Responses to Times article objections

[Arch]

I think maybe the Times should send Parris to visit someone who has been the knocked off by such a garrotte, and ask him to write an article after that.... I've no doubt he wrote the original article as a flippant piece of nonsense, with no thought about how it might make people feel. Probably jumping on the anticyclist bandwagon for effect. So yeah, he should know better, and maybe the reaction will have shaken him up a bit, even if, for the sake of face, he hasn't grovelled as much as we'd like....

 

[simonali]

That article didn't really bother me too much, as the reality is that 'proper' cyclists who don't ride on the pavement, ride without lights, ignore the highway code etc are in the minority.

I see maybe 10-15 people who are cycling to work in the mornings and maybe 2 or 3 of those have lights on their bikes and are riding properly i.e not dropping off the kerb in front of cars etc. These are the sort of people that motorists hate (not a big fan myself) and therefore cause them to tar decent, 'proper' cyclists with the same worn out brush.

 

[Abitrary]

That article didn't really bother me too much, as the reality is that 'proper' cyclists who don't ride on the pavement, ride without lights, ignore the highway code etc are in the minority.

I see maybe 10-15 people who are cycling to work in the mornings and maybe 2 or 3 of those have lights on their bikes and are riding properly i.e not dropping off the kerb in front of cars etc. These are the sort of people that motorists hate (not a big fan myself) and therefore cause them to tar decent, 'proper' cyclists with the same worn out brush.

I think most drivers are simply frustrated with other car drivers most of the time, and take it out on anyone

 

[simonali]

Maybe. Everyone seems to be in such a hurry nowadays. Guilty of it myself sometimes!

 

[buggi]

it doesn't matter what the guy thinks of cyclists, to suggest someone puts a piano wire accross the road is a fecking idiot. thing is, the more we highlight the more likely some idiot will do it. i mean, how many happy slappers actually read the times??? none.. but now they've all heard about it and they're waiting for their youtube moment of fame. time to move on me thinks and let this story get swept under the carpet.

o yea, it's not just us cyclists that are shocked. two people forwarded the story to me asking me if i'd seen it. they were none cyclists but could see the idiocy in his comments.

 

[bonj2]

gawd, just thinking about stuff I read in end of year newspaper reviews, I must have read about at least 4 or 5 people who said that their bugbears were cyclists. The ones I can think of are:

-Nigel Havers
-Bill Nighy

It's the ones you least suspect... isn't it?

On Nigel Havers's wikipedia article, under 'controversy' it mentions his rant in the daily mail about cyclists, and says there was an article on C+ about it - in the footnote it says 'unsurprising, as they are a touchy lot'

 

[Abitrary]

Nigel Havers is probably typical of the biggles type public schoolboy spoon who:

-gets given a morgan for his birthday when he's 15
-then thinks the world is his

He should have been sent on an exchange to a comprehensive where the tippex thinner sniffers in the corner of the playground would have reeducated him using nothing but chinese wrist burns.

 

[mcd]

That was a lot closer than I was expecting! A variety of views fairly evenly represented and a couple of trouble-makers ;-)
I guess that makes for a more interesting forum.

While the vote for legal action didn't win, I support those putting the time and effort into pursuing this with the relevant authorities. Without the threat of this we probably wouldn't have got any apology at all.