Head cameras seem to be a growing trend with London cyclists. I can’t say I have ever seen a commuter in Oxford wearing one but there must be some of you out there.

The reason for the mini mobile monitoring is primarily to record incidents of dangerous motor driving, but also in the event you are a victim of such actions it may help secure prosecution or retribution at least – by posting your videos on the internet.

The police welcome this kind of evidence. Well who wouldn’t? It is also fascinating to watch such footage.

But not everyone agrees they are a good thing. The Telegraph recently published a disturbing piece declaring “people who load their bikes with cameras and submit countless traffic violations to the police aren’t helping society or themselves”.

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The piece by journalist Andrew Critchlow is full of controversial anti-cyclist vitriol. He paints the motorist as just clumsy and the high deaths of cyclists on UK roads of equal blame on the part of the cyclist because, as he puts it, they “might be better served by concentrating on looking ahead and riding in a straight line”.

I can’t say I agree. The head camera is another layer of defence when out sharing the road with faster and more dangerous vehicles than us. We buy highly visible clothing to defend and mark ourselves out from the other traffic. Why not wear a camera as well?

Having been hit by a car driver not looking where they were going, I can understand why you would want to replay the events to understand what happened, if not to punish the driver.

Of course the commentary was met with opposition, the article even prompted death threats towards the journalist which then escalated to police involvement and twitter accounts being suspended.

I expect Oxford cyclists may become camera-wearing vigilantes en masse at some point in the future. Certainly the price of owning such equipment has seen a drastic fall in recent times with some as little as £50 now. I see no reason why such monitoring should be seen as unnecessary. Surely it is complementary to the system already in place of speed cameras and red light jumping cameras?

If you don’t break the rules these cameras aren’t bothered with you. But Mr Critchlow missed the point completely by suggesting the crimes the cyclists are recording are minor traffic infringements.

In my experience the disturbing footage on the internet shows cyclists are seriously harmed from cars cutting them up and even violent drivers that get out their cars and physically abuse them.

Mr Critchlow starts his piece with a passage from the Bible “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. But I fear he may have sorely missed the point again as Jesus was merely pointing out the law on the matter in hand.

The law today also says witnesses and evidence must be produced, in which case a neat little head camera should do the trick.

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