Would you go on TV for a Cycle Commuting Debate?

wolfsbane2k

Hey.

I've been asked to go on a BBC show to talk about cycle commuting with the proposed new highway code for 1.5m passing distance, but the researcher wants it to be a "cyclist vs drivers" type of piece - and no matter how much I've repeated that I also walk and drive, and the education can really only go 1 way, to the non-cycling driver, that part is being ignored

Would you even consider going on such a piece? I'm in two minds
1), anything that continues to "outgroup" us is something I want to avoid,
2), the non-cyclist is a "You must use cycling infrastructure, it's there for your safety" type person, and the infrastructure around me is just appaling, and they intend to get him to cycle it after he's been given a bikeability course, and therefore will help highlight the issue about low standard infra, and I've asked the head of the local highways authority to be interviewed as part of the piece.

Thoughts?

elbowloh

Agree to go on, but don't play to their agenda and get into an us vs them debate.

Just stick to your own reasonable and logical points. If they cut you out then fine.

graeme_s-2

Watch all of the Chris Boardman appearances on similar programmes you can find on YouTube before you go on. From what I recall he's excellent at staying calm, and reframing the discussion to make the points he wants to make rather than being drawn into the argument the interviewer is trying to create.

pastryboy

I would. I'd look to drop in numerous mentions of the fact you drive and walk to within your answers (in the middle of them so it can't so be easily edited out) so it sounds like you appreciate it from both sides.

wolfsbane2k

I should not have done this in the frame of mind I was

ugo.santalucia

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

I should not have done this in the frame of mind I was

Link?

wolfsbane2k

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

I should not have done this in the frame of mind I was

Link?

Not out yet. Believe me, you'll know about it :oops: :shock: :oops: :shock: :oops: :shock: :oops: :shock:

bondurant

I'm sure it's not as bad as you think...well, hopefully not anyway.

The presence of cameras can make sane people lose their minds so chalk it up to experience.

wolfsbane2k

Bondurant wrote:

I'm sure it's not as bad as you think...well, hopefully not anyway.

The presence of cameras can make sane people lose their minds so chalk it up to experience.

Yeah, despite it not being target at that, the moment the interview started it was targeted as motorists and cyclist. I should got up and have walked away. I'm too polite for Jeremy kyle style shows, and was promised it wouldn't be that.

I had a complete lack of sleep, and wasn't in a happy place for a number of reasons. I should have just said nothing. I warned them off this, and that I wanted to cancel, but they promised that it wouldn't be what it turned out to be.

I'd gone in with one message, and one message only to get across; cyclists can, and should in a number of instances, take the centre of the lane, and that much cycling infrastructure shouldn't be used as it puts cyclists at risk.
You can train cyclists as much as you want to do this, but for some reason, non-cyclists don't understand this, and it winds them up, and that's the major issue with a number of non-cycling motorists.

I'm very, very, sorry all... I don't think I did us any justice at all. I've asked the broadcaster to pull the show, or at on the basis that it'll probably put people's lives at risk, but they have stated they won't.

timothyw

I wouldn't sweat it, in fact, if I were you I'd probably try and avoid watching it at all.

Always feels rather awkward watching yourself on camera, and it's pretty much impossible to be objective in reviewing things that you've done.

Well done for trying. Sounds like the point you wanted to make was reasonable enough.

It did occur to me, contemplating that 'Does it bother you that most people hate us' thread the other day, actually, most people don't hate us, or at least if they do they don't seem to act any differently because of that. The vast majority of people seem to tolerate us without issue.

Be very easy for drivers to run us off the road but it never actually seems to happen.

sgt.pepper

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Bondurant wrote:

I'm sure it's not as bad as you think...well, hopefully not anyway.

The presence of cameras can make sane people lose their minds so chalk it up to experience.

Yeah, despite it not being target at that, the moment the interview started it was targeted as motorists and cyclist. I should got up and have walked away. I'm too polite for Jeremy kyle style shows, and was promised it wouldn't be that.

I had a complete lack of sleep, and wasn't in a happy place for a number of reasons. I should have just said nothing. I warned them off this, and that I wanted to cancel, but they promised that it wouldn't be what it turned out to be.

I'd gone in with one message, and one message only to get across; cyclists can, and should in a number of instances, take the centre of the lane, and that much cycling infrastructure shouldn't be used as it puts cyclists at risk.
You can train cyclists as much as you want to do this, but for some reason, non-cyclists don't understand this, and it winds them up, and that's the major issue with a number of non-cycling motorists.

I'm very, very, sorry all... I don't think I did us any justice at all. I've asked the broadcaster to pull the show, or at on the basis that it'll probably put people's lives at risk, but they have stated they won't.

I'm sure it went better than you expected, though probably not as well you hoped. It's ridiculously difficult to do interviews well, takes a lot of planning and training. Producers are hard wired to create conflict, it sells a lot more than a calm and reasoned discussion. The one time it happened to me I became a rambling mess going off on all the tangents - though they did loop a soundbite I accidentally came out with for the repeating headlines for awhile, so that was cool.

Either way, don't sweat it and certainly don't beat yourself up.

wolfsbane2k

TimothyW wrote:

It did occur to me, contemplating that 'Does it bother you that most people hate us' thread the other day, actually, most people don't hate us, or at least if they do they don't seem to act any differently because of that. The vast majority of people seem to tolerate us without issue.

Be very easy for drivers to run us off the road but it never actually seems to happen.

I didn't see that thread, probably a good thing; again, that was a piece I wanted to get across, but I just lost it when they talked about someone being smeared across the left hand side of a truck.

I know most don't have issues with us, but it's the emboldened idiots that think that cyclists shouldn't be on the road without licences and insurance, when ignoring the killing that happens by people with licenses and insurance each and every sodding day.

I'm lying in bed wondering what to do next, and how to try and shake this feeling of dread that's been sitting with me since the filming.

Cheeseface22

I don't know the exact circumstance and the context about your TV interview, but well done. And well done for preparing for it. It's never easy going to a TV interview.

TV interviews are very complex and often fabricated to entice interviewee/s' emotions and sensationalise for the sake of ratings. As some mentioned already, it requires certain skills to perform well in such an unbalanced and unfair platform (that's why politicians are trained to never say "yes" or "no" to even a specific question, or dodge a question by vomiting non-sense). Given that, it's almost impossible to reason "others" with your viewpoint, when they're already fixated with their own vested interest.

Was it for a local, national or even international TV broadcast? Even if the interview goes "viral," people will forget and move on eventually so I won't sweat it.

Look what's happened to our beloved Emma Way (remember her? #bloodycyclists). She was infamous at the time, but where is she now? Who still cares about her?

The worst that could happen is that you'll go viral (which is unlikely, but you might have better idea than me) for a while, and things will calm down again and everyone moves on. I'd put it down as a good experience and move on with your life.

PS. Let us know when it's on TV so we can watch and make you famous!

wolfsbane2k

Seems like the BBC have just made a large effort to cross the divide between Non-Cycling Motorists and Cycling motorists across TV & radio under the #crossingDivides tagline..

Cheeseface22

This one? I did wonder if this was something that you were asked to be involved.

BBC Crossing Divides: Motorist and cyclist in commuting swap

wolfsbane2k

Cheeseface22 wrote:

This one? I did wonder if this was something that you were asked to be involved.

BBC Crossing Divides: Motorist and cyclist in commuting swap

Yep, exactly like that one.

ugo.santalucia

you can see WM ambitions.. going from 3% to a staggering 5%... wow, that's what I call visionary :-)

Tashman

ugo.santalucia wrote:

you can see WM ambitions.. going from 3% to a staggering 5%... wow, that's what I call visionary :-)

Whilst an increase of 2% sounds paltry, it is an increase of 66% on the current baseline. That's pretty ambitious. The video I thought was pretty balanced and is what we should all aspire to. Looking at safely sharing the roads.

wolfsbane2k

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... s-04032019

is the full WM piece.

and
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... h-04032019

for BBC South...

slowbike

I can understand anger against the apparently non-law abiding riders - the same with non-law abiding drivers - neither are an excuse for anyone to treat anyone else on the road with anything other than respect and give them the space that you'd wish to receive.
... and kids won't always know the rules of the road and do use the road as their playground ... yes, they may act foolhardy at times, but they're kids - you have to ask yourself if you'd do the same given the chance!

wolfsbane2k wrote:

You can see the smiles and their happiness

Absolutely.... so let's make sure the road is a safe place for them to be - everyone should stop driving/riding like knobs ....

ugo.santalucia

Tashman wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

you can see WM ambitions.. going from 3% to a staggering 5%... wow, that's what I call visionary :-)

Whilst an increase of 2% sounds paltry, it is an increase of 66% on the current baseline. That's pretty ambitious. The video I thought was pretty balanced and is what we should all aspire to. Looking at safely sharing the roads.

It's still a long way from building any critical mass

Cheeseface22

Long way to go, definitely. But they have to start somewhere.

Watched just the cycling bits on the two links you posted, Wolfsbane. Very interesting production. The comment by the lady cyclists in Birmingham resonated. She said something like we need to get talking more, not just within the circle of "cyclists" but across other road users. I'm very confident that there's a very high percentage of forum users here who both drive a vehicle and cycle, but I wonder what the proportion of drivers out there on the road also cycle on the road in other times. Quite possibly very low, even in a single digit?

Good post regardless. Long way to go, but nice to see these kinds of boardcast and awareness.

wolfsbane2k

Cheeseface22 wrote:

Long way to go, definitely. But they have to start somewhere.

Watched just the cycling bits on the two links you posted, Wolfsbane. Very interesting production. The comment by the lady cyclists in Birmingham resonated. She said something like we need to get talking more, not just within the circle of "cyclists" but across other road users. I'm very confident that there's a very high percentage of forum users here who both drive a vehicle and cycle, but I wonder what the proportion of drivers out there on the road also cycle on the road in other times. Quite possibly very low, even in a single digit?

Good post regardless. Long way to go, but nice to see these kinds of boardcast and awareness.

Indeed, we've got to break the cycling bubble, which is why I did that. Since that piece, I've had a bunch of ex work colleagues call/email me and say they thought it went well, and that they didn't know that cyclists should ride centrally to the lane at certain points... which, I politely, informed them was to me, the whole problem with trying to cycle on the roads..

The cycling UK stats are something like 95% of cyclists are also motorists, but less than 2% of motorists cycle more than once a month ( and that doesn't distinguish between road and off-road cycling), and considering that some of the worst behaviour I've witnessed on the roads is from the driver of a car with the best part of ten grands worth of mtb's on the top using it as a weapon against a roadie, the difference is well and truly important...

slowbike

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

and considering that some of the worst behaviour I've witnessed on the roads is from the driver of a car with the best part of ten grands worth of mtb's on the top using it as a weapon against a roadie, the difference is well and truly important...

Go east ...

don't think I've ever been cut up/close passed by a car with a bike on - no matter what bike it is on the back ...

wolfsbane2k

Slowbike wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

and considering that some of the worst behaviour I've witnessed on the roads is from the driver of a car with the best part of ten grands worth of mtb's on the top using it as a weapon against a roadie, the difference is well and truly important...

Go east ...

don't think I've ever been cut up/close passed by a car with a bike on - no matter what bike it is on the back ...

Yeah, I think this one was one of the QECP hordes :-(