Table of Contents
Part One: Welcome to the hornet's nest.
It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t mean to piss off half of Britain’s cyclists. Who knew they were that touchy? Nonetheless, it’s a measure of how bitter the great divide is between cyclists and motorists that a seemingly innocuous tweet could generate such an instant tsunami of white hot anger. The problem is, nobody likes double standards. And I’m the sort of person when I see hypocrisy I tend to call people out on it.
So let’s examine how it happened in chronological order. Recently, on a relaxed Saturday night, I hopped on Twitter and I saw an interesting tweet from Jeremy Vine, the well known journalist and cycling advocate. Here’s the tweet.
A former London native who now lives in Australia with my family, I was interested to see how London was changing. I took the tweet at face value and I complimented Jeremy on a great video, while also agreeing the new cycle lane improved safety for families and young children. However, that’s not how all the trigger happy cyclists saw it. You be the judge.
Part Two: Triggered, oh so triggered.
Before I go any further, how do you reckon the rest of this exchange played out? Do you think all the cyclists calmly sat down and replied with finely nuanced insightful responses?
Of course not. It’s Twitter, and that means take no prisoners! It means war, it was time to go into full blown anti-hate mode! Here’s a sprinkling of the responses. Interestingly, not one cyclist commented on the positive part of my post… all they went for was the part THEY perceived as negative.
Good thing they didn’t see this next image then. They would have lost their minds!
Part Three: Jeremy Vine's response...
I should point out I’m quite aware of what it means to be a troll on social media, but in all honesty, my intentions prior to posting my comment weren’t dishonourable. When I saw Jeremy’s tweet I thought, I’ve always liked this guy. He’s a really talented journalist with a top shelf career as a war correspondent in some pretty scary places.
My goal wasn’t to piss him off, my goal was to engage with him and to hopefully discuss a certain perspective which is often overlooked in the ongoing debate regarding cycling. After all, I raced bikes for years at an elite level. I’m not unaware of the issues cyclists face on the roads.
But on top of that, everybody approves of cycling as a way of getting around, including us here at Single File Please. What I was hoping to discuss is why cycling is so contentious. Is there a valid perspective we haven’t heard before?
Sadly, Jeremy Vine gave me a reply alright – a forthright reply best described as “fuck off…”
Now look, I get it. Jeremy has an audience of cyclists who he regularly plays to. And in fairness to Jeremy, he wasn’t impolite, nor did he swear or use threatening language. However, he did send a signal, loud and clear, he remains blind to a certain double standard many road users see on a daily basis.
Part Four: The glaring double standard.
In a nutshell, cyclists say they need segregated infrastructure. They say they need more safety. They say they need to be separated from cars. Even Jeremy Vine himself stated the new cycle lane in his video improved ‘safety for all’ and yet, most infuriatingly, cyclists ALSO demand the right to ignore that infrastructure any time they want.
Quite understandably, most reasonable people react to the subject of cyclists ignoring bike lanes with a simple question. What’s the point of building segregated cycling infrastructure if bike riders are allowed to ignore it? Perhaps even more infuriatingly, what’s the point of building cycling infrastructure if it ends up being a waste of useful road space?
One of the most viral images Single File Please has ever published is the following image. It gets right to the heart of the matter. All too often cyclists quote ‘safety reasons’ as the number one reason why they require yet more cycling infrastructure, but what are we supposed to think when then they ignore it because the main road is a faster surface?
Looking back with hindsight on my brief twitter exchange with Jeremy Vine, it was the overwhelming intolerance (by Vine’s audience) for any perspective other than their own which shocked me. This is no longer cycling as I knew it back when I used to race. Cycling has become a political movement now, rooted in tribalism, with one tribe (cyclists) firmly convinced their perspective is the only perspective that matters. But it’s a flawed perspective. And here’s why….
The majority of people understand our road system works best if the various classes of road users stick to their own bits of turf. Quite correctly, pedestrians know they should stick to footpaths. And motorists understand they should stick to their allocated lanes. But not cyclists. The modern cyclist seemingly wants it all. They want their own segregated lanes (and they expect all of society to pay for that) but they also want to use shared paths and main traffic lanes too.
As I noted earlier – nobody likes double standards. For example, cyclists reckon there’s nothing wrong with riding two abreast because “it’s perfectly legal”. Yet they regularly claim cars are bad… and people who drive short distances are also bad. Well dear cyclists, guess what? It’s perfectly legal to own a car. And it’s also perfectly legal to choose the shortest possible route if you’re driving. Why should cyclists be immune from criticism simply because their behaviour “is legal” yet they happily criticise their fellow citizens for behaviour which is also “perfectly legal”?
Part Five:- The Final Word
So yes, I copped quite a good comeback from Jeremey Vine. Indeed, many of Vine’s followers reckon I was served a world class smackdown. Oh well. That’s Twitter for you. No biggie. We all get smashed sooner or later.
Nonetheless, playing the ‘Highway Code Card’ is frought with danger. Whenever we do that, first we need to ensure we have a faultless driving record – lest we come across as a hypocrite. I’ve already told you how I don’t cope well with hypocrites. And that’s what Jeremy Vine found out the hard way – thanks to the aptly named Frank Bullitt.
