In the wake of a targeted online harassment campaign against a cyclist who reported 12 phone-using drivers in one day, forcing the rider to delete their YouTube and Twitter accounts, fellow two-wheeled activist Mike van Erp says that some motorists resort to abusing camera cyclists and road safety campaigners on social media because they “feel that they have the right to drive how they want”.

The prominent camera cyclist, better known by his online alias CyclingMikey, also admitted to road.cc that the online harassment he received during the early stages of his road safety campaign impacted him mentally, and that he would treat each comment “seriously”. However, he now says that “there has been such a torrent of abuse and lies about me that I just let most of it wash off me”.

Van Erp’s comments come just days after Deacon Thurston, an Edinburgh-based cyclist who regularly posted videos of law-breaking drivers to social media, was hounded off Twitter after a co-ordinated attack by users unhappy at the rider for reporting motorists illegally using their phones behind the wheel.

Last Wednesday we reported that Thurston had tweeted that, in the space of an hour, he had filmed 12 motorists using their phones while driving. One of those distracted drivers, the cyclist added, had even previously been spotted using their phone at the exact location where his latest footage had been captured.

However, Thurston neglected to submit the footage to Police Scotland due to the time it would have taken to submit the dozen separate videos, with the force having scrapped plans last year to launch a dedicated portal that would have made it easier for people to upload footage of law-breaking drivers.

Despite the phone-using drivers escaping any sort of punishment, Thurston’s tweet provoked an unsavoury pile-on, with dozens of Twitter users aiming a range of extreme insults at the cyclist, along with multiple threats of violence.

After the sustained and threatening campaign of abuse forced Thurston to delete his account – an outcome described by one of the abusers as “a victory for decent people” – the attackers then turned their attentions to another high-profile camera cyclist, CyclingMikey.

Referencing the locations of Edinburgh’s two biggest football clubs, Hearts and Hibernian, one Twitter user wrote: “Gorgie and Lochend combined to take down Deacon Thurston – it’s time for the London football brethren to unite and take down CyclingMikey. C’mon all Arsenal/Spurs/etc fans, you know what to do.”

That particular campaign against Van Erp – who reports hundreds of distracted and law-breaking drivers a year – has so far resulted in yet another wave of violent threats, as well as horrible and unsubstantiated attempts at defamation based on clearly faked screenshots.

However, speaking to road.cc, Van Erp – the subject of almost constant vitriol on Twitter – says that his approach to social media, as well as the trolls, has changed over the years, and that he no longer pays much attention to the “torrent of abuse and lies” aimed in his direction.

“In the beginning of my camera work, almost 17 years ago, I took a lot of strain at the abuse thrown my way,” Mikey told us today.

“I'd answer each comment seriously. Nowadays, there has been such a torrent of abuse and lies about me that I just let most of it wash off me.”

But why is the abuse aimed at camera cyclists on Twitter so vitriolic? Van Erp reckons it’s down to “two main causes”.

“In the UK cyclists are considered by society to be ‘cockroaches of the road’, unworthy scum who freeload on the public highway and are terrible lawbreakers,” he says. “For such a person to challenge a driver for lawbreaking is a massive affront to the social order, and people don’t like this.

“Many of those throwing abuse also feel that they have the right to drive how they want, and that nobody can tell them what to do. They see the prosecutions, and they are afraid of the consequences, and they are angry that someone dares to do this to them.”

He continues: “I take the abuse as a tool – every angry person out there is showing us all, in the words of the inimitable [close pass policing pioneer] Mark Hodson, that there's no reaction without traction. He means that these drivers are upset because they realise that members of the public with cameras are going to force them to change their ways.”

While Mike says that his ability to cope with online harassment has improved over the years, he also admits that the way he uses and handles social media – including interacting with his attackers – has changed too.

“Rather than try to change the minds of those being unpleasant and trolling, I simply try to make them aware of just how many people are filming and reporting bad driving, and of the consequences that result from it in court,” he says.

“After that I tend to block as there’s no point in wasting time on someone like that once they’ve felt some of the worry of the chances of being caught.

“That worry is, in criminology, the thing that stops people offending. It’s the perception and fear of a realistic chance of being caught, not the size of the punishment, that stops much offending. Before now there was so little traffic policing thanks to successive government police cuts that there was little worry about getting caught.

“This is also why I put my stuff on YouTube. People need to see justice being done. Seeing that drivers are being caught and punished for these dangerous behaviours is a big part of changing driver behaviour.”

And this is where Van Erp believes the positive effects of social media, amid the swirling torrent of anger and abuse, come into play – by acting as an easily accessible and wide-ranging deterrent for potentially dangerous drivers.

“I can change only a few drivers’ behaviour myself as I have limited spare time,” he notes. “I try to use social media to change the behaviour of thousands more by showing what happens to people when they are caught and prosecuted, and what they were doing to be caught, and how easily they were caught.”

https://road.cc/content/news/people-need-see-justice-cyclingmikey-online-abuse-298963

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> In the wake of a targeted online harassment campaign against a cyclist
> who reported 12 phone-using drivers in one day, forcing the rider to
> delete their YouTube and Twitter accounts, fellow two-wheeled activist
> Mike van Erp says that some motorists resort to abusing camera cyclists
> and road safety campaigners on social media because they “feel that they
> have the right to drive how they want”.

The YouTube and Twitter accounts holder *voluntarily* closed them; no-one
put a gun to his head. Van Twerp is conflating two different issues.

> The prominent camera cyclist, better known by his online alias
> CyclingMikey, also admitted to road.cc that the online harassment he
> received during the early stages of his road safety campaign impacted him
> mentally, and that he would treat each comment “seriously”. However, he
> now says that “there has been such a torrent of abuse and lies about me
> that I just let most of it wash off me”.

We do have only van Twerp’s word for that claim.

> Van Erp’s comments come just days after Deacon Thurston, an
> Edinburgh-based cyclist who regularly posted videos of law-breaking
> drivers to social media, was hounded off Twitter after a co-ordinated
> attack by users unhappy at the rider for reporting motorists illegally
> using their phones behind the wheel.

Some of the thrust against the self-appointed vigilante was that someone
was possibly going to lose their job over it, going far beyond the legal
punishment had he been found guilty of the offence. That was seen as being
unreasonable, and people said so via the media used to publicise the issue.

> Last Wednesday we reported that Thurston had tweeted that, in the space
> of an hour, he had filmed 12 motorists using their phones while driving.
> One of those distracted drivers, the cyclist added, had even previously
> been spotted using their phone at the exact location where his latest
> footage had been captured.

The point being what, exactly?

> However, Thurston neglected to submit the footage to Police Scotland due
> to the time it would have taken to submit the dozen separate videos, with
> the force having scrapped plans last year to launch a dedicated portal
> that would have made it easier for people to upload footage of law-breaking drivers.

So, with ICBA being his approach to reporting the issues, he then went to
social media!

> Despite the phone-using drivers escaping any sort of punishment,
> Thurston’s tweet provoked an unsavoury pile-on, with dozens of Twitter
> users aiming a range of extreme insults at the cyclist, along with
> multiple threats of violence.

That latter is unacceptable, but one does need to keep in mind the cases of
pedestrians who confront cyclists illegally riding on the pavement being
punched to the ground and kicked, and other gratuitous acts of violence by
cyclists.

> After the sustained and threatening campaign of abuse forced Thurston to
> delete his account – an outcome described by one of the abusers as “a
> victory for decent people” – the attackers then turned their attentions
> to another high-profile camera cyclist, CyclingMikey.

Deleting accounts is a voluntary act.

> Referencing the locations of Edinburgh’s two biggest football clubs,
> Hearts and Hibernian, one Twitter user wrote: “Gorgie and Lochend
> combined to take down Deacon Thurston – it’s time for the London football
> brethren to unite and take down CyclingMikey. C’mon all Arsenal/Spurs/etc
> fans, you know what to do.”

> That particular campaign against Van Erp – who reports hundreds of
> distracted and law-breaking drivers a year – has so far resulted in yet
> another wave of violent threats, as well as horrible and unsubstantiated
> attempts at defamation based on clearly faked screenshots.

I’m reminded of something Arthur Harris said about his own campaign: ‘he
who sowed the wind reaps the whirlwind’.

<very big snip of puff piece>

> https://road.cc/content/news/people-need-see-justice-cyclingmikey-online-abuse-298963

Oh!

--
Spike

JustTryingToGet... | 382 posts | 14 hours ago
14 likes
CyclingMikey making the roads safer for everyone.

Wouldn't it be lovely if motorists could drive legally out of a sense of duty. But no. So the fear of prosecution* will have to do the job instead, along with getting your law breaking mug plastered on social media.

Drive legally, it's really not that hard to do

On 31/01/2023 06:21 am, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> In the wake of a targeted online harassment campaign against a fairy-cyclist who reported 12 phone-using drivers in one day, forcing the rider to delete their YouTube and Twitter accounts, fellow two-fairy-wheeled activist Mike van Erp says that some motorists resort to abusing camera fairy-cyclists and road safety campaigners on social media because they “feel that they have the right to drive how they want”.

What does he use to read minds thus?

Tarot?

Crystal ball?

Tea leaves?

> The prominent camera fairy-cyclist, better known by his online alias CyclingMikey, also admitted to road.cc that the online harassment he received during the early stages of his road safety campaign impacted him mentally,

How can anyone tell?

> https://road.cc/content/news/people-need-see-justice-cyclingmikey-online-abuse-298963

The journal written by semi-literates for an illiterate clientele.

Don't allow comments and maybe use fake profile details. Immediately chuck trolls off your groups and pages .. Become part of a wider group, and laugh at the trolls, or don't bother engaging, they are usually lazy slobs with nothing to contribute to society.

Report stuff to the cops, post anon stuff online. Mix it up, bike footage, dash cam, pedestrian filming of driver parking on crossings etc.... the latter is good because we are all pedestrians in danger from idiots... I only do the latter sneakily due to threats of violence though, I am a crap runner.

A river of anti bad driving posts is impossible to stop with a few lame threats, just do it.

I think there are a lot of drivers racking up points, locally there seem to be more Mercs etc driving within the limits, due I suspect to some new ave speed cameras , some will have also been nabbed on dash cams....

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> Don't allow comments and maybe use fake profile details. Immediately
> chuck trolls off your groups and pages .. Become part of a wider group,
> and laugh at the trolls, or don't bother engaging, they are usually lazy
> slobs with nothing to contribute to society.

An excellent description of your own post.

> Report stuff to the cops, post anon stuff online. Mix it up, bike
> footage, dash cam, pedestrian filming of driver parking on crossings
> etc.... the latter is good because we are all pedestrians in danger from
> idiots... I only do the latter sneakily due to threats of violence
> though, I am a crap runner.

You could have added videoing pavement cyclists.

> A river of anti bad driving posts is impossible to stop with a few lame
> threats, just do it.

> I think there are a lot of drivers racking up points, locally there seem
> to be more Mercs etc driving within the limits, due I suspect to some new
> ave speed cameras , some will have also been nabbed on dash cams....

You could always try being vindictive.

--
Spike

Daveyraveygravey wrote:

I haven't visited the tweet about this, I suspect it would make me very angry at these people and I would not be able to avoid taking issue with them.

The "mob of decent people" got me though, since when has any mob been decent?

"Mob of decent, hard-working, otherwise law abiding motorists"

:-) "a contradiction in terms"...