We have invited several East Bay cycling groups that just bulk purchased over 200 Cycliq cameras - Benicia Bicycle Club, Fremont Freewheelers, Grizzly Peak Cyclists and Valley Spokesmen - for a technical roundtable on best practices for using videos cameras, reporting Criminal Near Miss incidents and working with law enforcement and the legal system.

As discussed during our first town hall, when cyclists submit criminal near miss incident reports to our free Incident Management System they also generate criminal near miss data that can be powerfully leveraged in grant applications to fund local road improvements for cycling safety.

Until now, only collision data has been explicitly requested in statewide Active Transportation Program (ATP) infrastructure grant proposals. We believe that collisions are a lagging indicator of safety: when a collision occurs it signifies the failure of all of the forces arrayed for public safety. We believe that criminal near misses (CNMs) are a leading safety indicator that can identify, educate and in some cases prosecute egregiously dangerous drivers, before collisions occur. CNM data, combined with objective cyclist video evidence, also provides government agencies with the most accurate picture of the experienced and perceived risks causing cyclists to stop cycling and preventing others from cycling at all.

Cycling is an enormously valuable active transportation alternative - resulting in both improved health and beneficial environmental impact. In addition, cyclists are entitled to the same or arguably better protections while using our shared transportation infrastructure. Thus, gathering this critical data, and accounting for it in infrastructure grant proposals, are integral steps toward protecting cyclists, making our communities safer and improving our environment.

Please help us make your community safer for all cyclists by participating in our free town hall and encouraging everyone who cares about cycling safety to attend as well.