Rear-view camera coming soon to help cyclists record accidents

Never having been hit from the rear (or from any angle) it does seem a bit gimmicky- 10 seconds is too small. I was once clipped on the arm by a wing mirror (dodgy old lady driving a micra at low speed, but poor depth/width perception)...she appeared to have noticed that it happened..slowed down and looked like she may have wanted to stop, but possibly due to the traffic behind her panicked and moved on..or was just a doddery old c*w)... rear facing camera would not have been much use.
There is also the aspect of the equipment robustness.
If the bike is mangled, the equipment may also go the same way...and I'm guessing it'll have nowhere near 'black box build' standards. I like gadgets, but just can't see this being anywhere near as useful as it needs to be...

also 10 sec loop useless - even if not injured by the time you get up, swear at the driver, check out your bike and then shiver with fear the loop will be rerecorded - need at least 5 min

I can see some potential for this new toy,I have an 11 year old son who I now take riding on the road and I'm teaching him to stay on my wheel he can do it on the track ,that's not a problem, but on the road if he drops off because he is backing off or I'm working to hard for him I can keep an eye on him.I think its kind of a cool Idea.I would like to see it with ANT+ and an Iphone App with the potential to gather other telemetry being able to scroll through different screens etc etc

Ive used the pro cycling computer game to teach him positioning on the track so it pays to be open minded about technology get creative !
P.S He was Junior club track champion 2009

Look out! The Audi's going to get you!

The fact this is even coming to market I find really depressing. Wouldn't the money be better spent on either some visibility improvements or personal accident insurance instead of an electronic litigation enabler? Boo I say.

The prices I've seen quoted for this thing make it prohibitively expensive and having just a 10 second loop is pretty useless. Why not allow it to record a decent amount of time onto a Flash card?

Regarding the recording of accidents, the forthcoming Contour HD with GPS & Bluetooth looks like it might do the job. Even plod, who has largely been reluctant to admit cyclists' helmet cam video as valid evidence thus far, might be forced into considering video with the addition of a GPS time stamp.

Of course, if you're unlucky enough to be filmed breaking the law by someone who is NOT a cyclist then it seems any old video evidence is entirely valid:

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/8797262.ABBEY_WOOD___WELLING__Man_caug...

But, this being the UK, I imagine if it had been a cyclist the nutter was kicking (rather than a dog) not one eyebrow would have been raised, let alone a court case.

sicuramente sapere che dietro di noi sta arrivando un camion mentre di fronte a noi sta giungendo un altro mezzo pesante è utile e ci cosiglia di stare il più vicino possibile al bordo della carreggiata. Grazie bella idea

bello, ma quanto costa? Penso sia molto ma molto utile!!!

Quote:

Rear end collisions are by a long way the least likely of accident types for a cyclist

that may or may not be the case, but they're certainly one of the most serious. There was a study done in one american state a few years back (can't remember which) that found that rear end collisions accounted for over half the cyclist deaths.

Another useful gadget - but that's all it is.

Rear end collisions are by a long way the least likely of accident types for a cyclist.

This appears unlikley to show a close pass or any front on or side impact. It is therefore useless for evidence gathering for the vast majority of accidents.

The other concern that I'd have, particulalrly in urban areas is that the cyclist would spend too much time worrying whats going on behind to pay propoer attention to the road ahead and his/her surroundings

Funny, some of my most enjoyed/useful purchases are things I don't 'need' for cycling - my Garmin GPS is a prime example. I'm no pro cyclist, and I don't need the information it gives me, but I enjoy measure my performances and see if I'm getting fitter or not; and (b) useful to be able to follow routes. I imagine plenty of people would find this useful for being able to check what is behind you without turning your head, and it would be quite fun to watch your mates' faces as you attack on the steepest climb of the day. Agree that nobody 'needs' this, but it's no chocolate teapot.

I also ride a M5 low racer recumbent bike and I have been reading about this Rear Camera for the past 3 years or and waiting for it to come out. Not to sure on my upright, but definetely a must have on my recumbent.

I have been hit only once by a car changing lane without looking and signaling!

I've been hit from the side too, but I wasn't hurt - those people that are hurt or killed are much more likely to be hit from behind according to the offical accident statistics, you might be more likely to get hit from the side, but you are less likely to be injured or die.

As for the app I'd like to see, I wouldn't need to do anything the phone would be mounted on my bars and would take a picture of anything that moved past me faster than the speed limit, speed limit info is already readable by GPS systems, the phone would have to take my speed in to account before taking the pic, (time and date stamped) and ideally give an indication of how close the vehicle passed too. Tricky, but then that's why they're called smart phones. Maybe one day soon they will be smart enough.

Sorry but what exactly would be the point of that? So you can fall off your bike while you try to take the speed of a car that has overtaken you?

I realise from reading about cycle deaths that a lot seem to happen when a bike is rear ended. However in my 25 years of adult cycling I have been hit by cars 4 times. Every single one of those was by cars pulling out across my path. So my personal experience calls in to question your statistic.

I use quite a lot of technology but I feel that we'd ALL be a lot safer if we concentrated on the primary activity (walking/driving/cycling) that we are engaged in rather than buggering around with gadgets.

My humble opinion obviously.

rear end is where you're most likely to get hit from though. As I've said before what I'd like is a smartphone app that turns your phone camera into a speed camera - I'd even get a smartphone for one of them

FFS, get a grip, just another company selling you more stuff that you don't need. What about the camera for the head on collision or the one for the side swipe? Maybe we should have a satellite beacon on our bikes and then military "spy" satellites could follow us and film out every move.

Thatd be useful. I wonder when we will see a garmin that can be plugged into this, thus everything can be recorded. Speed, position, route etc etc etc