BBC TV Program on Danger of Cyclists

OldSkoolKona

For those of you who don't wander onto Cake Stop (yes, its shocking, there are threads outside Commuting :shock: ) I see that the BBC are joining the Daily Mail band wagon:

BBC One Inside Out - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00r0tbd
With one in five cyclists riding roughshod over the laws of the road, former Top Gear presenter Adrian Simpson asks if pedal power has gone too far

No doubt it will be a balance piece as its from a former Top Gear presenter... :?

Prepare for more anti cycling rants from work colleagues on Tuesday morning and more self righteous white van men cutting you up feeling vindicated in teaching them cyclists a lesson :roll:

supersonic

But if it is 1 in 5... In york I'd say it was 2 in 5 lol.

But then again what are the stats for other road users, and what stats do they mean? Guess I will have to watch.

tailwindhome

3 words

Presenter: Matthew Wright

redvee

Inside Out is a regional program with each BBC region getting a different proggy IIRC. Hopefully I should be able to find it online.

AndyManc

London only thank f***. :roll:

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deptfordmarmoset

AndyManc wrote:

London only thank f***. :roll:

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Yes, it's great that we get all the good twattyvision, isn't it? The Inside Out regional programmes all seem to be online on the BBC iPlayer.

One of these days I'm going to have a real good think about this scapegoating of cyclists. What's that biblical proverb about motes and beams?

toontra

As described by the BBC, former Top Gear presenter Adrian Simpson - what a claim to fame. And yes, Matthew Wright it a to$$er.

deptfordmarmoset

Good twitter to the realcycling blog:

'1 in 5 cyclists ignore rules of road': BBC prog. Er, what about the 1 in 5 uninsured drivers?''

supersonic

It's about 5% throughout the UK.

OldSkoolKona

Its the statement "if pedal power has gone too far"

sounds as if we're organising a revolution and should be done for treason :shock: ie get back in your box cyclists!

dodgy

When I go to London, I am shocked at the antics of the majority of cyclists. It's not suprising we're getting a lot of stick because of it, and perhaps no wonder that a show is going out in London.

All the national newspapers are based there and I reckon this is just one of the reasons there's so much tosh written in the papers about cyclists. Cyclists don't run red lights around here and the only ones you see on the pavements are wobbly old pensioners (sometimes) and children.

Sorry if this annoys anyone, but I stand by it.

soy_sauce

i will def record it tonight.

mrbodly

When are they going to make the program 4 in 5 motorists driving roughshod over the laws of the road?! Hmmm........never!

Running red lights, breaking the spead limit, using mobile phones, parking on double yellow lines etc. etc. etc...the list is endless!!

dodgy

mrbodly wrote:

When are they going to make the program 4 in 5 motorists driving roughshod over the laws of the road?! Hmmm........never!

Running red lights, breaking the spead limit, using mobile phones, parking on double yellow lines etc. etc. etc...the list is endless!!

True, it's blame transferral.

OldSkoolKona

dodgy wrote:

Sorry if this annoys anyone, but I stand by it.

Doesn't annoy me, we're pretty tough down here. Now, I'd better go and find some red lights to jump ;-)

pst88

I hardly think running red lights is "going too far". Yes, running red lights is a bad thing but "going to far" seems like a very strange choice of words. Unless of course they think the cyclists were trying to stop at the white line but went to far and decided to carry on anyway.

OldSkoolKona

I blame SC Stats, we are clearly all now collectively going too far in an effort to move up the table.. 8)

Wallace1492

dodgy wrote:

mrbodly wrote:

When are they going to make the program 4 in 5 motorists driving roughshod over the laws of the road?! Hmmm........never!

Running red lights, breaking the spead limit, using mobile phones, parking on double yellow lines etc. etc. etc...the list is endless!!

True, it's blame transferral.

Its all relative. The vast majority of cars do not jump red lights in the same way as cyclists do i.e. deliberately go though a red light, while it is green for peds or the other road. The pedestrians will notice a bike more as they cross on green and the cyclist brushes past them at speed.

Cars breaking the law will not generally come into as close contact with pedestrians as bikes.

And yes, it is in London where the problem is. Up here in Jockland there is generally no bother. Not many RLJ, and most are well behaved and do not take chances, also the roads being less congested, the people friendlier and being away from the full on rat race of Old London Town make cycling on the streets here almost a joy.

suzyb

I've found the opposite to you wallace. Most of the cyclists I've seen around here jump red lights. Not that there is that many cyclists around here (or red lights) which is probably the only reason their RLJing doesn't seem to bother people.

saladfunky

So many cyclists in London are running red lights and not using bike lights, thus giving us a bad name, this is very clear! I on a recent visit to the capital stepped onto the road at a pelican crossing when the green man was showing only to have a cyclist actually run over my foot. I think it scared him as he was so close and he gasped a "woops" and " sorry!!! He had no lights either!! :oops:

davmaggs

80% of cyclists aren't running roughshod over laws doesn't sound nearly as good.

Betware journos using phrase like one in five. Nearly aways used to hide a percentage that doesn't have the same scary sound to it.

DonDaddyD

I'm sorry but I'm sick and tired of reading London get targetted as a bad example of cyclist.

I maintain that if you're in the back of beyond on a clear straight road you are more likely to RLJ than on a busy junction in London. But that is beside the point.

The actual point is that I now challenge the notion of cyclist and what makes a cyclist, a cyclist.

I'm sure that those that commute day in day out on their bicycles can be considered cyclist, proper and those are the people who will have lights on their bikes.

There are always going to be an element of people who, for whatever reason, are riding a bike without lights and or RLJing but that isn't the sum total or even the majority representation of people who ride bicycles in London.

Porgy

Defintely out my way some of the nerks you see riding ill fitting bikes with no lights, often on the pavement, and without lights, are blokes who for whatever reason, have been banned from driving.

oscarbudgie

As much as I'm totally opposed to the 'cyclist menace' stance of the Daily Mail and BBC I think the cycling community and cycling pressure groups need to stop apologising for the tw@ttish antics of a small but very visible number of urban cyclists. I don't think we can be shocked when programmes like this are broadcast and the circular reasoning of 'what about all the bad car / bus /lorry drivers & stupid peds' doesn't ultimately advance the cause of cycling. I don't give a monkeys if the police want to prosecute RLJ'ers - because i don't do it. Perhaps we do need to get 'our' house in order?

Porgy

I might get a "riding roughshod over the law" T Shirt made up.

OldSkoolKona

DonDaddyD wrote:

I'm sorry but I'm sick and tired of reading London get targetted as a bad example of cyclist.

I maintain that if you're in the back of beyond on a clear straight road you are more likely to RLJ than on a busy junction in London. But that is beside the point.

The actual point is that I now challenge the notion of cyclist and what makes a cyclist, a cyclist.

I'm sure that those that commute day in day out on their bicycles can be considered cyclist, proper and those are the people who will have lights on their bikes.

There are always going to be an element of people who, for whatever reason, are riding a bike without lights and or RLJing but that isn't the sum total or even the majority representation of people who ride bicycles in London.

+1 Well said that man

Porgy

oscarbudgie wrote:

Perhaps we do need to get 'our' house in order?

How?

DonDaddyD

oscarbudgie wrote:

As much as I'm totally opposed to the 'cyclist menace' stance of the Daily Mail and BBC I think the cycling community and cycling pressure groups need to stop apologising for the tw@ttish antics of a small but very visible number of urban cyclists. I don't think we can be shocked when programmes like this are broadcast and the circular reasoning of 'what about all the bad car / bus /lorry drivers & stupid peds' doesn't ultimately advance the cause of cycling. I don't give a monkeys if the police want to prosecute RLJ'ers - because i don't do it. Perhaps we do need to get 'our' house in order?

Yes, but how much do you want to bet that the programme will portray the vast majority of cyclists as RLJing, law breakers and further paint us all with a bad brush.

simon_e

oscarbudgie wrote:

Perhaps we do need to get 'our' house in order?

No, my house is fine.

There are miscreants in all walks of life. Do you suggest all peds get their house in order when one iPod-wearing idiot jaywalks in your path? Do all car drivers need to go back to driving school because a boy-racer screeches around the streets or an OAP gets clocked by a Gatso? No.

I condemn pavement cycling, RLJing and so on. Anyone who does it is breaking the law. People who break the law are not my responsibility, even though as a cyclist I resent being tarred with the same brush by people in the media, erroneously termed 'journalists', who haven't anything better to do. I also resent the premise of the programme that cyclists collectively have a case to answer for the actions of a small minority of people who go about their business on a bike, whether it's a BSO, a 'bent or a Colnago.

The programme makers can come back to me about this when they've dealt with the Range Rover that cut me up in the car and the jerk who overtook on double white lines into oncoming traffic last night. And after dispatching all the nob-ends who use a mobile while driving and those impatient types who just have to squeeze past to save 15 seconds off their journey time... that's if they don't get passed by me at the next set of lights.

Wallace1492

DonDaddyD wrote:

The actual point is that I now challenge the notion of cyclist and what makes a cyclist, a cyclist.

I for one am from the camp that riding a two wheeled, human powered machine generally known as a bicycle, makes a cyclist a cyclist.

But i know what you are saying, all the good cyclists (like all of us on here) don't make up for the minority that do not behave correctly.

I do not apologise for driving a BMW because a lot of BMW drivers are eejits, so I do not apolgise for the cyclists that behave badly - burn them in hell!!

Porgy

Simon E wrote:

oscarbudgie wrote:

Perhaps we do need to get 'our' house in order?

No, my house is fine.
The programme makers can come back to me about this when they've dealt with the Range Rover that cut me up in the car and the jerk who overtook on double white lines into oncoming traffic last night. And after dispatching all the nob-ends who use a mobile while driving and those impatient types who just have to squeeze past to save 15 seconds off their journey time... that's if they don't get passed by me at the next set of lights.

I agree

Going for a ccyle ride around Bexleyheath on a sunday afternoon is worse than going on an assualt course. The same black Range Rover has pulled in front of me two weeks running completely ignoring the give way line, and not a word of acknowledgement or even any sign that she'd seen me at all!

Signal right and the car behind suddenly decides to overtake.

every driver under 25 feels the need to shout abuse or in some way have a go at you.

Illegally parked cars all over the place making the road unsafe.

People pulling out of drives - some reversing -without looking.

I got cut up by so many people I lost count.

Scowling biddies who feel their rights have been abused becasue I didn;t stop to let them cross the road!

ETc etc.

whatever the problems on the road are - it's not the cyclists.