Comment on Society

In yesterday’s post I mentioned the comments that had been made, via the wonderful way the internet allows people to have their say, on a strongly anti-cycling article form the Daily Mail. I made a bit of a joke about it, because, let’s be honest, I expected the Mail readers to be small-minded, bigoted and right-wing, attached to their cars and eternally in the right. I found it funny, if a little annoying that people would roll out their anti-bike feeling, but, given the context, hardly surprising. People would look for an article that matches how they feel and try to be part of the group.

What has now shocked me is the response to another article I found. This article is from This is London, the online version of the Evening Standard, and is about the death of a cyclist in a collision with an HGV on a junction in Whitechapel, and the work her family, and the man who helped her at the scene, are starting to make cycling safer in London. The lady who died was 26, and died after being dragged 100metres by a lorry, screaming in agony.

What follows are genuine extracts from comments that people saw fit to leave after this story. I was going to comment on them in the way I did for the Mail article, but I think they stand better alone:

“a lot of cyclists do not obey any rules of the road at all they ride on pavements ,the wrong way down one way streets,jump traffic lights there is zero enforcement on them by the police.Motorists pay a fortune to use the roads in fuel tax, road tax and fines.Cyclists are freeloaders and moan the most.

- Chris, Bedford uk”

“Cycling in London takes a certain amount of superciliousness and ignorance mixed with a failure to accept you can be killed. Don't be shocked when it happens the streets are not designed for HGVs with cyclist weaving around. I have personally seen both cyclists and HGV's do stupid things to claim either has the moral high ground is impossible. I like many other have tried to cycle into work (London) and determined my life was more important to me. 40 minutes in a smog free gym listening to the latest Katie Perry hit without fear or risk for me.

I am truly sorry Chrystelle never took this option, I hope others see the light and do not think they can fight this but decide ones own life too precious to risk

- Gary, Brentwood”

“Can we just balance the books a bit here. Although there are many sad casualties like this lady who ride a bike. From my own observations whilst travelling by bus in London. Do the majority of cyclists stop at red lights, no. Do cyclists pay road tax or have insurance, no. Do they take any notice of a left indicator on a car, no. Do they travel in single file, no.

- Sue, Orpington, Kent”

“There's no such thing as road safety, people drive when they want, and how they want. Cyclists kill people too, they come flying out of nowhere on the pavements!

- Dan, London”

“London streets will never be safe for cyclists so it would be in their own interests for cycling there to be completely banned.

- Thomas, London”

The simple lack of compassion is enough to make me mad, especially in light of the story concerned. People obviously feel strongly enough about getting cyclists off the roads to overcome any feeling for the lady who died, or her family. Either that or, in some ways like being in a car, people feel detached and secure behind a computer screen, and able to say what they feel without the guilt they would in real life. It seems the biggest danger to cyclists on the roads isn’t necessarily accidents caused as people make mistakes, but perhaps drivers who generally believe that every cyclist should be run off the road. Now that’s scary.

There are, as well, comments supporting cycling and showing concern and empathy, and just to give some hope, here’s one from John, a London Cabbie;

“It is irrelevant what you do to make roads safer for cyclists, you can spend millions of pounds on them. While the attitude of the mainstream driving British public is similar to that of Chris of Bedford or Thomas of London cycling and the safety of cyclists is never going to improve. The selfish attitude of vehicles with 4 wheels is the reason there are over 3000 deaths a year on the roads and has nothing to do with cyclists going through red lights.”

You can find the article here.

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