BBC R4 depressing item

[Revolution]

This morning's ritual of listening to Broadcasting House (R4 9am) became very depressing when I was subjected to the insanity of a certain Angela Epstein who - and I quote - said "cyclists use the roads with a sense of entitlement"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p035k7g6

[simonineaston]

This morning's ritual of listening to Broadcasting House (R4 9am) became very depressing when I was subjected to the insanity of a certain Angela Epstein who - and I quote - said "cyclists use the roads with a sense of entitlement"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p035k7g6

I trust you have written to Feedback to make clear your disappointment...
https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006slnx/contact

[sjs]

Anticipating I wouldn't like it I switched to sport on 5 live when the item began. Seems I was right.

[Flinders]

I've given up writing to the BBC when they, after an RTA, say 'a cyclist collided with a van/car/lorry instead of 'was in a collison with'.
They clearly regard all collisions as the cyclist's fault whatever the circumstances and before any inquiry, and don't in the least mind prejudicing any case by making that clear.
But then juries aren't much different.

[Flinders]

This morning's ritual of listening to Broadcasting House (R4 9am) became very depressing when I was subjected to the insanity of a certain Angela Epstein who - and I quote - said "cyclists use the roads with a sense of entitlement"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p035k7g6

I trust you have written to Feedback to make clear your disappointment...
https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006slnx/contact

No point. If you listen to Feedback, all you get is editors saying if you don't like what they do it is your fault for being a peasant.

[sjs]

I've given up writing to the BBC when they, after an RTA, say 'a cyclist collided with a van/car/lorry instead of 'was in a collison with'.
They clearly regard all collisions as the cyclist's fault whatever the circumstances and before any inquiry, and don't in the least mind prejudicing any case by making that clear.
But then juries aren't much different.

I once heard (BBC Look East I think) that a ten year old pedestrian was killed when he collided with a bus.

[MikeF]

Well I thought Ned Boulting countered her claims pretty well, so perhaps no need to write? The interviewer kept good "control" as well. I don't cycle in London, but how many accidents are caused by RLJ??, and how many car drivers have been injured?

Don't pedestrians in London jump red lights as well if they can. They're completely unaccountable and walk off into the crowds and they can walk anywhere without a test or insurance or numbers.

"... they weave and duck in front of traffic - even worse in the countryside because you have windy small lanes......" I ride on windy small lanes in the countryside and that's usually not possible.

What annoyed me was she thought cycling should only be done off road on a Sunday and therefore she could claim she was a cyclist.

[mercalia]

Well one of the few good things to come from this govt is they intend to sort the BBC out prune it of such useless people as mentioned - and good thing too mostly a waste of license payers money?

[horizon]

This morning's ritual of listening to Broadcasting House (R4 9am) became very depressing when I was subjected to the insanity of a certain Angela Epstein who - and I quote - said "cyclists use the roads with a sense of entitlement"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p035k7g6

I wouldn't get too het up about anything on Broadcasting House. It's an appalling programme designed for people who haven't yet switched on their Sunday morning kettles let alone their brains. So wonder it dredged up an old, hackneyed, tired, low level diatribe that doesn't even begin to think through some of the complexities. Poor Ned Boulting, he was often just completely stuck for words, gasping for some explanation for the inanities being thrown at him.

But the good news is that this was Radio 4, interviewing a broadsheet columnist about, yes, cycling. We're still at the stage of "Gosh, there are things called cyclists on the road!" (er, didn't your driving instructor warn you about them?). But fifteen years ago the word cyclist wasn't even mentioned on Radio 4. Now even the dullest of programmes talks about it and the dimmest of columnists writes about it (OK, OK, I know, without anything but the least intelligent assessment, but hey).

The best bit really was her bafflement that cyclists actually asserted their rightful place on the road with religious zeal. She was actually right about this but sadly will never understand why they do. The reason might even be nearer to home than she imagines.

[TonyR]

I don't cycle in London, but how many accidents are caused by RLJ??, and how many car drivers have been injured?

Over a five year period when TfL looked at it two cyclists were killed RLJing (about 2% of the deaths over the period) but three were killed by RLJing motorists while crossing on a green.

[simonineaston]

So this kind-of ties in with another recent thread about Near Misses - if we moan at each other about this, that and the other, what's to be gained? Does it change anything - does it make us feel better?
I repeat the point I made in the near miss thread, it's not that I don't have any sympathy for near missees, or indeed folk that hear/read an aggravating news article... of course I do. I just wonder what the point is of preaching to the converted.

[keyboardmonkey]

...I just wonder what the point is of preaching to the converted.

I suppose a forum such as this allows its members to let off steam. Or something.

When the words you hear broadcast or printed grossly misrepresent something that you feel rather strongly about it's perhaps comforting to find others who share your views and provide confirmation of how you see the world. Maybe.

[TonyR]

I just wonder what the point is of preaching to the converted.

I think it has a number of points. There's the letting off steam. There's the friends in pubs aspect - "you'll never believe what some dumb motorists did to me today". And there's the honing your arguments for when you do have the opportunity to preach to the unconverted.

[Psamathe]

I've not listened to the program and have not heard of the individual concerned (i.e. their "history").

However, I feel that the public do hold cyclists in poor regard (in general). The subject has come up on this forum a number of times, both specifically and through thread drift. It was really brought home to me recently with reports of the Eurostar bike carrying rule change as reported in the press online. It was not the reports themselves that showed anything but the large number of comments, virtually all of which were very negative about cyclists. Not just the traditional RLJ'ing, but many in a more general way. It was a shocking indication as to how others (and I assume they were mostly car drivers) regarded cyclists - and I tend to think/assume that were a driver holds cyclists in poor regard, they will subconsciously be less courteous, give less overtaking space, etc.

I don't think the general attitude to cyclists comes from such broadcasts.

Ian

[hondated]

I never listened to the interview but I am only too aware of Angela as she is on every talk show that requires a radical and opposite opinion of what is being discussed.
Its no coincidence that she writes for the Mail.
I once enjoyed watching such discussion programmes but I now mainly avoid them as I have heard many of them so many times before.
Pity that don't replace them with programmes on cycle touring.