Recently, there was an article in the Herald about an NZ academic who considers that cyclists using portable cameras to film how badly drivers behave around them are just inciting further strife – by being “provocative”.
You can just see it. The agressive cyclist intimidating the poor, defenseless SUV driver:
“Come on, make my day – I’ve got a camera, and I am not afraid to use it!“
Well, if there’s no bad behaviour to catch on film, then there’s nothing to inflame things with… – and it seems that at least in some places, the police agree – in Austin, Texas, undercover bicycle cops (now there’s a combination you don’t hear often!) have been using bicycle-mounted cameras to hand out citations and fines to motorists who overtake them dangerously close, and in violation of their “3-foot law”.
We’d be quite happy to see that happen here. We reckon that police would get good hunting on some of our own arterial roads! Of course we’d first have to have a law that specifies what unsafe overtaking is. Provocative, indeed.
