Near Miss of the Day 581: “I really did fear for my life” – Driver nearly hits cyclist head-on (includes swearing)

And there's the issue - by holding the shutter open longer within each frame you just end up will a nice fluid blur, instead of a series of sharp frames. (Although, at even 60fps, it won't seem jumpy regardless of shutter speed - I suspect they favour slower shutter speeds to reduce noise, given the constraints of a tiny pixel size, low light and small lens aperture).

High frame rates come at the cost of battery and memory consumption. The needs of cyclists diverge from YouTube posters - we want sharp frames, even if the frame rate is not especially high and the noise levels are sub-par.

Drift say they have

PHOTOBURST MODE
(Cyan LED) The camera will capture a burst of still images for an allotted duration and at a specified rate, when the button is pressed. For best results, use a memory card with the highest possible data rate.

Not entirely sure this will help as you need some premonition.

Then there is TIMELAPSE MODE

(Purple LED) Press the button to capture a series of still images at a specified rate. The Status LED and LCD screen will flash red each time an image is captured. To stop recording, press the button once more.

This sounds more promising but you would need 2 cameras in order to make a police submission !

The shutter on these small cameras tend to be a 'rolling shutter' where horizontal lines of pixels are exposed sequentially, which can give that jellyvision effect when there's vibration and fast motion.

Pixel sensitivity and dynamic range are the key metrics. The shutter speed is varied by the camera dependent on lighting conditions in order to control the exposure. But still, they don't tell you what imaging sensor they are using.

The main problem in this case was water on the lens. I might try fashioning a rain cover for my Fly12 to see if this helps in heavy rain.

Honestly, it may be good enough to use as supporting evidence if the vehicle is found through other means. You can't tell what it is, but you can tell what it isn't.

What are the Police supposed to do? Are you really asking that question? Seriously, are you really asking that question?

Mungecrundle wrote:

What are the Police supposed to do? Are you really asking that question? Seriously, are you really asking that question?

Well of course they can't be expected to do anything. All that tea doesn't drink itself you know.....

Nigel Garrage wrote:

There's no identifying features in the video for the car

Hoarseman makes a good case for it being a Hyundai i40 Tourer. Not a very common car - how many can there have been coming down that road at the time, in a dark colour? Get a few other videos and dashcams footage in the vicinity, job done.

Of course, you'd have to want to...

In Kent there are so many CCTV cameras that Police can and do search for vehicles when provided with a time, road, and vehicle description. Of course they will not do anything without multiple independent sources of evidence. So stopping witnesses at the scene is still required to make progress. Not easy when you have just been almost killed.

Unfortunately, I think Nigel is right that the police will not do much without a registration plate.

I was shocked watching a 'road wars' type TV program that the police at the scene of a collision, were waiting to hear from the hospital whether the seriously injured victim had survived - as they would only fully investigate the collision if there had been a death!

Even with bang-to-rights evidence handed to them on a plate, it's far from certain any justice would be served.

But I would still try seeing what businesses might have CCTV covering the area and ask them to have a look for this vehicle around this time - even if they won't give you the footage, you could ask them to preserve anything found so the police could review it.

HoarseMann wrote:

Unfortunately, I think Nigel is right that the police will not do much without a registration plate.

I was shocked watching a 'road wars' type TV program that the police at the scene of a collision, were waiting to hear from the hospital whether the seriously injured victim had survived - as they would only fully investigate the collision if there had been a death!

Even with bang-to-rights evidence handed to them on a plate, it's far from certain any justice would be served.

But I would still try seeing what businesses might have CCTV covering the area and ask them to have a look for this vehicle around this time - even if they won't give you the footage, you could ask them to preserve anything found so the police could review it.

I think there is a difference between;

1. "what are they supposed to do?" (Garrage's point)
2. "what do we expect them to do?" (your point)

and the answers (as follows) are very different;

1. Their facking jobs, invesitgate,  and make their best endeavors to ensure a life threatening individual is prevented from killing members of the public. FFS...
2. Fack-all squared....

Nigel Garrage wrote:

The police don't have infinite resources at their disposal. They should investigate where there is a reasonable chance of a conviction and crime prevention. In this case (in my opinion) as there is a vanishing small chance of any conviction taking place, it would be a complete dereliction of duty and waste of public funds for the police to take any action whatsoever.

Suppose the poster found CCTV of the Hyundai in question with a legible numberplate, I still think it would be very difficult to link the two as the time on the OP video doesn't link up with the actual time of day he was travelling (I'm assuming the clock hadn't been adjusted for summer time?), and there's just no evidence that the two cars are one and the same. The only hope would be if CCTV actually captured the incident itself in good enough quality to get the numberplate.

As I've said I think it was an appalling overtake that put someone's life in danger. But that doesn't detract from logic and sound-reasoning.

I would disagree with your logic Nigel, in fact if there was CCTV evidence from nearby businesses, regardless of any time discrepancies, it would be quite easy to link the CCTV with the video.

The simplest method is to look at the video and see if there were corresponding vehicles i.e. White Lorry, Dark Hyundai i40 estate, Dark Ford Focus Estate, White Mercedes Sprinter Van and another White Van (clip cuts off too soon to identify make and model).  That particular arrangement of vehicles is a very specific grouping, which is easily identifiable, even if not in exactly the same order on the road.

And if you have the number plates of the other vehicles (especially the lorry and the Ford Focus) you then have witnesses to corroborate the video footage.

I'd be willing to bet that the hero  cockwomble in the Hyundai was playing hop scotch with the cars/vans before doing that maneuver

Nigel Garrage wrote:

.....

The police don't have infinite resources at their disposal. They should investigate where there is a reasonable chance of a conviction and crime prevention. In this case (in my opinion) as there is a vanishing small chance of any conviction taking place, it would be a complete dereliction of duty and waste of public funds for the police to take any action whatsoever.

Suppose the poster found CCTV of the Hyundai in question with a legible numberplate, I still think it would be very difficult to link the two as the time on the OP video doesn't link up with the actual time of day he was travelling (I'm assuming the clock hadn't been adjusted for summer time?), and there's just no evidence that the two cars are one and the same. The only hope would be if CCTV actually captured the incident itself in good enough quality to get the numberplate.

As I've said I think it was an appalling overtake that put someone's life in danger. But that doesn't detract from logic and sound-reasoning.

Your original question was "what are they supposed to do about it?", which sounded rhetorical to me. You mentioned nothing about resources. 

Now you seem to have provided your own answer "nothing at all cos resources". A lazy copper's dream....

Of course, the correct answer is to "investigate to establish facts, and consider possible action"

A quick ring around local CCTV operators would be possible from behind a desk, even with a cup of tea in hand.....

Even with bang-to-rights evidence handed to them on a plate, it's far from certain any justice would be served

True- many forces, from what we learn on here, just can't be bothered with offences against, or reported by, cyclists. I personally know this is true with Lancashire- you can't get a simpler and more 'bang to rights' case than people charging through red lights at 50+ mph 1-2 seconds after they turned red. Lancashire still manages to ignore them. New Lancashire PCC Snowden is mentioned below: Fear not! although he was not responsible for this Heywood, Lancashire, case he will soon be confronted with one of his first tests over the doubtless pathetic LC response to all these ignored dead-easy bang-to-rights cases, when that pathetic response eventually arrives- it's already 4 months since the complaint.

I have little doubt Snowden will fail this test just like his hopeless predecessor did- the excuse will be something like 'we can't interfere with operational decisions by the police'- operational decisions are what we complain about, not philosophical discussions about the morality of offences and so on!

swldxer wrote:

Surely this is NM 581?

Spookily enough, it is almost identical to the real NM381
https://road.cc/content/news/271559-near-miss-day-381-overtaking-van-dri...

NMOTD you mean.

I have tried several times already and have been on hold so will keep trying

This is more standard dodging. Remember, their main primary aim is either 'insufficient evidence' or 'too late to do anything now' or both. Get it reported online, even if you can't compress your video to send it in immediately. You will then, if it's like Lancashire, get the reference number and a written record. I don't say that solves the problem, because Lancashire simply ignores all the online reports anyway, but at least you have the record. They're aiming to put you off by making it as difficult as possible- if you give in they'll keep waiting until you or another cyclist is terminated - with the additional bonus that the camera has been destroyed and there is even better 'insufficient evidence'.

It is not ideal but if you know cameras (either council or private etc) are along the route you can request the footage under data protection law, often if you explain the circumstances they can be helpful. Sadly it is individuals who need to do the work with limited police resources.

nikkispoke wrote:

It is not ideal but if you know cameras (either council or private etc) are along the route you can request the footage under data protection law, often if you explain the circumstances they can be helpful. Sadly it is individuals who need to do the work with limited police resources.

I am on my way up there this morning to try see if I can get any camera/video evidence to get this dangerous drivers number plate

If you have the time, chances are the same driver in the same car will be on the same commute at the same time of the day/week.

greystoke wrote:

I am still waiting for contact from the police. I was told he couldnt access my reference number when I tried to give him the footage and I should ring 101(the police!!!).

I have tried several times already and have been on hold so will keep trying.

My worry is if there is any foootage from nearby cameras(which im sure there will be) it may be to late.

I know im lucky to be alive but someone else may not be so lucky

I know you shouldn't have to, but would it be possible to approach any of the local businesses or council yourself? There was a really nasty case a while back in London where the victim (he was hit and seriously injured) was forced to do just that - the rozzers just ignored it until he went and did their job for them.

This was horrible, glad you weren't hurt physically but anyone can be sympathetic to how shaken up you must be.

I wonder if Mr grunshaw will return to delivering milk?

yes, thats one of those just from the description you know is going to be bad to watch, and you are braced for it, but still thats jaw dropping heart in mouth moment,I know from experience using the Cycliq camera how close that must have been to contact.

and the driver doesnt even hesitate or seem to be in two minds when they must obviously see whats ahead of them.

that ought to be a driving ban if they ever catch up with them