Close call database

[djg21]

This link was just forwarded to me. http://closecalldatabase.com/about/

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm sure the intention is a good one, but if something is serious enough to report on this website, it would seem that the report should be made to law enforcement. I also don't know what purpose this website really can serve.

[charliedid]

Terrible idea.

Also, if nothing "happened" the police do not want to talk to you. Forgive me but this is just a bit too sanctimonious and one sided to be at all useful.

If "incidents" are up it's due to the growing user group of cyclists, not because the cars are out to get us.

Enjoy the ride.

[MattTuck]

Brings up some serious questions for me. I can see the good and bad parts of it, but don't really see how it will help.

I'd rather see a multi-jurisdiction database of aggressive drivers maintained by law enforcement based on law enforcement reports.

Crowd sourcing this kind of thing seems to invite all sorts of privacy problems for drivers and admissibility problems for the data itself.

I do think that aggressive/reckless driving should be monitored, even if an arrest cannot be made. It speaks to a pattern of behavior and there should be a way to document that behavior. I'm just not sure that this is the way to do it.

[redir]

If I have a camera (I plan too shortly) and an incident occurs I'll just download the files, back them up, and then give directly to the police. I like the idea of cyclists having cameras but I don't think a site like that is going to do much good unless you are the type of person who just likes to rage at videos. A site like YouTube has it's merits when for example local police don't want to get involved. Post it to YouTube and let it go viral and let the media get a hold of it and things change, we've seen that happen before.

[djg21]

Brings up some serious questions for me. I can see the good and bad parts of it, but don't really see how it will help.

I'd rather see a multi-jurisdiction database of aggressive drivers maintained by law enforcement based on law enforcement reports.

Crowd sourcing this kind of thing seems to invite all sorts of privacy problems for drivers and admissibility problems for the data itself.

I do think that aggressive/reckless driving should be monitored, even if an arrest cannot be made. It speaks to a pattern of behavior and there should be a way to document that behavior. I'm just not sure that this is the way to do it.

This is sort of where I am too. My sense is that such a database would lend itself to abuse, result in a record of trivial encounters, and be complete useless for evidentiary purposes. Law enforcement already has access to driver's license abstracts and conviction records. I'm not sure what the value of this would be.