Lazy journalism not just limited to the Hate Mail

chuckcork

Feel free to pile in with your bile (I insist).

It seems lazy journalism is not limited to UK papers but is a global phenomena.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 52,00.html

prj45

From the article:

Penalties for cyclists caught breaking the law are substantially lower than for motorists who commit the same offence.

DUUUURRRRR!

always_tyred

Bloody abbo lycra road immigrant louts.

Why can't everyone be like me?

cjw

You can see that the drivers have a point though. In the horrendous rush hour pictured it must send the drivers into a rage as these lycra louts force their way through the dense traffic

Bassjunkieuk

Well of course there are going to be law breaking cyclists in Australia, everyone knows that country is full of criminals after all ;-)

Also I wonder what the rules are regarding cyclist obeying speed limits in Oz? I'd presume from this "article" they aren't the same as over here as technically speaking we don't have a speed limit for cyclist here.

prj45

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I'd presume from this "article" they aren't the same as over here

I bet they are, just that the shoddy journo that wrote this puff piece didn't consider that the law might apply only to motorised vehicles.

ballspondroad

"Cyclists also have been snapped by speed cameras at Mt Coot-tha travelling up to 18km over the 60km/h limit." - does this mean they were travelling for 18 km at over 60 kph or at 78 kph ?

prj45

ballspondroad wrote:

"Cyclists also have been snapped by speed cameras at Mt Coot-tha travelling up to 18km over the 60km/h limit." - does this mean they were travelling for 18 km at over 60 kph or at 78 kph ?

If it's the latter that's 48mph in old money.

Attainable downhill I guess.

Flasheart

Yep. Being an ex-Brisbane-ite I can validate that.
Mt Cootha is just out side of central Brisbane. It's where all of the Television Stations are located with their bl**dy tall antennae masts. It's quite a slow windy ride up and it's a fast-as-f**k ride back down too. Scared the hell outta me. I didn't have a cycle computer on the bike back then in the 80's but us remember overtaking Wally Lewis** in his black Audi (very rare there & then) on the way down with my mate.


**was Australian Rugbly League Captain and local legend

chuckcork

Flasheart wrote:

**was Australian Rugbly League Captain and local legend

Still is...

As for coming down the road, the back road down is scary scary scary. Did it years ago when I was living nearby in Auchenflower. Just as well there was no oncming traffic on some of the bends or I wouldn't be here today.

chuckcork

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Well of course there are going to be law breaking cyclists in Australia, everyone knows that country is full of criminals after all ;-)

Also I wonder what the rules are regarding cyclist obeying speed limits in Oz? I'd presume from this "article" they aren't the same as over here as technically speaking we don't have a speed limit for cyclist here.

Careful, those of us from the Moreton Bay colony are filtering back

Re roads laws they can be quite different, an example is filtering which here is perfectly legit for say motorcyclists, in Qld you'll get points on your licence as the road rules are that there should not be more than one vehicle in a lane unless one of the vehicles is turning.

When I was learning to ride a motorbike with a local training school (Morgan and Wacker) I caught one of the junior instructors out, riding past on his distinctive white Harley. Mentioning this to the Director of the school he turned to this instructor and asked him about it and received the excuse that no one would see him, cut rather short by the senior instructor pointing out that I (one of the students) had!

Talk about embarrassed!

A riding school quite worthy of attending, lessons from it quite applicable to cycling as well and still with me today.

rjsterry

chuckcork wrote:

Feel free to pile in with your bile (I insist).

It seems lazy journalism is not limited to UK papers but is a global phenomena.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 52,00.html

Having lived for a year with some journalist post-grads and spent my whole time at Uni in the same building as the Journalism Department, I'm not convinced there is any other kind of journalist than lazy. More recent experience with trade press wanting to 'write' articles on our firm has confirmed this. Something along the lines of "could you send me some copy and images, that I can pass off as my own work to my editor?" :roll:

Headhuunter

My god this article is even worse than some of the rubbish in the Daily Mail and Evening Standard!

pastryboy

Why on earth would drivers list 'not wearing helmets' as a pet hate of cyclists - surely it shouldn't make any difference unless they're planning on hitting them :?

always_tyred

pastryboy wrote:

Why on earth would drivers list 'not wearing helmets' as a pet hate of cyclists - surely it shouldn't make any difference unless they're planning on hitting them :?

Its mandatory in Oz.

Stone Glider

Australia seems to have a different view of cyclists depending on which State you are in. Victoria is supposed to be the most friendly, NSW less so and Queensland as in most things, is a law unto itself. Queensland' attitude may be summarised as "cycling is gay".

Brisbane is the capital of Queensland but not entirely typical (like most capitals) the populace are very friendly and helpful IME. A back-country Queenslander reminds me of a Boer FWIW. The attitude displayed in that article could be churned out in any urban environment all over the world, it need not be accurate, just run with a set of cliched prejudices; no one cares enough, among the readership, to challenge or even remember it the next day.

badly_dubbed

prj45 wrote:

From the article:

Penalties for cyclists caught breaking the law are substantially lower than for motorists who commit the same offence.

DUUUURRRRR!

does that include drive-bys?

prj45

badly_dubbed wrote:

prj45 wrote:

From the article:

Penalties for cyclists caught breaking the law are substantially lower than for motorists who commit the same offence.

DUUUURRRRR!

does that include drive-bys?

Yeah, IIRC if you take out your target and three innocents in a car it's 25 years, do it on a pushbike, 2 weeks, and you get a playstation 3!

chuckcork

Stone Glider wrote:

A back-country Queenslander reminds me of a Boer FWIW.

I personally would describe it as being like the Deep South (in Oz Qld is known as the Deep North), unfortunately rather similar in all the wrong ways.