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Anyone else read this? She trots out all the usual anti-cycling clichés: helmets should be compulsory, bikes need MOTs, bikes shouldn't be allowed on the road if there are cycle lanes.
Most bizarrely, she compares Boris building cycle superhighways to North Korea building monuments to Kim Jong-Il.
Link? I always quite liked Janet Street Porter.. Maybe not now..
She came in to my local the other day. She asked the barman, "Could I have a large aperitif?"
Barman replied, "I very much doubt it!".
teef
*Chuckles*
More London BS, no-one cares who doesn't live in the city. Move out of London then you silly cow.
'Spose that's a privilege of having lots of homes. You can whine about London then scoot off to your Yorkshire bolt hole.
She's not making much sense..
London gridlocked.. Nothing new there.
Cyclists getting preferential treatment over pedestrian? They already have pavements and crossings
She then goes on to say the number of cyclist's on pavements is lethal.. Urr.. Ok so more cycle infrastructure would help that?
As for helmet compulsion.. She's simply uneducated on the facts or she'd know very well why it's not compulsory.
As for mot's.. Well more ignorance.. Bikes are very simple machines compared to cars, if they are un roadworthy, chances are they are unridable, I suppose you could get away with riding with poor brakes, but you wouldn't live long and they cost pennies to fix, relatively speaking.
Silly woman with a silly argument.
Surprised the Independent even printed that to be honest. It's all well and good promoting free speech but those kinds of opinions belong in the last century.
If she's going to come out with such hateful bile, she could at least make some kind of attempt to back it up with evidence.
And then they spend money on hair brained infrastructure like this..
[url= http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/bike-lanes-portland-street-dangerous-11091014 ]Manchester evening news [/url]
And wonder why there's still a problem..
Surprised the Independent even printed that
So bad they've had to stop doing a print version.
I really don't see what her physical appearance or gender has to do with anything. 🙄
Janet Street Porter is a highly intelligent, educated person. However, she's really let herself down with this piss-poor article. It's no better than a cabby's rant about cyclists.
Stuff like this just makes her look like an uninformed reactionary idiot:
"The London Cycling Campaign claims that “thousands of Londoners would like to cycle”, but I wonder on what evidence it bases its claim. "
The 'evidence' of extensive questionnaires and surveys, I'd imagine. I know one or two people who do work for the LCC, and such research forms quite a significant part of their activity.
She does raise a reasonable point re infrastructure, but does it very badly. What she fails to recognise, is that the infrastructure is often ill thought out, and creates more problems than it solves. Without addressing the real issue, which is unnecessary motor vehicle journeys in cities, just squeezing cycling provision alongside existing roads is simply creating even more congestion. Using private vehicles to travel within cities, when there are perfectly good alternatives available (maybe just not quite so 'convenient), is selfish and thoughtless in my opinion. We need to be looking at how to change people's thinking about private personal transport, rather than simply trying to force more and more traffic to share the same space.
"Surprised the Independent even printed that to be honest."
Really? Can you imagine the extra site traffic such clickbait creates? I'd guess there will be a good few hundred if not thousands of clickthroughs just from this thread alone. JS-P channelling the spirit of KT Hopkins...
I've just been walking round Manchester today as it happens on a quick visit, and really couldn't get my head around the green paint, buses straddling it,taxis parked in it trying to get into the rank. It's not continuous so I'm not sure what you're supposed to do when it ends; disappear? I didn't see any bikes, although easter Saturday lunchtime is quiet probably compared to a weekday morning.
As for JSP; bite me!
Can you imagine the extra site traffic such clickbait creates?
Good point. Does seem like trolling. Do they really pay famous column writers to troll now?
It's an opinion piece and she's entitled to an opinion, but its really disappointing that a major newspaper would print such an uninformed article.
Chair of The Ramblers wasn't she? Hardly surprising that she's a gobby bike-hating old bag. Just ignore her and ride on, like you would any other red-socked git.
JSP don't like cyclist when she is at her holiday house in Yorkshire, let alone that there London dump.
Is the Independant a major newspaper? Last day tomorrow for the Indie on Sunday.
Another rant-u-like clickbait from Boaty McBoatface, nothing to see here.
😀
She's abit vanila. What is shown memorable for exactly?
We should.all cycle round her house..... 😀
Is she still in charge of the Ramblers Association?
joat- I know what you mean about cycle lanes in Manchester. When I commuted to work by bike in the 1990s in Manchester, a gaudy green bike lane was painted all the way through Rusholme, but it was never useable, because cars parked in it all the time, plus taxis and buses were constantly pulling into it. I complaine to Manchester City Council and their reply was that "ethnic minorities don't understand cycle lanes"
Bonkers.
I had a running with her about 5 years ago in Pately Bridge, driving a corsa and nearly rode into a group of us, she went absolutely berserk.
She was banned from the Borders I used to work in after she was so rude to the staff on a signing event.
Wow, that was a bad bit of writing..
Clickbait innit
Should bikes have MOT's ?
Doesn't seem like a bad idea You see plenty of BSO's that really haven't been that well maintained.
You'd fail every one that didn't comply with standards then?
Reflectors front and rear
Pedal reflectors
etc?
You see plenty of BSO's that really haven't been that well maintained.
Yes, but are they really a danger to anyone? I know theoretically yes - poor brakes and control, etc., but realistically? They tend to be ridden by more casual riders who will avoid the more dangerous roads anyway.
🙄 that old trout.
I've got no time for her
Tedious, opinionated, loud, rude, boring
mrblobby - MemberLooks like she's still going...
Thought Gilligan made her and Jacob Rees-Whatever look a bit silly TBH.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03tm40m
still depressed after poor HINY performance - all a bit embarrassing.
Journalistic gold.
[quote=mattyfez ]She's not making [s]much [/s]any sense..
Apparently the traffic fumes are the fault of the cyclists. Though this is the real gem:
It seems extraordinary that riding a bike (unlike driving) is subject to so few rules. You are not legally compelled to wear a helmet and, most extraordinary of all, when these cycle superhighways have been built, cyclists don’t even have to use them.
You're not required to wear a helmet when driving, nor are you required to use the motorways which are provided solely for the benefit of motorists. In fact, given cyclists have to follow almost all of the same rules as motorists (some of which involve stuff such as traffic lights which are only required because of motor vehicles) cycling is over regulated - anything which motorists have to do and cyclists don't is down to motor vehicles killing thousands of times as many people as bicycles do.
Though of course I'm preaching to the choir here - does JSP have a twitter feed in order to educate her?
when these cycle superhighways have been built, cyclists don’t even have to use them.
Quite an interesting point this. Are they safe, fast, suitably extensive, and have capacity? There must be some issue if cyclists are choosing to mix it up with cars, lorries and busses instead!
I imagine one of the issues would be that all cyclists don't live in the same house at one end and don't all work n the same bike shop at the other
Put "cyclist" in the title and it guarantees clicks, something both she and that website need.
when these cycle superhighways have been built, cyclists don’t even have to use them.
Quite an interesting point this. Are they safe, fast, suitably extensive, and have capacity? There must be some issue if cyclists are choosing to mix it up with cars, lorries and busses instead!
My commute just got longer in both directions with CS6 over Blackfriars bridge. Slightly more pleasant, but a touch longer, due to being pushed into different light cycles. If I was bothered, I'd nip onto the road at the end and through the lights with the cars.
Cyclists doing that aren't holding anyone up, and the highway will encourage more onto bikes, so it's still all good.
Janet Street Porter is a highly intelligent, educated person.
TBF she failed her maths A-level, only has art A-levels and dropped out of college after two years lol
She may well write utter toss in the papers and online but at least in those mediums you don't have to hear her acidic **** of a voice.
Still, at least she took the time to tell us how incredibly brave she was to write the article. Maybe she's the hero we need.
Whilst the CS on the Embankment was being built, it was a nightmare.
I commuted on it yesterday, there are a couple of waits to get on and off it but I'll take that any day over the lottery of the traffic light filtering at Charing Cross & Waterloo Bridge.
I also didn't see that much stationary traffic - or people on bikes using the road.
Again I'm preaching to the choir, but when I was recently in that there London I came across this gem:
https://goo.gl/maps/HuBPTfSA74S2
When I first saw it I thought great, proper segregated infrastructure. Until I noticed that it doesn't really link up with anything and is a pain to get on and off at either end. Went past that several times and didn't see a single cyclist on it but several on the road - last time was on a Boris bike when I used the parallel road rather than waste 30s at each end getting on and off that.
I imagine that's the sort of thing JSP is frothing about.
Surely the correct thing to do would be for the cycling community to extend an invite to JSP to join them on a morning commute, to see first hand how bad the cycling infrastructure is?