bikes and things

There’s been so much coverage and so much bullshit being spouted about at the moment about cycling. Yet one article has stuck in the mind recently, over at the Huffington Post of all places. The summary of which is particularly poignant.

If cyclists are all to be judged on that one person who annoyed you this morning on your daily commute, then it seems only fair to do the same back.

Drivers are all speeding lunatics who change lanes without indicating, thrusting their un-taxed, uninsured motor around the road while talking on their mobile phones, blaring out the Radio One Breakfast Show at unbearable volumes and smoking out of the window. Oh, and you can’t pass a woman without leaning out and shouting ‘oi oiiii larvely! Fancy a shag?’ and beeping your horn incessantly.

Put like that, those cyclists don’t seem so bad, do they?

So, by all means, let’s have a debate about cyclists and why they keep dying. But let’s all make a gentleman’s agreement to stop using these tired, ridiculous old arguments, yeah?

See also the lazy journalist’s guide to cliches.