Irish cyclist fined by Gardaí over his own videos of close-passing drivers

A cyclist who submitted videos of drivers he alleged had overtaken him in a dangerous manner has been told by gardaí the drivers would be fined and would get penalty points.

But the gardaí have also issued the cyclist with two €40 fines because they said his own videos showed him cycling without due care.

The cyclist in question told stickybottle he was "surprised and angry" at being fined as he believed his cycling did not warrant fines.

He also believed the Garda was "sending out the wrong signal" to cyclists who may be thinking of using self-recorded video footage to make complaints to gardaí about alleged dangerous overtaking by drivers.

The cyclist is based in the south of the country and since the new offence of dangerously overtaking a cyclist was introduced in November, 2019, he has lodged a number of complaints with gardaí alleging drivers have dangerously overtaken him.

The complaints have been lodged along with video of the overtaking incidents. In some cases gardaí have used the footage to fine the drivers and impose penalty points on them. And in some other cases the gardaí have reviewed his footage and decided to take no action against the drivers.

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However, in two recent cases when the cyclist lodged complaints about two different drivers, the cyclist was contacted by gardaí and told the drivers were getting fines and penalty points but that he too was being fined for the manner of his cycling. It meant his own videos were being used as evidence against him.

"I thought both of these cases were cut and dry but out of the blue the gardaí got back to me with fines for me as well," the cyclist said, adding in the other previous cases he had brought forward only the drivers were penalised.

"There is no major consequence for me personally, it's just two fines of €40 and if you pay them then that's the end of it. But I think it raises huge issues for cyclists generally.

"They (the gardaí) told me it was for swerving on the road or poor road positioning and also not giving enough of a hand signal. It seems to me to be very vague what I have done wrong."

A change of legislation was introduced in November, 2019, creating a new offence of dangerously overtaking a cyclist. Since then, some cyclists have made complaints about some drivers, with many cyclists using footage recorded by their helmetcams or bike-mounted cameras to support their complaints.

The cyclist who has been issued with the two €40 fines believes if gardaí start pursuing cyclists by using their own videos as evidence against them - unless there was a very clear and strong reason - it would deter cyclists from coming forward and would undermine the new offence introduced in 2019.