Cara Simpson, Coventry Telegraph, worst journalist in the UK.

[Pale Rider]

If the most recent comment at the bottom of the article is to be believed (and even if it is not an accurate account), the crew commander should be more circumspect with his comments and the journalist should engage her brain before parroting them:

"What this article fails to mention is that the cyclist wasn't actually on the A45 road, he was riding on the grass verge which runs alongside the A45 and the van then mounted the kerb AND the verge alongside the Hotel and hit him from behind. The cyclist could have been wearing pink and blue flashing fairy lights with the brightest high vis clothes ever and the van would have still hit him."

Had the van rammed the cyclist in the manner described it is unlikely the firefighter would have made the comment.

Could the comment be wrong?

Yes it could.

Could the firefighter have got hold of the wrong end of the stick?

Yes he could, although it's unlikely that he would not have gathered from the scene that the van driver had left the road, mounted a kerb and crossed a verge before hitting the cyclist.

Does anyone know where the van - with the cyclist underneath it - came to rest?

Leaving all that aside, what the firefighter said - advising cyclists to have decent lights and wear bright clothing - is not worth making a fuss about.

Unless you are a bunker mentality cyclist obsessed with the notion the world is against you.

 

[mr_cellophane]

crews from Canley fire station were sent at 6am to pull him free.

That must have made his injuries worse.

 

[Sara_H]

Sounds like a crap attitude from the firefighter combined with crap, sensationalist journalism

 

[Origamist]

Had the van rammed the cyclist in the manner described it is unlikely the firefighter would have made the comment.

Could the comment be wrong?

Yes it could.

Could the firefighter have got hold of the wrong end of the stick?

Yes he could, although it's unlikely that he would not have gathered from the scene that the van driver had left the road, mounted a kerb and crossed a verge before hitting the cyclist.

Does anyone know where the van - with the cyclist underneath it - came to rest?

Leaving all that aside, what the firefighter said - advising cyclists to have decent lights and wear bright clothing - is not worth making a fuss about.

Unless you are a bunker mentality cyclist obsessed with the notion the world is against you.

Of course the comment could be fabricated - possibly by someone on this forum - this is the bottom half of the internet after all (I flagged up, in parentheses, that it could be inaccurate).

The wider point that you are missing is that the comments make no mention of what other road users can do to avoid collisions in similar circs - the focus is solely on the victim here. This isn't about being "cyclist obsessed", but addressing the problem of how we reduce road danger by targeting more heavily those with the greater potential to kill and harm others, not those who are more likely to be killed or injured.

Comments of this nature from the fire-fighter and the uncritical cut and paste by the hack is not surprising, but it should be challenged. I can see you disagree, so I'll leave it there.

 

[Lemond]

Sorry, I must be missing something, but what is it in the article that makes Cara Simpson the "worst journalist in the UK"?

 

[glenn forger]

They've edited the article. Cara wrote "the cyclist collided with a van", so it's not just that a person paid to write gets active and passive muddled up, it's that she follows a long pattern of victim-blaming in RTC reports where the driver isn't even mentioned or where the reasonably basic driving skill of NOT DRIVING INTO THE BACK OF CYCLISTS is disregarded completely.