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news
see their side advert screenshotReaction as Transport for London pauses See their Side ad campaign following backlash
Transport for London (TfL) has paused its highly criticised See your Side advertising campaign following a backlash which saw it accused of “victim-blaming” and promoting a “false equivalence” among road users.
> Transport for London slammed for “victim-blaming” road safety ad (+ video)
Confirmation that the campaign, devised by agency VCCP London and launched during last month’s Road Safety Week, has been put on hold to enable reaction to it to be considered was made this morning by Will Norman, London’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner, in a post on Twitter.
He wrote: “I know there has been a lot of concern raised about the ‘see their side’ advert. The campaign has been paused to consider the feedback that has been received. City Hall and TfL remain committed to improving the road culture in London and reducing road danger.”
I know there has been a lot of concern raised about the ‘see their side’ advert. The campaign has been paused to consider the feedback that has been received. City Hall and TfL remain committed to improving the road culture in London and reducing road danger.
— Will Norman (@willnorman) December 1, 2021
According to agency VCCP London, the integrated campaign, including the advert which has now been removed from YouTube, “directly tackles the tribal culture which currently dominates London’s roads.”
However, it was widely condemned on social media for promoting the idea that all road users have equal responsibility for each other’s safety. It was launched at a time when forthcoming changes to the Highway Code will see a hierarchy of road users in the UK; this means that drivers of larger vehicles will be deemed to have greater responsibility for the safety of those who are more vulnerable than them.
Among those who had asked for TfL to withdraw the campaign were Talia Hussain and Jo Rigby. In a video posted to Twitter yesterday, both outlined why they believed that far from making London’s roads safer for cyclists, the ad would instead make them more dangerous.
As a long-standing campaigner for safe and inclusive cycling, I’m asking @TfL again - on behalf of women who cycle and those who are too scared to cycle - *see our side* and take down your ad https://t.co/e00iKBvqVy
— Talia Hussain (@Talia_inReality) November 30, 2021
Responding to Norman’s tweet this morning, Rigby – a Labour councillor in Conservative-controlled Wandsworth, and her party’s active travel and transport speaker for the borough, said: “Thank you for listening Will. We want this campaign to work and we are here to input ways to adapt it so it is not wasted content.”
Thank you for listening Will. We want this campaign to work and we are here to input ways to adapt it so it is not wasted content.
— Jo Rigby (@Jo_Earlsfield) December 1, 2021
Transport journalist and author Carlton Reid also welcomed TfL’s decision, although he said that the campaign should be scrapped altogether.
This is good, Will. Binned would be the more appropriate action, though, and I’m sure that will be the eventual conclusion. Also needs to be a transparent debrief to see how such awful messaging was allowed in first place.
— Carlton Reid (@carltonreid) December 1, 2021
Like Reid, former Haringey councillor Clive Carter said that lessons needed to be learned from the debacle.
🚴 WILL, I'm glad to hear that and trust that "paused" soon becomes pulled. Perversely, such a car-centric viewpoint may have had an opposite effect intended. @tfl needs to learn lessons from this mistaken PR campaign, such as checking by persons competent in the area discussed.
— Clive Carter (@Clive_Carter) December 1, 2021
A detailed critique of the campaign was also provided on Twitter at the weekend in a lengthy thread, but one well worth reading, by Mark Hodson.
A roads policing officer and driver behaviour specialist, Hodson helped pioneer West Midlands Police’s award-winning Operation Close Pass targeting motorists who overtake cyclists while giving them insufficient space, with the initiative since adopted by police forces across the UK.
Right then, I've held off commenting on this to give myself a decent amount of time to think about what I would have spent the budget on instead of this 👇, & why if @TfL want more harmony on their roads they need to come away from asking drivers to "think" and be afraid instead https://t.co/hGIF925h5s
— Mark Hodson (@markandcharlie) November 28, 2021
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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65 comments
Asinine bickering about side-roads or close passes misses the point completely.
The whole concept of the campaign fundamentally failed to grasp the context of the relationship between cars and other road users in terms of outcomes and potential for harm. 'Seeing their side' is an irrelevancy in regard to the extremes of difference in outcomes between bikes and cars during collisions.
The cyclist could have lurched from a side lane having failed to see the car (as many cars do). The only appropriate message would still be 'Please give cyclists leeway. If you hit them they might die but you won't get a scratch'.
I think the video does achieve what it was probably set out to do - to humanise both a driver and a cyclist.
The issue I have is that it's seems to ignore the reality that cyclists/pedestrians get killed, quite a lot, by other humans driving 1 or 2 ton steel weapons. The controversy as I see it, is that it's terribly insensitive to everyone 'apart from' the woman in the car, who's 'tribe' is not killed by cyclists whilst travelling around London.
What still needs to be addressed is how this pointless video came to be funded / approved.
Given TFL's tight finances, it's not unreasonable to assume Will Norman would have had time to review it / approval rights.
If Will did approve it then it tells us a lot about his judgement and understanding of the problems vulnerable road users encounter thousands of times a day across London.
And if Will did not approve it, why not and why doesn't the commissioning and approval process involve his role?
Answers on a postcard please Will !
Will Norman? When you wanted Chris Boardman, had to settle for Andrew Gilligan but somehow took your eye off the ball. His first public meeting was not auspicious...
Always a problem when you regard the small group shouting the loudest as feedback.
I saw nothing wrong with the video but because I'm not a shouty axe to grind campaigner I forgot to give "seems ok" to me feedback.
All comments are feedback. Your comment above is feedback.
It's not a referendum by social media though.
The ad upset a lot of people and many have spelled out in detail why they feel this way. Just because a group is shouting about something doesn't mean they have an axe to grind as you assume. Have you considered they might have a genuine and valid issue with this campaign?
You don't see their side?
I do see their side I also see them as not representing the majority.
OK then Mr Mason, let's see your evidence proving that. We're all waiting.
Survey after survey shows that the population at large is in favour of better cycling and walking infrastructure, but listen to the loudest on social media and one would think that's not the case.
The same applies here. Case in point, I haven't spoken about this on social media yet. How many more out there are like me? The majority of cyclists might agree with these campaigners, or they may not. We don't have hard evidence for that either way though, so would you kindly quit it with the conjecture please?
The video makes the point that instant aggression is not a way to solve problems . I know myself that when ive ended up yelling at motorists its rely ended well.
its interesting how irritating people find it that I dont toe the cycle party line. I gues thats what social media has made this country . A lot of bunker mentality shouting where the first point of call is to be deeply offended and end up abusive.
"We're all waiting". Who is "we" you're a bunch of individuals
I just think the video is an attempt to solve what's really the symptom of a problem. The problem is there are too many cars. The road system is poorly designed for the safety - let alone convenience - of people not in cars. The driving is often done without sufficient care and attention because driving is a habitual activity. Bad or illegal driving usually comes with no penalty. This leads to lots of close calls and some crashes. If a car hits a pedestrian or cyclist it's not the driver that suffers. On average not even legally.
The video won't sort any of that.
The aggression in the video is after the fact. So effectively it's just saying "don't swear when you stub your toe". Pretty pointless and it will make no difference to safety.
Aggression - I agree that the "you've annoyed me so now we've got to have it out" rarely works well for anybody. At least - not unless you're a lot better armed than your opponent. Which is sort of the point here isn't it?
See these aggressive cyclists? Why do you never see them all over the bumper of cars, ringing their bells, before speeding past only to swing in right in front of the car and drop the anchors. Or trying to edge them off the road? Why don't we hear about drivers ridden down by people on bikes or crushed by pedestrians?
Could it be that the aggression is actually really only a problem when it's in charge of a heavy speedy metal box?
Lots of "cyclists" also drive. I'd bet some of them are arseholes. It's not because people suddenly become better people when they're on bikes, is it?
Like I said it's not a referendum.
Indeed - we see this with LTNs, cabbies, the road haulage lobby...
People campaigning for safer roads / active travel can shout too of course - but they don't tend to get the publicity for some reason. So their shouts don't carry very far. They do appear - but often in the background, when the issue is that some people are shouting about losing a parking space, or that they're being persecuted because they may be fined for breaking the law.
Problem here was that people who clearly had the majority viewpoint / position (driving / drivers) decided there was some issue with a minority (cyclists) and that minority clearly weren't happy (because getting killed and injured). But they tried to sort it by appealing to everyone to just get along. They should have asked some people from the minority (cyclists) if their story in the advert represented things as cyclists see them. They clearly didn't bother. Then saying "See! We covered both sides!" is not only wrong but unlikely to please the minority.
Well the majority would normally be ... er... shouty drivers? There are lots of drivers so only a fraction of them need to shout to outweight shouty cyclists or pedestrians? Or do you mean the majority are people not shouting at all? But then - do they agree, disagree, don't care, are they totally oblivious to all this?
If only you were 'silent' Nigel.
Is that a majority like your pal Trump got?
It would be absolutely super if the alleged silent majority could be silent - as a supposed representative of them, could you do that? It would be very much appreciated.
To sum up what was wrong with the video in nice simple terms... It deals with the aftermath of an incident but does nothing to address the cause of the incident.
To give you an analogy, the advert is the equivalent of the Christmas Drink Driving safety campaign telling people what to do if they come accross an accident caused by a drink driver, but not coming in with the "Don't Drink and Drive" part of the message.
More like "Drink drive accidents are really bad! People might get hurt! Sometimes people who weren't even drinking. That's stressful whether you've been run over or you're a drunk driver. We need to think about each other! Enjoy your beer, drive safe."
So you think Mark Hodson has an axe to grind? As a Police Officer of 20 odd years he seems to think this does nothing for the safety and asking nicely not to kill someone will not accomplish anything.
Yes and he's welcome to his opinion as am I
So in your opinion, what is his axe that he has needed grinding? Bearing in mind he didn't knee jerk a reaction as soon as he saw it but decided to reflect a few days later.
nicmason's opinion on the TfL video is irrelevant (and may not even have one), he/she is just trolling.
Like old Nigel, I can only guess that they must have a really empty lives. I almost feel sorry for the poor feckers if they have nothing else to do but come here and post bollocks sole intention of annoying a few cyclists.
"nicmason's opinion on the TfL video is irrelevant" very open minded of you.
Sorry you old duffers lie to sip your pints round a table of old mates who agree with every word each of you say.
You demonstrated my point - you are merely trolling. You have nothing constructive to add to the discussion.
Instead of acting like a turd that won't flush, why not try constructing a sentence (or a few) that communicates something vaguely useful and relevant to the topic?
I think I've made my point quite clearly.
The video is an attempt to humanise both sides . See each other as people not as just groups of motorists or cyclists.
I see the point about who is the victim etc but that doesnt IMO devalue the video.
People understand you're not here for pats on the back but from previous posts I think they genuinely disagree with your point. As do I.
The value of the video:
Say you're right. Suppose - despite lots of people who cycle and some who don't saying this is pish - suppose that today everyone suddenly "gets it". The video achieved its purpose. What actually changes?
he's quite welcome to have his opinion. the axe being ground here by other is the all motorists bad all cyclists good
I think the video is dangerous rubbish. I cycle and I drive. So how does that work?
Just a false premise from the resident contrarian.
thats fine. You're welcome to you opinon. others have other opinions.
Nic, you do seem to have an axe to grind.
Nobody's making that point, as is bleeding obvious cos most cyclists, and the posters here are no exception, are also motorists.
Frankly, against the backdrop of the best part of 2000 deaths a year and 25k serious injuries, the insistence on #notalldrivers seems at best a distraction.
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