An intern working in social media caused a slew of angry responses and a ticking off from her firm after posting a tweet threatening to run down cyclists who didn’t use cycle lanes.
Kirsty Boden tweeted: “Cyclists that ride on the road rather than the perfectly good cycle lanes are asking to be hit. By me. Will take great pleasure in doing so.”
85 people retweeted it before she took it down and posted “My deepest apologies for what I’ve said as well as to those that have been offended by my comments.”
She made her account private and renamed it, but her firm, White Hat Media, criticised her ‘poor judgement’.
One Twitter user, Shotokancyclist, responded: “You're a disgrace. My brother was hit by a van while he was cycling today. Probably by someone like you.”
Another, Rpb Hayden, said: “Not offended, just shocked at the selfishness and lack of understanding. Have you ever even tried to use a cycle lane?”
White Hat Media told the Brighton and Hove News: “We are aware of a tweet that one of our interns has sent featuring a remark about cyclists that clearly and justifiably offended many people.
“While the content of this tweet or any other tweets sent from the personal social media accounts of our employees are in no way representative of the views of the company or its staff, it is quite clear that this tweet was extremely ill-informed and made with very poor judgement.
“We have requested that the employee in question remove the offending tweet so that the hurt and offence it has caused can be limited as much as possible.
“While we pride ourselves on the work with social media and understanding the many nuances of online etiquette, we appreciate that this has been a severe lapse in the otherwise good online conduct of one of our employees.
“In light of this occurrence, we can assure you all that this matter is being taken with the utmost seriousness that it deserves.
“We would like to make it completely clear that White Hat Media has cyclists among its own staff, including its directors, and does not condone the contents of the message in any way whatsoever and can assure everyone that cyclists are held in very high regard by the company and its employees.”
Last year we reported how Emma Way, the motorist who tweeted about having knocked a cyclist from his bike, was found guilty of failing to stop after an accident and failure to report an accident, but she cleared of a third count relating to careless driving.
Way was fined £300, had her driving licence endorsed with 7 penalty points and had to pay £337 in costs.
Shortly after the incident in Rockland, Norfolk on Sunday 19 May which left cyclist Toby Hockley with minor injuries, Way posted a tweet on the social network that read: “Definitely knocked a cyclist off his bike earlier – I have right of way he doesn't even pay road tax!" together with the hashtag, #bloodycyclists.
The 21-year-old was charged with careless driving, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report an accident.
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
59 thoughts on “Not more #bloodycyclists: Social media intern slammed for ‘asking to be hit’ tweet”
So what’s the aim here?
So what’s the aim here? Sharpen the pitchforks and start another twithunt with the aim of getting another idiot sacked just because, out of all the other stupid, vain, offensive and dangerous bile on the web, this one can be traced back to an employer?
Honestly, this isn’t news, it’s opinion. It’s opinions about opinions. It’s crap.
joemmo wrote:So what’s the
Yes.
joemmo wrote:So what’s the
Quite ironic considering that this site posted a news article during the Grand Depart criticising the “Twitter Angry Brigade”.
joemmo wrote:So what’s the
I wouldn’t say so, although tweets like this provide stark, impassionate evidence of the dismissive attitude held by many drivers towards cyclists. Most of the other evidence comes from heat-of-the-moment helmet cams and pointless roadside arguments. For this reason alone I think it deserves to be publicised.
That’s just, like, your opinion man.
joemmo wrote:So what’s the
Not a witch hunt. It is zero tolerance.
There was a recent study about how when people at work etc laughed at sexist jokes, it empowered those holding fairly extreme views.
This is no different.
From the only having a laugh Top Gear content, to these people who have a momentary lapse and think endangering people is funny; these comments make nutters on the road think their views are the mainstream.
Therefore they should be confronted at all times…and if the half brained idiot identifies themselves and their employers rather than remaining anonymous and end up getting sacked (even from an unpaid role), I’m not going to lose any sleep
RedfishUK wrote:There was a
Do you have a link to it? Not doubting it, I’ve seen similar re online discussions and zero-tolerance for trolling. Just want to read/refer to it.
joemmo wrote:So what’s the
For preference, sacked, charged with inciting violence and her licence to drive revoked.
oldstrath wrote:joemmo
For preference, sacked, charged with inciting violence and her licence to drive revoked.— joemmo
No! No! No! No! No! [God. I sound like that bloody cat on the internet!*] What would that achieve? Just another bitter, twisted, cyclist hating idiot who stands up in the pub pontificating about bloody cyclists this and bloody cyclist that. These morons have to be educated and encouraged to be civilised human beings. We need friends and allies; we already have enough enemies.
*In case your wondering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxRX6LXDpWs
levermonkey wrote:oldstrath
For preference, sacked, charged with inciting violence and her licence to drive revoked.— oldstrath
No! No! No! No! No! [God. I sound like that bloody cat on the internet!*] What would that achieve? Just another bitter, twisted, cyclist hating idiot who stands up in the pub pontificating about bloody cyclists this and bloody cyclist that. These morons have to be educated and encouraged to be civilised human beings. We need friends and allies; we already have enough enemies.
*In case your wondering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxRX6LXDpWs— joemmo
Good luck educating the brainless. I don’t think it works. Making sure such eejits never drive again, and preferably never work again, would at least protect the rest of us. The reality of course is nothing will happen to her, or to the company sheltering her.
It might be more interesting
It might be more interesting to discover and question the Driving Schools and Test Centres that put these young drivers on the road in the first place, rather than their embarrassed employers.
nowasps wrote:It might be
Having passed my test recently, I can confirm that it is an arduous and rigorous process. I chatted with my instructor about the anti-cyclist aggression phenomenon – his view (having seen his former charges driving appallingly) is that many people (worst tend to be young men) simply choose to drive badly, even though they’ve proved their ability to drive well.
Ghedebrav wrote:… many
And part of the reason they do this is because society demonstrates that they will not be punished for it.
Exactly the same thing applies to those who think nothing of making what are effectively vigilante death threats, very very publicly indeed. Threatening to run someone over is tantamount to threatening to kill them; threatening to kill anyone who has, in your opinion, failed to meet your standard of behaviour, is threatening indiscriminate killing.
The former is appalling, the second would, in another context, almost be evidence of being a psychopath. But it is not evidence of that, because we live in a society where killing is shown to be OK as long as the killer is in a car and the victim is on a bicycle, and therefore threatening to do that sort of killing is merely stating your intent to do something completely normal.
The fault only lies partially with the idiot who threatened, via Twitter, to kill people. She didn’t fail to understand the power of social media at all. She was absolutely aware that her threat would be widely seen, and (obviously) having a high opinion of her own opinion, she WANTED it seen widely.
Instead, we must understand that her failing was in not understanding that her threat was actually in any way wrong. Why didn’t she understand this? Stupidity? No, not stupidity. She was merely a mirror in which we see the reflection of the attitudes of society at large.
It IS ACTUALLY NORMAL, if despicable, to imagine that using your car as a weapon with which to kill people is an acceptable course of action, as long as the target is imagined to be some sort of “road nuisance”.
Have no doubt, the majority of drivers, plus the police, the courts, parliament and the media (led from the front by the Clarksons and proto-Clarksons) consider people to be nuisance – nay, vermin – the moment they sling a leg over a bicycle.
And they see themselves, smashing those vermin to a pulp with their cars, to be some sort of moral crusaders, clearing the streets of undesirables.
Our protagonist in this story merely placed herself in the vanguard of the crusade. The very notion that it was wrong to do so was completely invisible to her, as it is to so many that would send #bloodycyclists messages to the world, be they fantasists who dream of running “the bad guy” over, or perpetrators (Emma Way and her ilk) who drive away from a hit-and-run, tweeting their delight (or boasting to their mates in the pub) at having contributed to their imagined cause.
Wonder if she will drive into
Wonder if she will drive into Buses that dont use the Bus Lanes too?
I doubt this silly bitch will
I doubt this silly bitch will have a job after her internship comes to an end. Ha-ha!
Works in social media ………… more like anti-social media! What an own goal. You couldn’t make it up.
Airzound wrote:I doubt this
Her parents are rich enough and well-connected enough to buy her an internship in the meeja. They’ll have no trouble buying her a job.
Sanderville wrote:Airzound
For heavens sake, it’s an internship in a pissy little marketing firm on a university campus in Brighton, hardly a place on the board at Time Warner.
Sanderville wrote:
Her
I very much doubt that. Many interns work for little or nothing in an attempt, in the current pressing employment market, to gain any sort of relevant experience with which to tempt a prospective employer to actually give them a paying job. It is, in many cases, “work experience” under a different name. I imagine that the small company for whom she’s currently interning are loath to sack her because she probably costs them next to nothing.
So let’s not go down the cliché “Oh, she must be rich, privileged AND stupid” labelling, shall we?
Perhaps better to say that she’s young, dumb and (after this publicity) has some inevitable growing up to do.
It’s amazing the people who
It’s amazing the people who work in ‘social media’ who have no frikkin’ clue about the power of social media.
truffy wrote:It’s amazing the
Unless that ‘power’ translates into pressure on the agencies that can actually make a difference to cycling safety in infrastructure, driver training, policing, sentencing etc. it’s just another tiny storm in a tiny teacup. Getting one idiot reprimanded for an indiscretion is not power.
joemmo wrote:truffy
No, but if it causes a few reckless drivers to start driving a bit more sensibly because of the realisation that they could lose their job if caught driving dangerously near a cyclist, then I’m 100% for the chastisement of these idioits.
+1 for what @RedfishUK said.
+1 for what @RedfishUK said. Zero tolerance.
joemmo wrote:Sharpen the
Works for me. Fetches kindling. I’m already singing Disco Inferno in my head. Marshmallows on a stick time.
I think someone like this
I think someone like this isn’t fit to hold a license. Simple.
Yes many people can drive, some good some bad. It’s really about being able to see things from someone else’s view.
Hitting someone with a car can potentially lead to death. If you think that it’s a fair outcome when there’s a cyclist that will potentially add a few seconds to your journey; if you think that risky manoeuvre to get ahead, or feel resentment to someone simply for taking a different mode of transport, you shouldn’t be driving.
Why do people always disregard the golden rule? Is it any wonder why there are almost 900 people dead in Gaza? Before anyone says that’s a bit of a stretch linking the two, last week two ghetto rats in a car drove up beside me as I was climbing an 8% hill and grabbed my saddle, I hit the deck, ruined £200 worth of assos gear, and got bruises and grazes. For absolutely nothing. Didn’t see them properly, couldn’t identify them, on a completely quiet road. I felt helpless. Made me question why I even cycle on these roads.
Seeing the futile destruction in Gaza, you can only imagine how the people there feel. All because people refuse to see things from someone else’s view.
If I had a rocket, as those two ghetto rats drove away, perhaps I wouldn’t have hit their car, but i would have aimed just in front so their car fell in the hole 😉
The fact is, on the road we are all Palestinian.
ronin wrote:The fact is, on
No, we’re not.
We don’t have an unelected gov’t ruling by force, which is also sending more rockets against civilians than Germany did against London/England during the blitz. And then intentionally use us as human shields against the inevitable retaliation, hoping to get dead cyclists (Palestinians) in the news.
In fact, we’re worse off, because in no way have we incited this hatred and resulting second-class status.
jacknorell wrote:ronin
It’s pretty hard to hold the moral high ground over what people write on internet media if you make spectacularly crass and inappropriate comparisons like that. Get a grip.
joemmo wrote:jacknorell
It’s pretty hard to hold the moral high ground over what people write on internet media if you make spectacularly crass and inappropriate comparisons like that. Get a grip.— ronin
You’re right of course. Was just watching the utter devastation in Gaza on the news. Now 1049 murdered. I thought I’d give a humanitarian donation, so sought out a charity that stated 100% donation policy. Only they mentioned HSBC has decided to give them notice to close their account because of their work in Gaza…the people in Gaza have it really stacked against them.
ronin wrote:joemmo
It’s pretty hard to hold the moral high ground over what people write on internet media if you make spectacularly crass and inappropriate comparisons like that. Get a grip.— jacknorell
You’re right of course. Was just watching the utter devastation in Gaza on the news. Now 1049 murdered. I thought I’d give a humanitarian donation, so sought out a charity that stated 100% donation policy. Only they mentioned HSBC has decided to give them notice to close their account because of their work in Gaza…the people in Gaza have it really stacked against them.— ronin
If you have an account with HSBC then please close it and tell them why (Nationwide are good).
ronin wrote:joemmo
It’s pretty hard to hold the moral high ground over what people write on internet media if you make spectacularly crass and inappropriate comparisons like that. Get a grip.— jacknorell
You’re right of course. Was just watching the utter devastation in Gaza on the news. Now 1049 murdered. I thought I’d give a humanitarian donation, so sought out a charity that stated 100% donation policy. Only they mentioned HSBC has decided to give them notice to close their account because of their work in Gaza…the people in Gaza have it really stacked against them.— ronin
Look, the situation in Gaza is horrendous on all sides. War criminals on both sides, and Palestinian civilians (and Israeli ones, including the 1 million Palestians living in Israel) targets. Neither you nor me should have brought that up really.
My point is simply that the cyclist-hatred here in England is utterly idiotic, and there’s not even any basis at all in reality for it. It’s just arbitrary bigotry and hate of an outgroup.
jacknorell wrote:ronin
It’s pretty hard to hold the moral high ground over what people write on internet media if you make spectacularly crass and inappropriate comparisons like that. Get a grip.— joemmo
You’re right of course. Was just watching the utter devastation in Gaza on the news. Now 1049 murdered. I thought I’d give a humanitarian donation, so sought out a charity that stated 100% donation policy. Only they mentioned HSBC has decided to give them notice to close their account because of their work in Gaza…the people in Gaza have it really stacked against them.— jacknorell
Look, the situation in Gaza is horrendous on all sides. War criminals on both sides, and Palestinian civilians (and Israeli ones, including the 1 million Palestians living in Israel) targets. Neither you nor me should have brought that up really.
My point is simply that the cyclist-hatred here in England is utterly idiotic, and there’s not even any basis at all in reality for it. It’s just arbitrary bigotry and hate of an outgroup.— ronin
Well, what it was is this. UK/USA is kinda squeamish, so they never show full horror. Happened to click on a news item on a Chinese website. On it they had pictures of part a white phosphorus shell that a surgeon had removed from the body of a dead baby girl.
I clicked on road.cc next, I couldn’t help but mention Gaza.
A young lady has (hopefully)
A young lady has (hopefully) learned a valuable lesson in life –
“Actions have Consequences”
I would have been more impressed with her employer if instead of words they had taken actions.
No! Not sacking her but giving her the option to either
a) take a Cycle Awareness Course (If not the full Bikeability Training) and keep her job, or
b) your resignation is accepted, there’s the door!
I’m a firm believer that you can achieve much more with a carrot and the threat of stick than with either in isolation.
Much as I enjoy burning of
Much as I enjoy burning of witches.
Surely a better way of dealing with these people would be to introduce them to a recent crash victim (preferably still bloodied and moaning) and family. Or force them to ride a bike as someone squeezes past at warp speed in a motorised metal box.
Is confused.
I thought all
Is confused.
I thought all these meeja types were tear arsing around on fixies.
I bet she hasn’t got a beard either. :S
way i see it,
Would anyone
way i see it,
Would anyone condone someone calling for paki bashing?
And when the hate is aimed at cyclists???
As for free speech, are both acceptable then?
Calm down FFS. This sort of
Calm down FFS. This sort of comment is best ignored. She clearly didn’t mean it literally. Why do us cyclists have such chips on our shoulders that we need to turn every idiotic comment into a car drivers and the rest of the world are against us.
Move on.
charliepalooza wrote:Calm
The tweet is too similar to Emma Way’s and she had hit a cyclist. Too many people have an attitude that cyclists are just an inconvenience on the road which is why there are so many near misses, actual hits and lenient sentences hand down to drivers who have killed cyclists due to negligence or wilful bad driving.
charliepalooza wrote:Calm
Replace ‘cyclist’ with ‘Jew’ and try that again… should it still be ignored?
Calm down FFS. This sort of
Calm down FFS. This sort of comment is best ignored. She clearly didn’t mean it literally. Why do us cyclists have such chips on our shoulders that we need to turn every idiotic comment into a car drivers and the rest of the world are against us.
Move on.
it wasn’t long ago that
it wasn’t long ago that perfectly ‘respectable’ folks would be quite relaxed joking about how drunk they had been when driving their car because drink driving was socially acceptable. Attitudes to cyclists often still seem to be where attitudes to drunk driving were a few years ago and the drink driving issue shows these things can be changed, and it’s not jsut official campaigns that do this but individuals challenging others they come into contact with, so yes, it is good and neccessary they individuals who post ‘light hearted’ remarks about running people over are held to account on them
Northernbike wrote:it wasn’t
I agree, but you only have to look at any of the public information films from this country and they very much sit on the fence in terms of cycling. Being very keen not to offend the motoring public, they like to infer that we’re as much of a problem as the ton of metal box we have to share the road with dispute the fact that no motorist has ever been killed by a cyclist. During the advertising campaigns against drink driving there wasn’t any attempt to blame the victim of the drunk drivers, but there very much is an undertone of that coming from the police and the government and local authorities in terms of cycling.
We have a very long way to go to improve our situation I’m afraid. The metal box and the murdering twats that drive them are still king in the eyes of the people who “matter”
Northernbike wrote:it wasn’t
When has drunk driving been socially acceptable?
paulfg42 wrote:Northernbike
I would say that whilst not completely socially acceptable up until perhaps the late 70s/early 80s it was not unknown for people to drive after a few pints and only if someone was clearly completely sizzled would their friends refuse to let them drive.
Put the pitchforks down, the
Put the pitchforks down, the era of the murderous driver isn’t upon us. Tweets are opinions, and everyone is entitled to one.
DrSport wrote:Put the
You wouldn’t say that if someone was tweeting about running down Jewish or Black people would you, so why is it OK to threaten to kill cyclists?
DrSport wrote:Put the
Funny, when did inciting or stating you were going to commit violence against the person become legal?
DrSport wrote:Put the
Check out Mr Cloud Cuckoo Land!
You evidently have not watched a driver of a car deliberately try to murder a person on a bike, using their car as the weapon.
I have seen this more than once. It infuriates me to this day that the first time I witnessed this offence, it was reported to the police, with over 40 witnesses with corroborating recollections. The police were not even the slightest bit interested.
The era of the murderous driver is very, very much upon us; as is the era of the manslaughterous driver and the accidental homicide driver, in sequentially greater numbers each. The writers of the law and the enforcers of the law know this, but do not care.
A tiny weeny defence that people who ride bikes might hope to fall back on is that the employers of such murderous drivers might wish to dispose themselves of them as employees, in the hope of rinsing off the stain that they potentially bring to the company name.
Such a hope is sometimes extended to those who threaten to kill, as distinct from those who have gone ahead with it. And thus it is with the “pitchfork sharpening” we see here.
Drivers may possibly not be the enemy of the bike rider, but have no doubt that the cabal of government, drivers’ political lobby, police, courts and media are very much the enemy of the bike rider.
It amazes me the bloody
It amazes me the bloody mindedness of some people. The stuff they come out with is done deliberately to provoke a particular group, in this case cyclists or they are just to thick to realise that by venting their personal grievances on social media the world will read it and there will inevitably be a ton of backlash. I came across one such tweeter yesterday who came out with one of these stupid comments about cyclists and got so angry with the amount of backlash that they eventually cracked under the pressure. They deleted their account as they couldn’t cope with the bombardment of comments.
It’s a bizarre attitude to
It’s a bizarre attitude to human life. I think they don’t see us as legitimate human beings.
Last week I was telling my father in law how I’d just had rocks thrown at me while riding home. He responded that it was lucky the perpertrators weren’t irresponsible enough to be throwing stones at cars.
scrumpydave wrote:It’s a
I sort of had the reverse on Friday. I was cycling home and someone had opened the valve on a water main to let the kids play in the water on a hot day. They were scooping up bucketfuls of water and throwing it over passing cars. You can guess what was going through my mind as I approached. When I reached them one kid had a bucket and was about to throw it but looked at me and declined to do so. I imagine the force or shock of the water probably would have caused me to come off but it was such a hot day I think I may have welcomed a cold soaking. 🙂
scrumpydave wrote:Last week I
I think you and your father-in-law should conduct an experiment:
1. Place your father-in-law in the middle of an empty car park, next to his unlocked car.
2. Throw rocks at him and see whether he’d prefer to be inside the car or outside it.
BikeBud wrote:scrumpydave
Much better comment than the one I was about to write. Chapeau!
scrumpydave wrote:It’s a
I can’t even grasp the mental processes that would result in such a statement. These pesky gunmen eh? God help us if they start shooting at people who are wearing bulletproof vests. #o
Of course, it becomes perfectly understandable if he values his car above cyclists. (You’re not even an anonymous stranger behind a helmet and dark glasses – you’re his daughters life partner, FFS!)
I was pretty surprised when
I was pretty surprised when he said it and I made it clear I valued my head over metal and glass. He didn’t press the point so either he now sees the world in a whole new way or he’s just stopped bothering trying to reason with his eccentric non-driving son in law.
The reason people behave like
The reason people behave like this is that we now have a generation of people ( UK-states) who hide behind social media, they have become so detached from what their actions do to others that they don’t take responsibility for it. We as a nation have allowed a sub-society to co-exist one that doesn’t understand what taking ownership of their own actions really means. It is not just a cycling issue, it has happened in all walks of life. Unfortunately this pathetic liberal attitude that now exists in our society where we no longer make people accountable for their actions is having a truly negative effect on this country. Discipline has got to be reinstalled at schools, parents held accountable for unsocialable behaviours of their kids. Compared to Western Europe in the terms of social responsibility we are failing greatly.
Unfortunately, tweets like
Unfortunately, tweets like this are just the tip of the iceberg. They show that there is a deep misunderstanding and dislike of cyclists within the motoring community. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good drivers out there but there are also a lot who harbour this kind of attitude.
My first reaction to this article was that the police or DVLA should get involved to suspend her licence pending further training and testing but there are so many bad attitudes out there that picking up on the odd occasions that someone demonstrates this bad attitude on social media is not going to make any real difference.
Remember that if you post on
Remember that if you post on Social Media, you need to be accountable for everything you do. Back it up or pack it up.
That was in response to
That was in response to notfastenough et al.
More likely he started
More likely he started suspecting he might have said something utterly moronic but continuing the conversation would have meant admitting it. No can do.
It was certainly not an issue
It was certainly not an issue when i was younger. ‘One for the road’ would usually be a follow up the several other drinks. It was illegal to drive drunk BUT out and about not really frowned on by peers. It took a lot of years to reverse that mind set.
I think that drink-driving is
I think that drink-driving is still a social norm in a lot of places/social groups. There seems to be a general view on this site that it’s a big social taboo but I certainly don’t see this in the real world.
We probably see less instances of people drinking in town/city centre pubs and then getting into the car but in more rural places I think it’s very common to have a few at the village pub and drive home through the lanes. Probably because you’re very unlikely to get caught and the perceived risk is low (quiet roads, very little traffic).
It also seems totally acceptable to have one drink if you’re driving – because it’s legal. This seems a bit odd when you think about it as we know that even one drink impacts a person’s ability to drive safely. The legal implications seem to be a bigger driver than the potential real-world repercusions to people’s behavior in the main.