Daily Mail Vs The Cyclist : What's at stake?

[Jdsk]

https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-li ... 024-308483

Jonathan

[853]

Screenshot 2024-05-23 at 12.01.11.png
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-li ... 024-308483

Jonathan

In a similar way, and returning to what this thread is about, I have found and scanned the Daily Mail article from the 6th May. If you read it carefully, you will see it tries to make people believe that the collision was at 29mph in a 20mph zone

hh

[mattheus]

Screenshot 2024-05-23 at 12.01.11.png
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-li ... 024-308483

Jonathan

I know it's very similar Jon, but that's not the same newspaper. ;-)

[JerseyJoe]

Screenshot 2024-05-23 at 12.01.11.png
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-li ... 024-308483

Jonathan

I know it's very similar Jon, but that's not the same newspaper. ;-)

With articles like this appearing in several newspapers it's hard not to believe there is something going on sub mensa in the press and establishment circles. If this was France or Germany there would be 4 tonnes of daisy fresh manure delivered to the front door of the Telegraph. Like I said up thread, perhaps we are far too meek in not condemning the current populist condemnation of cyclists and cycling.

[cycle tramp]

Screenshot 2024-05-23 at 12.01.11.png
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-li ... 024-308483

Jonathan

In a similar way, and returning to what this thread is about, I have found and scanned the Daily Mail article from the 6th May. If you read it carefully, you will see it tries to make people believe that the collision was at 29mph in a 20mph zone

2024-05-06 Daily Mail - biased reporting.jpg

Personally, this is a difficult one. Admittedly the pedestrian stepped out in front of the bike rider with less than 2 metres to stop in... even the low speeds I cycle at, I'm not going to be able to stop in that distance.... and sadly the older you are the less likely you are to survive a fall, that's either in your own home or outside.
Equally however, the road itself has been marked as a 20 mph, and its possible that the word 'slow' had been marked on the roads. I also suspect that Regents Park is full of tourists and visitors who will be distracted from looking for on coming vehicle, simply because its a nice calming space- In the same way that I wouldn’t attempt to race through either Wells or Glastonbury (due to tourists wandering around on the road looking at buildings). So the roads around Regents Park don't sound a great place to attempt to cycle in a drafting pattern at speeds above 20 mph. The modern phrase isthat is incident 'has bad optics' - back in my daily it was simply 'it looks bad'. And its been compounded by the issue that strava hasn't removed this road from their systems....
..whilst the news story is a bad piece of journalism, it doesn't mean that there exists a segment of bicycle riders who may be placing their own safety and that of pedestrians and other road users at risk, and that may be seen as in the public interest and open for public debate. Its down to one question- should racing be allowed on adopted roads and if so what are the conditions? - and if we allow it for pedal cycles, what about motorcycles or even cars?

[853]

Screenshot 2024-05-23 at 12.01.11.png
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-li ... 024-308483

Jonathan

In a similar way, and returning to what this thread is about, I have found and scanned the Daily Mail article from the 6th May. If you read it carefully, you will see it tries to make people believe that the collision was at 29mph in a 20mph zone

Personally, this is a difficult one. Admittedly the pedestrian stepped out in front of the bike rider with less than 2 metres to stop in... even the low speeds I cycle at, I'm not going to be able to stop in that distance.... and sadly the older you are the less likely you are to survive a fall, that's either in your own home or outside.
Equally however, the road itself has been marked as a 20 mph, and its possible that the word 'slow' had been marked on the roads. I also suspect that Regents Park is full of tourists and visitors who will be distracted from looking for on coming vehicle, simply because its a nice calming space- In the same way that I wouldn’t attempt to race through either Wells or Glastonbury (due to tourists wandering around on the road looking at buildings). So the roads around Regents Park don't sound a great place to attempt to cycle in a drafting pattern at speeds above 20 mph. The modern phrase isthat is incident 'has bad optics' - back in my daily it was simply 'it looks bad'. And its been compounded by the issue that strava hasn't removed this road from their systems....
..whilst the news story is a bad piece of journalism, it doesn't mean that there exists a segment of bicycle riders who may be placing their own safety and that of pedestrians and other road users at risk, and that may be seen as in the public interest and open for public debate. Its down to one question- should racing be allowed on adopted roads and if so what are the conditions? - and if we allow it for pedal cycles, what about motorcycles or even cars?

I still think you're on the wrong thread. This one is about how publications that claim to be newspapers, such as The Daily Mail and The Telegraph are omitting key facts, publishing incorrect facts, and writing articles to make things appear worse than they are, all to try and smear cyclists and get the public against them. And I believe this is deliberate, and not through incompetence.

[cycle tramp]

And how much ammunition are we, as cyclists giving the journalists, to help them smear us?

[JerseyJoe]

And how much ammunition are we, as cyclists giving the journalists, to help them smear us?

Not much: 4 deaths involving cyclists last year, as opposed to 1785 deaths by car. How meek and timid are we that we aren't vilifying and exposing journalists who inflame, encourage and disseminate hatred against cyclists? That Telegraph article is incendiary, do you not think there is a political will and influence behind it?
Open your eyes, we're being deliberately targeted.

[Stradageek]

As history repeatedly demonstrates, unpopular leaders/governments have a three pronged approach when the standard 'cake and circus' routine starts to fail.

1. Find a minority group to blame for all ills, cyclists, LGBTQ or environmental activists and of course the all time favourite - immigrants
2. Increase state oppression, outlaw protests, control the press
3. Start a war

Numbers 1&2, tick - scary or what

[mattheus]

And how much ammunition are we, as cyclists giving the journalists, to help them smear us?

Not much: 4 deaths involving cyclists last year, as opposed to 1785 deaths by car. How meek and timid are we that we aren't vilifying and exposing journalists who inflame, encourage and disseminate hatred against cyclists? That Telegraph article is incendiary, do you not think there is a political will and influence behind it?
Open your eyes, we're being deliberately targeted.

Sadly cycle_tramp has given in to the journalists. He thinks it's OUR fault that we're targeted!

Are racist attitudes justified because lots of young black men commit knife-crime? Ask cycle_tramp ...

[853]

And how much ammunition are we, as cyclists giving the journalists, to help them smear us?

You don't get it do you?

The OP started this thread to highlight the agenda of The Daily Mail to turn the population against cyclists (all cyclists).

According to the circulation figures in the PressGazette, The Daily Mail has the highest circulation figures for any paid for newspaper. As such it has the most opportunity to influence the general population with its agenda.

This is not about 'ammunition' at all. In both the case in The Daily Mail, and the article that Jdsk illustrated from The Telegraph, the cyclists had done nothing wrong and broken no laws, it is only through 'inaccurate' reporting that it is being made to look so. Despite there being no wrongdoing The Daily Mail started its article with the headline

Cyclist who killed OAP, 81, avoids court

This is how one cyclist who has done nothing wrong is being smeared, and why it is important to highlight it and not try to excuse it.

[mattheus]

cycle_tramp probably thinks the persecution would stop if no cyclists was seeing RLJing for a year.

[cycle tramp]

Open your eyes, we're being deliberately targeted.

Oh, sorry.. yes we are. Or rather you might be. Person's like myself who don't wear lyrca or/and ride sports bikes are just collateral damage...

..for those of us of a certain age, this is not a new thing. during the early 1980's the express, the mail and the telegraph printed lots of stories about the miners strikes, loosely based on the truth...or their understanding of it.
..then in the later 80's the papers aimed their sights at motorcyclists, claiming that the machines were too powerful for British roads and hinting that we (as I was at the time) were all part of a massive organised crime ring specialising in drugs and prostitution... as I was in my late teens, early twenties, I'm pretty sure I would have noticed the latter. Motorcycle Action Group organised a series of charity events, with various toy and Easter egg runs for good causes to prove to everyone that we weren't the threat to society or their daughters which the papers claimed... strangely alot of people including the elderly and children found it rather exciting to be driven around various carparks on machines which looked like they rolled out of a mad max set... and rather than see hairy people on motorbikes as a threat, they just saw us as different...

..the early to mid 90's were more successful for the papers as the took aim at the traveller population.... and with much success as not very many people from main stream society complained about police brutality following the Battle of the Beanfield (you may wish to Google that one)...

So yes, while the press may be aimed at the sporty side of cycling, its not going to end up shattering your community, or allow the police to smash up your home and bludgeon your pregnant partner with a truncheon..

...to be continued

[cycle tramp]

And how much ammunition are we, as cyclists giving the journalists, to help them smear us?

Not much: 4 deaths involving cyclists last year, as opposed to 1785 deaths by car.

And at this point i would agree with you - That as tragic and regrettable as those deaths are, when compared with our yearly suicide rate, you are more at more risk of killing yourself, than from a collision with a bicycle.
Sadly however these papers don't operate on logic, because fear is more emotive and generally sells more copies. Even if the collision between cyclist and pedestrian fell to one a year or even half or a quarter.... all that it would prove to the readership of the mail or the express or the telegraph is that it is possible to die in a collision with a bicycle - and for someone in a fearful state of mind that is enough...

..so every time someone jumps a red light or zips through a zebra crossing on a bike when there's still people crossing or rides too fast too close someone on the pavement - all they are doing is reminding this fearful person that there exists a possibility that the cyclist could have collided with them and that they may die as a result..

..there is a difference between rationale fear and the irrational.... if we were paying better attention to our mental health the express the telegraph and the mail would see a sharp reduction in their readership...

[cycle tramp]

cycle_tramp probably thinks the persecution would stop if no cyclists was seeing RLJing for a year.

Gosh, if only...
...but it would be a start...
The issue is that people read about deaths following cycling collisions and then actually sees some cyclists jump red lights or not follow the highway code and a connection is formed in their mind. It can't be helped, its a monkey/human trait thing... And then if they see it and register it, they then become more aware of it, and the more they see it and register it the more annoyed they become..
..if someone reads an article about deaths following a cycling collision and sees bike riders following the highway code and be having, then its harder for the connection to take root..

In a moment I'm going to ride to the shops for a pizza.. I will intend to ride like an angel. Whilst some people will be annoyed at my presence on the road, it is my intention that this will all that they will be able to complain about- that I've gone shopping using my bike...