Has anyone read the article linked properly? He made the comment in May last yr then held his hands up.

Alternatively, some posters (Tory or otherwise) are happy to read the details themselves

And some of us are capable of reading between the lines as well.

Are you not or do you choose to put your head in the sand?

Better than putting it between my legs. It’s weird talking from there.

ninfan – Member

“The inference is pretty damn strong. And he’s got form in this area.”

He’s also got form in the area of spending millions researching and trialling safer cycling facilities http://www.trl.co.uk/cyclinginnovationtrials/

Bless

http://road.cc/content/blog/81249-why-isn%E2%80%99t-transport-london-spending-more-cycling-asks-green-partys-darren-johnson

But I was talking more about:

In May last year Johnson cited a statistic at one of his mayor’s question time sessions: 62% of accidents in which a cyclist was killed or seriously hurt in London, he proclaimed, were found to have been connected to cyclist law-breaking. Cycle groups scratched their heads at the figure and asked for a source. Months passed, with the mayor’s office saying the reference was “being researched”.

Eventually, Johnson came clean: he had been told the figure by a member of the public at a meeting and trotted it out without checking. Transport for London then came up with the real proportion of cycling accidents found to have been due to cyclist law-breaking: 6%.

teamhurtmore – Member
Alternatively, some posters (Tory or otherwise) are happy to read the details themselves rather than relying on BS headlines. Who’s the sucker?

Some are also familiar with Boris’s particularly disingenuous rhetorical style.

True Lifer, hes an odd one Boris. Half the time he’s talking bollocks and the other half some sense. They key is to be able to descriminate between the two.

I love Boris. I think hes **** ace compared to what else is on offer.

Plus he PAYS taxes. The three Party Leaders still haven’t declared their tax affairs.

He didn’t say that in this case they were at fault, it was a more general comment about cyclists putting themselves at risk which is probably correct.

Not sure how that helps anyone. Referring to the law breaking and risk taking of other people cycling, when talking about a case like this, where the full facts haven’t been reported yet, is stupid. If there was a fatal crash involving two cars, would he be talking about how some people speed, or drink drive, before finding out if either person involved had been speeding or drink driving? No. He wouldn’t, would he.

Boris shouldn’t have even mentioned other cyclists when in discussion about these deaths. It was inappropriate and crass.

Had the interview been about a serial rapist would Boris have referenced false rape accusations? I sincerely doubt it. There seems to be some sort of sensitivity disconnect when it comes to cyclists dying. Some sense that when cyclists die or are injured it can be rolled up into a ‘get cyclists under control’ debate. It’s missing the point.

Maybe cyclists would obey the law better if roads were safe, maybe not, but it would beat the current hand wringing. It would be nice if road safety debates didn’t only happen when there are dead cyclists. It would also be nice if said dead cyclists didn’t immediately become political footballs too.

Maybe cyclists would obey the law better if roads were safe

are the roads unsafe?

i would say cyclists are, in the majority, unsafe.

Don’t talk shit Mr Halen; some people are unsafe on the roads, whether they are on foot, driving, or cycling.

depends on what you call unsafe cycling, running reds on an empty road, creeping forward at redlights, shooting up the inside of lorries, what if its a cycle lane etc etc

this morning on my stretch up nottinghill from shepherds bush roundabout was probably about 10 or so cyclists all more or less at the same pace

one lady in particular, sser! jumped all the reds, only when there was no oncoming traffic though, I imagine wound up a few roadtaxpayers, personally I flitered up the traffic on the outside, waited at the lights, did creep forward a bit but the ASLs were full of cars and motorbikes! but I didnt see any unsafe cycling even if some of it may have been ilegal.

The only person being genuinely unsafe was a woman in an audi who turned into a keep clear box from the other side of the road, the outer lane of traffic goin up the hill was stationary the inside lane had about 7 or 8 cyclists in it she turned right into them sending cyclists all over the place, one guy smacked on her back windscreen a few times and rightly so! as she was stuck in the keep clear box staring straight ahead as though half a dozen cyclists werent all gesticulating rudely at her. I imagine she wouldve totally agreed with Boris’ comments.

I love Boris. I think hes **** ace compared to what else is on offer.

And that’s why the country’s f***ed. I bet you’d like him as PM too, wouldn’t you?

BJ makes me laugh.

I remember in the run up to the 2012 games, he said the UK were going to win enough silver and gold to bail out Greece and Spain combined.

Ah – so we’ve finally found the only man outside the M25 who doesn’t think Boris is an utter ****!!!!

I think you should put your ‘I heart Boris’ t shirt on head off for a night out in Liverpool

Dales_rider – Member
Ha we re all
Nuisances

Fair play, I complained about this, and within half an hour I had this response –
“Your e-mail has been passed to me, and I thank you for its thoughtfulness and courtesy. Not all responses have been like this.
I would be very happy to accept your response for publication, either as a letter or perhaps as a column in paper and/or on the website.
I’m also sorry if we have caused offence where it was not intended.
The Fair Point column is on our opinion pages and represents a personal view, not necessarily that of the paper.
James’ trenchant comment in a tongue-in-cheek style is not meant to be read literally, or taken too seriously. His style should not be read as condemning all cyclists. He uses generalisation to highlight bad behavior within the group.
James’ column in no way seeks to incite drivers to be aggressive towards cyclists, and I believe anyone reading it will understand that this is hyperbole, just as his comments about blue whales and the planet spinning out of control because of obesity are just fantasy.
I have said some of this in the comment section of the paper and invited cyclists to comment, and four letters have been printed so far with more to come..
We have written extensively in the paper about the health and fitness benefits of cycling, the dangers on our roads to cyclists, we report cycling as a sport extensively.
We have and do report positively about cycling and will continue to do so.
Regards”
Gotta say that’s kind of fair enough – now, what to write as a response… 😀

He’s the most dangerous man in British politics since Ken Clarke.
Very good at deflecting attention away from the real issues.

Pondo, did the WN also add that James Connell is 12?

He’s the most dangerous man in British politics since Ken Clarke.

He’s young to be a politician then. May be we misjudge Master Connell at our peril?

‘Very good at deflecting attention away from the real issues.’

I remember he was asked where the electricity came from to charge electric cars.

He said from the plug.

Despite Boris being a self-serving right wing twonk, what exactly can he do?

Do us all a favour, and resign.

They had a guy on the radio from some cycling organisation moaning that their demands had been repeatedly ignored. And what were these demands? Banning lorries from Londons streets. He didn’t elaborate on the logistics of achieving that

Why should he? That’s not his job. Large trucks are involved in far too many deaths. London’s streets simply weren’t/aren’t designed to cope with such large vehicles, especially not considering the already excessive volume of motor vehicle traffic. Without from greedy corporations and developers wanting to build massive monstrosities in central London, there would be no need for such numbers of lorries. Why aren;’t those same developers looking at alternatives? There’s a **** great big river running through the centre of London, why can’t they use that to transport materials in/out? Better still, why aren’t they looking at other parts of Britain to develop in; like some of those northern cities desperate for investment? London’s full, we don’t need any more skyscrapers.

I voted for him.
Mostly because the alternative was the utterly hateful Ken Livingstone – who was worse in everyway.

I’d like to know exactly how Ken Livingstone can possible be any worse than the lying, cheating, racist, sexist philandering **** that is Boris Johnson.

Let’s look at some facts:

Under Ken

Congestion Charge – massive success, provides much needed revenue, reduces congestion (!), reduces pollution, encourages people to look at alternative means of transport.

Implemented hundreds of miles of new safe cycle lane development.

Bicycle Hire Scheme – yes, it was during Ken’s reign, that the scheme was proposed, designed and given the go-ahead. In fact it was Jenny Jones who was part of the committee that first proposed it.

Transport Fares -lowered significantly, discount fares for the unemployed (gives greater mobility to look for work), free transport for under 18s in full time employment, universally popular with Londoners. The fuel deal with Venezuela was instrumental in enabling this, and meant Venezueala could benefit from London’s transport expertise. Win-win.

Oh, and Ken was instrumental in London getting the Olympics.

Under Boris

Western extension of CC scrapped to appease his Kensington chums. More congestion and less revenue for London.

Bicycle Hire Scheme- did a dodgy deal with his chums at Barclays, to give them a fantastically cheap promotional vehicle by painting a few dangerous roads with blue strips, and giving Londoners a worse deal as other companies were willing to invest much larger sums into the scheme. Hire charges have increased; initial/30 min hire has doubled to £2. The whole scheme costs taxpayers’ money, contrary to Boris’ promises that it wouldn’t.

Transport Fares- more than doubled. Cheap fares for the unemployed scrapped. Venezuelan oil deal scrapped on purely ideological grounds. ‘Boris Bus’ cost astronomical and actually a lot more expensive than existing designs, and unlikely to ever be profitable. Little more than a vanity project, like the **** useless waste of taxpayers’ money that is the ‘Emirates Airline’, which was meant to be 100% privately funded; yet another one of Boris’ lies.

Oh, and the Olympics ended up costing several times what it was meant to…

In short, Boris has benefited no-one except big business and his chums. Meanwhile Londoners are worse off. Nero fiddling while Rome burns.

If a large truck turns left on him, I won’t be shedding any tears.

cybicle, who were you before you were cybicle?

Or did you just have a long term bayn at some point?

Just asking……

Oh, and this;

If a large truck turns left on him, I won’t be shedding any tears.

Pathetic. But then, to be expected, I suppose.

I joined this forum a month ago, initially to discuss issues surrounding the accessibility of mountain biking as a sport and activity. Before that? I’m someone with many years experience of cycling in London, and other places. I’m a member of a number of cycling organisations, and work for one which helps promote cycling. I’ve found this forum to be quite a good place for discussions and debates. I’d like to think I can be a positive contributor to this forum, and cycling in general.

You may find my comments disagreeable, even distasteful Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. I’d be interested to hear yours regarding Boris’ recent comments, as I gather from other threads you are a London cyclist too.

Van Halen

are the roads unsafe?

i would say cyclists are, in the majority, unsafe.

Are roads unsafe? Considering the accidents we’ve seen, I’d say so.

WRT your second point, do you mean that cyclists are incapable or that as a cyclist you are in danger?

If you mean that cyclists are dangerous, the accident statistics don’t appear to back that up. Over 50% of cycling fatalities were caused by 5% of road traffic (lorries) in London. Also only 6% of accidents were caused by cyclists law breaking. And over all, in more than 50% of cases as is, Cyclists are found to be at no fault in RTA’s.

Yet with every crash, with every death the same tired old shpeel is trotted out – “Cyclists behaving dangerously!!”…

Road safety is a separate issue to dangerous bikers. Do people shout “That’ll help drunk drivers” when referencing new armco on motorways or extra lanes? Does the discussion even happen? Of course not! But mention cyclists getting killed and the common refrain is “blah blah jumping red lights, blah blah road tax, blah blah lycra”. It’s dull, its predictable and it’s boring.

Time for change. If Boris could act like a grown up for 6 seconds he might actually see the forest for the trees.

Roads themselves aren’t inherently unsafe. It’s the vehicles that use them that make them so.

Yet with every crash, with every death the same tired old shpeel is trotted out – “Cyclists behaving dangerously!!”…

And little or no mention of the huge several tonne truck or bus that crushed them being dangerous.

Exactly, traffic engineers can’t do anything about cyclists doing stupid things. That is not the same thing as blaming the victims here. But I guess it’s is easier for DJ to put words into Boris’ mouth for effect.

Yes they can.

Yes it is.

Roads themselves aren’t inherently unsafe. It’s the vehicles that use them that make them so.

And how they use them is influenced by their design.

If the cycle lanes weren’t on the left and in front of lorries (where their blind spots are) maybe so may people wouldn’t end in the lorries blind spots.

If there weren’t so many “pinch points” you wouldn’t have to ride in middle of the road to stop close passes.

etc etc etc…

I love Boris. I think hes **** ace compared to what else is on offer.

Boris relies on folk like you, who see his bumbling, smiley, cheeky chappy routine and think he’s a harmless bloke with his heart in the right place and a smile and a wink for everyone.

He’s not, he’s just another sinister Tory and you should hate him.

There are a lot of blue nob cyclist on the roads of London ,had two that have made me crash,a driver crashed into me,taco my front wheel,which I made him give £100,an he dropped me home…nice guy,new set of mavics £110 couple days later.