Local radio..

[gambatte]

(Rant mode ON)
So this a.m. I’m in the car, on the m’way. I tend to listen to local radio, to get the traffic reports BBC Radio Sheffield. They’re on about a police initiative targeting drivers and moby use. The plod that’s on mentions a wagon driver was recently convicted of causing ‘Death by Dangerous Driving’. He goes on to say 2 years ago a female driver, in Sheffield, received a custodial sentence for the same - after a cyclist was killed.
The conversation goes on and within a minute, Toby Foster, loveable, pudding faced, National TV and local radio presenter goes on to say “Them cyclists, they’re all colour blind. Never see one wait at a red light. Always jumping on the pavement”
So here we are. Rush hour. Local radio. Car drivers, not long up, on their way to work, dropping the kids off etc. on a Monday morning.
And the presenter having just run an article about bad driving, which highlights the potential consequences for cyclists… reinforces prejudices against them at a time when most of those commuting cyclists will be out there and drivers are most likely to be already wound up!
I can feel a complaint coming on!
(Rant mode OFF)

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

A perfect example of scapegoating.

 

[Melonfish]

a perfect example of a complete tool more like.

 

[fossyant]

There in is the problem - you were in your car ! You'd not be in a rant if you had cycled.

 

[gambatte]

There in is the problem - you were in your car ! You'd not be in a rant if you had cycled.

I may still have been after being pulled over for cycling on the M18 or M1…..

 

[Herr-B]

I've just tweeted the tw@

 

[Rancid]

And yet at my favorite junction on the way to work around the same time i was the only cyclist who stopped at the red light.
one did a left without even looking at what was going on.
another went across the whole junction under the green man without even slowing down/
and the last one mounted the pavement at speed to cycle across the pedestrian crossing to rejoin the road the other side.

If there are 4 cyclists at the junction and 3 of them all jump the red light, then its perfectly acceptable to hold the opion that a majority of cyclists are nothing but a royal pain the butt.

 

[Davidsw8]

It's too much to say 'All' and 'Always' just as it would be for any group, but he kind of has a point. My heart sinks every time I see a fellow cyclist RLJ or pavement cycle cos I feel I'm gonna get it in the neck from a motorist of ped because of the selfish cyclist.

People focus on the negative, it's normal. So, we all have to make sure there is less of the negative for others to focus on.

 

[gambatte]

I know there are plenty of cyclists, running reds, riding on the pavement. There’s also plenty of us who don’t though.
But is his point one that needs to be made, in those terms, on a rush hour show? Also it shows crass insensitivity if the relatives/friends of the previously mentioned cyclist were listening?

 

[Davidsw8]

I know there are plenty of cyclists, running reds, riding on the pavement. There’s also plenty of us who don’t though.
But is his point one that needs to be made, in those terms, on a rush hour show? Also it shows crass insensitivity if the relatives/friends of the previously mentioned cyclist were listening?

In the context you described, he was definitely out of order making that statement.

 

[bonker]

Surely one of the cycling lobby groups could take an action against someone for inciting hatred against cyclists.
If we were a religious group it wouldn't be allowed.

 

[Davidsw8]

Surely one of the cycling lobby groups could take an action against someone for inciting hatred against cyclists.
If we were a religious group it wouldn't be allowed.

True, but would you want to be like one of those idiot groups that claims to be 'offended' every time their name is mentioned in a less than positive way? It just stifles any kind of opinion or debate and creates more problems.

 

[glenn forger]

Ok, say there's a radio report of congestion and the announcer says:

"Car drivers are cretins, they killed Diana!"

 

[Davidsw8]

Ok, say there's a radio report of congestion and the announcer says:

"Car drivers are cretins, they killed Diana!"

 

[shouldbeinbed]

99% of what shops sell are fine but most have a complaints procedure/departmant for the 1% that isn't.

RLJ'ing etc is the same principle. People see the bikers that are still moving on red but not the ones that are stopped waiting.

I've very rarely heard a RLJ'er say, yeah f**k it, I'm not going to get caught am I. They always do it for safety reasons because they will most definitely get killed if they do stop and are careful and only at junctions when there is nothing coming and its the lights fault because they don't recognise the weight of a bike - even on timed phase lights - and its clearly not true that drivers (and radio DJ's) make sweeping generalisations about all of us all on the back of their actions, they aren't responsible for that at all.
These are often the same gang that are vociferously castigating drivers for parking in bike lanes, driving at 31 in a 30 zone, RLJ'ing putting cyclists in danger etc