Dondare wrote:
Saddle Bum wrote:
The overall political alignment of cyclists differs very little from that of the greater population and is probably identical to that of this forum. C+ does not represent cyclists in general, but a minority who take comfort in the knowledge that they are mostly left of centre and exhibit the rather intolerant tendencies resulting from that position.
Hobby cyclists comprising recreational, sporting and touring, comprise a fair proportion of riders who commute on bikes. I would not commute on a bike for the simple reason I believe the laws of average would, one day, catch up with me and I would become a statistic. I certainly never ride in the dark – I don’t even own lights for a bicycle. With 40plus year of riding experience, I contend cycling is still a potentially dangerous pastime on British roads. Why? Because many drivers are incapable of placing themselves in the position of other road-users, especially the more vulnerable groups, pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists.
I ride for recreation and health reasons, but I still wish I was born with a third eye in the back of my head, instead I have to rely on instinct to prevent myself and 3-grands worth of carbon fibre and alloy being turned into a puree. Most country roads are in a worse state than they were 20-40 years ago, but this does not prevent a very small minority of drivers travelling at inappropriate speed, unwilling to slow down, whilst I am trying to negotiate a safe route through a maze of pot holes situated in the “riding line”. Riders are becoming increasingly fed up with being treated as second class citizens on the roads we are all entitled to share. (“Road Tax/Insurance” - don’t go there.)
One does not have to be a life member of C+ to hold the view that (a small minority of) drivers would rather risk killing you than slow down. It is a schizophrenic process because the same riders will happily get into their cars and go about their business. Just to put things into perspective, I own a tweaked up 1.8 Focus with a bucket of gizmos which is exciting enough at the appropriate moment.
I'm a member of many cycling forums as well as one motoring one. C+ has a lot of London cyclists on it, which is why I post there.
I am not a left-of-centre minority.
Why are people being defined by the forum that they post on? Is it the case that C+ or SS are the priority in the life of each of us? Of course not. I assume that for most of us reading and posting is a hobby way down the list of activites. So why the comments about C+ members hating motorists? There are very few C+ members that don't drive. Many are safe and experienced drivers, professional drivers or commuters, and as such have the same experiences as anyone SS.
Cyclists, as with motorcylists, are more vulnerable on the road than those of us driving around in our shielded little house extensions. So they are understandably more sensitive to some of the road safety issues. And it is also understandable that they recognise that a forum like this does attract an unwelcome minority whose ego and aggression get in the way of their appropriate driving.
If you spent some time over there you would see that with all the issues that come up you get a range of opinions and the extreme ones, which unfortunately are the most controversial and so more readily picked up by others (some comments on the Welsh cycling club killings for example), aren't let go without a decent discussion.
And I guess the same goes for SafeSpeed. You have your nutters, fanatics and egotists in the same way as C+ does. In a pub I have no doubt that a lot of the members on both sides would get on pretty well.
Let's not forget that on a forum it is far easier to say things than face to face. So stronger opinions come out, people say things that they wouldn't say in the pub. I doubt that things would become this heated, personal or offensive if we were sitting round a table drinking.
It's Christmas. Let's get out of the trenches and have a game of football.
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