These special kind of cyclists fill dozens of hard disks with images.
Terras and terras bytes of memories, testimonies of Paris by bike over the years, like so many proofs of the ongoing transport revolution in the capital.
“When I don't have her, I miss her!
Exclaims Ludovic, who has been experimenting with his system for a year, a Go pro attached to his basket, located at the front of his bike.
“Knowing that you are being filmed gives you increased confidence,” explains this bike rider who travels about twenty kilometers a day to go to work.
Not to go into dangerous behavior, he tempers.
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In France, before blood alcohol or lack of a driving licence, hit-and-run is the number one traffic offence.
Yves was hit by the driver of a scooter a few months ago after some unfriendly verbal exchanges.
“I found myself on the ground and the guy fled”, explains this seasoned bike rider.
Everything was recorded with his camera and Yves filed a complaint with the police with his images.
At this Porte d'Orléans crossroads, there are many security cameras, but... "the police told me that they are more useful for finding out if there are traffic jams than for penalizing infringements" is surprised Yves .
Since his complaint, Yves has still not had any news of its progress.
Read also“It’s hell”: are scooter drivers the worst drivers in Paris?
So is it really useful in terms of the law to film everything on the bike?
The answer is a bit more complex than one might think.
“On the criminal aspect yes, indicates Me Romy Collard-Lafond, lawyer for road victims.
In certain specific cases, without witnesses or when the person contests the facts, a dashcam can contribute to providing proof”, particularly in the event of a hit and run.
But on the civil aspect, we are talking here about the recognition of the status of victim to have the right to compensation, the camera, contrary to popular belief, is not really useful.
The cyclist, just like the pedestrian, has a special status, created by the Badinter law of 1985. Whatever the responsibility of a non-driver in an accident, the right to compensation is automatic, no need for proof.
While a motorist or a scooter or motorcycle driver will have to prove, for example, that he is not at fault.
A skull mask on a bicycle loaded with cables, telephones and cameras in Paris, that surely means something to you… It's Altis… One of the Parisian stars of the dashcam.
He even pushed the concept even further: he films his journeys live and broadcasts them to his entire community.
He embellishes his outings with his comments on badly or, on the contrary, well-made infrastructures, with his humor and his always very placid interjections: “That's not good!
"Ah, he didn't understand."
Filming on a bike, for Altis it all started after a road accident...
"I started to record my journeys and one day when I had forgotten the camera, I had an accident", recalls Altis.
A car cuts him off.
Verdict: fracture of the tibia fibula.
“It was a trigger for me, for the production of my videos.
“Since this event, the YouTubeur, specialist in new mobility, seeks, thanks to the video support, to show that it is often the infrastructures which are not adapted and more rarely the behaviors.
“We are lucky to be able to document this revolution in terms of the development of Paris, I think it's brilliant!
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Find our video episode of the Biclou series dedicated to dashcams at the top of the article.