Friday, October 30, 2009

Wheelie, wheelie angry

There has been a noticeable campaign in the media to document and highlight the road rage and inconsiderate behaviour of cyclists on our local roads. That reached a new high today when the Honourable Trevor Mallard, Member of Parliament for Pencarrow was reported to have kicked the bag of a driver who had just been in an incident with a group of cyclists, including Mr Mallard.
This is not surprising given Mr Mallard's interest in cycling and his reputation as a hot head, but the whole campaign to paint cyclists as the bad boys on our streets runs in the face of the reports of cyclists injured and even killed in collisions with cars. The opposite is almost inconceivable.
I picked up today a quote by Zoe Williams in The Guardian 4th February 2006:
“There is something about the miscreant cyclist that seems to get people more exercised than they are about the misbehaving motorist…When people get into cars, their metal encasement turns them into robots in our minds, and we’re grateful to them for any act of courtesy. We’re grateful that they don’t deliberately kill children, then laugh a rasping, metallic laugh…[Cyclists] are more civic-minded than anyone else travelling in any other manner, bar by foot. If they do run into someone, they at least (like the bee) do their victim the favour of hurting themselves in the process, which is why, if you had any sense, you’d save your hatred for the motorist, who (like the wasp) injures without care.”
As well as demonstrating that this campaign of blaming the cyclist has an international quality, Zoe Williams makes a very pertinent point.

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