I caught 80% of it and was disappointed that bikers were not represented more (sorry if that was in the part I missed). Rather the program focussed heavily on cyclists and the perils they encounter.
It was summed up by the view that with proper road planning, Britain’s ‘tribes of the road’ will most probably drift further apart rather than sit down and work it out.
If that’s the case I’m glad I’m a member of this tribe!
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saw some of it and will watch it l8r on bbc website.
Wot i did catch pissed me off a bit, them fvck1n cyclists clogging up cen london and the cops doing nowt about it. now dont get me wrong i cycle regular to and from work and yes i stop at lights etc so i am not against cycles but am against pr1cks who just wanna cause disruption using any means to do so.
Also theres no telling the school run 4x4 lot anyway, they are of course better than all of us!
cycle couriers pi55 me off and that guy that the cops pulled on the show didn’t do their already sullied reputation any good at all. like that guy a lot of them are very agro. they behave like outcasts and think that they are like some sort of cult, what with their extreme clothing and tribal mentality. I have three friends that have been knocked over in the road whilst on a pedestrian crossing or at a red light for traffic, one of whom had to take two days off work because he twisted his knee so badly as he hit the deck and the courier just kept going. I also used to work with a guy who at the time was in his 50’s and he was knocked down by one whilst walking on the pavement and has limped ever since and that was 15 years ago. these guys can be doing 20+ mph when they hit you. a little more responsibilty from these people is in order.
Cyclists and school running 4x4s clearly came off worst. About the only bike mention was the guy from the better driving busybody website who commented on a bike being marginally too hurried on an otherwise safe looking filtering manoeuvre.
The pedestrian crossing where they showed the school children protesting against the cyclists is in Clapham Road, Stockwell. I go through there every day. The parents block the crossing to allow the children to get across safely on the pedestrian cycle it is the only way they can make sure the cyclists going through on red don’t hit their children - one of the injured children was interviewed on the programme. I have often heard the cyclist shout foul abuse at the parents and young children for being forced to stop at the red light. The parents have clearly trained the children to shout back!
a very interesting documentary, as a cyclist myself i dont go through red lights, just cos i have pedals instead of an engine doesnt make a blind bit of difference. I could not believe some of these idots and their behavoiur!, especially that courier they pulled over.
The amount of cyclists is see in the mornings on my commute to work jumpin lights and swerving in front of cars, absolute idiots.
Must admit that when I go into the centre of London I am always shocked by the behaviour of the cyclists.
Everyone spouts on about bikes, but I have never been run over by a biker, have been run over twice by cyclists, once at a zebra crossing and once at pelican crossing (cyclist went through a red light).
One time near Piccadilly Circus a cyclist decided to lean on my topbox rather than put his left on the ground (lazy f@cker). Let the clutch out and lurch forward, he falls off his bike and gets the hump and gives me a mouth full. At the time I really couldn’t be bothered replying.
Ha ha ha, I’d have loved to have seen that, serves the tw@t right!!
Like most I have nothing against cyclists in particular as long as they obey the rules of the road the same as the rest of us have to, it’s the ones who jump red lights and generally have no regard for other road users that pi$$ me off, I’ve nearly been had twice by these idiots jumping the lights in Westminster, the next time one of them does it to me his back wheel will be banana shaped due to by boot hitting it!! :crazy:
It was an interesting programme, did make me think when that lady that won bronze at the commomwealth was ‘lets all get along’, only because I had been very angry on my way home when a cyclist came past me on a red, only to stop right in front of me and take off when it was green, totally getting in my way… when I watched the program I thought, maybe I should not have got angry with him, and just let him start cycling away, then overtake him when I had built up more speed, or he got out of my way himself…would have been better for everyone.
That muppet ‘car camera’ or whatever for that pleasedrivemorecarefully.com thing, was a complete tw@t he said it was an offence to go over cross hatchings (only if it is a solid line, which it wasn’t) and said a car had gone through a red lights when the had just changed to amber!!
Also loved that stupid woman 4x4 kid dropper offer, saying things like - ‘they have to go to ballet and then what if its raining, I just havent got enough time to walk them everywhere’…get a grip love…maybe you are doing too much with the kids, how about bringing them home and spending time with them?
Then she was giving the traffic warden a whole bunch of grief saying ‘well now my husband will take it out of my clothes money…’ boo f***in’ ho love…and then saying that his machine was out of sync to the clocks, and (in true david brent style) she phoned up the speaking clock and his machine was exactly on time…hahahahha
That’s why I called them busybodies - the idiot seemed to be looking for offences that didn’t exist. Jackie and I noted the ballet lessons and clothes money arguements - and laughed!
Another thing we noted, this morning there were a lot more cyclists stopping at red and waiting for green than is normally the case, especuially at the junction in Stockwell they featured in the programme.
The idiot in the Jeep Grand Cherokee made me laugh as well. He looked and spoke just like one of the very senior managers we used to have here.
Finally - it was probably a good thing motorcycles didn’t get featured given the uncompromising treatment given to the other groups.
The biggest problem regarding cyclists as far as I’m concerned is that they are not accountable under the Road Traffic Laws.
To ride on the road, they should be obliged to carry Third-Party Insurance and their bikes should be registered.
As for the programme, I enjoyed it, sharing most of the views already expressed.
The attitudes showing complete disregard for anyone else is unfortunately all-too prevalent throughout every group of road-users, not least motor-cyclists.
'If you can’t beat 'em, join ‘em’ is possibly one of the prime causes of the decline in Road Manners, IMHO.
ok didn’t see the prog but not being funny isn’t it getting a bit tiresome with the 4x4 attacks. they’re an easy and obvious target, and i’m sure they made sure they found someone with daft and rubbish arguments in their defence.
most people use a car to drop people/kids off, a 4x4 is just more obvious. Just because its a 4x4 doesn’t mean that its automatcially any worse than a car for the same purpose, nor is it necessary even in ‘4x4 mode’ either - they often drive in rear 2wd most of the time.
aside from the cayennes and big block 4x4s (which are to a degree 'performance cars), they have as good if not better mpg than many cars, and actually take up the same if not less floor space than family saloon cars or mpv’s. they’re just tall flippin cars for goddsake.
I agree with you on some level but I believe a large group of people who buy 4x4s underestimate the greater skill you need as a driver to drive one safely.You can’t just drive a truck after passing your driving test, but these powerful large vehicles aren’t that far off in terms of the skill people have used to drive a standard small car on their test.I blame America and the stupid Bling mentality…Half the people I see driving X5s around don’t need them (2 people in the car) and can’t drive them safely enough.
BBC iPlayer - Home unfortunatly it’s either not going to be on there at all or there is a delay in getting it on the site. I missed it also and would love to watch it. Not even virgin replay saved it which is odd cause it normally does everything from normal tv.
Point taken JB, but my main beef is that they should use alternative forms of transport, or even (god forbid) WALKING…
My neighbour uses his 4x4 to take his kids to school each day, and it is massively congested around the school, I know cos it is 400m down the road from where we live…
It’s not actually true to say Cyclists aren’t subject to the RTA…"28 Dangerous cycling
(1) A person who rides a cycle on a road dangerously is guilty of an offence.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) above a person is to be regarded as riding dangerously if (and only if)—
(a) the way he rides falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful cyclist, and
(b) it would be obvious to a competent and careful cyclist that riding in that way would be dangerous.
(3) In subsection (2) above “dangerous” refers to danger either of injury to any person or of serious damage to property; and in determining for the purposes of that subsection what would be obvious to a competent and careful cyclist in a particular case, regard shall be had not only to the circumstances of which he could be expected to be aware but also to any circumstances shown to have been within the knowledge of the accused."
Fines are:
Dangerous cycling £2,500
Careless cycling £1,000
Cycling on pavement £500
But all in all it’s comes down to the same issue ‘enforcement’ you’re unlikely to be caught so who cares seems to the prevailing attitude.
It was notable that the featured force was the City Police as to my knowledge they’re one of the few that focus on the issue, it’s not generally on the Met’s radar.
All in all I thought the programme was a bit OTT but hey it’s entertainment so what can you expect. I think it was lucky Motorbikes were largely ignored as some of the cycle groups hate us more than cars and as the BBC would have had to demonstrate that it’s given equal voice to opposing views I think we’d have been trashed big time…
I watched this programme as well last night and kept wondering when they were going to start talking about PTW…but they never did…AT ALL!!!
I suppose it was probably a good thing, because it would have just been another opportunity to slag us off and portray us in a negative way.
Regarding the school run, we are very lucky that we live a 5 minute walk from the school my eldest son attends and it is a good school. Not everyone is so lucky, so I have some sympathy for some of the school run mums. Often they do no have an alternative.
However there is absolutely NO excuse for cyclists jumping red lights. As one person said the green man is the sign for children that it is safe to cross the road, but with these cyclist cnts not giving a damn about anyone they are putting children at risk. I am currently trying to teach my eldest son about road safety when crossing the road, what am I supposed to teach him "When you see the green man it is safe to cross, unless a cyclist wants to be an impatient, selfish little wnker and go across the crossing"?!
I watched the whole programme and came away with the view that we really must be invisible - even documentary editors do not see us.
The cyclists were really funning - those caught going through red lights could not undertsand why they were being stopped because they clearly felt they had the right to do it!
The one thing they did not pick up on was why the school run 4x4s and people carriers feel they have the right to hold up even more people by doing 3 point turns. One of the features of schools is the number of these unweildy vehicles trying to do unecessary manouvres in the middle of congested areas. I was held up by several of these yesterday in Kensington when I was in the jam jar.
