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Car hire firm Sixt slammed for Twitter post making fun out of hitting cyclists

Graphic which showed 'kill count' similar to those used by WWII fighter pilots showed "lack of taste," say campaigners...

Car rental firm Sixt has come under criticism for an image posted to its Twitter account that makes fun of hitting cyclists.

The post on Sixt Deutschland’s timeline on the social media was removed on Friday after Twitter users complained about it.

The Germany-based company, the market leader in its home market and operating in a number of countries around the world including the UK, has won awards for its advertising on social media.

But dw.com, the English language website of national newspaper Die Welt, reports that the post published on 5 October was criticised for overstepping the mark.

"There's always one friend who overdoes it a bit when driving. We now have a bumper sticker for him," the post said.

Sixt bumper sticker post on Twitter

The accompanying image showed graphics of, respectively, a set of traffic lights, a cyclist and a cat, above each a tally reminiscent of the ‘kill counts’ painted by fighter pilots on their planes during World War II.

Among the complaints in the replies was one from a cycle campaign group based in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin, saying: "This advertisement is a mockery and shows a pure lack of taste for cyclists who have been killed or severely injured by drivers."

Another tweeted a post made by police in Bonn earlier this year about a child who was doored by the driver of a Sixt van who then drove of without checking on their condition.

Official statistics reveal that 382 cyclists were killed in Germany last year, the highest in the EU by some margin.

Partly, that is a factor of the country having the largest population among member states coupled with a relatively high modal share for cycling, which the federal government is determined to increase further.

At 17 per cent, Sixt’s own home city of Munich has the largest modal share for cycling among Germany’s large cities.

As we reported earlier this month, the Bavarian capital has been chosen, alongside Amsterdam and Copenhagen, to mentor 10 other European cities, including Manchester, in how to be more bike-friendly.

> Copenhagen to mentor Manchester on cycling in programme fully-funded by EU

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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26 comments

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andyzoo | 5 years ago
0 likes

But are these cycling accidents caused by cars, or just accidents? 

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to andyzoo | 5 years ago
6 likes

andyzoo wrote:

But are these cycling accidents caused by cars, or just accidents? 

Motorists are pretty much the same the world over, around 3/4 of cycling incidents/injuries are considered to be motorists solely at fault. When you account for the fact that even the police have a slanted view as to responsibility you can bet that that figure is higher.

Take death of cyclist reported recently, motorist comes alongside cyclist, motorist strikes cyclist, investigstion decrees they cannot determine who was to blame despite the passenger stating they saw the cyclist ahead and then they were alongside so it's 'accidental' death. Same for Michael Mason, despite riding lawfully, he was mown down from behind at speed, police blamed him for not having hi-vis despite having legal lights in a well lit street so well lit that pedestrians at the side of the road saw him.

Are there cases were cyclists have been the sole cause of their own deaths/injuries through negligence, recklessness and/or dangerous riding solely, absolutely. These cases are a tiny number compared to the innocent being killed/maimed by motorists.

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Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
1 like

German comedy has never really broken out into the mainstream....

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hawkinspeter replied to Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
3 likes

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

German comedy has never really broken out into the mainstream....

Mein Hund jagte immer Leuten auf dem Fahrrad hinterher, bis ich ihm das Fahrrad wegnahm!

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quiff | 5 years ago
0 likes

Sixt are clearly going for a slightly 'edgy' communications strategy so this isn't surprising. They also have a "drive smug" tagline at the moment and I got this as a promoted tweet in my Twitter feed a while back and considered reporting it to the ASA: https://twitter.com/SixtUK/status/1037295390901587968 (TL;DR: it's a play on the Bohemian Rhapsody, featuring the lyrics "caught in a powerslide / renting away from reality / close the door, pedal to the floor and 'wheeee..."). Never using them.   

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Expatpat | 5 years ago
3 likes

Small things can make a difference- I will never hire a car from Sixt again after this appalling lack of judgement. I trust other readers will do the same.

On another note after reading many of the comments, I think it is difficult to differentiate between countries as regards to cyclist safety- all car drivers have the capacity to kill.

I live in the Netherlands and love the cyclepath network (shared with mopeds and scooters mind you), but can confirm that once on the road the Dutch drivers are as (or more) dangerous to cyclists as in any country.

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vonhelmet | 5 years ago
0 likes

Germany has 19,000km of segregated infrastructure? Blimey, that’s a lot.

I actually meant to correct my comment about how cycling injuries would scale with cycling numbers. I’d expect the two to increase up to a point, beyond which drivers would be so used to dealing with cyclists that the rate of increase would drop.

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davel replied to vonhelmet | 5 years ago
0 likes

vonhelmet wrote:

Germany has 19,000km of segregated infrastructure? Blimey, that’s a lot.

I actually meant to correct my comment about how cycling injuries would scale with cycling numbers. I’d expect the two to increase up to a point, beyond which drivers would be so used to dealing with cyclists... 

... and more drivers would be cyclists themselves, and know regular cyclists, and there'd be more fit-for-purpose cycling infrastructure (as opposed to gutters guarded by white paint that cause punctures or punishment passes/abuse).

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cdamian replied to vonhelmet | 5 years ago
1 like

vonhelmet wrote:

Germany has 19,000km of segregated infrastructure? Blimey, that’s a lot.

I actually meant to correct my comment about how cycling injuries would scale with cycling numbers. I’d expect the two to increase up to a point, beyond which drivers would be so used to dealing with cyclists that the rate of increase would drop.

There might be 19000km of segregated infrastructure, but these are definitely not in the cities.  My guess is that these are tracks along roads connecting villages.

As far as I know there are currently no protected bike lanes in any cities in Germany except of two "experiments" in Cologne and Berlin, both started this year. The current state is just paint on the road and shared paths on the sidewalks. 

Drivers are also some of the worst of the countries that I cycled in (Germany, UK, Spain, France, Italy). The car is pretty much the king in Germany and once a German is in his car nobody else matters any more.

Berlin also has the same problem as London where three quarters of cyclists killed are run over by turning lorries.

I am German and living in Barcelona and used to complain about drivers and infrastructure here, but after checking out the other countries it now is my favourite place to ride.

I really don't understand what is going on in Germany, they have a very high cycling mode share and used to be fairly green, but now the focus is just on cars and protecting that local industry.

 

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BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
0 likes

Here's another snapshot, injuries of cyclists over 30,000/year. Yes their modal share is higher than the UK but despite segregation, despite more people cycling than using cars compared to UK the supposed effect of cycling in numbers, segregation and indeed helmet wearing (which is massively high in Germany), added to the compulsary reflectives on tyres or spokes etc etc their cycling deaths/injuries are ridiculously high.

On the worst days of the year 1/3 to 2/5 of all personal injuries on the roads in Germany are cyclists.

https://www.destatis.de/EN/Service/Traffic/TrafficAccidents.html

You cannot make a direct proportional comparison to total miles cycled/modal share, not when those other important fators should be having a huge positive safety effect. 

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FluffyKittenofT... replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
0 likes

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Here's another snapshot, injuries of cyclists over 30,000/year. Yes their modal share is higher than the UK but despite segregation, despite more people cycling than using cars compared to UK the supposed effect of cycling in numbers, segregation and indeed helmet wearing (which is massively high in Germany), added to the compulsary reflectives on tyres or spokes etc etc their cycling deaths/injuries are ridiculously high.

On the worst days of the year 1/3 to 2/5 of all personal injuries on the roads in Germany are cyclists.

https://www.destatis.de/EN/Service/Traffic/TrafficAccidents.html

You cannot make a direct proportional comparison to total miles cycled/modal share, not when those other important fators should be having a huge positive safety effect. 

 

You surely _have_ to account for the number of miles cycled or number of journeys or number of cyclists, or some such metric, when comparing injury rates, because otherwise you'd invariably conclude that the safest region or countries were those where there are no cyclists.

 

And I don't really believe, you of all posters, believe that 'helmet wearing' 'should be having a huge positive safety effect'!

 

Germany might be crap for cycling, I don't know.  It does appear to be German car firms that have been working hard to defeat efforts to control emissions levels, after all.   As far as I'm concerned only the Netherlands even comes close to a sensible road transport policy (and even they don't go far enough for my taste).

 

PS I'm surprised the cat-lovers haven't had anything to say about this advert.

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rct replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 5 years ago
4 likes

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

 

 

PS I'm surprised the cat-lovers haven't had anything to say about this advert.

As someone who has lost a beloved cat in this manner, I have been biting my tongue.

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slow_going replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 5 years ago
4 likes

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Here's another snapshot, injuries of cyclists over 30,000/year. Yes their modal share is higher than the UK but despite segregation, despite more people cycling than using cars compared to UK the supposed effect of cycling in numbers, segregation and indeed helmet wearing (which is massively high in Germany), added to the compulsary reflectives on tyres or spokes etc etc their cycling deaths/injuries are ridiculously high.

On the worst days of the year 1/3 to 2/5 of all personal injuries on the roads in Germany are cyclists.

https://www.destatis.de/EN/Service/Traffic/TrafficAccidents.html

You cannot make a direct proportional comparison to total miles cycled/modal share, not when those other important fators should be having a huge positive safety effect. 

 

You surely _have_ to account for the number of miles cycled or number of journeys or number of cyclists, or some such metric, when comparing injury rates, because otherwise you'd invariably conclude that the safest region or countries were those where there are no cyclists.

 

Yes, anyone looking to compare KSIs by region should really make some attempt to account for differing levels of exposure to the source of risk, and that means lookign at things like modal share, journey numbers/miles etc. Methodology may vary here, but Dr Rachel Aldred at Westminster Uni recently did this: https://twitter.com/RachelAldred/status/1045950801708027904 

 

 

Avatar
OldRidgeback replied to slow_going | 5 years ago
1 like

slow_going wrote:

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Here's another snapshot, injuries of cyclists over 30,000/year. Yes their modal share is higher than the UK but despite segregation, despite more people cycling than using cars compared to UK the supposed effect of cycling in numbers, segregation and indeed helmet wearing (which is massively high in Germany), added to the compulsary reflectives on tyres or spokes etc etc their cycling deaths/injuries are ridiculously high.

On the worst days of the year 1/3 to 2/5 of all personal injuries on the roads in Germany are cyclists.

https://www.destatis.de/EN/Service/Traffic/TrafficAccidents.html

You cannot make a direct proportional comparison to total miles cycled/modal share, not when those other important fators should be having a huge positive safety effect. 

 

You surely _have_ to account for the number of miles cycled or number of journeys or number of cyclists, or some such metric, when comparing injury rates, because otherwise you'd invariably conclude that the safest region or countries were those where there are no cyclists.

 

Yes, anyone looking to compare KSIs by region should really make some attempt to account for differing levels of exposure to the source of risk, and that means lookign at things like modal share, journey numbers/miles etc. Methodology may vary here, but Dr Rachel Aldred at Westminster Uni recently did this: https://twitter.com/RachelAldred/status/1045950801708027904 

 

 

 

That's really interesting actually. I would think her data would be pretty good. She's very highly respected in the road safety sector.

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 5 years ago
1 like

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Here's another snapshot, injuries of cyclists over 30,000/year. Yes their modal share is higher than the UK but despite segregation, despite more people cycling than using cars compared to UK the supposed effect of cycling in numbers, segregation and indeed helmet wearing (which is massively high in Germany), added to the compulsary reflectives on tyres or spokes etc etc their cycling deaths/injuries are ridiculously high.

On the worst days of the year 1/3 to 2/5 of all personal injuries on the roads in Germany are cyclists.

https://www.destatis.de/EN/Service/Traffic/TrafficAccidents.html

You cannot make a direct proportional comparison to total miles cycled/modal share, not when those other important fators should be having a huge positive safety effect. 

 

You surely _have_ to account for the number of miles cycled or number of journeys or number of cyclists, or some such metric, when comparing injury rates, because otherwise you'd invariably conclude that the safest region or countries were those where there are no cyclists.

 

And I don't really believe, you of all posters, believe that 'helmet wearing' 'should be having a huge positive safety effect'!

 

Germany might be crap for cycling, I don't know.  It does appear to be German car firms that have been working hard to defeat efforts to control emissions levels, after all.   As far as I'm concerned only the Netherlands even comes close to a sensible road transport policy (and even they don't go far enough for my taste).

 

PS I'm surprised the cat-lovers haven't had anything to say about this advert.

Germany modal share 11%, UK modal share 2.8% Germany v UK deaths c3.5x

To the person saying there are no cycle lanes in the cities in germany, Berlin 10th, Munich 15, Hambourg 17th best cycling cities in the WORLD according to Copenhagenize https://drive.google.com/file/d/163u8UTKWve0pn_xd6Y637xqXK-AhSiI3/view

Cycle 'routes' are said to add up to 70,000km incl 200 'long distance' routes, whether this includes the 19,000km of segregated I don't know.

AllesGerma states "There is a vast number of dedicated cycle lanes in German cities, for which many German cyclists take the cycling laws/etiquette very seriously. If you are a pedestrian, walk in a cycle path at your peril – you run the risk of being bombarded with the noise of bells or getting yelled at"

In fact I was talking about German cycle infra only last month on the CUK forum, where someone had either visited Germany or they worked there, there was a huge and wide segregated lane next to a major road in the middle of one of the cities.

What we can conclude is that despite tens of thousands of cycle lanes of any sort which is a shit ton more than the UK and despite vastly more cycling (which should have a big positive effect according to Smeed's law) Germany has no better rate of cycling fatalities, overall according to the EU road safety commission, Germany is more dangerous on the roads than the UK (which I did state roads not just cycling)

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Russell Orgazoid | 5 years ago
0 likes

They drive recklessly/dangerously with impunity in the UK.

Sad but true.

 

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to Russell Orgazoid | 5 years ago
1 like

Plasterer's Radio wrote:

They drive recklessly/dangerously with impunity in the UK.

Sad but true.

 

And yet Germany has a worse driving record with respect to road KSIs, as does pretty much every country in Europe and the rest of the world. Not that that makes UK drivers/driving that good but it also shows you that despite perceptions the reality is that people in motors, even in supposedly cycling havens like Netherlands are fucking dangerous and can and do take lives or impart life changing injuries.

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FluffyKittenofT... replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
3 likes

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Plasterer's Radio wrote:

They drive recklessly/dangerously with impunity in the UK.

Sad but true.

 

And yet Germany has a worse driving record with respect to road KSIs, as does pretty much every country in Europe and the rest of the world. Not that that makes UK drivers/driving that good but it also shows you that despite perceptions the reality is that people in motors, even in supposedly cycling havens like Netherlands are fucking dangerous and can and do take lives or impart life changing injuries.

 

Bit like the saying about democracy.  British drivers are the worst in the world, apart from all the others.

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vonhelmet replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
2 likes

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Plasterer's Radio wrote:

They drive recklessly/dangerously with impunity in the UK.

Sad but true.

 

And yet Germany has a worse driving record with respect to road KSIs, as does pretty much every country in Europe and the rest of the world. Not that that makes UK drivers/driving that good but it also shows you that despite perceptions the reality is that people in motors, even in supposedly cycling havens like Netherlands are fucking dangerous and can and do take lives or impart life changing injuries.

I was trying to find numbers for KSI per capita or per miles travelled in various countries, but couldn’t find it offhand. You’d expect countries with larger populations and higher rates of cycling to suffer more deaths, just by virtue of the numbers cycling.

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds replied to vonhelmet | 5 years ago
1 like

vonhelmet wrote:

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Plasterer's Radio wrote:

They drive recklessly/dangerously with impunity in the UK.

Sad but true.

 

And yet Germany has a worse driving record with respect to road KSIs, as does pretty much every country in Europe and the rest of the world. Not that that makes UK drivers/driving that good but it also shows you that despite perceptions the reality is that people in motors, even in supposedly cycling havens like Netherlands are fucking dangerous and can and do take lives or impart life changing injuries.

I was trying to find numbers for KSI per capita or per miles travelled in various countries, but couldn’t find it offhand. You’d expect countries with larger populations and higher rates of cycling to suffer more deaths, just by virtue of the numbers cycling.

2016 showed a huge 8.5% increase in cycling deaths and despite no increases in cycling deaths have remained unmoved over a longer period.

Overall road deaths (not just cyclists) is poor and 382 cycling deaths is terrible.

You would expect countries with more cycling and more segregated infra (19,000 km of it to be precise) to have far FEWER deaths, or do you not believe in the protection of cycling in numbers and that segregation of cyclists is a failure?

 

Avatar
rkemb replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
2 likes

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

You would expect countries with more cycling and more segregated infra (19,000 km of it to be precise) to have far FEWER deaths, or do you not believe in the protection of cycling in numbers and that segregation of cyclists is a failure?

Without trying to claim that Germany's roads are very safe (although I live in Germany, and my experiences cycling are generally better than the UK), this is just wrong, because it confuses absolute numbers with rates. If you double the cycling rate, and the absolute numbers of KSI goes up by 1.5 times, then the rate of KSI has <i>fallen</i>. If you have a very high cycling modal share, you will expect high absolute KSI rates merely by virtue of the fact that lots of people are doing it and some of them will have accidents. This does not mean that the risk of injury to any individual cyclist has gone up and in fact it may have fallen dramatically.

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OldRidgeback replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
1 like

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Plasterer's Radio wrote:

They drive recklessly/dangerously with impunity in the UK.

Sad but true.

 

And yet Germany has a worse driving record with respect to road KSIs, as does pretty much every country in Europe and the rest of the world. Not that that makes UK drivers/driving that good but it also shows you that despite perceptions the reality is that people in motors, even in supposedly cycling havens like Netherlands are fucking dangerous and can and do take lives or impart life changing injuries.

 

 This is the road fatality rate from 2013, with data compiled by the WHO. Things haven't changed so much in Germany or the UK;

http://gamapserver.who.int/gho/interactive_charts/road_safety/road_traff...

Germany had about 4.6 road deaths/100,000 of population compared with 2.9/100,000 of population for the UK.

Have a look at the figures for Thailand. They are shocking.  Italy's road death rate is about twice that of the UK and bear in mind that the two countries have similar population levels. A curiosity is why Belgium's road death rate is about twice that of the Netherlands just next door, and higher than either France or Germany too, which are also neighbours. Of note is the poor US record for road safety, with more than three times the risk of the UK at 10.6 fatalities/100,000 of population.

To give some context, the UK and German road fatality rates have been about the same for the last five or six years, with little improvement. But anyone who thinks there were 'good old days' when things were safer, well that wasa  very long time ago indeed. In 1979 for instance, the UK road fatality rate was about 6,300/year, compared with about 1,750 for the last five years. The peak was in the early 1970s. I don't have the German figures to hand but they also hit a peak in the early 70s. And the road fatality rate in the UK for the last five years has been better than when records began, in 1949.

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jacknorell replied to OldRidgeback | 5 years ago
1 like
OldRidgeback wrote:

A curiosity is why Belgium's road death rate is about twice that of the Netherlands just next door, and higher than either France or Germany too, which are also neighbours.

Having cycled through a chunk of Belgium on the way to Amsterdam this year, I'm not surprised. The Belgian drivers are worse, and there's less protected space for cyclists.

Both better than England though, I actually think the massive congestion here helps as speeds are lower. So fewer fatalities.

Avatar
vonhelmet | 5 years ago
7 likes

“Some drivers are dangerous dicks, and we think that’s funny. Not the drivers of our cars and vans, though, haha, definitely not!”

Yeah, go fuck yourselves.

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StraelGuy | 5 years ago
2 likes

Dickheads no.

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ktache | 5 years ago
6 likes

Just wondering how this sits with Sir Chris Hoy's bit about no longer having "Them vs Us"?

 

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