War on britains roads (gaz the glasses)

mallorcajeff

Seems he did not come across that well then.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... reats.html

Neale1978

The death threats are a step too far but we dont exactly need people like him on the roads thats for sure

binsted

Seems somewhat ironic that the photo on the Daily Mail link above has the confrontation in front of a building with a sign saying "25 years of building peace"....................Nice one Gaz

Critch

Gaz didn't do us any favours, I don't think he should be fighting our corner. At all. He appears to me to be one of this new breed of helmet cam wearers that make it their mission to obtain footage that they can "Tube". They do it to such an extent that they almost orchestrate confrontation, and dare I say it - put themselves in danger to get a driver to react badly to them. Then they use the moral argument the cam is for capturing fun moments with friends, for their safety and to capture incidents/accidents for insurance/litigation purposes. Tosh! Get real, that couldn't be further from the truth!

Gaz is this type of helmet cam wearer and as soon as he's on his bike with the cam rolling he changes like Jekyll and Hyde. His rational thought process goes into a steep nose dive and his temperament changes because he has put pressure on himself to capture something bad and that changes how he rides and treats others.

I know that car drivers are cocooned in a 1.5 ton steel shell and surrounded by airbags while we ride around on ~12 kilo bikes and therefore they should afford us more care than we them (the Highway Code states this) but guys like Gaz take it to the extreme. He needs a new hobby.

davidof

I watched his video a while back and found him confrontational, better to calm things down on the roads, if not for yourself then for the next person the driver comes across.

SMIDSYs need to be off the road for good though.

gerroffandmilkit

Watched the programme like many others did the other night.

Gaz came across as a bit too smug for many peoples liking. Seems he's waging a 1 man crusade against road users. I reckon he now needs to lie low for a while until the heat cools somewhat.
There are some right loons out there who may make it their crusade to target the lad, on bike or not. He needs to watch his back.

Didn't do much for the image of modern day cyclists unfortunately.

chrisaonabike

gerroffandmilkit wrote:

Didn't do much for the image of modern day cyclists unfortunately.

No, he very much didn't.

It wasn't even the smugness on its own. For me it was the fact that he was smug in front of the camera, but a complete arse behind it. All that screaming and swearing at the drivers just made him look like an idiot.

The people that endanger cyclists in their cars are by definition the ones that are going to react badly to being shouted and sworn at, and until the helmetcam warriors realise this, they will just continue to inflame situations.

The black guy - was that Traffic Droid? - had a much better attitude, but those bright flashing helmet lights aren't going to endear you to someone you're speaking to, even if more civilly than Gaz.

I found the whole programme a bit depressing, really.

Just been out on the bike, encountered only politeness from several drivers. Waved thanks in every case, one even thanked me.

dodgy

Is 'Gaz' a member of these boards?

gerroffandmilkit

dodgy wrote:

Is 'Gaz' a member of these boards?

Don't be daft. He probably wouldn't lower himself to come on here. Too many level headed cyclists frequent this forum.
Word has it he's starting his own forum for his type of of cyclist.......

Death Wish Cyclists Online hits the net within the next few days!!!

dodgy

Ah, just looked him up, he is a member of cyclechat

buckmulligan

I can see how he thinks his riding style is keeping him safe (e.g. taking a dominant road position) but his attitude of taking it to the extreme is obviously going to wind people up and end up causing more danger. For example, if you think the road is too narrow for a vehicle to overtake safely, ride two ft from the kerb and 99% of people will stay back and when the 1% does try to squeeze past, you've got somewhere to go; if you ride bang in the middle of the road of course people are going to take it as antagonism.

ShutUpLegs

dodgy wrote:

Is 'Gaz' a member of these boards?

I think he posts under the username 'ALIHISGREAT'

mallorcajeff

suprised nobody has blamed wiggle for the programme?

Have to agree with the comments above seems to go out his way to create a situation. Cant remember if it was him but the clip going along the road right in the middle, then the blue astra estate i think it was pulled round him and stopped to give some "words of encouragement" seemed on purpose. There is riding defensivley but that was just looking for an argument. I wonder how he rides when he forgets to clip his camera on or the battery is flat?

FreeFlow Bikes

He did come across as a man on a mission, and that mission seemed to be to hunt down bad driving in relation to cyclists and I would even go to the extent of saying he tired to encourage in with his action to get footage.

Now I may be wrong but that was just what I took from it. Once a guy leaves his vehicle and you start swearing a him it's not going to make the situation any better, just provoke a reaction.

essjaydee

Came across with little understanding of his own vulnerability as a cyclist, and only a matter of time until he comes a cropper, and probably at the hands of an irate motorist!

diy

hmm.. what exactly are his driving credentials that entitle him to be a self appointed educator of drivers? Maybe he is an ADI, maybe a class 1 or perhaps he has never even sat a driving theory test.

He has made more driver hate cyclists - so cheers for that :roll:

Omar Little

Alot of the popular youtubers seem to be more prone to things happening than the average regular rider. Maybe subconciously they feel having a camera on gives them a bubble of protection and thus ride differently or maybe they do not take action to prevent minor incidents that are developing and as a result things escalate. No incidents would mean no new video views which for some is a bit more than just an ego thing as they have videos that are monetised and / or they get sent free gear either to review or keep on the basis of their videos.

Of course not all incidents can be foreseen and avoided, but the goal is surely to minimise the risks as much as possible even if that means backing down when legally you are in the right. That isn't being meek and accepting dangerous or idiotic driving either it is just a recognition of who the more vulnerable road user is.

Camtheman

I regularly cycle to work in Yorkshire but also regularly travel to London on business. The attitude of London cycle commuters always amazes me - they ride like nutters zipping in and out of traffic, squeezing up the inside of moving vehicles, jumping red lights..I could go on. How the hell they avoid having a death a day I really don't know.

It seems to me that the sheer number of lunatics has bred a culture all of its own.

The TV programme was, I think a fair reflection of what I regularly see in London but not elsewhere. For that reason, the programme and the d1ckhead cyclists on it did the vast majority of us a great disservice.

Frank the tank

I thought the programme proved no sector of the road using community has a monopoly on being a cnut.

iPip

Some of you are coming across as equally arrogant, holier than thou and lacking a bit of perspective. You'll see from most of his YT vids that he doesn't generally come across as a self-appointed cycling vigilante and a running commentary on what he sees on his commute, whilst maybe not the sort of things most of us do, is hardly extreme or giving the rest of us a bad name. Whilst the BBC footage may not have been his greatest moment, don't under-estimate the power of adrenaline (I'm sure we've all been there at least, once, cycling or otherwise). He had a close call with something that could have killed him and was then approached by someone who looked like they could have assaulted him at any ed moment. The same fight or flght physiology that got us to where we are today kicked in and he vented a little.

It may not be the method you would use, but a least he's doing something to try and make a difference. What are you (or I) doing?

Give the guy a break.

Neale1978

iPip wrote:

Some of you are coming across as equally arrogant, holier than thou and lacking a bit of perspective. You'll see from most of his YT vids that he doesn't generally come across as a self-appointed cycling vigilante and a running commentary on what he sees on his commute, whilst maybe not the sort of things most of us do, is hardly extreme or giving the rest of us a bad name. Whilst the BBC footage may not have been his greatest moment, don't under-estimate the power of adrenaline (I'm sure we've all been there at least, once, cycling or otherwise). He had a close call with something that could have killed him and was then approached by someone who looked like they could have assaulted him at any ed moment. The same fight or flght physiology that got us to where we are today kicked in and he vented a little.

It may not be the method you would use, but a least he's doing something to try and make a difference. What are you (or I) doing?

Give the guy a break.

Give over man.. its obvious he puts himself in positions where he does not even need to be etc. Adrenaline does not make you ride like you own or police the roads. He may not do it all the time but the film shows he at least does it some of the time and thats enough to cause issues/reactions. I love riding and ride every day and understand & respect other road users at the same time instead of going over the top if anyone comes anywhere near me

You could tell at the start of the prog by the way he was talking that he thought he was above people in cars which is frankly embarrassing considering cyclists are generally intelligent people

diy

Completely agree, he is doing nothing for road safety or the reputation of road cyclists.

If I met him, I'd tell him to go and learn to ride a motorbike. At least then through the 3-5 days of training he'd do, he'd understand the basics of observation, planning and adapting to risk. I did advanced rider (motorcycles) education for over ten years (including teaching plod) and learned that it is mostly all about attitude and never about imposing your will on others.

Amusingly as a web developer - he can't even manage to get the right number of Ws in his www link.

Mikey23

Nope, even allowing for creative editing he did not do himself or the cycling community any favours.

I think there was a bit early on where he said he rides very fast (30 mph) on a commute. That would to me seem a little irresponsible in London I would have thought

I found it amusing that while many of these battles were going on, the majority of cyclists were just getting on with it quietly, in their lanes, riding sensibly and in their lanes. Unfortunately, nobody remembers them, only mr tete de Richard in glasses and the others just like him ...

rolf_f

Mikey23 wrote:

I think there was a bit early on where he said he rides very fast (30 mph) on a commute. That would to me seem a little irresponsible in London I would have thought

You are scraping the barrel to pick up on that comment. If the traffic is doing 30 then you are probably safest doing 30 with it. And never mind that he probably only gets to 30 on rare occasions anyway. I just took that comment as an exaggeration to make the point that we aren't all pootling along at 12 mph. Not a particularly convincing comment but hardly justification to call him irresponsible in this respect.

jgsi

One day we might remember how to enjoy life again - this is squeezing the absolute life and soul out of things.

speshsteve

iPip wrote:

Some of you are coming across as equally arrogant, holier than thou and lacking a bit of perspective. You'll see from most of his YT vids that he doesn't generally come across as a self-appointed cycling vigilante and a running commentary on what he sees on his commute, whilst maybe not the sort of things most of us do, is hardly extreme or giving the rest of us a bad name. Whilst the BBC footage may not have been his greatest moment, don't under-estimate the power of adrenaline (I'm sure we've all been there at least, once, cycling or otherwise). He had a close call with something that could have killed him and was then approached by someone who looked like they could have assaulted him at any ed moment. The same fight or flght physiology that got us to where we are today kicked in and he vented a little.

It may not be the method you would use, but a least he's doing something to try and make a difference. What are you (or I) doing?

Give the guy a break.

I wouldn't give him the steam off my piss let alone a break, I genuinely felt sorry for the cab driver.

rodgers73

Not sure about the guy's attitude (as edited by the producers at least) or his reaction to the cab driver, but he was being blatantly squeezed by the cab that cut in way too early. The flat denial of any poor driving by the cab driver was a bit pathetic, he did nearly take the cyclist off regardless of the wider issues of confrontational cyclists etc.

diy

He was trying to get in to the taxi/bus/motorbike/cycle lane and gaz was not willing to ease up for 2 seconds to let him do it. Instead he rides faster and wider to block the taxi's opportunity to move in. When the taxi starts to move over he does his bang on the roof trick whereas it would have been so much easier to just slow up.

When you ride in bus lanes you have to be ready to stop at any moment in case someone wants to turn left.

Frank the tank

ShutUpLegs wrote:

dodgy wrote:

Is 'Gaz' a member of these boards?

I think he posts under the username 'ALIHISGREAT'

If that's true it just confirms what I think.

Werbo

I really don't like him, they way he would start a fight then as soon as they stopped yell I have a camera. Glad to see he is getting my letters " joking " I'm to tight to by a stamp.

EssieP

‘deserves to be run over’.

... is not a death threat. Typical Daily Mail distortion in their familiar inflammatory tone. what a miserable nasty, malicious newspaper.
Why does anybody ever buy it?