Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 103 total)
  • Sad letter in the local anti cycling rag
  • 29erKeith
    Free Member

    just trolling?

    These people do exists just so sad they complete lack of respect they show for other people just because of their chosen form of transport\sport. 😥

    [list]Cyclist’s death ‘was the fault of all cyclists’[/list]

    6:29pm Friday 7th February 2014 in Readers’ Letters
    Daily Echo: Cyclist’s death ‘was the fault of all cyclists’
    Cyclist’s death ‘was the fault of all cyclists’
    ANOTHER cyclist riding irresponsibly, another driver found not guilty and persecuted by the police and the CPS.

    When are motorists going to get a fair deal and be listened to? When are cyclists going to learn that riding a bike is not something any sane or professional person does? It is not Call the Midwife in 2014!

    To those cyclists that complain ‘It’s our right!’: So what?

    Someone has died because you all fail to follow the rules, as cyclists do every day. Even if you did, so what? No driver wants to hit you, so stop this happening: give up.

    We, the motorists, have won, the roads are ours now. It doesn’t matter who campaigned for what, it doesn’t matter that it’s healthy; the motorist outnumbers you 35:1. We weigh 2000kg, you weigh 70kg.

    For your own safety leave the bike at home, get in the car like any rational person would. You’ve lost the fight for your right on the road and a legal precedent has been established.

    ALEX OLIVER RIGBY, Southampton.

    Editor’s note: Steven Petterson was last week found not guilty of causing death by careless driving in relation to the fatal collision he was involved in with cyclist David Irving in Southampton.

    However, there was nothing offered in evidence during the trial to suggest that Mr Irving was in any way responsible or to blame for the collision, which took his life in December 2012.

    aP
    Free Member

    What a nice man.
    I can’t believe that a responsible newspaper would print this kind of thing.

    pondo
    Free Member

    Wow. Just… Wow. That goes beyond the word “insensitive” to choose to publish a letter like that.

    Wow.

    MrWoppit
    Free Member

    get in the car like any rational person would.

    Erm…

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    Local rag publishes frothing flame-bait from local nutter to increase clicks and comments.

    Be interesting to see if he applies the same logic to pedestrians killed by cars, or even drivers killed in car crashes?

    fuzzhead
    Free Member

    I feel sad for this guy, his moral compass is way outta whack

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    I’ve learnt in life that some people are just ****s, such as the author of that bile, and let them be that way.

    andytherocketeer
    Full Member

    well the troll is getting exactly what he wanted. cyclists wound up.

    I’d say… time to “out” the editor for actually publishing that. name and shame!

    29erKeith
    Free Member

    yeah no doubt “click bait”

    So sad that the paper feels the need to stoop to that level though. They’re very much in cahoots with the new forest lot which are trying to ban as much cycling in the forest as they can.

    The comments section go’s on and on with a few well known (on the papers board) elderly anti cycling regulars, who are just unbelievable in the their views, very much like the letter.

    The paper wouldn’t allow comments on the article about the driver who got away with sod all after leaving him for dead after the sun got in his eye’s, “out of respect/sensitivity” yet print this. They publicly say they’re not anti-cycling 🙄

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    Linky (if you want to give them the benefit of a click-through):
    http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/yoursay/letters/10996773.Cyclist_s_death__was_the_fault_of_all_cyclists_/

    It seems Mr Rigby has former, his last reader’s letter was “Prime Minister should ban cyclists” December 12 2013 complaining about cyclists causing congestion.

    You can see by the number of comments why they publish his drivel.

    zilog6128
    Full Member

    you weigh 70kg.

    he’s obviously never been on an STW forum ride

    pondo
    Free Member

    I’d say… time to “out” the editor for actually publishing that. name and shame!

    Looks like it was the Southern Echo – Email: ian.murray@dailyecho.co.uk

    I’d just say keep them rational, unabusive and easy on the emotion.

    DezB
    Free Member

    I’d say… time to “out” the editor for actually publishing that. name and shame!

    http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/contact/#editorial

    Trouble is, like any editor/journalist responsible for publishing this crap, they will find ways to justify themselves. Otherwise, how could they do the job.

    surroundedbyhills
    Free Member

    US County legislator’s repsonse to a letter from a son whose mother was hit by a car. Distributed by @bikesnobNYC and others.

    martinhutch
    Full Member

    I’ve sent them a letter for consideration. I doubt it will get published, as it is critical of their editorial decisions, rather than glorying at the death of a cyclist.

    eddie11
    Free Member

    I read an article about jaywalking the other day and how in America the 20’s the car lobby shifted blame for accidents to pedestrians and the answer was to make crossing the road illegal outside of set crossings. It was a coordjnated strategey over years. Astonishing. I sometimes wonder if there is implicit sympathy with this blokes view somewhere in government. If we make it hard enough and punsishmenta lax enough cyclist wl go away, or at least go to off road paths and velodromes and some of the better ones can win us some medals every four years.

    D0NK
    Full Member

    you weigh 70kg.

    he’s obviously never been on an STW forum ride beaten to it.

    From the evidence in that letter Alex Oliver Rigby is a weapons grade bell end.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    US County legislator’s repsonse to a letter from a son whose mother was hit by a car.

    Jesus that is truly sad!

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    I read an article about jaywalking the other day and how in America the 20’s the car lobby shifted blame for accidents to pedestrians

    This one? “Jaywalking: How the car industry outlawed crossing the road”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797

    andyl
    Free Member

    We weigh 2000kg

    Sheesh, that guy needs to get some exercise. I hear cycling is a good way to lose weight.

    And that is all I have to say because that letter is not worth raising your blood pressure over.

    When I become PM I’m going to crush cars for minor offences, starting with people who do not use their indicators. 😈

    andytherocketeer
    Full Member

    and those who just turn on every single light just to have all bases covered

    Clong
    Free Member

    The paper appears to have form for publishing this kind of anti cycling stuff. A few years ago, a cyclist was killed on the itchen bridge, i seem to recall there being similar letters printed in the same manner. Could even be the same bloke. I understand the editor is very anti-bike and is very vocal about any organised ride in the new forest.

    MSP
    Full Member

    That really is bordering on hate crime.

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    Report to the Press Regulator.

    pondo
    Free Member

    Report to the Press Regulator.

    Just on the PCC qebsite, says they don;t deal with “•Concerns about matters of taste and decency.” 🙁 I’ll ask them if they know who does. 🙂

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    ITs worrying how hate filled/irrational some folk are

    Some journalists seem to have no morals never mind a compass

    Its not worth giving them publicity because that is what they want tbh better to not even post this shit

    IanW
    Free Member

    Yep, report it, that papers not in the Archant group is it?

    Its the sort of stuff they put in the local rags around here , their just a bunch of click hungry **** who would print anything to get a web hit.

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    Ooops! Didn’t realise that it was from a member of the Great British Public. 😐

    crankboy
    Free Member

    “For your own safety leave the bike at home, get in the car like any rational person would. You’ve lost the fight for your right on the road and a legal precedent has been established.” it could be described as incitement of crime and threatening behaviour in a complaint to the pcc.

    pictonroad
    Full Member

    I wondered about ‘click’ stories this morning as I was skipping past the ususal drivel posted on facebook. How many stories now are just written to generate click through ad revenue?

    Usually written as a polarising view on a current hot topic that they know will rile.

    dannyh
    Free Member

    I wouldn’t piss on that idiot if he was on fire. I’ll bet he’s got ‘esteem issues’ (that’s therapist speak for being a sad, narrow-minded irrelevance who feels the need to affirm themselves by getting a rise out of others).

    Such a waste of oxygen could normally be ignored, of course, but when he’s in charge of a half-tonne of metal on wheels it is a different matter.

    It would be interesting if he was involved in an RTA and someone forwarded that letter to the police and his insurer. Then again, it probably wouldn’t.

    Remember – tossers – they are everywhere, EVERYWHERE………..

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    There is a good reason why local rags focus so much on sport and inflammatory stories:

    robgclarkson
    Free Member

    70kg… i must have lost a bit weight, not all bad 8)

    EDIT: i see this point has been covered

    p8ddy
    Free Member

    That’s horrible letter.

    The guy has no empathy. It makes me sad to read that there are people like that in the world. Basically the sort of person who seems more in favour of a totalitarian regime then a respectful, free society.

    A stunning lack of sensitivity and objectivity.

    Lifer
    Free Member

    Something that really disturbed me about a case where the defense was ‘I didn’t see him because I was blinded by the low sun’ was the judge’s comments that

    ‘Jury must be applying physical facts but could also consider expectations; is there an expectation that there wouldn’t be a cyclist on Mountbatten Way? Jury will be directed to ignore Highway Code “slow down or stop if dazzled” as Mr Petterson may not have done this but Highway Code is not law. Causation and contributory factor are different.’

    http://www.southamptoncyclingcampaign.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Day-6-of-Steven-Petterson-trial.pdf

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    Lifer: the Defence summing up in that transcript explains why so few of these cases are prosecuted:

    It was a tragic accident; do not turn a tragedy for David Irving into a tragedy for Mr Petterson. Can you say, hand on heart, that as a careful, considerate driver you would have seen David Irving?

    The “There, but for the grace” defence.

    Not far off what the letter is saying to be honest, it was his own silly fault for cycling on the road.

    Makes me very cross. 👿

    hexhamstu
    Free Member

    Terrible photo – check
    Not in this country – check

    Local Legislator: No One Should Ever Ride Bikes In Suffolk County

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    Not in this country – check

    Yep, but very worrying at a time when so much good progress seems to have been made on New York’s streets:

    [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LujWrkYsl64[/video]

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    The van driver who killed my friend got away with it due to being dazelled by sunlight. Obviously you shouldnt slow down you should overtake and pull in running into the back of two cyclists killing one and seriosly injuring the other.

    johnners
    Free Member

    Something that really disturbed me about a case where the defense was ‘I didn’t see him because I was blinded by the low sun’ was the judge’s comments that

    ‘Jury must be applying physical facts but could also consider expectations; is there an expectation that there wouldn’t be a cyclist on Mountbatten Way? Jury will be directed to ignore Highway Code “slow down or stop if dazzled” as Mr Petterson may not have done this but Highway Code is not law. Causation and contributory factor are different.’

    The Highway Code also recommends helmets and hi-vis – whatever your view on their use, would you want to open the door even wider to the “contributory negligence” argument if someone ventured out without them and was hit by a motor vehicle?

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