Check out the top banner in a recent edition of the (anti-cycling) Torygraph....
if i was that cyclist i'd be doing some mad fist pumping right now.
Think Mannix F. used to make similar claims of superhuman prowess when cycle lanes were planned for around Fitzwilliam Square. Similarly, he continues to fret about the incredible dangers posed by cargo bikes.
As a result of an recent inquest of the death of a pedestrian who was hit by a bike about 5 months previously, the right-wing press in the UK has gone into overdrive in 'othering' cyclists over the past few weeks. There's no attempt at balance because it is all about stoking another culture war, which is something they are very good at. Every day in the UK 5 people are killed on the roads and over 80 are injured but let's get angry about something else instead.
The unfortunate thing is that any response is almost by definition entering the culture war they seek to foster…..
And to be fair, the culture war is already there; they arent creating it, they are merely - as you say - stoking it.
Unfortunately society (we're all probably guilty of it, depending on our individual prejudices and blind spots) laps it up. 24-hour 'Breaking News' media and social media have figured out that its an absolute money printing machine. It just seems to be a never-ending downward spiral these days, as a tune in to any 5 minutes of a Pat Kenny show will prove.
Perhaps they regard cyclists as socially acceptable targets for their hatred, which in decades past would have been directed at gay and non-white people. Even the most knuckle-dragging rags can no longer get away with homophobic and racist content, so I guess they need a new hate group.
that's about 83km per hour.
I'd be petrified doing that sort of speed.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13463857/Widower-wife-killed-reckless-cyclist-pushing-new-laws.html
Happened to stumble on this article on my random news feed… "killer cyclists"
I remember reading about his wreaklessness using a single brake track fixie which is completely illegal to use on public roads.
I remember that kid, zero remorse, and continued to blame the poor woman all the way through. I feel terrible for the partner but considering there isn't a law for vehicular manslaughter, hard to see how this would get through. Either way, there are laws for manslaughter and if the prosecutors knew he was going to be such a moron, they probably would have went with gross negligence manslaughter.
How can they not simply apply a manslaughter charge? That's the bit I don't understand.
Prosecution taking the easy route for a guaranteed conviction, manslaughter is harder to get over the threshold apparently but like I said, if they knew he as going to be such a f*ckhead and double down on being in the right, they probably would have.
Walked into an office and Joe Duffy is on, it's all the whingers complaining about taking de cars off the city streets and the poor peeple have nowhere to be parking anymore.
And Duffy is ramping up the suffering, no doubt;
Absolutely, it was all about the city taking "de family motorist" off the road. I left it on for a few minutes but eventually got sick of the usual **** from him and his callers and abandoned the wireless altogether.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/30/the-tranquility-frees-you-bogota-the-city-that-shuts-out-cars-every-week
Surprisingly the world didn’t stop turning
I could be wrong, but my recollection was that the cyclist was a gigantic asshole, both in person and on social media, which probably made the sentence harsher than it would have been, and he certainly was in the wrong, legally and in practical terms, riding a fixie with no back-up brake. However — again,I might be wrong — the only "reckless" thing he did was relying on the chain to stop the bike. He wasn't going all that fast, and he swerved to avoid the woman, who was crossing against the traffic signal, and she reflexively wandered back into his path.
There are much more outrageous road deaths than this every week in the UK, but this is still big media in the UK nearly a decade later.
EDIT: Looking at an old road.cc article, it seems she wasn't crossing at a pedestrian crossing in the first place, so she wasn't crossing against the traffic signals. He did try to avoid her, and he startled her by shouting at her (he seems to have made a habit of shouting and swearing at people, judging by the comments), and she wandered back into his path.
https://road.cc/content/news/229449-london-fixed-wheel-cyclist-charlie-alliston-sentenced-18-months-young-offenders?page=1
If you read the judicial sentencing, he seen her crossing the road, shouted twice at her to get out of the way, and then testified to say he “was entitled to go on” and didn’t slow any further to try avoid a collision. Judge seemed to be under the impression he had plenty of time to prevent a collision regardless of having a front brake or not
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/sentencing-remarks-hhj-wendy-joseph-qc-r-v-alliston.pdf
It says he swerved and slowed to maybe 10mph, which isn't inconsistent with the road.cc version, though I was wrong in my recollection that relying on chain braking was his only reckless act, since skimming a pedestrian in traffic is also idiotic and boorish. As I said, he's a gigantic asshole, and I wouldn't ever carry on like he did, but this case returning to media prominence every few months like clockwork for nearly a decade is just bizarre.
Anyway, I obviously don't want to sound like I'm defending him, because I definitely am not. I just think I know fairly well why the UK media think this is the most outrageous road death of the last ten years.
Is it not returning to the media because of the campaign to change the law? Obviously the media need no excuse.
It seems to be a mutually reinforcing arrangement of Conservative backbenchers who like a culture war issue (think Iain Duncan Smith is especially keen on it), an understandably driven husband, and the media, who find this more outrageous (and viewer-engaging) than, say, small children being killed by people driving on footpaths for their convenience.
Alleged close passer takes offence when cyclist bangs on car roof so he gets out of car and chases cyclist with a hurley...
https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/kilkenny-driver-took-hurley-from-car-boot-and-ran-after-cyclist-on-south-dublin-street-in-heat-of-the-moment/a129851263.html
Regina pandering to a small section of the electorate with an ill-informed anti-cycling infrastructure rant. She even compares Dublin's cycling infrastructure to the Berlin Wall 🙄 Her criticism of people on e-scooters breaking laws ignores the fact that her FG colleague is the Minister responsible for tackling law breaking!
[source]
Are the "over-mighty Greens" to whom she refers the same Greens that - according to the article - engaged "in a desperate struggle to retain their two MEPs" and "are languishing at 3% in the polls"?
What an absolute f**kwit.
Who wrote the article?
joined Renua Ireland — a new anti-abortion political party founded by Lucinda Creighton TD — to work as their Communications Director. After the party's underwhelming performance during the 2016 general elections, Drennan resigned and returned to his work as a journalist.
I wonder why he didn't challenge her on her anti-environmental sentiment? ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Drennan )
And politicians wonder why they're held in such low regard by people, why there's an increasing lean towards populist politics. It's because of dog-whistle drivel pandering as journalism like that. Absolutely pathetic. Won't hold my breath for her to be called out on that nonsense.
Cheers - I'll definitely know who not to vote for now; and will be mentioning this to any Fine Gael candidate that comes around.
The other reason - AFAIK she lives in Ashbourne and was previously a TD in Meath - could they really not have found anyone in the million people who live in Dublin to run for election in Dublin?
Well, thankfully the Greens have at least responded…
https://www.thejournal.ie/eamonn-ryan-regina-doherty-cycle-lanes-berlin-wall-6399271-Jun2024/#:~:text=TRANSPORT%20MINISTER%20AND%20Green%20Party,arrogant%E2%80%9D%20and%20%E2%80%9Cautocratic%E2%80%9D.
As always, they're a bit too nice even when taking someone to task. When they find a charismatic leader whose not afraid to defend green policies with a bit of bite they'll do well.
I'd usually throw FG some form of vote after my first preferences, just to keep the candidates I definitely don't like, out. Not this time Regina.
ciaran cannon is not running again, so expect FG to become more anti-cycling.
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