Mostly there were lots of angry people but for what it's worth here is what I took from the programme.
- Slapping the side of a moving vehicle is pretty stupid and just riles people.
- Clapping and jeering other road users is pathetic and childish.
- Taxi drivers are not all out to kill cyclists, although they can have a tendency to drive on the edge of the limit and carve us up.
- It is very scary when buses or cars drive close to the cycle lanes. But if they are not overlapping they are not doing anything wrong. Cyclists need to get used to it.
- Driver blind spots occur in different places depending on the size of the vehicle. HGV, buses and car drivers all have different perspectives.
- Weaving in and out of traffic at pace is perhaps the quickest way to get you killed. Drivers can’t see us and it is bad practice.
- The police cyclist on the programme is doing one hell of a job. Not sure about suggesting we might use a whistle to be seen though? I don’t have a bell on my bike but I have a voice.
- The tragic death of one cyclist and the courage of the mother to challenge Cemex at its AGM is a cracking example of how well thought through actions and communication has actually led to the company taking corrective action. Well done!
- The guy riding around pretending to be a cycling guardian angel looking for drivers offending cyclists (@trafficdroid) is a bit of a mentalist.
I like the list, although point 4 is one that worries me. Highway code rule 163, says overtake with plenty of space, yet narrow cycle lanes seem to imply that overtaking with inches to spare is acceptable, where there is a painted white line. Yet as a regular cyclist the thing I find most frightening is a close pass by a vehicle, so much so that I avoid narrow cycle lanes on the road in Cambridge. It only works if the cycle lane is wide enough and many are not.
ReplyDeleteHi thanks for commenting. Cycle lane width is an issue I appreciate that, most of the roads I cycle on don't have designated cyle lanes. I did not realise there was a specific highway code rule perhaps that is part of the problem.
DeleteThe documentary showed a small proportion of male protagonists in a hyped-up, non-existent war that has done nothing to help road safety, and has probably made it worse; both by playing to the prejudices of those who already hate and dislike cyclists, and by scaring less confident cyclists (or their families) off the road.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shameful piece of TV (Cynthia Barlow excepted), and we should not attempt to find balance in it. In fact, the so-called "balance" agenda at the BBC that sets up false opposition every single day (e.g. on The Today Programme) is part of the problem. As if asking a comedian & columnist about roads policy is any kind of serious journalism.
The Cycling Silk has posted about it:
"The unfortunate fact is that it suited the program's thesis better to portray the taxidriver and cyclist as two sides of a coin whilst both were standing on tarmac having a row, rather than beforehand when the driver was driving a substantial vehicle badly around vulnerable roadusers and the cyclist was not presenting any danger to anybody.
"Sadly many people will take from this programme whatever they like to reinforce their own existing prejudices. My own view is that one group that come over badly are the Police, and particularly the Metropolitan Police."
-- http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-bbc-and-war-on-britains-roads.html
Hi Tim, thanks very much for your comment. I have spoken to lots of my friends, family and contacts (all drivers, non-cyclists and cyclists) since the programme aired and genuinely been surprised that most people thought it was useful particularly the car drivers among them who did not realise some of the issues facing cyclists who regularly cycle on the road. I reckon most people are able to spot sensational journalism these days. Yes it may serve to reinforce the prejudices of some but I think it opened a few eyes as well. I did not think the police came over that badly, I certainly don't envy them policing by bicycle in London that is for sure. Thanks for the link to the Cycling Silk blog I will read that.
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