Old 05-28-19, 07:15 AM
  #7  
canklecat
Me duelen las nalgas
 
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Location: Texas
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Nah. Without any clear threat, the driver would just claim it was a misunderstanding. Or he'd claim that I somehow threatened him. Unfortunately my video quit running just a few minutes before this, and all I could do was hastily mash the still photo mode, which captures a photo every 5 seconds. I didn't get a photo of the close-pass.

Another problem that often comes up -- including from cyclists who don't run video -- these ultra wide lenses make everything appear to be so far away that viewers wonder why we're upset. Happened to a friend this week when he showed a clear video of a brush-by pass. I could tell the car was within 1 foot of him. But even other cyclists thought car was at least 3 feet away because they didn't understand the difference in perspective between human vision and wide angle lenses.

I've never been able to get local cops interested in even looking at video of hostile or negligent drivers. They'll say there's nothing they can do unless they witnessed it, or there was a collision. About a year ago I noticed a line of three SUVs behind me. The first two right-hooked me, forcing my to panic brake. The third was a cop. He just kept cruising straight ahead, no warning to the two drivers who cut me off within a few feet of an intersection.

On the plus side, cops here have a laissez faire attitude toward cyclists. Many of us practice the Idaho Stop for our own safety. The cops ignore it, as long as we're not blasting heedlessly through busy traffic (which *ain't* the Idaho Stop).

But they also don't get involved in spats between cyclists or pedestrians and drivers unless there's a collision and injury or fatality. Whenever there is a fatality it's called an "accident," as if it's an act of god, nothing to be done, thoughts and prayers.

Easiest way to get away with murder in Texas is to run over a pedestrian or cyclist. As long as the driver is sober and recites the magic incantation -- "The cyclist/pedestrian came out of nowhere! I never had time to stop!" -- all is forgiven. Case dismissed. I wish it were an exaggeration but I can't think of a single fatality to a cyclist or pedestrian in which the driver was cited or prosecuted for vehicular homicide, negligence or anything other than a benign offense against administrative process -- "failure to yield" or something similar.
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