I have had this brought to my attention as a keen cyclist that you recently did an interview with Paul Jones the cyclist after he was rear ended by a driver. I have subsequently seen the video in question on your website.
Firstly can I ask why no castigation of those who moan about "road tax"? Drivers pay for the pollution their vehicle causes under the Statutes agreed within the licence. Why was this not addressed within the show to help educate people (something I feel the News corporations have an obligation to do under reason of logic)? Failure to do so merely increases animosity between cyclists and motorists.
Yes, we cyclists are well aware of the bad cyclists. However, raising this point on news items where the victim has done nothing wrong merely serves to reflect all cyclists in a bad and unfavourable light, adding to that no news item ever does this with drivers. We need balance, not something that says "isn't this bad" followed by "all cyclists run red lights" (which government approved research suggests is incorrect).
Secondly you mention that cycle helmets "save lives". Can you point to empirical evidence in your show to prove this? I have read various documents and research over the years and I have to say that even the BMA is pretty 50:50 on this. Given the poor testing standards with regards helmets in Europe, and that they are a) not designed with motor vehicle collision in mind and
not even guaranteed by the helmet manufacturers I feel it would have been better to not mention an unproven statement reflecting protection and instead reflect on something more positive about cycling.
Thank you, I hope you take this seriously!
