Road Rage - BBC1 tonight ?

[Terminator]

I loved it when the cops were doing cyclists for jumping the lights.

Those cop bikes were great.

Ha ha Ha!

Did you see the school mom moaning about losing her clothing allowance cos of all her parking tickets. I wonder how she would cope in the real world.

Nice to see they got the real criminals.

 

[piedwagtail91]

i liked the reference to cars reflecting someones personality, just like the jeep driver, big,loud with not much inside apart from hot air!

 

[magnatom]

The programme focused on extremes. For cyclists they had plenty of red light jumpers, for car drivers they had a couple of crazy 4x4 drivers and for pedestrians they had an old chap who couldn't get across some non-pedestrianised traffic light (I did feel sorry for him!)

It was interspersed with some sensible comments from commentators (although the lady motor columnist did say a few peculiar things!). John Franklin had about 2 sentences about cycling down the left of large vehicles. It's a shame he wasn't given more air time.

I actually cheered at one point. Strangely enough it was the kids protesting about RLJing cyclists. Good for them!! However, it did paint cyclists in a pretty poor light.
I have never been a fan of critical mass, and the section focusing on it did firm my views against it. Really what is the point of it? It just serves to irritate drivers and alienates drivers further!

I found myself grumping about many of the cyclists road position an although drivers certainly have a responsibility to drive carefully around us, it did look like cyclists were sometimes their own worst enemies.

The piece on the cyclist that was killed by the truck was saddening, and it appeared that the truck did overtake and left hook. If this was indeed the case then the driver was 99% at fault. However, had the lady cyclist been further out it might have put the driver off the maneuver. I am certainly not saying this to criticise the lady cyclist, I just wanted to point out to those who advocate cycling close to the curb the possible benefits of primary/secondary positions.

I should say all the stories of death were saddening. In fact you couldn't help but feel sorry for the chap who lost his wife at the traffic light pedestrian crossing.

My 2p worth anyway. What do others think?

 

[levad]

I too cheered for the kids at the crossing, my son was hit by a teenage cyclist jumping a red light when he was 4. The crossing was 400 yards from our local Police station and Hospital. I escorted the cyclist, who said she didn't know she should have stopped at a red light!, to the Police station whilst my wife took my son to the hospital for a check up, fortunatly only bruising and the Police spoke to the cyclist at the station and then called me a few days later called me and said they had been to her home and spoken to her and her parents.

I can understand the need to be clear of tarffic at junctions and that situations are quite different in cities than they are in small market towns but we all, cyclists, pedestrians and cagers need to look out not only for their own safety but those around.

I got Cyclecraft for Christmas and it is certainly making me think more about my own cycling.

 

[Arch]

I'm afraid I missed it, so I can't offer an informed opinion, but I fear that, however balance the coverage was, ingrained motorists will have seen it and thought "There, those bloody cyclists, all jump red lights" and will conveniently ignore or find a way to internally justify all the other trangressions by drivers. (Not to be one sided, I think there are probably some cyclists who will do the same in reverse...)

 

[magnatom]

I'm afraid I missed it, so I can't offer an informed opinion, but I fear that, however balance the coverage was, ingrained motorists will have seen it and thought "There, those bloody cyclists, all jump red lights" and will conveniently ignore or find a way to internally justify all the other trangressions by drivers. (Not to be one sided, I think there are probably some cyclists who will do the same in reverse...)

You're probably right. There was a lot of focus on RLJ'ers.

 

[Cab]

You're probably right. There was a lot of focus on RLJ'ers.

Any focus at all on RLJing motorists, those who go through sufficiently long after the lights have changed that they really, really should have stopped, of which you'll probably find that there are more on Britains roads than the total number of cyclists in the nation?

 

[magnatom]

Any focus at all on RLJing motorists, those who go through sufficiently long after the lights have changed that they really, really should have stopped, of which you'll probably find that there are more on Britains roads than the total number of cyclists in the nation?

No. But they did focus on road rage and the futility of driving huge 4x4's to take kids 500 yards to school.

There was one chap that put his three kids and two dogs in a huge tank and drove them 500 yards (he admitted this) to the local school. He had to contend with very heavy traffic to get there! He just could not understand how it could be easier to get the kids to school without the car!! You just can't win with people like that!

 

[GrahamG]

It was one of those occasional reminders that you get every couple of months that, no matter how 'intelligent' people are (the 500 yards, 3 kids and a dog Magnatom mentioned was a doctor), the majority just aren't capable of empathy and are certainly not able to take a 'big picture' strategic view of any issues at all - just how it affects them directly.

 

[levad]

Can you imagine how busy the pavements would be if those kids/parents/dogs walked to school, on the other hand, space on the path would increase as they all lost weight and got smaller

 

[caesar]

Any focus at all on RLJing motorists, those who go through sufficiently long after the lights have changed that they really, really should have stopped, of which you'll probably find that there are more on Britains roads than the total number of cyclists in the nation?

No and lots of the footage of RLJing cyclists showed motorbikes and mopedophiles crossing into ASLs on red (legally an RLJ), but they weren't commented upon.

 

[Arch]

There was one chap that put his three kids and two dogs in a huge tank and drove them 500 yards (he admitted this) to the local school. He had to contend with very heavy traffic to get there! He just could not understand how it could be easier to get the kids to school without the car!! You just can't win with people like that!

A candidate for forcible education I suspect. Like actually frogmarching him and the kids down the road. Preferably timed. I bet, by the time you count parking, getting in and out of car, belting up etc, it would be quicker to walk. And oh, how much cheaper!

 

[Joe24]

The bit that made me laugh was the women that was going to the train stattion who said:
"I have been stopped going to the train station and have now missed my train because these men with small willys are stopping everyone. They are the smalliest willys i have ever seen"
There did seem to be alot of focus on RLJ. The police officer on the bike didnt look like he went too fast, i wounder how many people have got away from him.

 

[Arch]

The bit that made me laugh was the women that was going to the train stattion who said:
"I have been stopped going to the train station and have now missed my train because these men with small willys are stopping everyone. They are the smalliest willys i have ever seen"
There did seem to be alot of focus on RLJ. The police officer on the bike didnt look like he went too fast, i wounder how many people have got away from him.

Eh? As I didn't see it, who were the men with small willies?

Oh, was it a critical mass thing?

 

[levad]

I guess any size willy could be considered a critical mass to its owner.