- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
Periscope screengrabLive video broadcasting the latest in driver distraction - and it could be happening on a road near you (+ video)
A free app from Twitter that allows users to livestream video is being used by drivers to interact with followers while at the wheel, including in the UK, as the footage below shows.
The practice has led a US lawyer to warn that footage could be used in court against a motorist as evidence in the event of a collision caused by the driver being distracted.
The Periscope app, which is available for both iOS and Android devices, enables people to broadcast a live video stream to followers on the network, who can interact with them by posting messages which appear on the user’s device in real time, making it fully interactive.
UK Periscope users who use the app while at the wheel include a driver from delivery firm TNT, who broadcasts his thoughts on a range of issues to his followers.
On Tuesday, during an 18-minute broadcast on the social network, he was asked by one person watching whether he was using it while driving.
He assures his audience that he is able to concentrate on the road while using the app, and also gives his views on cycle safety, although as the following excerpts from the video we captured before it expired on Periscope show, he does not appear fully focused on the road.
We alerted TNT to the usage of the app by an employee while driving one of its vans, and a spokesman for the company told road.cc: “TNT takes the issue of road safety very seriously and have strict policies in place regarding driver behaviour and the use of mobile devices.
“Thank you for bringing this incident to our attention and we will be investigating further."
Periscope is used by media organisations including the BBC, and Sky journalist Kay Burley used it to broadcast behind-the-scenes footage from the party leaders’ debates before last month’s general election.
Less serious uses, according to this article from the Guardian, include people sharing livestreams of the content of their fridges or their pets, with cats and pugs proving most popular.
But it’s users who stream video of themselves driving that is attracting concern, with a blog post from California law firm Appel & Co earlier this month highlighting the dangers.
“Our initial research reveals that too many people are using this app while driving,” says the post’s author, Thomas G Appel.
“Just a simple search on twitter for “driving periscope” demonstrates the huge number of users who are using this new app while behind the wheel.
“Many users who use the app while driving are without any passengers and often respond to written comments, indicating that the driver may just be looking for company or someone to talk to while driving. While this might seem like a cool idea at first, it is actually a very unsafe practice.
“The truth is that drivers who use the Periscope app are constantly distracted. They fiddle with their cell phone to initiate the live stream, adjust the stream, chat with viewers and pinpoint the perfect filming position.”
Appel notes that many of the app’s features “encourage the videographer to interact with his audience,” and says “while Periscope has the potential to revolutionise the manner in which people communicate through social media and video journalism, it should never be used by someone who is behind the wheel.”
He adds: “It won’t be long before a Periscope live feed will provide us with live footage of an automobile accident as it occurs in real time. It remains to be seen whether the video captured from these accidents could be used in personal injury lawsuit against a careless driver.
“Would the Periscope users who viewed the driver’s Periscope feed serve as witnesses in the trial? Would this type of behavior call for punitive damages in a California lawsuit? How can Periscope engineers and designers discourage this type of behaviour?”
Since use of smartphones became widespread, road safety campaigners have highlighted the danger of motorists texting while at the wheel or surfing social media sites, with research indicating that it is more dangerous than driving while under the influence of drink or drugs.
Even those devices that are legally allowed to be used – hands-free mobile phones – need to be used in such a way that the driver is not distracted, otherwise they may face a charge of careless driving.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- espressodan 11 min 59 sec ago
Work in IT. Cannot for the life of me figure out what could possibly be so inflexible about IT infrastructure.
- espressodan 15 min 55 sec ago
In Qld, Oz you can ride of the pavement. Nothing illegal about leaving the road via the drop kerb, rolling across the adjacent crossing then...
- wtjs 40 min 8 sec ago
after I said that if they wouldn't tell me the outcome of a submission I would have to make an FOI request for it...
- Bungle_52 47 min 14 sec ago
In Gloucestershire I've been having an email dialogue with Robert Vestey who has recently decided that close passes will get an advisory letter...
- Sriracha 1 hour 9 min ago
Lidl have a window poster emblazoned, "Black Friday. Starts Sunday".
- Dnnnnnn 1 hour 13 min ago
I take "rat running" to be taking shortcuts through streets which aren't really suitable (at least when lots of people do the same thing)....
- tubasti 1 hour 36 min ago
More likely, the fork offset was increased to offset the gain in trail effected by the use of fatter tires.
- Rendel Harris 2 hours 11 min ago
Note that only one of them was actually used by him as a race bike (the 2010 Madone) and that not in his "glory" years, I'm sure one of his Tour...
- David9694 2 hours 40 min ago
You have to wonder how many drivers are merrily writing-off their cars this way. Nearly all the coverage is flooding related - Chippenham and...
Add new comment
109 comments
You apparently don't.
You sound like an adolescent.
But you do go around calling strangers on the Internet dicks...
You are gaining some self knowledge.
Now, how about condemning the highway departments which do their best to entice cyclists to ride up the gutter to the ASL box?
How old are you?
That's true. I enjoy chatting to my nephews too.
When I think about, I'm being unfair to the ten year old. He asks intelligent questions and listens to the answers.
Can't tell about the teeth but you're wrong about the GSOH.
The clue was "extend your simile".
You could not miss my point if you have read this thread. I doubt you have missed it really.
However wonderful you believe this man to be, his video encourages people to believe that one can drive and do other things. Maybe he can because he's superhuman. The people he encourages to copy him won't be.
No, i don't care that he fought in Iraq. Nothing against him, but it wasnt for 'my rights '. It was an illegal war fought for oil.
I am indeed a completely safe driver. The only sort, because i don't drive. No, i don't follow the rules all the time, but nor do i chuck a few tonnes of metal around while doing domething distracting.
The 14 hours spans his day - including loading, driving to and from work, breaks, etc. Not all drive time thank goodness.
Never called him superhuman...amd as far as fightimg for yoir riggts, that's what they all thought they were doing when they joined. Its the thought that counts....
And you dont drive so you don't know either. I wonder what you would do after 14 hours of driving?
Not be driving. 14 hours is too long. And by the way, i have a licence, i used to drive, so i do understand the dangers of tiredness and distraction I stopped because i didn't believe it was compatible with safety or care for the planet.
Anyone who didn't understand that it was an illegal war when it started wasn't thinking. Fine, he did the job he was paid for, quite possibly heroically. I can respect that, but don't bother asking me to respect the motivation for that war.
Please delete
No condemnation of the highwaymen who put these lanes up the gutter to the ASL box?
They are professionals, they have no excuse.
Surely you have some choice insult for them.
crikey, don't be an asshat, just accept that it's an argument you're not going to win.
Edit: crikey, those stickers started to appear after a spate of accidents. Some of them are quite aggressive in their language and all of them are shifting responsibility from the driver and on to the cyclist. You are perpetuating this and it's wrong.
If I said don't be a greengrocer, would you feel that I was actually calling you a greengrocer?
Don't be a dick, don't ride up the left side of big lorries.
Hardly controversial advice.
I haven't called anyone a dick.
I have suggested that one should aim not to be one.
You have called me an arrogant moron.
I'm winning so far.
Don't you think that telling someone to try not to be a dick is saying that they are one?
Don't you think that advising people to concentrate on not being a dick is calling them one?
Don't you think that saying anyone who rides up the inside of an HGV is a dick is calling those people a dick?
I think you need to brush up your writing skills.
You are winning? Do you see this as a competition?
I think that you are being very scornful of cyclists who make the understandable mistake of following the directions of the road authorities. If you cannot see how unpleasant this makes you look, then there is nothing more I can say.
Well, you know you're in a discussion with people who filter up the left of lorries and you're saying that people who filter up the left of lorries are dicks... Now, maybe you're not so hot on logic, but I can draw you a map of what you're saying if you like.
At least have the balls to call people dicks rather than hiding behind your semantic wankery.
It's up to you not to be a dick.
Stop looking to blame the Highwaymen, however dandy they may appear, and concentrate on not being a dick.
I would never go up this route. I would have thought that the way I described it as dangerous and a folly, might give you a clue. It seems that you are the dick, especially because you go calling others this without cause.
Not everyone has ridden a bike for as many years as me, and not everyone is cynical enough to realise that the route the authorities privide and mark for cyclists is in fact dangerous. What sort of arrogant moron are you to condemn other cyclists for the mistake they are encouraged into by the road builders?
As a general rule, what I said is the one that all cyclists should be aware of and adhere to.
If some people do it, and some people get away with it and some people think it's OK, then someone will do it, usually in London, and get squished.
I don't do it and I advise people not to because squished people are not a good thing.
That's really, really strange. I have done, and will continue to filter up the inside, where I think appropriate, in the following way.
I filter up the inside, I stop a little way in front of said HGV (or whatever vehicle), turn around and look at the HGV driver until I'm confident that they have seen me.
All good to go and I've never felt threatened yet.
In HGV vs cyclist incidents there is only ever one outcome.
Complain about victim blaming if you need to, but anyone who 'filters' on the left of an HGV is putting themselves into harms way for the sake of seconds on a journey; which is exactly the behaviour cyclists moan about when done by drivers.
Just wait behind them; save your life by not being a dick.
Did you not read the post above yours? It complains that there are cycle filter lanes on the left to lead cyclists into the ASL box. I quite agree, this is a dangerous procedure, but aren't the Highwaymen who paint these lines and direct naive cyclists this dangerous route much more culpable than the cyclists who are led into folly?
There is an article somewhere on the internet saying how shit ASLs actually are and how they promote bad road craft in cyclists, especially ones with a marked filter lane at the kerb side. At traffic lights taking the lane where you happen to be is, IMHO, mostly safer than trying to filter up to that ASL when the lights could well change before you get there.
It's a really really simple rule that will save your life; don't filter up the inside of big lorries.
It doesn't matter if there is a cycle lane or an ASL, don't do it.
Cyclists can whinge and whine all they like, but it is simple self preservation to treat big blind lorries with caution.
Follow the 11th commandment; Don't be a dick.
*spot on*. Yes, the driver should be looking out for you. But if you don't put yourself in the position to start with, you take him out of the equation. Bimbling up the inside of lorries with your self-righteous mode on isn't going to help your family to cope when you're jam.
'Hmm. This beach is closed because of shark attacks, and there are 'SHARKS - NO SWIMMING!' signs everywhere. I'll still go swimming, because it's the sea, and nobody owns it - and if I get eaten, I can blame the sharks. Or maybe the signs...'
Pages