“Foul!” yells Lewis Dediare from his bicycle before brandishing a red card in the face of a dumbfounded delivery driver.
The scene is not a soccer field, rather the middle of a London street, where Dediare, alias the “Traffic Droid,” is busy pointing out the law to motorists.
The 49-year-old is one of dozens of British cyclists who have found a new raison d’etre: to travel the land recording reckless drivers with helmet-mounted cameras and passing the evidence on to police.
Photo: AFP
The authorities were at first wary of the carriageway vigilantes, but every case is now treated on its merits.
Equipped with Klaxon horns and a “Selfie cam” comprising torches and no less than eight cameras, Dediare is a one-man sound and light show, as likely to amuse as to intimidate.
“Some people say I look like a flying saucer,” he joked.
In addition to his red card, Dediare carries a tape measure to make sure motorists keep the regulated 1m distance from cyclists.
The spur for action was a 2009 bicycle accident in which he nearly died. Every day since getting back on his bike, he has documented his two-hour ride to his job in telecommunications, filming “idiots” before exposing them on YouTube.
Whether it is cutting people off, running red lights or using mobile phones, there is nothing that escapes his gaze.
“I’m scanning the road all the time, it’s like a video game,” he said.
Dediare reports an average of four drivers to the police every day. Some will be fined and might even lose their license.
His efforts inevitably irritate some road users.
“How about cyclists then? They are far worse. They don’t look at the traffic lights,” said a disgruntled truck driver, while casting a wary eye over the “Droid.” Others accuse him of being a “snitch,” an informer in a country already riddled with surveillance cameras.
“I’ve been attacked a few times,” Dediare said, but insisted he was just being a “concerned citizen.”
About 15 cyclists are killed in London each year on average, a toll that also spurred cyclist Dave Sherry to start filming his bike trips into the capital.
“Too many cyclists have died,” said Sherry, a 37-year-old bus driver. “It’s a jungle out there.”
Both Sherry and Dediare complain that budget cuts mean there are no longer enough police officers to protect cyclists. There are now 3,600 fewer officers in London than three years ago, according to Metropolitan Police figures.
Sherry claims to have notched up 60 convictions in the past two years. And last year, one of his videos even led to the dismissal of a fellow bus driver for texting while driving.
He admits to some resentment among his coworkers, but says: “I don’t care what people think. If I can save one cyclist’s life, that’s a good thing in my book.”
The father-of-five identified “mothers on the school run, van drivers, black cab drivers and people in high-end sports cars” as habitual offenders.
The crusaders often hand their evidence to Police Witness, a private company that offers to review the footage and pass it to the police for free, as long as cameras are purchased through them.
“We can sometimes receive tens, if not hundreds, of incidents each week,” chief executive Matt Stockdale said, adding that videos are only passed on where “we know the police can and will act.”
The British Association of Chief Police Officers, which helps develop guidance for police forces, said it encourages members of the public to bring any evidence of an offense to the authorities.
“With motoring offenses, videos filmed from dashboard mounted cameras or head cams are admissible as evidence, and assuming that the quality is good and the evidence can be corroborated the police will record, report and consider the circumstances of each case on its merits,” a spokesman said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese