Taxi drivers

in message , Ross Hamilton
') wrote:

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 00:57:11 -0000, Andy Morris wrote in
, seen in uk.rec.cycling:
Ross Hamilton wrote:

I think you'd really need at least 60 minutes recording time to be
worthwhile. I suppose it might happen in years to come.

Wouldn't just the last three minutes do?

What, as in the three minutes leading up to an 'incident'?

I wish I could see three minutes into the future so I knew when to
turn the thing on...

Thats the point. This has been done. There was an article about it on
Slashdot about six weeks ago. Digicam records continuously on a 'loop'
about five minutes long. When you press the button, the last five
minutes is saved to a permanent file. The device in the article was
mounted on the wearer's glasses, with a belt-pack I think holding the
hard disk and batteries.

It was a hack, not a product you can buy off the shelf - but it would be
useful in all sorts of situations, not just cycling, so I'm pretty sure
someone will productise it before long.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

:: Wisdom is better than weapons of war ::
:: Ecclesiastes 9:18 ::

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 08:54:46 -0000, Mark McNeill wrote in
, seen in
uk.rec.cycling:
Response to Ross Hamilton:

I think you'd really need at least 60 minutes recording time to be
worthwhile. I suppose it might happen in years to come.

Wouldn't just the last three minutes do?

What, as in the three minutes leading up to an 'incident'?

If there's one with automatic looped recording of the last minute or two,
I'd be tempted to try it myself.

That would certainly be a good thing, yes, and I'd be tempted to get
one as well.


I'd certainly be more inclined to
report seriously crap driving, if I had a record of it.

AOL.

I'd like a small camera, long-life (as in at least two hours worth of
video on one [set of] batteries and one card/tape) for work - I see
that much misuse of the railway and a video record would actually make
it worth reporting the things we're supposed to report but don't
usually bother (trespassers, for example).

--
Ross, in Lincoln
Reply-to address will bounce; replace "junk-trap" with "me" for e-mail

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 14:12:25 +0000, Simon Brooke wrote in
, seen in
uk.rec.cycling:
in message , Ross Hamilton
') wrote:
On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 00:57:11 -0000, Andy Morris wrote in
, seen in uk.rec.cycling:
Ross Hamilton wrote:

I think you'd really need at least 60 minutes recording time to be
worthwhile. I suppose it might happen in years to come.

Wouldn't just the last three minutes do?

What, as in the three minutes leading up to an 'incident'?

I wish I could see three minutes into the future so I knew when to
turn the thing on...

Thats the point. This has been done. There was an article about it on
Slashdot about six weeks ago.

Do forgive me, looping simply hadn't occurred to me. I was thinking
along the lines of a traditional video camera with "switch on, start
recording and you have 60 minutes of battery charge if you're lucky"
operation.


Digicam records continuously on a 'loop'
about five minutes long. When you press the button, the last five
minutes is saved to a permanent file. The device in the article was
mounted on the wearer's glasses, with a belt-pack I think holding the
hard disk and batteries.

That would be an excellent product.


It was a hack, not a product you can buy off the shelf

Shame.


- but it would be
useful in all sorts of situations, not just cycling, so I'm pretty sure
someone will productise it before long.

I hope so. I'll probably be one of the first on the order list if they
do.

--
Ross, in Lincoln
Reply-to address will bounce; replace "junk-trap" with "me" for e-mail

Simon Brooke wrote:
in message , Ross Hamilton

What, as in the three minutes leading up to an 'incident'?

I wish I could see three minutes into the future so I knew when to
turn the thing on...

Thats the point. This has been done. There was an article about it on
Slashdot about six weeks ago. Digicam records continuously on a 'loop'
about five minutes long. When you press the button, the last five
minutes is saved to a permanent file. The device in the article was
mounted on the wearer's glasses, with a belt-pack I think holding the
hard disk and batteries.

It was a hack, not a product you can buy off the shelf - but it would be
useful in all sorts of situations, not just cycling, so I'm pretty sure
someone will productise it before long.

http://www.mydejaview.com/ keeps only the last 30 seconds, but even that
could be useful in some cases, especially if you could arrange an
accelerometer to trigger it instead of a manual button.

Years ago a schoolfriend of mine was in a car accident. From the evidence
it appeared likely that it was the other driver's fault, but my friend was
knocked unconscious and couldn't remember what happened when he recovered,
and the other driver was killed. To be useful in a case like that, you
need to not rely on a button, or to save a much longer time.

Of course there are far more incidents of bad driving where the outcome
isn't so bad and you _are_ in a position to press a "save" button, but
the cases where there is injury are more likely to have the police care
whether you have a recording of the events leading up to it or not.

Andy Morris wrote:
dkahn400 wrote:


Rule number 1 is to survive. He's probably only trying to scare you,
not actually kill you, so your best bet is to do more or less what you
did. Slow down or stop and get over to the side but leave yourself a
few more inches in case he misjudges it. In particular he may have
forgotten about his wing mirror so watch out for that.



When people park on pavements, I always take extra care to be sure not to
bump into their mirrors with my hips as they fold over really easy.

I have to be very careful with the metal poppers on the wrist of my
coat. I have to take extra care not to let the sleeve rub against the
bodywork as I squeeze past.

Andy Morris wrote:

When people park on pavements, I always take extra care to be sure not to
bump into their mirrors with my hips as they fold over really easy.

Sometimes they can fall off too.

John B

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 17:25:22 +0000 someone who may be JohnB
wrote this:-

When people park on pavements, I always take extra care to be sure not to
bump into their mirrors with my hips as they fold over really easy.

Sometimes they can fall off too.

I saw someone who had parked his car on a cycle route lose his wing
mirror once. The cyclist didn't seem to try and hit it, there was
simply not enough space to squeeze past.

Actually the driver did not lose it. The mirror was left swinging on
the end of a cable. I wonder if the repair bill will have encouraged
the driver to park properly in future.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

On 16 Mar 2005 12:12:04 +0000 (GMT) someone who may be
(Alan Braggins) wrote this:-

A colleague has said he finds that holding a heavy U-lock in his right
hand makes oncoming drivers tend to remember their wing mirrors and
the tendancy of cyclists to wobble when passed too closely.

A motorcycle chain lock, worn in the style of a bandolier on a
Mexican desperado. Far more effective than a Sam Browne belt at
keeping motorists within the law.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 21:25:03 +0000, David Hansen
wrote in message
:

Actually the driver did not lose it. The mirror was left swinging on
the end of a cable. I wonder if the repair bill will have encouraged
the driver to park properly in future.

I'm willing to wager a pound that what actually happened was that he
became vehemently anti-cyclist because they dared to damage his
precious penis extension. No car driver would ever dream of damaging
another car and just driving off without leaving details. Especially
in a supermarket car park.


Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken

David Hansen wrote:
On 16 Mar 2005 12:12:04 +0000 (GMT) someone who may be
(Alan Braggins) wrote this:-


A colleague has said he finds that holding a heavy U-lock in his right
hand makes oncoming drivers tend to remember their wing mirrors and
the tendancy of cyclists to wobble when passed too closely.


A motorcycle chain lock, worn in the style of a bandolier on a
Mexican desperado. Far more effective than a Sam Browne belt at
keeping motorists within the law.


Refer to my posting of a few months ago