Jeremy Vine meets a gangster

[Tin Pot]

On the spectrum of Jeremies he looks up to Paxman, down on Kyle and across from a distance at Clarkson.

And Beadle..?

 

[Dogtrousers]

And Beadle..?

Fisher?

 

[swee'pea99]

because, dear Swee'pea99, doing what you are entitled to do and doing that which is sensible are two different things. I accept that Mr. Vine was fully entitled to stay in the road - I just don't think that doing so was particularly grown-up.

And, forgive me, but I didn't assume Mr. Vine wanted to make a point - I said that I thought that he did. There's a difference.

I make no excuses for the driver. She's an idiot. But, unlike Mr. Vine I don't let idiots ruin my day.

My guess is she'll get a small fine.

If she was just an idiot, I'd have no problem with her. But she's not. She's a violent, dangerous bully, on the public highway, in control of a ton and a half of metal. That's my problem. You're probably right that she'll just get a small fine. And so long as people can behave that way and get small fines, they'll continue behaving that way. And the victims of their 'idiocy' will continue to go to hospital - or the graveyard. Not that I expect that to ruin your day.

 

[dellzeqq]

If she was just an idiot, I'd have no problem with her. But she's not. She's a violent, dangerous bully, on the public highway, in control of a ton and a half of metal. That's my problem. You're probably right that she'll just get a small fine. And so long as people can behave that way and get small fines, they'll continue behaving that way. And the victims of their 'idiocy' will continue to go to hospital - or the graveyard. Not that I expect that to ruin your day.

it's very easy to conflate a bit of hooting and shouting with causing injury, but I think that some perspective might come in handy. I'm probably one of the few people here who have been hit from behind by a car doing 55 mph, catapulted 30 yards down the road and left for dead in the dark. I can tell you, with some authority, that there is a qualitative difference between this and having somebody blowing a horn at you. 29 years on I still feel the result. I doubt that Mr. Vine will have the same problem.

 

[TheJDog]

it's very easy to conflate a bit of hooting and shouting with causing injury, but I think that some perspective might come in handy. I'm probably one of the few people here who have been hit from behind by a car doing 55 mph, catapulted 30 yards down the road and left for dead in the dark. I can tell you, with some authority, that there is a qualitative difference between this and having somebody blowing a horn at you. 29 years on I still feel the result. I doubt that Mr. Vine will have the same problem.

I doubt that Mr Vine will have the same problem, because cycling is inherently pretty safe. But I think it would be far safer if she wasn't on the roads.

 

[hondated]

I'm going to go against the grain here. Jeremy Vine is a pompous geranium and he could have done the simple thing and pull over in to the gap between the two cars. He didn't because he wanted to make a point, and, whatever the merits of the point he wanted to make, it makes him look a monkey. A grown up would have gone to the kerb, shrugged his shoulders and got on with his day. If he was really out to improve the world he could have caught her at the junction, smiled sweetly and given her a little wave.

I'm bound to say that I think he was looking for a youtube clip. He succeeded, but, in succeeding he's just added to the general fund of ill-feeling.

Don't know about your opinion of JV but your right a grown up would of pulled over etc etc. But that proves I have yet to grow up as I had some idiot tooting me in a narrow strip of road and my reaction was to brake even harder and to stop in the middle of the road. Yes I was ready to confront this young idiot but probably fortunate for me he chose to swerve around me and my bike and told me what he thought I was as he sped away.
I probably do need to grow up because the wife often passes that comment as I set off out on my bicycle or motorbike but not just yet a !

 

[swee'pea99]

it's very easy to conflate a bit of hooting and shouting with causing injury, but I think that some perspective might come in handy. I'm probably one of the few people here who have been hit from behind by a car doing 55 mph, catapulted 30 yards down the road and left for dead in the dark. I can tell you, with some authority, that there is a qualitative difference between this and having somebody blowing a horn at you. 29 years on I still feel the result. I doubt that Mr. Vine will have the same problem.

No-one's conflating anything, as far as I'm aware. And yes, I'm sure Mr Vine will be fine - shaken, even stirred, but basically ok.

That doesn't change the fact that the behaviour he encountered is precisely the kind that causes death and serious injury. Behaviour that stems from a flat rejection of the implicit contract attached to being granted the right to control a potentially lethal machine in public: If you want to drive, you need to accept that the world doesn't revolve around you; that you are potentially a danger to many other people; and that in order to minimise that danger, there will be times you need to compromise your desire to go where you want, when you want, at any speed you want. You have, on occasion, to be prepared to slow down, and accept a degree of inconvenience to ensure the safety of other people..

Anyone who says, in effect, 'bugger that - you're in my way, so I'm going to put you at risk for my convenience' forfeits that right, and should be taken off the road.

 

[dellzeqq]

No-one's conflating anything, as far as I'm aware. And yes, I'm sure Mr Vine will be fine - shaken, even stirred, but basically ok.

That doesn't change the fact that the behaviour he encountered is precisely the kind that causes death and serious injury.

quite....

 

[glenn forger]

The arbiter for safe driving isn't that they never hit you from behind at 55.

 

[dellzeqq]

The arbiter for safe driving isn't that they never hit you from behind at 55.

nobody's saying it is. I simply think that a bit of perspective and a sense of proportion might be in order, and that Mr. Vine might have saved himself the fuss and bother had he done the grown-up thing.

As it is you've got Peter Walker and the usual suspects over on the Graun telling us that cyclists face death at the hands of psychopathic drivers every day. Now, I don't know about you, but I cycled in to the centre of London this morning and then amused myself by taking the tourist route back home again, and did not feel the slightest presentiment of death or anything close. The sun shone, the birds tweeted, the Santander bikes wobbled this way and that, cheery scaffolders swung from poles and police officers saluted old ladies (I might have made that last one up).

 

[glenn forger]

Walker's inviting submissions, he's correct when he says behaviour like this is common, I went to the old bill to report similar last week, first time in fifteen years.

 

[dellzeqq]

Walker's inviting submissions, he's correct when he says behaviour like this is common, I went to the old bill to report similar last week, first time in fifteen years.

indeed. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to ride down to Balham. If tooted I will respond with a smile.

 

[glenn forger]

I've let a lot of stuff go cos I rise above it. My commute was East London for 8 years remember, I'm used to whackjob looney tune drivers.

 

[srw]

nobody's saying it is. I simply think that a bit of perspective and a sense of proportion might be in order, and that Mr. Vine might have saved himself the fuss and bother had he done the grown-up thing.

As it is you've got Peter Walker and the usual suspects over on the Graun telling us that cyclists face death at the hands of psychopathic drivers every day. Now, I don't know about you, but I cycled in to the centre of London this morning and then amused myself by taking the tourist route back home again, and did not feel the slightest presentiment of death or anything close. The sun shone, the birds tweeted, the Santander bikes wobbled this way and that, cheery scaffolders swung from poles and police officers saluted old ladies (I might have made that last one up).

I say - not everyone is backing up Walker (I sometimes wonder why he doesn't more often, but that's another question). At least one person has called him out on his scaremongering.

There's a rather amusing questionnaire: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...-experienced-an-altercation-like-jeremy-vines

It would be absolutely delightful if more than one person filled it in telling Peter Walker that he's a bit of a scaremongering numpty, perhaps pointed to the best article on the subject? http://www.gicentre.net/blog/2013/11/24/risk-cycling-and-denominator-neglect

 

[glenn forger]

That article is about injuries and death, not altercations.