While I've been in bed sweating and
shivering with a near fatal dose of the Manflu, the world of cycling
had a smallish grenade tossed into it in the form of yet another
incident from a serial camera warrior and Youtube shamer (Uphillfreewheeler) – the
'Clown Takes a Pratfall' video.
Angry bloke introduces himself...
I'm bloody sick of all these videos from various prickly riders, I
really am. Sure, some of them expose some shocking driving but we all
know there are some utter morons on the road, we all see plenty of
our own thank you, we don't all want to see yours necessarily. But
what bothers me is that so many of the 'incidents' that get shown
are nothing to get worked up about, at all. In fact, if the heroic
super hero cyclist or motorcyclist hadn't been cammed up I doubt
half the incidents would've even happened, and the other half
would've warranted little more than a shake of head and a shrug of
the shoulders.
There is an element of the self fulfilling prophecy
about them – 'fit the camera and the fools shall come to me' kind
of thing. Well what actually happens is the fool on the bike goes a
little out of his way to ensnare the fool in the car/truck/bus or
whoever. Half the time it's pretty clear the camera bearing biker is
looking for a run in and takes offence at anything happening within
thirty feet of him, and if the traffic isn't passing too close, well
he can always just move out a bit to force a close pass then can't
he. Can't get to work without having had a good argument and
displayed some self righteous indignation after all. It's the cycling
equivalent of the footballer looking for the slightest contact in
order to take a dramatic dive in the penalty box.
The Pratfall video really shows all
that is bad about all this filming and shaming. The car does pass
close and quickly too, but the biker could've heard him coming and
moved into the clear area to his left where there are no cars parked
at all. Better that than risk a close pass surely? Well that wouldn't
make for a good upload would it? The biker then appears to follow the
car just so our hero can inform him he's got him on camera. Way to go
saddo!
A close pass? Possibly, but nothing really bad, but also plenty of room to move over a bit and keep out of harm's way.
Now the car driver does in fact turn
out to be a truly vile sort of human being – aggressive, loud and outstandingly foul mouthed. Why would anyone want to get involved with such a
person? It's never going to end well when you're dealing with these
sort of people, and if you don't know what sort of person it is
behind the wheel until you poke them with your superiority stick,
well then you shouldn't be poking them anyway. The number of road
rage attacks seems to be on the increase daily, and people have died
as a result of an ill judged complaint or two fingered response. Just
let it go!
Well this is going really well isn't it... Well if you're a camera warrior, probably yes.
But our hero has his 'I've got you on
film and you're in 'trouble' sanctimonious pop at the car driver, and just
continues to wind him up until eventually, after laughing at him, he
provokes him enough to ensure violence is guaranteed, at which the
point the cyclist takes off, down the pavement, and his rear facing
camera gives us all a view of angry man running after him trying to
kick out, losing his balance and taking a dive into the road. It was
actually bloody hilarious to watch as it happens, I laughed out loud
I must admit, so I suppose it wasn't all bad...
Whoops a daisy... Angry Bloke exits stage right in a dramatic forward roll.
But still, angry bloke looked like he
was going to have a heart attack at any moment, and the cyclist
could've received a good pummelling at any point in the proceedings
by the look of it. Not only that, but it all went viral very quickly,
made national newspaper web pages, and started arguments on the
forums as to who was right and who was wrong and all sorts.
Was it
all really worth it? Really? When a little dink to the left would've given
the car more room? When a 'shake of the head and get on with your
life' would've been far, far, less stressful for all concerned? I
expect the cyclist is pleased with himself, he's attracted a ton of
attention after all, but for every person who thinks what he and his
ilk do is right, there is another, me included, who think it is the
camera warriors themselves who are often the real culprits in a lot of these
videos. Angry bloke says one thing in his ignorant, foul mouthed tirades that I do agree with - 'Get a ******* life!'
In the end, no one comes out of it
smelling nicely, the driver was spoken to by the Police I gather and
given a warning, but I wouldn't want to be the next cyclist he meets
on the road. And that is what these camera clad bikers don't get, it
does nothing to help anything and just makes cyclists/motorcyclists
look even worse in the eyes of other drivers, so does nothing for the
rest of us trying to get about peacefully and calmly on our bikes.
There's already far too much anger and aggression on the roads, why
go provoking it and making it worse for everybody else?
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