Brandane
Legendary Member
- Location
- Costa Clyde
This is not intended to be a thread about helmets; but it is about misguided public information on the radio.
I am of an age where I occasionally listen to Smooth FM. The other day I heard an advertisement, presumably paid for by the tax-payer as it was a public information type of ad, for cyclists. The catch phrase went along the lines of "if you don't have a helmet, you don't have a chance".
Notwithstanding the rights and wrongs of the actual message, it struck me that public money could be better spent, if they want to use national radio as a medium for getting important safety messages across. Perhaps by educating some drivers by informing them that VED does not pay for the roads - but general taxation does and cyclists being tax payers have every right to use the road. So please afford them enough space to keep them safe.......
The misconception about cyclists freeloading off the tax paying motorist is probably the root cause of a lot of cyclist v motorist incidents on the roads. Well that is IMHO after reading on this forum about altercations that seem to happen with monotonous regularity.
To be fair I have only heard the ad on one occasion; it might have been pulled if there were complaints about it.
I am of an age where I occasionally listen to Smooth FM. The other day I heard an advertisement, presumably paid for by the tax-payer as it was a public information type of ad, for cyclists. The catch phrase went along the lines of "if you don't have a helmet, you don't have a chance".
Notwithstanding the rights and wrongs of the actual message, it struck me that public money could be better spent, if they want to use national radio as a medium for getting important safety messages across. Perhaps by educating some drivers by informing them that VED does not pay for the roads - but general taxation does and cyclists being tax payers have every right to use the road. So please afford them enough space to keep them safe.......
The misconception about cyclists freeloading off the tax paying motorist is probably the root cause of a lot of cyclist v motorist incidents on the roads. Well that is IMHO after reading on this forum about altercations that seem to happen with monotonous regularity.
To be fair I have only heard the ad on one occasion; it might have been pulled if there were complaints about it.