Beware the rogue bicycles... Petronella Wyatt attacks the cult of cycling

blorg

This is so good I reckoned it deserved its own thread

Vélo

"and you are hit by a cyclist who has shot a red light, done a wheelie and is listening to his iPod"



This is obviousy going to be someone on a fixie:P

concussion

Just two things out of that train wreck of an article - why did she write about how cyclists break the law yet admit to cycling the wrong way on one way streets? And why would a mugger bring back her handbag because she shouted it was fake??

Chips Lovell

projectmayhem

Good ole Daily Mail...

ten speed racer

blorg wrote: »

This is so good I reckoned it deserved its own thread

I think the bigger point here is, what were you doing reading the Mail?

dave.obrien

"the police have found that half the collisions between bicycles and cars are the fault of the cyclist, according to analysis by the Transport Research Laboratory."

Really?!

"They either don't have lights or omit to turn them on after dark."
"In fact, they act as if they were deaf and dumb."

Not one for sweeping generalisations then...

"There are no wide boulevards to separate cars and cyclists as there are in... Madrid."

Has this person been to Madrid, one of the most densely configured European cities?

"the usually sensible Boris Johnson"

Ah. Never mind. I thought this piece was serious until I read that...

blorg

dave.obrien wrote: »

"the police have found that half the collisions between bicycles and cars are the fault of the cyclist, according to analysis by the Transport Research Laboratory."

That is hilarious, this is the report she is referencing:

...police attributed responsibility for collisions more or less evenly between drivers and cyclists overall, but this was skewed by the fact that when child riders were involved their behaviour was named as a primary factor more than three-quarters of the time.

With adult cyclists, police found the driver solely responsible in about 60%-75% of all cases, and riders solely at fault 17%-25% of the time.

"There are no wide boulevards to separate cars and cyclists as there are in... Madrid."

Has this person been to Madrid, one of the most densely configured European cities?

There are certainly plenty of wide boulevards in Madrid but strange one to pick, no-one cycles there. Paris might be a better example.

dave.obrien

In her defence, she did mention Paris. But Madrid is not the example of cycle-friendly-urban-planning I think she was going for. Must have been a very slow news day...

gimmeaminute

'One victim was badly bruised.'

Oh dear God no.

Dr_Colossus

"....thus putting themselves at risk just as much as peestrians"

What are peestrians, pedestrians who go around urinating?

seamus

a youth on a bike who rode on to the pavement, snatched my bag and disappeared at high speed. No one could stop him, even after I yelled that the bag was a fake.

Yes, because he robbed your bag so he could strip it and sell it for parts on the designer bag black market. Stupid bint, clearly watches too much Sex and the city.

DirkVoodoo

I read the first few paragraphs. Sorry to hear about her mother, another ninja cyclist behaving like an idiot. It's an unfortunate accident.

As for the rest of it (or rather the rest of what I read before I couldn't take anymore), eh....she doesn't really come across as intelligent. Throw in a few cliches, get riled up and bask in the attention you receive. I do this online sometimes, I would hope that if I were trying to be a respected journalist I wouldn't resort to such things.

blorg

dave.obrien wrote: »

In her defence, she did mention Paris. But Madrid is not the example of cycle-friendly-urban-planning I think she was going for. Must have been a very slow news day...

In my defence I didn't bother to read the article. Just the headline and went straight to post it here.

Borneo Fnctn

As I wobbled along London's roads, nearly hitting every pedestrian and car, riding the wrong way up one-way streets, I was petrified and hysterical, screaming every curse I knew, including one particularly nasty one learned from my Hungarian grandmother.

After three days, disgusted with myself and unwilling to commit manslaughter, I rode on to the kerb - deliberately, of course - and fell down. I hailed a taxi and put my bike in it, to the annoyance of the driver. 'Take me home,' I bleated to the driver. I have never cycled since.

Dopey cunt. She can't handle a bike herself and she thinks everybody is as reckless and inconsiderate as she is. Fuck her and fuck her anecdotal evidence. I'll accept that her granny got knocked over. It could well have been her fault. As for the other nameless acquaintances that were supposedly hit by bikes, I'm not buying it.

Captain Havoc

The main injustice here is that she gets paid a good salary for writting that waffle and I get paid SFA.

Chips Lovell

Captain Havoc wrote: »

The main injustice here is that she gets paid a good salary for writting that waffle and I get paid SFA.

Welcome to the world of journalism. You can earn for more being an ill-informed windbag than you can from actually going out and conducting real research.

petethedrummer

el tonto wrote: »

Welcome to the world of journalism. You can earn for more being an ill-informed windbag than you can from actually going out and conducting real research.

Its the same in engineering.

72hundred

petethedrummer wrote: »

Its the same in engineering.

Its the same in about everything! :rolleyes: Short and sensationalised, more audience, more money!

droidus

Borneo Fnctn wrote: »

Dopey cunt. She can't handle a bike herself and she thinks everybody is as reckless and inconsiderate as she is. Fuck her and fuck her anecdotal evidence. I'll accept that her granny got knocked over. It could well have been her fault. As for the other nameless acquaintances that were supposedly hit by bikes, I'm not buying it.

Indeed - not only is she throwing every cliche in the book against cyclists, but apparently the problem goes beyond individuals - there's something implicit in the act of cycling that turns even reasonable people (like her of course) into angry law breaking lunatics... As if getting on the bike is the equivalant of mainlining PCP...

Its a novel argument though its hard to see how she can condemn others for reckless cycling when she admits she's guilty of it herself.

Thargor

Good example of her stupidity here:

http://blog.dave.org.uk/2007/04/petronella-wyat.html

Let's do a wheelie and face it. Urban England is not suited to bicycles.

I dont think she understands what a wheelie is there, does she mean a 180 as in the skateboard/bmx thing?

Tim2010

What a sad day for human nature

AstraMonti

Tim2010 wrote: »

What a sad day for human nature

New, upgraded and updated Tim? :eek:

As for the article, oh well.

Captain Havoc

AstraMonti wrote: »

New, upgraded and updated Tim? :eek:

As for the article, oh well.

Damn, did anyone get a cake and pop for the welcome back party?

Redjeep!

Why not email the Daily Mail and complain ?

Don't be too abusive, but point out the obvious inaccuracies in her information and how it makes stupid sweeping statements designed to stir up hatred for cyclists.

I have.

Captain Havoc

That quote about England not being suited for bicycles and Paris is, irritated the bejaysus out of me, I've lived in both and didn't find this.

gimmeaminute

Redjeep! wrote: »

Why not email the Daily Mail and complain ?

It worked for Stephen Gately's boyfriend.

Oh.

Jawgap

It's terrible what happened to her Ma and I hope she makes a full recovery and some terrible divine retribution is visited on the twat who knocked her down.

Now, on to more trivial matters......

FS: Pashley Princess in pink. One hysterical owner -

Lumen

Jawgap wrote: »

FS: Pashley Princess in pink. One hysterical owner

She does look a bit old for that, like a middle-aged man on a BMX.

Actually, she looks a bit like a middle-aged man.

Captain Havoc

Lumen wrote: »

She does look a bit old for that, like a middle-aged man on a BMX.

Actually, she looks a bit like a middle-aged man.

I still would

RobFowl

Lumen wrote: »

She does look a bit old for that, like a middle-aged man on a BMX.

Actually, she looks a bit like a middle-aged man.

A bit like Kyrton from Red Dwarf :eek:

blorg

Murderer! Despot! No worse, much worse – Cyclist!

Cabaal

good god I feel dirty after reading the daily mail, god that stupid bitch is thick

Let's do a wheelie and face it. Urban England is not suited to bicycles.

Yeah cause its suitable to six foot wide SUV's instead
:rolleyes:

buffalo

Ah, strict liability legislation, so willfully misunderstood by so many. I missed this article originally, now I'm wondering how to get those two minutes of my life back.