What to Do after an Incident

If you’re cycling and you have your camera running, there are a few steps you can take to make sure your footage is usable as police evidence and so that it is easy to review.

These steps aren’t strictly necessary, but they’re the ones I follow.

There are additional steps you must take if you’re involved in a road traffic collision

1. Say the vehicle registration aloud

As soon as it is safe to do so, state the registration of the vehicle loudly and clearly so that it can be picked up by your camera’s microphone. Do this even if you’re unsure whether the license plate will be visible in your video.

Use a phonetic alphabet if you know one (e.g. say “Mike” instead of “M”, and “November” instead of “N”). If you don’t know one, try learning the NATO phonetic alphabet. Using a phonetic alphabet, you might say the registration “AA12 XYZ” as “Alpha Alpha One Two, X-ray Yankee Zulu”.

Why?

Your camera might not capture the vehicle registration plate perfectly, e.g. if the vehicle is moving at speed, or if it’s raining or dark outside.

In many situations you might find yourself with only a partial plate or an ambiguous letter in the registration. For example, you might mis-read “AA12 XYZ” as “AA12 XVZ”. By saying the registration aloud you remove this ambiguity and you make it easier for you and the police to identify the vehicle.

2. Say what happened

State what happened in the incident, even if it’s brief. Say what you’d say if you were telling someone what just happened.

Why?

Saying what happened will make it easier when you come to write the report. You might forget exactly how you felt or other things about the incident that aren’t obvious in the video. By saying it as it happens, you’re essentially giving yourself a spoken record of what happened without all the problems of trying to remember it all later on.

3. Click the bookmark button on your camera

When it’s safe to do so, click the button on your camera which creates a bookmark, if it has one. If you can’t – or don’t feel safe trying to – reach the button while you’re cycling, click it later on and say why you clicked it, e.g. “I got close passed a few minutes ago”.

Why?

You might have several hours of video footage and you probably don’t want to watch all of it in fast-forward. By clicking the bookmark button you can skip through all of your footage to exactly where the incidents occurred, saving you a huge amount of time when reviewing footage.

4. Enjoy the rest of your ride 😄

Let the anger, fear, and adrenaline wear off. There’s nothing else you can do right now which will make a difference.

Go back to enjoying the ride 😄