As we reflect on the last few years of UpRide.cc, we are so proud of the community of UpRider’s for posting over 10,000 incidents and together, helping to make cycling safer. With many of our users uploading over 20 incidents to UpRide, we’re glad to see the platform performing its desired task as a cycling safety hub and awareness platform.
Let us introduce our friend RV.
RV is originally from Switzerland, and based in the Australian state of Victoria. He’s experienced some close calls on his rides, and in 2021, was hit by a young driver. Thankfully he’s ok, and although his new custom built bike suffered some damage, there’s been some correspondence with law enforcement since the event.
Many of the close calls have occurred in a time when Victoria had no minimum passing distance law implemented and therefore, RV was told that the police wouldn’t do anything about it.
He also has a Youtube channel where he exposes drivers and calls them out with their number plates.
If a company car is involved in an incident, which we find is occurring increasingly more and more, he will leave a 1 star rating on google and explain what happened linking back to the event on UpRide and Youtube.
“I was hit in 2021 by a young driver. I had camera footage and went to the police. The result was that after a week, when I asked them for the case-file number for insurance, they told me they decided to not follow up, despite the video evidence (they did not even look at it, as I was asked again to hand in the files/links) and my brand new custom built road bike was damaged.”
RV is an avid cyclist, he says that riding on the roads under the current laws makes him ‘really uncomfortable’ riding without a camera.
Record your ride. Make it count.
Why do you record your ride?
“It actually makes me feel safe since in case of an accident, I would have proof of the circumstances. Riding without a camera makes me really uncomfortable, and additionally I use the footage to create videos of my rides, like ‘holiday’ memories.”
What do you think about UpRide?
“It ‘s a great idea. I think it definitely should become more famous and police/crime investigators should consider it more often/regularly. I actually discussed a while ago with a friend ,who was hit badly a few years ago, to build up such a site in combination with a database where number plates from the incidents are stored and Insurances and police can have access to in order to check on drivers behaviours.”
What do you think are the most important things that can be done to improve safety for cyclists on the road?
“Change the minds of the drivers (Make it mandatory for drivers to attend regular road trainings, where they also sit on a bike and ride through traffic, public transport, trucks, delivery etc) Force police to investigate any issue that is handed over to them. Police officers should become liable if they push serious offences under the table.”
If reported, what was the reporting process?
“Generally I raise it via Crime stoppers, what bothers me is that there is no info on if it has been transferred to police. If the driver did it to me he most likely did it to others as well, as it is an indication of his driving style.
There has been a follow up on a case I filed with a concrete truck. I not only took this to the Crimestoppers, but also to the Victoria Big Building Projects with the result that the truck driver got a written warning from the employer, the employer used my video to teach his drivers on how to not act and the police followed up on him. Sadly I never heard about the final outcome.”
What is your advice for other cyclists?
“Get cameras and speak up, raise cases to the police, don’t aggravate the driver, read the number plate loud if possible.”
Thanks for using UpRide RV.
Want to share your story?
We’d love to hear from you. If you would like to share your stories and experience as a cyclist please reach out to the UpRide team.
