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When Breaking the Law, the Action Camera Can Become Your Worst Enemy

Robert Hammond, 60, is a rider from Upways Close, Selsey, the UK, but he will have to put his passion for motorbikes aside for at least three years after being found guilty of multiple counts of dangerous driving.
Hammond's dash reads 153 mph 1 photo
Photo: YouTube capture
Hammond pleaded guilty to four counts and, on Friday, January 22, was sentenced to serve six months consecutively for each offense. He will spend at least one year in jail, followed by a two-year driving ban and an extended re-testing period.

Now, you know how it usually goes in such cases. Not-that-smart riders record their antics, which often include speeding way above the legal limits on certain sectors of road, and occasionally adding passing in no-passing zones, wheelies and other things that would not make cops or judges happy.

Then they upload these videos to social platforms and brag about their deeds. Sooner or later, a cop in the region would see these videos and start an inquiry that ends with the identification of the "hero" and all the legal consequences that derive from his or her deeds.

How did the cops get to him?

However, it was not the case for Hammond, at least not with the social platform mistake. Two policemen saw Hammond on the A27 at Chichester, on April 29 this year, riding his Honda Fireblade at an estimated 80 mph (129 km/h) in a 50 mph (80 km/h) zone, wheeling and passing several vehicles.

The cops pulled the rider over and seized the card in his helmet cam. An inspection of the memory card revealed around 150 video clips that showed Hammond on his motorcycle repeatedly breaking speed limits. The record was doing 110 mph (177 km/h) in a 30 mph (48 km/h) zone, while the top speed was 153 mph (246 km/h).

Now, the online communities are debating whether Hammond should have received a harsher penalty or a lesser one. Some say he is a menace to road safety, and we can't argue that WSBK speeds on countryside roads are a healthy habit.

On the other hand, his very 150 recordings (and try to imagine how much he has ridden all in all) without an incident are a testimony to his skills as a rider.

And what's worse, some fellows in the UK provide examples of drivers who have committed much worse crimes and were sentenced to two years in jail. Visordown reader Rogerborg mentions this is the same sentence "that drunk driver Brian Hampton got for fraudulently insuring his car, driving while banned, smashing into the back of 16 year old moped rider Jade Clark, smearing her down the road, then driving off and leaving her to die."

What's your take on this?

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