an incompetent driver is one that's also now angry and/or flustered.
Mikey FTW with the Nostromo shirt!
As a cyclist myself I found the lane splitting that Mike was doing to be very dangerous and arrogant. At about 5:35 in I saw him spit the lane against traffic even going over into oncoming traffic. In what world is that legal, safe or courteous.
It’s completely legal what are you complaining about? Just because you are low skilled rider and is scared of riding your bike against traffic doesn’t mean it’s an illegal. You just have bad balance and low spatial awareness,
@@danieltesfaye8517 It's not legal in the most US states and insults show me how stupid you are. You could have just disagreed and claimed its legal where you live but no
@@johnleonard5936 Why are you talking about legality when you are in a different country? Americans are so weird, they love bringing up the law when it’s convenient to criticise someone. So who’s stupid now?
@@danieltesfaye8517 Well you
@@johnleonard5936 explain it
As for the tiredness of cycling in London- one of the toughest cycles I did was 80km cycle using every bridge from Kingston to Tower Bridge and with all the stopping and starting and concentrating I was exhausted.
What Mikey does is fantastic. The system for reporting drivers is much more clunky here in Ireland, with no online portal.
The UK has taken the lead on this and you are lucky to have people like Mikey (and others) who are trying to get even a tiny percentage of poor drivers to stop their behaviour.
He's always jumping red lights but doesn't report himself!
I like the idea of calling out bad drivers but the concept of how they approach drivers is awful. There are many situations where they increase danger by antagonising and name calling drivers. I feel those drivers will hate us even more and may even take it out on the next cyclist they meet. 😪 I personally keep my mouth shut, record and upload it on the police portal. Let them handle it. They will listen to the police more than me calling them a tw*t.
People using their phones while driving is not ok, it's an obvious distraction that needs to be prevented.
I'm not so sure that I'm convinced about someone using their phone whilst stationary in traffic is a significant threat.
It seems to me that the worst case is someone misses the light change... annoying but not dangerous, is there another element that I'm missing?
No, you're absolutely correct. The law is stupid. When stationary it's impossible for anyone to get hurt. When moving, it's thoroughly dangerous. But that's the law. In a cradle, you can tap away on it *while driving* but can't pick it up when not moving.
@@DarrenMansell Yep. I never understood why it's suddenly ok to use your phone if it's attached to the dashboard? Just like these cars with touchscreen everything. Just as bad as texting. I think if your handbrake is on then no problem. Once it's released no messing with touchscreens/phones.
I guess the thought is that if they use it while at a red light there is a decent chance they also use it while driving.
But it is my gut reaction as well that it seems too extreme to report people standing still for phone usage (especially if they are not familiar with the city and really just using a navigation app). But overall I think this is a great initiative by the police to accept and act on such videos. Afaik here in Germany there would be no chance of that as there is also no law that makes the owner of a vehicle accountable for the actions of the driver. So every report I heard that prosecution stopped investigating because they were "unable to identify the driver" (even with Dashcam videos of those; so seems like rather unwilling). And that is usually regarding dangerous driving not "minor" offences like phone usage
Before passing distracted driver laws, the accident statistics were thoroughly studied... in the case where a driver is looking down at their phone when stopped at a red light, and failed to notice the driver in front has moved on after the light changed then quickly accelerated to catch up before assessing the traffic/road conditions, thus colliding with another driver or cyclist or pedestrian.
@OriginalTrev that's a good point, ty
It’s one thing to be commuting and finding law breakers. It’s another thing to be this guy who’s actively going out of his way to find lawbreakers. I’m a cyclist and this guy is unhelpful as
I’m not trying to be provocative. But how so? I truly believe (significantly) more fines should be issued (and in my country, the penalties need to be steeper.) - If the authorities are under-resourced to effectively police dangerous behaviour, then so what if citizens are performing the role of reporting (not enforcing)?
I think the roads would be far better off if we had more citizens policing each other. Especially when it comes to behaviour that puts lives at risk.
@ you’re not trying to be provocative; thanks for the message! I don’t believe citizens policing each other is a good idea for society, to a certain degree that is. I mean, take the video for example. There’s a woman on her phone in traffic and he’s going to get her a ticket. She does pose some type of danger but it’s very minimal.
Traffic in the centre of London is basically a gridlock so how on earth does that make the roads really unsafe for cyclists in regards to drivers on their phones?
I’m from Australia and I find the worst offenders to be electric bikes and mo-ped drivers wizzing through traffic. They are insanely dangerous and it was a real eye opener coming over here seeing it
He’s a prick but not unusual from cyclists, his comeuppance, i would applaud 👏🏼👏🏼
Excellent interview. Thanks for sharing your thoughts after your ride, Conor. I too would not feel comfortable adopting these tactics but am grateful that Mikey does what he does to raise awareness and help make the roads safer for everyone, especially cyclists.
If a driver chooses to drive at Mikey because he's standing in the road, it's the driver that is the vigilante: they are punishing someone according to their own rules. Mikey only acts according to the law and reports to the police; the opposite of vigilantism
Having been in a fatal accident on the M4 when a van driver drove into the back of static traffic without breaking I have no doubts that any form of distraction whilst driving is very dangerous. He hit the car behind so hard that having smashed it five metres down the road, still had enough momentum to completely destroy the car I was in as well. When he hit us, he went up in the air and landed on top of us. It does beg the question on the current trend for big screens in cars and having to scroll through menus to adjust the heating etc..
I’ve driven behind people while they’ve been on their phones many times,on motorways they sway over lanes or sway within a lane touching the hazard lines separating the lanes,in traffic queues they move left then right trying to drive straight, roll over junctions they’re meant to stop at,if you think about it once your attention is on your phone there’s a delay to focus back on other things such as a conversation with someone your with because you can’t concentrate on two things at once, that concentration lag also happens while driving from phone to driving,this is also where an accident could happen,being on the phone especially messaging or txting is like having micro sleeps because their attention is on the phone not on driving, they’re oblivious to everything going on around them, your calls/ txts/emails aren’t more important than someone’s life,BTW cars /vehicles aren’t the problem it’s the drivers just as bad cycling such as going through red lights isn’t the bicycles fault it’s the rider.
Guy needs to get a life, he contributing more towards the ongoing decide between motorists and cyclists.
As a London cab driver, motorbike rider of 40 years AND a cyclist. I would have to say the biggest danger to pedestrians are cyclists jumping red lights and doing whatever the hell they like. It’s a shame they can’t be filmed and prosecuted! And its a shame that London’s streets are being managed by a totally useless organisation called TFL.
It’s like the Wild West out there. Hire bikes/ kids on L plates trying to kill themselves delivering food. People two up standing on scooters. Electric bikes going faster than 20 mph. I’m not condoning what he’s doing. It’s a jungle out there. Stay safe.
Americans need to remember that cycling and walking are RIGHTS!
You have a RIGHT to go where you please, as you please. There is no registration needed for your bicycle or shoes. No licensing needed to ride or walk, and no insurance needed for these activities. And since you're using PUBLIC rights-of-way, it makes your behavior that much more of a right.
Driving, on the other hand, is a PRIVILEGE. There's ZERO right to drive. You must be properly trained, experienced and licensed. Your vehicle must be road-worthy and registered as well as insured. Yet drivers are the most entitled people using our public rights-of-way. They DEMAND everything! "Fix my roads!" (Yet they're the ones doing the damage.) "Damn traffic!" (Yet THEY ARE THE PROBLEM!)
When's the last time a driver paid for the property damage they've done to public infrastructure? I know of NO insurance companies that pay for a smashed guard rail, crushed bus stop, or knocked over streetlight. Millions and millions of dollars of damage annually that WE pay for! Yet they feel totally entitled on the road.
YOU have the RIGHT. They do not!
I worry that this is seen as confrontational and therefore antagonistic which could give us cyclists unwanted problems.
I think what this two-wheeled Karen is doing would be fine if he just refrained from telling people what they did wrong and that he'll be reporting them. This, to me, is bordering on impersonating a police officer (Conner sort of makes this point at the end of the video but then relents). The women he engaged with even said "it's your job" so she clearly believed he was acting in some official capacity and he did nothing to dissuade her of this notion (I think he embraces it). While this exchange was goin on, a line of cars formed behind them, all of whom were most likely not feeling warm and fuzzy towards cyclists. File the report and let the "actual" officials deal with it. Why create the possibility for confrontation? The most likely answer, of course, is that confrontations get more hits.
You live in the upside down world. She's the one who started the conversation and if you actually watched the video you'd understand Mickey is not comfortable with confrontation at all. Maybe pay more attention.
@@Avioto It's clear that his MO is to film people and then tell them what they're doing wrong. He even teaches Connor to do this and Conner expresses discomfort with it (a good part to pay attention to). I'm fine with the filming and reporting I just think it isn't necessary or helpful (or his job) to tell people what they did wrong.
I know its not law, but what about cyclists carrying selfie sticks with cameras on them, is that full control of a vehicle, especially when their either riding at speed or amongst traffic (and i am a cyclist and a car driver).
It's against the law
While it could be argued that deliberately seeking out and berating offenders could be the actions of a vigilante it is clear that he has crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic. That may be an i dicator of growing mental health issues. IT MUST ALSO TAKE 27 SECONDS FOR A DRIVER TO RE ORIEBTATE AFTER BEING DISTRACTED BY HIM LEERING AT THEM.
It’s definitely mental health related. He gets a sick satisfaction from causing misery the easiest way he knows how. He will literally pick and hyper focus on the most archaic traffic violation there is. If mobile phone use was legal tomorrow, his channel would be filled with seat belt violations