Grant Shapps’ stupid cycling comments are ill-judged, dangerous and fuelling more hatred towards cyclists

Martin73 wrote:

 I have made a FOI request to the Department of Transport for national figures of KSIs and vehicular risk to pedestrians, also broken down by cities: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Brighton, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Cardiff, Swansea, to see if this is a national issue, an urban issue, or specific to London.

Have you also asked for full details of the methodology of obtaining information so that we might actually have a meaningful idea of what the figures actually represent? I suspect not.

I chuckle when I read the Daily Snail comments section and can imagine some of the commenters foaming at the mouth whilst typing rubbish about cyclists that obviously makes them feel much better! The issue I have is the commenters who have never ridden a bike since childhood but who are suddenly experts on how people should ride when on the road.i think they forget 90% of cyclists also hold a current driving licence so can see the issue from both sides and not just through a rose tinted windscreen!

I think this is the pendulum swinging back after the Highway Code changes. It'll be a month or so of this and most likely no effect. Part of the problem now is the motorheads who have adopted low emissions or electric vehicles and have a misguided sense of virtue and carbon neutrality. 

The issue of unsafe cyclists shouldn't be ignored, but perhaps it's more useful to invest in proficiency training and tests at schools than costly schemes aimed at punitive measures. That's my polite response dignifying an idea that doesn't deserve a second thought. 

Just read someone going on about cycle Mots, loose wheelnuts, bald tyres, front number plates and lycra clad heroes.
Then they claim to have worked 15 years in the cycle industry and road professionally.

Must have retired due to a brain injury.

"Cycle paths should be compulsory if available and not the choice of the cyclists, car drivers arnt allowed to drive on pavements! And shared paths should be restricted to speed limits for the safety of pedestrians. These paths should then be monitored by anpr cameras to maintain safety and keep policing down, if a camera locates a cyclist with no plates or insurance it should contact the closest police officer to stop and deal with the cyclist the same as a car driver would be."

Just think of the the revenue if this were applied to cars !

Shapps like most MP's is so far out of touch with everyday life and often like most MP's speaks out of his arse

The sort of media circus that Grant Shapps has attracted is completely planned and in fact rarely a week goes by without this type of distraction technique being used by people in power.

If a Government causes division amongs certain groups in society in particular 'out groups' like cyclist are, against 'in groups' like motorists, then the groups fight each other instead of directing any frustrations towards the Government and their lack of action to solve a particular societal problem.

The 'Divide and rule' policy (Latin: divide et impera) has been used for many thousands of years and is not going to stop any time soon as utopia is unlikely to ever occur.

Don't worry too much though, as the attention span of the target audience is limited and will in reality have little additional affect on the situation us cyclists find ourselves in.

Said particular troll is being so thick headed that this must surely be a parody account! Literally every single post (all 160 odd) has been trolling. They are either supporting the virtues of the government or arguing for the laughable 2021 traffic stats to be enshrined as 'normal'.  

Is there a forum law against trolling?

I also wonder if Gunt Shatts is getting 'paid' in some form for these shots he's firing?