Police in Denmark charged a motorcyclist with 86 separate moving violations over the weekend, adding excessive speed, endangering others, even “riding on the rear wheel,” to his rap sheet. Danish authorities, however, were absolutely dumbfounded by one unique factor of the case: Most of the evidence came from the motorcyclist himself, thanks to his helmet-mounted GoPro.
According to KSL, Danish authorities were shocked that a rider performing such illegal deeds would keep a record and, god forbid, go so far as to post the videos to social media. A statement from the cops claimed “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it,” but that must be something unique about the Danish experience. Here in the good ol U.S. of A, we do this shit constantly.
American motorcyclists post videos of speeding, stunting, and wheelieing (a horrible word to write out) on YouTube every day. Entire channels are dedicated to subjectively cool but objectively illegal riding, and people have even gone so far as to build whole careers out of that genre of content. Have we, as motorcyclists, learned nothing from the automotive YouTubers who came before us? Have we forgotten Afroduck so quickly?
If motorcyclists in Scandinavia are posting their speeding and wheelies so infrequently that local authorities call helmet cam video evidence “a big and unconventional case,” why are we doing it so much over here? Our cops certainly aren’t any more scrupulous than those abroad, they aren’t less willing to collect evidence from all corners of the internet. Why do we keep making it easy for them?
If you’re going to do a crime — and, yes, traffic crimes count — don’t post unimpeachable evidence online. If you truly have to share the video, send it via Signal or something, or wait to post it until the statute of limitations for any possible charges has elapsed. Don’t be Afroduck, motorcyclists. We’re better than this.