Laura Trott interview about London cyclist

[Beebo]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...-trotts-attack-on-rogue-cyclists-8791153.html

OK, some of what she says is good, but not all of it.
I get the obey the rules of the road thing, and I am annoyed as anyone when I see poor cycling.
I just dont get the "make helmets compulsary" comment. I wear a helmet, it's my choice but I wouldnt want to impose that on others.

The comments section below is full of the usual comments.

 

[DelB]

Not sure what you're getting at. Presumably she has been asked for her opinion and she's given it. Should she have phoned you and asked you what you thought, first?

 

[Glow worm]

Looks like she's been reading the Daily Mail for too long. Same, tired old ignorant stuff on RLJrs etc. She only missed out mentioning how we should all pay road tax and we'd have a full house on 'dumb cycle comments bingo'. At least the 'no' vote on making the wearing of cycle helmets compulsory is way ahead of the 'yes one.

 

[Beebo]

My point is that I dont agree with all that she says, I'll let other read the article and they can either agree with it or not.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Presumably she was asked because she is the mayor's "chief ambassador" and a prominent sports cyclist. That doesn't give her view on compulsory helmet legislation any additional weight but that's clearly the intent of the author.

I thought it particularly unhelpful to present:

“It’s not always the car’s fault. Cyclists need to help themselves and should not jump red lights. I would ride in London but I certainly wouldn’t ride like that, you just have to be careful. I can understand going down the outside of traffic but you should obey the rules of the road because we’re all road users.”​

..then immediately follow that with:

Fourteen cyclists were killed on London’s streets last year and already there have been six deaths this year.​

No direct link is stated but the inference is made and, in my view, the reader is invited to make the mistaken connexion between the two.

The current result in the voting shows she's greatly outnumbered in her opinion, which seems to be based on the old anecdotal I know someone whose life was saved by a helmet angle.


GC

 

[Hip Priest]

Thousands of drivers are killed each year. I wonder how many of these deaths could've been avoided if drivers were compelled to wear F1-style helmets and HANS devices?

 

[jarlrmai]

Thousands of drivers are killed each year. I wonder how many of these deaths could've been avoided if drivers were compelled to wear F1-style helmets and HANS devices?

or if all cars were limited to 40mph

 

[Rob3rt]

Just because she is a very good cyclist, doesn't mean she is going to automatically spout the most intelligent and well thought out opinions. I am sure she has lots of opinions, many of which are nowhere near as well formed as her athletic ability.

 

[glenn forger]

Thousands of drivers are killed each year. I wonder how many of these deaths could've been avoided if drivers were compelled to wear F1-style helmets and HANS devices?

Around 25%

I have gone right off Laura Trott and I don't even care if she's devastated by the fact.

 

[Twelve Spokes]

What about rogue car drivers?

 

[SWSteve]

[QUOTE 2625022, member: 1314"]Boris isn't exactly going to hire the London cyclist's friend who will attempt to influence London traffic policy from a cycle-centric point of view now, is he? First thing he did was shove the Greens out of power. He'll be hiring that Cracknell next. Working for Boris is selling your soul for a measly price.[/quote]

Cracknell is already standing to be an MEP

 

[Hip Priest]

As with all things like this, it'd be interesting to hear a full transcript of the interview, rather than a few choice quotes.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

As with all things like this, it'd be interesting to hear a full transcript of the interview, rather than a few choice quotes.

The road.cc article doesn't sound much better. Wibble-Honda....

 

[Hip Priest]

The road.cc article doesn't sound much better. Wibble-Honda....

That's because it uses the same quotes. For all I know, she may have delivered a passionate 20 minute sermon on why more people should ride bikes, before adding a note of caution about obeying the law and her views on helmet use.

Both articles make it sound like she's leaning out of the driver's window of a black cab with a fag in one hand and a bacon roll in the other. Maybe the truth is more nuanced.

 

[Leodis]

TBH she has a valid point, its not "rogue" cyclists which RLJ or pootle along in their own world ignoring others who use the road, it a large percentage of cyclists. We all make mistakes and no one is perfect but poor cycling does need addressing.

As for the Helmet comment, in Oz when they introduced compulsory the numbers of cyclists dropped by a huge amount. So do we have a decade to recover the number of cyclists or will it kill the resurgence?