A programme airing on ITV1 next Monday evening at 9pm called Road Rage Britain uses footage shot by members of the public to highlight the shocking and often dangerous behaviour of some road users.
As you can see from the trailer and video below, it’s often cyclists who are on the receiving end, helping explain why many now use helmet cameras to record what happens.
Some of the footage in the programme, made by ITN Productions, will be familiar from stories we’ve covered in the past, such as the vehicle passenger in Bexley pictured above, who in 2011 was convicted of assaulting a cyclist after the incident was caught on film.
Road Rage Britain Trailer ITV1 9th June 2014 9.00pm from RoadRageBritain on Vimeo.
Road Rage Britain TEASE: ITV1 9th June 2014 9.00pm from RoadRageBritain on Vimeo.
In December 2012, the BBC came under criticism for a similar documentary called The War on Britain’s Roads, which included footage from a film shot six years earlier about alleycat racing in London, described in the programme simply as “extreme behaviour,” despite calls ahead of transmission for it to be scrapped.
Like that programme, according to its press release Road Rage Britain descrbes cyclists and motorists as "two tribes" although in reality more often than not, people are both, electing to use one mode of transport over another depending on the purpose of their trip.
However, the ITN documentary does contain what it describes as "a unique experiment, in which two committed cyclists, one from London and one from Manchester, swap modes of transport with a London cabbie and a white van man from Preston, both of whom view their two wheeled counterparts as a menace."
The programme's makers add: "How will they cope experiencing life on the road from the perspective of their road rage rivals? At the end of the experiment they come face to face in a showdown to share their views."
18 thoughts on “Video: Road Rage Britain – ITV documentary next Monday features cyclists & motorists on film”
I often dismissively refer to
I often dismissively refer to ‘car crash television’ as something not worth watching
Seems like this might be a little too close to the mark on that
Not gonna waste a portion of my brief span on it
Let’s hope this is an
Let’s hope this is an improvement on the BBC piece, which did nothing but inflame the argument.
Where’s the pro-cycling TV showing the benefits of riding? Or a piece about the scandalous level of enforcement and sentencing for those who wilfully injure cyclists with their cars.
This seems like more lazy divisive programming to me.
It’ll be dreadful… and
It’ll be dreadful… and I’ll probably watch it. 🙁
are we actually going to see
are we actually going to see a “white van man” and a cabbie on bikes? if so meaningfully?
Yep, without even having seen
Yep, without even having seen more than just the trailer I fear it will do nothing but fan the flames. It is on ITV after all, so will clearly be appealing to the Daily Mail crowd.
As above, what’s the point of putting the cyclists behind the wheels of the vans/taxis? Surely the relevant point would be to get the drivers onto bikes instead.
parksey wrote:As above,
Exactly – most of the cyclists probably also drive. But does Mr Taxi Driver ever get on a bike?
Only a small minority of
Only a small minority of cyclists are non vehicle drivers. To call it two tribes is ridiculous.
I don’t have any evidence but strongly suspect the road rage drivers are pure drivers….there is the issue, but I doubt this programme will address it, you also have to take into the account the mentality of someone who would deliberately hit a cyclist or get out and punch them. many of these people are so thick and blinkered its a wonder they manage to function.
I am convinced being a cyclist makes you a better driver, you are more aware, by no means fault free, but certainly more aware and more likely to drive responsibly….unless of course you are also a shit cyclist, and we know there are a lot of them giving the rest of us a bad name……see it is not 2 tribes.
Simmo72 wrote:I don’t have
I think this is a fair point. In terms of my personal experience, the road rage tends to mostly be exhibited by those who drive a lot as part of their job – taxis, vans (particularly self-employed tradesmen), a particular First Wessex local maintenance truck, sales reps, even a driving instructor…
It’s kind of like a “how dare you be on the road interfering with my livelihood?!” mentality.
The fact that they’ve chosen
The fact that they’ve chosen to accompany scenes of murderous intent with comical, irritatingly bouncy guitar riffs doesn’t fill me with confidence. They also seem to have chosen a particularly obnoxious, self-centred, generally unpleasant person to ride the bicycle. I really don’t have high hopes. We’ll see…
I don’t know any adult
I don’t know any adult cyclists that don’t already drive cars. There must be very few that don’t have a licence.
Once again the idea is espoused that cyclists are different people from car drivers or from pedestrians. I think that’s a one way street though. There are plenty of motorists that don’t or haven’t ever cycled. Very few adult cyclists that don’t drive. This is a false equivalence.
As it happens I cycled in to work and back yesterday 20 miles each way. I drove my car today as I have to go to the dentist later and I need a quick journey back and that’s the other side of home. At lunch time I walked down the high street and bought a sandwich at Sainsburys. Tomorrow I am on the bike again.
I no longer have a motorcycle but you could include that as well.
My cycling buddy Mike is a class 1 Police Driver (ie all the fast high speed stuff) and he’s got an HGV licence as well. Maybe they should get him on……?
oozaveared wrote:I don’t know
+1 – I’ve one car, two motorbikes and three bicycles, all of which get regular use. All my cycling friends drive/own cars as well.
Looking forward to seeing
Looking forward to seeing this, hopefully it’s an eyeopener rather than just another them v us shit stirrer. 🙂
this program looks like it
this program looks like it might be quite fun but probably a little low brow for some.
It’s going to be worth
It’s going to be worth watching just for the spectacle of a London Cabbie travelling, under his own steam, further than the distance from his cab to the inside of a ‘greasy-spoon’. 👿 =))
Having just watched the
Having just watched the trailers and seen who some of the”cyclists” who will be appearing.
I think two words will suffice, OH DEAR
I’ll get my pictures of cats
I’ll get my pictures of cats ready. Normally reserved for articles about T** G***, but hey ho.
these programmes do nothing
these programmes do nothing to help the cause of us cyclists, but of course the programme makers don’t care about that.
It just gives the motorist even more ideas as to how to take a pop at us …..
After that awful bit of
After that awful bit of sensationalist trash “The War On Britain’s Roads” was aired I had a week of hell with enraged idiots thinking it was OK to try and run over every cyclist they saw.
I don’t think the producers of these programs give the slightest thought to the effect sensationalist journalism can have of on the impressionable seeking peer approval for their bigotry.
See also – Benefits Street.