"Cyclists use cycle lanes .... motorists are the road users" - Grayling

[mercalia]

"The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, has been accused of showing “an astonishing lack of knowledge” of his brief after arguing in the House of Commons that cyclists do not count as road users.

Grayling, shown in a video last month knocking a rider off his bike by suddenly opening the door to his ministerial car outside Westminster, made the comment on Thursday morning."

oh dear does that mean this section have to be changed to "Not On the road"?

does that also mean no more looking for work by getting on yer bike?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/12/cyclists-dont-count-as-road-users-argues-transport-secretary?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=208220&subid=7646217&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

[661-Pete]

I see there's been some merging of threads. It might be a Good Idea if people read what's already on the forum, instead of simply setting off their own bangers....

Boardman has come up with a reasonably good riposte - good man! Pity about the 'usual suspects' cluttering up the comments, though.

I suppose cyclists have had a bad press ever since Victorian times. The first edition of Richard's Bicycle Book had a fascinating drawing of a gang of young thugs preparing to attack Ordinary riders with sticks....

[reohn2]

Grayling=Tw@tt
Simples
In fact simples Tw@tt

[MikeF]

Many roads I use don't have footways, cycleways, lanes or anything else. Apparently I shouldn't be cycling along them.

[ferrit worrier]

Grayling=Tw@tt
Simples
In fact simples Tw@tt

thats being teribly polite. I'm not one for venting my distaste inpublic but this jumped up idiot has definatly got me seething.
I belive that every dog has his day, and everything comes to he who waits. I just hope Im arround to see him get his comeuppance. <<<<< and thats one emoticon I have never used.
Malc

[MikeF]

Grayling=Tw@tt
Simples
In fact simples Tw@tt

What?
He says he been doing all he can everyday to end the rail strike. It's lasted since last April.

[mattsccm]

Of course maybe he meant that cycle lanes are not roads. If so he was right thank goodness.
It does peeve me that interest groups get so shifty when some public figure says something that has loopholes, especially when the press twist the truth.
To expect every word a politition spouts to be completely fault free is just silly. Humans don't do that.
I am not saying that this chap is right but a bit of thought and consideration of what he meant wouldn't go amiss. After all the campaigners want that from him.

[ianrobo]

good post by Ned Bouting here

https://twitter.com/nedboulting/status/ ... 6624498690

[pga]

Sadly transport ministers of all parties have never been up the job. Transport is a key issue. We all depend on it and it has a big impact on everyone. Much of this impact is negative, both for the individual and for the community. We see how Chinese and Indian cities are making the same mistakes that developed countries have made with their love affair with the motor vehicle. Things are getting pretty serious when the Supreme Court has twice taken this government to court to force it to reduce air pollution to European standards. Of course,with Brexit it will be Liberty Hall.

[MikeF]

Of course maybe he meant that cycle lanes are not roads. If so he was right thank goodness.
It does peeve me that interest groups get so shifty when some public figure says something that has loopholes, especially when the press twist the truth.
To expect every word a politition spouts to be completely fault free is just silly. Humans don't do that.
I am not saying that this chap is right but a bit of thought and consideration of what he meant wouldn't go amiss. After all the campaigners want that from him.

But cycle lanes are roads. If they are completely segregated for cyclists then motor vehicles can't use them, but that's not different from roads that have a motor vehicle prohibition order.
From the quotes in the Evening Standard what would say is the general gist?

London has too many badly designed cycle lanes and too many cyclists who ignored the rules of the road, he said.

“I don’t think all the cycle lanes in London have been designed as well as they should have been,” he said.

“There are places where they perhaps cause too much of a problem for road users and they could have been designed in a smarter way.”

He pointed out: “As Transport Secretary, I can only watch, because it is a matter for the Mayor.”

Mr Grayling, a non-cyclist, said too many riders ignored red traffic lights on their journeys in the capital.

“Motorists in London have got to be immensely careful of cyclists,” he said.

“At the same time, cyclists in London are too often unwilling to obey the road signs. I’ve seen regular examples of people who just bolt through red lights.

“The growth of cycling is a good thing. But good cycling is responsible cycling.”


What did he supposedly mean?

[reohn2]

Many roads I use don't have footways, cycleways, lanes or anything else. Apparently I shouldn't be cycling along them.

Or walking along them by Grayling's account,they're exclusively for motors

[661-Pete]

Many roads I use don't have footways, cycleways, lanes or anything else. Apparently I shouldn't be cycling along them.

Or walking along them by Grayling's account,they're exclusively for motors

Nor horse riding. Indeed, not long ago I often used to encounter a family in a pony-and-trap, on our quiet country lanes. Perhaps they're still about. Slow, but civilised!

[661-Pete]

Regarding what to do about Failing Grayling's ineptitude - as regards this latest bit of anti-cycling rhetoric as well as his chronic indifference to the Southern rail dispute....

This topic came into the conversation over the breakfast table today. Mrs P - whose views are often rather more forthright than Yours Truly's - advocated tying him across the railway tracks, in good old Gothic Horror tradition. But outright murder isn't really our métier, so we arrived at a more humane option. Tie him lengthwise between the tracks, then wait until a train passes over whilst someone is flushing the toilet....

No - wait!

I believe modern trains no longer deposit their toilet waste straight onto the trackbed. Ah well - maybe heritage railways still do? I don't know. Anyway, tie this person between the tracks on the Bluebell Line, anyone? If all else fails, perhaps one could persuade an obliging fireman to dump a few shovelfuls of coal dust on him......

[merseymouth]

Hello all, I suggest a bit of extra weight in the Minister's Red box?
A copy of "Roads were not built for cars", by Carlton Reid would fill in more than a few gaps in his knowlege as to how the road network was created!
Pig Headed ignorance is common currency for the likes og Grayling, when combined with arrogance it creates a very dangerous situation for all but motorized road users.
Cyclists funded the road creation programme, both here and in the USA, but brute force has taken over.
TTFN MM

[Cyril Haearn]

Regarding what to do about Failing Grayling's ineptitude - as regards this latest bit of anti-cycling rhetoric as well as his chronic indifference to the Southern rail dispute....

This topic came into the conversation over the breakfast table today. Mrs P - whose views are often rather more forthright than Yours Truly's - advocated tying him across the railway tracks, in good old Gothic Horror tradition. But outright murder isn't really our métier, so we arrived at a more humane option. Tie him lengthwise between the tracks, then wait until a train passes over whilst someone is flushing the toilet....

No - wait!

I believe modern trains no longer deposit their toilet waste straight onto the trackbed. Ah well - maybe heritage railways still do? I don't know. Anyway, tie this person between the tracks on the Bluebell Line, anyone? If all else fails, perhaps one could persuade an obliging fireman to dump a few shovelfuls of coal dust on him......

Usually in the films the person is tied to the rails so their head and feet will be severed, standard gauge 4'8.5" is just right for that, the train bears down on them at a fantastic speed and at the last moment someone throws a lever to change the points and the train swerves aside.

Not sure what would have happened in the films had Brunel's broad gauge (7'0,25") been used.