It’s time for another forum cycle/vehicle disagreement

[Simon]

Potentially? The infraction by the driver doesn't give Mikey the right to go postal on the vehicle. It's no different to deliberately damaging cars on double yellows or blocking a pavement.

[mik]

BigJobber’s take

[Gavster]

This all caused me to think about how Mikey steps into the road to stop traffic. I realise that he has priority as a pedestrian which he's leveraging to avoid being run over, but he literally walks into the road and directs traffic, tells them to turn around etc. Surely that's even pushing the boundaries of what is reasonable as a civilian pedestrian. Like, would it be okay for me to go outside now and start directing people around, simply because I own a GoPro and feel they've not adhered to the rules of the road.

[Gavster]

BigJobber’s take

Well that does make sense, and hadn't even considered that the driver might lose their insurance for it. However I still find Mikey's actions a moral superiority risk too

[jamcg]

Love a bit of jobber, definitely shows mikey being a self righteous prick and getting in the way, but also technically doing nothing wrong. Hope the police have a little word with mikey about self preservation and the fiat gets some points and fines for dangerous driving

[Marv]

People get so angry over here.

Don't know how they'd cope visiting somewhere like South Asia or South Rast Asia

[mik]

People get so angry over here.

I remember being in a taxi in Morocco 25 years ago, realising that the side mirrors were pretty much redundant - drivers started a lane change and if there was no horn blast : it’s clear.

[dinny_g]

No matter how morally superior he feels he is, he can't go around doing that policing traffic like that.

This goes way further than just reporting issues to direct action. His MO previously would be to video the reg plates and then report the clear and obvious traffic offense to allow for a prosecution on the Fiat driver. Now he's stepping into traffic to try to stop it. What's next ? Confiscating phones from drivers using them behind the wheel rather than just reporting them. - see how that goes for you.

And I'll be honest, if I was in the Fiat, with a kid in the car, I wouldn't stop. From their perspective, some random stranger is yelling at them from the kerb, stepping into the road and then, pushing his bike in front of them. I'm not going to stop around the corner, leave my child in a car on their own and then walk back to some psyco to exchange details.

[Beany]

The ultimate endgame to this is like Dave!!!1!! says - one day he's gonna get in the way of a drug dealer or some other full on thug who just doesn't give a single flying fuck that he's got a camera on him - and they're gonna put him in intensive care so hard that he'll be lucky to walk again, never mind use a bike.

And because videos like the first one here framing Mikey to be a complete knob get far, far more traction and views (check the likes on each vid) than any subsequent, more sober analysis, then no-one will care - he 'got what he deserved', 'what did he expect to happen' etc. He might even be entirely in the right, morally and legally, when a thug kicks his shit in, but that won't make any practical difference when he's, you know, on fucking life support.

This should really be a moment of self reflection for the guy. But I think we all know it won't be.

[Mito Man]

At least we can then say “He died doing what he loved”

[mik]

His MO previously would be to video the reg plates and then report the clear and obvious traffic offense to allow for a prosecution on the Fiat driver. Now he's stepping into traffic to try to stop it.

First CM vids I saw were of him stepping into the road. "Gandalf corner". It was only later he moved on to catching and reporting people who are on their phones in stationary traffic.

[Gavster]

The ultimate endgame to this is like Dave!!!1!! says - one day he's gonna get in the way of a drug dealer or some other full on thug who just doesn't give a single flying fuck that he's got a camera on him - and they're gonna put him in intensive care so hard that he'll be lucky to walk again, never mind use a bike.

That's actually a very good point. He films his videos in affluent areas (Regent's Park, Hyde Park, Putney), but if he confronted the wrong person (or tried doing this in somewhere like Plaistow) he'd be riding a bonnet down the road and the driver wouldn't give a fcuk because they're in a stolen vehicle on their way to do something far more illegal than ignoring road traffic signage.

[MikeHunt]

If only he could use his energy in a more postive way, such are removing fake m badges from a 316d.

[240PP]

Has the ‘power’ gone to his head? Plus a bit of ’fame’.

He probably started out well-meaning and carrying out a bit of public service. Seems he’s now just gone mental

[mik]

He probably started out well-meaning and carrying out a bit of public service. Seems he’s now just gone mental

I quite enjoyed his early "Gandalf Corner" vids. Yeah he comes across as highly sanctimonious, but the people he was calling out were driving like nobs, and the cops don't seem to be resourced to cover this type of thing any more

I don't like what he does with people using their phones in stationary traffic - it is of course technically an offence, but there are very few of them where there appears (to me) to be any risk associated with the driver's activities.

I think he's now drinking the fame (you hear several cheers in the latest Fiat 500 vid) and I assume he must have made some money off his channels (some of his youtube vids have over 5 million views).

[Gavster]

He's had 1m views last 30 days and 76m in total, his long form videos are quite short which impacts the earnings, plus he does post some shorts and the pay for those is pretty low too.

As for income he could have an RPM of around £5, and if he had 700k long form views in the last month, then it's possible he's pulled £3.5k in the last month from YouTube.

[duncs500]

That's the problem isn't it, the more mental he goes in terms of jumping in front of cars and generally acting like he owns the place, the more money he's going to make. It's not going to end well, next he'll try to get himself run over so he can get even more clicks and some sob story.

FWIW my opinion is that he appears to be a TAUC. I have no issue with someone who manages to catch serious and dangerous driving actions on camera and hands it over to the police. Someone who goes round doing it for clicks and acting like they're any more entitled than the next person to walk into the road and start telling people what to do can get fucked.

[dinny_g]

I have no issue with someone who manages to catch serious and dangerous driving actions on camera and hands it over to the police. Someone who goes round doing it for clicks and acting like they're any more entitled than the next person to walk into the road and start telling people what to do can get fucked.

Couldn’t have said it better myself…

[jamcg]

The ultimate endgame to this is like Dave!!!1!! says - one day he's gonna get in the way of a drug dealer or some other full on thug who just doesn't give a single flying fuck that he's got a camera on him - and they're gonna put him in intensive care so hard that he'll be lucky to walk again, never mind use a bike.

That's actually a very good point. He films his videos in affluent areas (Regent's Park, Hyde Park, Putney), but if he confronted the wrong person (or tried doing this in somewhere like Plaistow) he'd be riding a bonnet down the road and the driver wouldn't give a fcuk because they're in a stolen vehicle on their way to do something far more illegal than ignoring road traffic signage.

He’s quite lucky he’s doing it in a big city. If he tried it here on Teesside word would get out quickly where he was and then someone would come and actively target him, he’d be run over within an hour around here by kids wanting to show off to their mates

[Gavster]

That's the problem isn't it, the more mental he goes in terms of jumping in front of cars and generally acting like he owns the place, the more money he's going to make. It's not going to end well, next he'll try to get himself run over so he can get even more clicks and some sob story.

FWIW my opinion is that he appears to be a TAUC. I have no issue with someone who manages to catch serious and dangerous driving actions on camera and hands it over to the police. Someone who goes round doing it for clicks and acting like they're any more entitled than the next person to walk into the road and start telling people what to do can get fucked.

I get that the money could be an incentive, but his overall mastery and use of social media is rather poor and not congruent with someone who is driven by money so I can't see that he's really doing it for the dollar. In fact, because he's so damn controversial, he genuinely could be making several times more than he currently is. I can't find a presence for him on Facebook, and he could be making an absolute fortune on there.

A similar effect ot the one you describe could be that his social media presence, notoriety and TV/press coverage are giving him an inflated ego and increased sense of righteousness, which would have a similar outcome.