Anyone managed to use video evidence in a police case ?

[Jbr]

Hi everyone.

lately there hasn't been one morning without a close call. Even when riding the safest route possible my side (consisting of the melkboss cycle path / duynefontein loop...), I still get passed very very close nearly every morning, motorists can't wait to make a clean pass and will squeeze between us and oncoming trafic at any cost, and when you confront them about it they'll say "I couldn't give you space there was a car coming"... like slowing down and wait wasn't even a possibility. Anyways, I feel at this point it's either I just ride on the trainer, or I fight back. So I'm considering buying this : https://www.cyclelab.com/product/4004270-light-garmin-varia-rct-715 (I already have the normal varia without the camera)

I've seen that in the UK the police is taking things seriously and you can bring video evidence taken from a gopro or a varia and get them to go after the drivers. 

I was wondering if saps would do the same ? Since they seem to like fining people from speeding as it's easy targets, why wouldn't they also be interested in fining people for making close passes ? I think at this point I'd be willing to go to the police station on weekly bases just to get the small satisfaction of knowing that the idiots that put my life in danger to gain 2 secs on their morning routine pay some school fees every now and then.

Also I'm thinking if anything happens to me, at least there is proof and someone to go after...

Is it worth the pricetag ?

 

[ChrisF]

In THEORY there is a 1,5m pass distance in the CoCT By-Laws ....

 

 

REALITY .... only day before Argust when Winddy And Co comes out to collect votes .... the rest of the year the CoCT shows ZERO support for cyclists ....

Edited November 1, 2025 by ChrisF

[Mamil]

@JbrI have the RTL715 - IT works BUT - even recording at 1080P it needs good light to capture a numberplate - in lower light conditions like dawn and dusk it's capture of images crisp enough to see the registration is hit and miss, trending towards the miss side.

There used to be a traffic department web page a couple of years back where you could upload images and video of infringements - I did so 3 or 4 times using gopro and dashcam footage and got zero response from that.

I find it very discouraging. 

I also share your experience that things are getting worse on the road - the "There was a car coming the other way" is the ubiquitous response and incredulity when you point out that the correct thing to do in those circs is NOT TO OVERTAKE until it's safe.

I use the camera even though it's flawed. One idea I've had is to appeal to all owners to upload clips of dangerous driving and to edit them together into a reel of potential disaster and send it to the PPA or something because ... well it feels like we ought to be able to do something.

I suspect though that, despite the stream of pie-in-the-sky policy documents produced by people who I'm pretty sure haven't ridden a bike or caught a train in decades that emanate from the city, we are f2rting against the proverbial thunder of the internal combustion engine's dominance of public space.

Aluta continua muthafookas

[Guest Mike Dewing]

Do you have to have a disclaimer on the back of your bike.? “This bicycle and its rider are monitored by closed circuit television, anyone within a 1.5m radius will be recorded.”

[betaboy]

We have one the highest crime rates in the world, cops and law enforcement are holding this country together with cANCer duct tape imported from China. The chances of this gaining any traction is like a porcupine trying to get a good night’s sleep on an air mattress.

[GLuvsMtb]

Camera footage is commonly used in fleet management and insurance claims, LPR being used with the latter by all the big insurance companies. Near misses are hard to prosecute though and naming & shaming is a futile exercise. 

[Paul Ruinaard]

9 hours ago, GLuvsMtb said:

Camera footage is commonly used in fleet management and insurance claims, LPR being used with the latter by all the big insurance companies. Near misses are hard to prosecute though and naming & shaming is a futile exercise. 

I would agree. However i cannot but ask whether it would not be in anyones best interest to avoid situations which could potentially result in near misses altogether i.e. dont ride that route. IN the eternal war between 2 ton cars and 7kg bikes there is no way you will come off better. First principle of safety is to avoid dangerous situations? Or am i misisng something?

Unfortunately there have been many times I have stopped riding routes as they became too dangerous. With the police being basiclaly non fucntional in South Africa you may be wasting your energy.

 

[Jbr]

14 minutes ago, Paul Ruinaard said:

it would not be in anyones best interest to avoid situations which could potentially result in near misses altogether i.e. dont ride that route. IN the eternal war between 2 ton cars and 7kg bikes there is no way you will come off better. First principle of safety is to avoid dangerous situations? Or am i misisng something?

So you are basically saying ride the IDT since I specifically said I'm pretty much only riding the melkbos cycle paths or gravel road these days, and even then, I almost get rolled over or hit head on.

So that's it we just give up ?

Edited November 3, 2025 by Jbr

[Paul Ruinaard]

24 minutes ago, Jbr said:

So you are basically saying ride the IDT since I specifically said I'm pretty much only riding the melkbos cycle paths or gravel road these days, and even then, I almost get rolled over or hit head on.

So that's it we just give up ?

Maybe its how you are thinking about the problem. 

I am I suppose a pragmatist. If something is dangerous and you continue to do it chances are that you will have an accident. This is not really up for debate. Mitigation aka rear flashing lights and video, is always good but its never a guarantee. 

To give context, on the other topic on the bikehub this morning is someone who was killed on Cedar Road at Steyn City over the weekend in Jhb. I lived there for 17 years and have ridden up and down Cedar road hundreds of times on the way to and from the cradle. In case you dont know it , its very wide there - 3 lanes.  So not a narrow section of road and therefore you arent being squeezed by traffic.

I stopped riding there from my home 4 km up the road in Craigavon when the primary route to Diepsloot was closed (owing to a road never being completed and mutiple contract frauds), taxis formed convoys on saturday and sunday mornings and went down the road at 100 kmh (similar what they do on the N2) and ignored traffic lights. Nothing like 8 taxis going through a red traffic lihgt at 100 kmh in convoy to make you wake up. It happened repeatedly.

I got the clear impression they did not really care how many cyclists they killed and in fact may have been malevolent towards me on my expensive bike when they were ferrying people to work and a little bit of deliberate clipping etc was always part of the game. Make the cyclist know who really is the boss. 

I am not sure about you but I wasnt going to try and take a video and upload it to the commnity forum and compain, also as the taxis were owned by the police.

Much simpler to put the bike on the rack and drive to the cradle safely. The taxis didnt stop their shenanigans - AFAIK it probably still happens at 6 am on saturday and Sunday.

Thats what you are up against. These people have zero regard for our life and your rights. So do the police and the goverment. 

Given this is the sort of situation you are busy trying to address, albeit a lot worse in Jhb, my suggestion is simply that those that run away live to fight another day.

Up to you mate but i couldnt ask for a more immediate example of what i was trying to say to you than the other string. 

My question is one of preservation and not rights: Are you not concerned that one of those near misses you are having becomes something more concrete, not a miss, and then you may have much more immediate consequences if not be fatal.

Your video evidence of the person who killed you may result in a prosecution but will not bring you back to life nor undo your injuries.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2025 by Paul Ruinaard

[buckstopper]

@Jbr I guess one just had to pick fights that we have a chance of winning. I left Fourways in 2023 after 30 years for a smaller town where I don't have to think about being rear-ended by a reckless or inattentive motorist. Saturday's tragedy not a surprise for me unfortunately.

On a personal level,  I feel everytime I go out there's a risk, although now the risks are easier to accept. But I do take risks on and off the road.

I feel the less I expose myself to traffic related risks the less the chance of me ending up an unnatural death statistic.

[Mamil]

Every morning I stand on the corner of Liesbeek parkway waiting to cross on my 2km gravel bike commute to my work space and marvel at how the lunacy that is the motor car's dominance is normal.

To me one the things tht riding is, is an act of resistance. I hope to all the powers that I am not one of the innumerable lives that the cars claim in car accidents, pedestrian fatalities and cycling tragedies but I'm not willing to give it up.

That having been said, I train indoors more than I used to - partly because of time but a long outdoor bike ride, on road, gravel or mountain is an essential ingrediant of the good life for me

[splat]

On 11/1/2025 at 10:06 AM, ChrisF said:

In THEORY there is a 1,5m pass distance in the CoCT By-Laws ....

 

Do you know what fine or punishment is attached to transgressing that rule/law?
Is that documented somewhere ?

In a country where people don't pay their speeding fines, they will laugh at getting a fine from a close-pass.

So, my feeling of that rear camera is that its a great idea for a 1st world law abiding country where there are consequences to breaking the law.
But it would be a waste of time here in SA.

Unless something actually happened, like you were rear ended in a hit-and-run, where lawyers could use that for prosecution.
But then you may have to do a deep dive into what evidence is permissible in court.

[Mamil]

2 hours ago, splat said:

Do you know what fine or punishment is attached to transgressing that rule/law?
Is that documented somewhere ?

In a country where people don't pay their speeding fines, they will laugh at getting a fine from a close-pass.

So, my feeling of that rear camera is that its a great idea for a 1st world law abiding country where there are consequences to breaking the law.
But it would be a waste of time here in SA.

Unless something actually happened, like you were rear ended in a hit-and-run, where lawyers could use that for prosecution.
But then you may have to do a deep dive into what evidence is permissible in court.

It is that ja.. But If am ever run down like so any of us have been I want anyone who knew me and any hubber who feels so inclined to use the footage to have the perp prosecuted and punished and his fate publicised. 

[reteid]

Video footage is admissable in court yes as long as it satisfies all the evidentiary criterium. As to whether it is worth the fight it is a different question. You still need to lay a charge and the the wheels of justice might turn eventually. It is a different scenario if you were hit and you choose the route of criminal and/or civil litigation.

 

The question is whether the cops will investigate the transgression of the bylaw and from my experience the chances of that are small.

 

I do not condone the transgression of the bylaws just my 2 cents worth having practiced as an attorney for 26 years.