The Dutch fought the auto lobby and one. Now everyone in the Netherlands cycles and everyone is happier. Keep working for bike infrastructure in the UK
In the Netherlands, even with the bicycle infrastructure, and government policies suporting it, rail, and mass transit, there are still 2+ cars per Dutch household. For the Dutch,.they have a achieved a true choice for transport for all their people. No either/or nonsense, no false dilemmas.
And please note hardly anyone in the Netherlands feels the urge to wear Lycra and look a twat. That’s what does it for your average car driver x people trying to hit 35mph on their treader and be superior about their fitness…
True, but whether we like it or not, tabloids are everywhere, and the other tabloid titles aren't much better. And often in local titles, the only time cyclists are mentioned are when they were in a (car) crash, they might not be as blatant about it, but there's clearly showing some bias as well, when they have to mention that 'the cyclist was not wearing a helmet or hi-vis vest', 'the cyclist was hit by a car' instead of 'hit by a driver', etc, to put as much responsibility of the crash on the cyclist as possible.
@@barvdw even the use of the passive voice contributes to it. Framing it as about a cyclist who was "hit by a car" not about a driver who hit a cyclist treats driving as unremarkable and unquestionable. It softens the figurative blow, and makes it easier to feel fine about car-centrism.
Most of the people read this kind of junk, especially the lower educated ones, that's why auto industry lobby use them to form the 'public opinion'. Just like politicians. It's good to see their commnication, to be able to voice yours effectively.
the metro red line station in my neighborhood in North Hollywood has one of the biggest ford dealerships I have ever seen, right across the street from it, exactly where a huge high density apartment complex . So much for TOD 🤦♀🤷♀ The auto lobby dont fuck around, they play for keeps and are pure evil.
Very well argued. Unfortunately it's not all rational: I have been cycling the roads of London since 1980. I have also been watching TV car adverts since even earlier than that. Car adverts have turned the brains of 100s of millions to mush: for decades and decades these pernicious vile forms of propaganda have been promoting the idea of "car = the open road = freedom". Mostly driving or owning a car does not involve open roads, but congested roads, endless frustration, endless bills for fuel, maintenance, insurance, etc. To say nothing of the unbelievable costs of building and maintaining car infrastructure for all of us through our taxes, or the real cost to the climate of not adequately taxing fuel, driving, the industrial processes involved in manufacturing cars, etc.. Not driving keeps me healthier as well, likely to make me a lesser burden on the health system, etc. etc. Due to these advertising campaigns over decades, car companies no longer even have to broadcast explicitly that message about freedom, as cars have, for 100s of millions of people, become a completely subconscious symbol of freedom. Which I why I also rage when car companies pay to do things like "book-end" documentaries and films on TV with some "brand identity" footage which simply says "Ford Motor Company (or whatever), sponsoring challenging documentaries" ... in just a few seconds they are not just subliminally injecting "brand identity" into the minds of the malleable, they are also reinforcing incrementally the continuing normalisation of these fantasies about cars generally. And it's all being done completely deliberately and purposefully of course. As for the Daily Mail, I could feel the toxin level in my blood rising just from the few seconds of footage of those pages of carefully calibrated hatred and ignorance in your vid. Good work though!
It's funny how you talk about car ads brainwashing people. What I can't stand is when car ads seem to promote a racing culture. It makes people believe that the little souped-up passenger car their driving is a real race car, and the road is a race track. I can't tell you how many times I see people racing to get on our off of an exit first or racing to get to the next stop light first. It's ridiculous.
In the US, its like we gave the entire country to the Auto lobbyin the 1950s and told them, “we trust you to build us a bright and prosperous future”. Of course the auto lobby promptly got greedy and extremely predatory. And today We find ourselfs in griplock with no other alternatives. They had to make sure that we have no other choice but to buy their gas and auto parts while we all slowly become diabetic and go into heart failure trapped in. our car-dependent suburban spraul. Its like the automobile is motorist “culture” is actually an extremely damaging and destructive MEMEPLEX, which, similar to relgion, just might be the MEMEPLEX that leads us to our extinction.
It used to be easy for those vested interests to say that good bike infrastructure was bad for local businesses and residents ability to get around. Now that there is real data on the effects of giving the streets back to pedestrians and cyclists, this is no longer the case.
The data is useless when ignored by government officials who are compromised car brains and anti-bike. Here in the Philippines. The persons in charge of traffic. MMDA Chairman Artez vetoed the protected bike lane at EDSA. Since it would affect the car dealership business in that part of highway. As his actual reason during a town hall meeting recorded by the national press. The President of the MMDA Mayors representative Zamora removed all of the bike lane bollards in his city. The same Mayor who went on junket trip to the Netherlands to learn about bike lanes and road design.
You're under the strange assumption that most people act or are informed by anything other than their own views and that of the gutter press. They don't care about statistics. They don't care about reality. In the UK we have an obesity crisis, a cost of living crisis, our public services are creaking or already broken and the highstreet is dying. Prioritising active travel would help massively with all these issues but still they won't do it because its unpopular with the average idiot.
@@mctrials23 Completely agree with you but let's be clear that the average idiot has been indoctrinated from childhood to believe that car-centrism is the only way a society should be organised, that cars equal freedom and that it's a cultural rite of passage to own a car as young as legally possible. I only realised how deep this ran in to people's identity and psyche in the past few years. You're right that no matter how much data is presented to them, most people will refuse to change their mind especially when they have made such a huge financial and emotional commitment to their prized personal gasmobile ie climate controlled private armchair on wheels. It all comes out in 'road rage', which to me is the expression of an internal confliction - that people know deep down that it's all absurd and really they don't like the monotony of driving; the financial cost; the endless finding and paying for parking spaces; the sitting in traffic (causing traffic in fact); the staring at the back of another car and a load of asphalt whilst being totally seperated and isolated from other humans and the natural environment. There needs to be a way to communicate the benefits of proper segregated bike lanes (and roads dedicated to bikes and tiny electric vehicles), public transport, traffic reduction measures such as pedestrianisation,LTN's and narrower roads etc to the majority of drivers, but I've found it's a very difficult task. It's probably better to get in direct touch with councillors and show the data and statistics to those who also appear to be clueless, or paid for in some way by people with vested interests in pollution machines.
Unfortunately, I have seen these studies rejected consistently by those who like the status quo. People are very good at ignoring facts that don't match their expectations, even scientists aren't fully free from biases...
Creating conflict gets clicks. Whether it’s immigrants, or cyclists it doesn’t matter to these media outlets. I left twitter because Elon musks algorithms would try and trigger me every time I logged in (often successfully). We do live in a car centric world and I’m glad I’ve broken free of that, it has saved me a fortune.
I agree. It's not just car advertising it's all advertising and if you have a story that gets eyes on it, that helps with advertising revenue. Also, people do tend to dislike or even hate a thing that they don't do themselves or anyone close to them. Since bike riders are a big minority, they are an easy target for dislike and hate. A lot of media knows this and play on it to get views on their story. Saying that the local media where I live is really positive about cycling and I find it more the commercial or right-wing media outlets that really demonise bike riders.
@@16m49x3i opened twitter for the first time in months and got shown holocaust denialism and a rant about "the woke left". I get y'all arent the sharpest but meeting intolerance with tolerance is the same thing weimar conservatives did before they were put into concentration camps.
@@16m49x3i opened twitter for the first time in months and got shown holocaust denialism and a rant about "the woke left". I get y'all aint the brightest but meeting intolerance with tolerance is the same thing weimar conservatives did before they were put into concentration camps.
@@16m49x3i opened twitter for the first time in months and got shown holocaust denialism and a rant about "the woke left". Meeting intolerance with tolerance is the same thing weimar conservatives did before they were put into concentration camps.
I have been a professional driver for twenty years, and I'm an HGV driver. In that time, I saw it all. In my own experience, private car drivers ie non professional drivers . Are the group of road users I have had the most conflict with a lot of them do not pay any attention to what is going on around them. I have had very occasional run-ins, with cyclists being unaware of the blind spots on an HGV, if you can't see my mirrors I can't see you. We are all human we all make mistakes.
Curious. I feel (in germany at least) professional drivers are the worst. Might be biased because I read of lawsuits where a truck driver got a stern speech from the judge after killing a person for the second time and a neglible punishment (10k€). Especially the low-paid people like parcel delivery doesn't give a fart about rules. Around here, they often block the road (single way) to deliver which I kind of understand and most people are chill with that, but sometimes you see vans parking like shit with a parking spot just a couple of dozen meters away. There are some people like craftsman that should be reasonably well paid that also break the rules out of habit (driving and parking on the walkway to avoid walking 5m to a legal free parking spot) and implicitly threaten with violence when you point out there wrongdoing.
The problem a lot of people seem to have is they cannot fathom that when the consequences for one group are much higher than for another, the safer group has a much higher obligation to the in-danger group. Far too many people think a cyclist running a red light is equivalent to a driver blowing through one. They are not the same. Cyclists shouldn't do it but the consequences are much lower and yet all we hear about is cyclists doing it. Driving standards are generally awful if you actually pay attention to it. Its just so normalised that people don't even notice the constant low level bad driving. They don't notice the constant speeding, cutting corners, accelerating to beat lights, flying through zebra crossings, not looking before pulling manoeuvres. This idea that "mistakes are made" is at the core of bad driving and deaths on our roads. Its at the core of the idea that these are accidents that couldn't reasonably have been prevented which is complete rubbish a lot of the time. Our sentencing for awful driving just reenforces this idea. Plough onto a roundabout and hit a cyclists? Didn't see him? Well thats because you didn't look properly. Sun was in your eyes? Was it? Even if it was, a good driver doesn't just continue on regardless when they can't see properly.
@@mctrials23 I disagree. It's not about vulnerability, it's about visibility. Rather than telling cars to give way to bikes who are trying to lane split past then on the inside while they're turning left (as they do in the UK, because the rider is more vulnerable), they should be telling riders not to pass cars in such situations. BTW, we don't hear so much about drivers running red lights because they get fined for doing that, and can lose their license.
It's ridiculous aye. The average speed of a car journey in my town is 14mph. In central London it's something like 8mph. One thing I've noticed with most drivers is that they love to speed to overtake cyclists only to get stuck at the next traffic lights and overtaken again by the cyclist. Yet, they never seem to learn/realise how idiotic that is. Even with our shite bike infrastructure, it's still quicker to cycle many routes than to drive in heavily built up areas.
“She” being a mummy who wants to get her kids safely to school in her armoured personnel carrier - sorry I meant Range Rover… Remember when we all cycled to school and none of us needed to wear Lycra… Stop trying to look like grumpy old Chris Boardman….
@@PhilbyFavourites "Remember when we all cycled to school and none of us needed to wear Lycra". You seem to have been brainwashed! I would not wear Lycra for a local journey, I would do if I was cycling over ten miles and that's the reason when you see cyclists wear Lycra. I often get stopped by a motorists asking where is xyz when I'am miles from home, they think its a local trip like you do!
@@mxj-x2r Average speeds on normal give and take roads are usually vastly over estimated by drivers. My trip to the Supermarket is 10 miles along a long bypassed Devon trunk road to the nearest small town. Most of mileage is 60mph limits, with a couple of 30s thrown in, plus the small town's 30. The old road is nearly deserted for half of my trip and drifting along at 60 is the norm for me. Result? Average speed for the trip is consistently about 30mph!. There was a lot af squawking about the 20 default in Wales, down from 30 in built up areas but I bet whole trip average speeds were barely affected in the larger towns and cities, but drivers are not aware just how low the average speed was anyway.
Designing for cars is totally different to designing for all other forms of urban transport - walking, cycling, bus etc etc. Cars require everything to be spread out, surrounded by huge car parks and served by wide roads. So we get out of town shopping centres - "trading estates" and out of town employment areas - "business parks", which are next to impossible to access via anything other than a car. Our cities are being rebuilt like this and so the centres are dying. What used to be countryside is now sprawling suburbs where you need a car just to live, a bland, uniform could-be-anywhere dullness.
There's also a lot of build up near motorway junctions such as hotels and shopping malls as it is easier to use the motorway. Directions to tourist attractions are given from the nearest motorway junction instead of railway station as well.
As a cyclist, I only ride on pavements when I feel unsafe so pushed off the roads by cars. Many pavements have been redesignated as shared cycle paths. This is ridiculous, bikes and pedestrians going in both directions on a strip less than 2m wide. Cyclisted didn't ask for this but, of course we must get bikes off the roads, incase they slow the cars down. So often cyclists are blamed for OTT new cycle lanes, or issues on shared paths, none of which they were consulted on or asked for. I'd be more than happy with roads wide enough for all and a little more respect from drivers.
i find shared paths so hard when its busy, walkers (often with dogs) are often totally oblivious, earphones in, wearing all black in the dark, not keeping dogs under control.... aaaaaaaaaaaaa these shared paths are the only safe place to cycle but i feel unwelcome on them lol
I never thought I would care for cycling infrastructure but as I watch mi kiddo grow up, i see how much we’re bound to the auto culture. I just want my kid to ride his bike safely in a way that allows for freedom without the ridiculous risk of death.
Since the Dutch changed the law and infrastructure in 73 to prioritise pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Written in 2011 "The Dutch now experience an overall risk which is less than a quarter of that in 1973, and for children it's now a twentieth of that in 1973. Dutch cyclists are now the safest in the world" The dutch public demanded change and they got it.
I was a good racing cyclist in my youth, and now in my 70's I still ride on a regular basis. I have found over the years, that my courtesy to other road users makes a big difference. I try not to be a nuisance when out on my bike, I wave vehicles by when I see a clear road, and often pull in to a gateway or lay-by, when i am a holding up. Lorries and buses especially, give a toot or a thunb's up as they go by, and cars often flash their hazard lights as a thankyou. I feel, that being thoughtful to other road users, they realise that we cyclists are not all the same.
I do the same,but unfortunately a lot of drivers have tarred us all with the same brush. On the whole my experience on the road is good. But a little too often I will get aggressive drivers blocking my route,I have even had one or two deliberately close pass at speed,and open their doors to knock me off. I have been spat on,and on one occasion actually punched by a back seat passenger. I have had a car turn off its headlights behind me and intimidate me for over a mile on a tight country lane,threatening to push me into the hawthorn Bush that ran along side the road. I have been brake checked on occasion,but the most common occurance is being over taken,for the driver to turn right in front of me. And don't get me started on the mobile phone users while driving,I swear that every other driver has their phone on their laps. I have also seen some shocking cyclists,but there are far fewer of them where I ride. I did actually see one once cycling the wrong way around a very busy roundabout. I am sure you have experienced a lot of the same things,even though we ride respectfully,there will always be morons that just hate us.❤
It might seem prudent in the moment to extend unwarranted courtesy to a motorist, but over the long term and in the bigger picture, giving way to a motor vehicle while the right of way is yours teaches motorists -- erroneously -- that people on bikes are _supposed to_ get out of their way.
@@atmywitsend1984It seems like the person you replied to is getting friendly waves and thank you's while you're getting literally life threatening assaults. Why is that? Do you pull over to let faster moving traffic pass, or mostly carry on until they can get by?
@@rangersmith4652 I see what you're saying ,If I have right of way at a junction, or a roundabout, I stick to my passage through, but on the fairly narrow roads that I cycle, I found it better and safer for me to just pull in. Many years ago, probably 1970 or 71, I was out training with a club mate near Worcester. Riding towards Malvern there is a little village called Powick, a man in a Morris minor forced us both onto the grass verge, luckily about a half of a mile up the road we saw him pull on to a drive outside a bungalow. I said to my mate john. "I'm going to have a word with him" so we stopped. all I got was a mouthfull of abuse, i let him carry on for a couple of minutes then hit him. he fell on to his flower border, dropping his car keys. We picked up his keys, an rode off, throwing his keys onto the verge a few hundred yards up the road. A few weeks later we were riding a road race along the same road, and wondered if the guy would come out and cause a problem, but thankfully he didn't.
@@kramelbbiw I don't think it necessarily matters what they're doing--if they're actively blocking the road and intentionally making it impossible to pass using 2 or 3 biking friends to take up as much space as possible and going 5mph while blocking all traffic, they still shouldn't be receiving those kinds of reactions. Only literal psychopaths act like that. You're using the same logic rapists use saying things like "well maybe you shouldn't have been wearing a skirt."
It's time for media to start taking responsibility for the hatred that they stoke up and consequences it has on people's behaviour towards cyclists, immigrant, or any other group of people that it is in their interest to demonise.
depends on the hill , the wind can effect your speed as well go against it an you strugle go wth it an you fly , ah have been cycling for over 50 years most times ah crash has been ma own fault ! but there are some people out there who should not be on our roads drivin anything an now Y T is fillin up wi them thank god for the vid we now have the evedence every one has a camera so watch your step aw you bad drivers/riders , aye !
Take the Netherlands for example. In general, driving a car there is way better simply because not EVERYONE does it at once, like in most American cities or other places. It isn't like cars need to go away; we all use them, we simply don't need everyone to be driving them at once making for what amounts to a MISERABLE transportation situation. Car centricity is completely out of control in Boston MA and everywhere.
You hit the nail on the head. It's all about money and profits. See the video "I Went to an Anti-Bike-Lane Revolt And Here’s What I Learned" by Oh the Urbanity to see the pro oil and car company people attacking an effort to add more bike lanes in Montreal.
Have you ever noticed that when a motor vehicle accident is reported its always the vehicle's fault, e.g "Pedestrian hit by car" or "Car mounts pavement" but when its a cyclist they are a lot more likely to mention the cyclist specifically in the headline, e.g "Cyclist hits pedestrian". They're effectively removing blame from the driver and missing the opportunity to remind drivers about the risks they pose to the rest of the public.
Welcome to discourse analysis. Plenty of well known examples such as Manufacturing Consent - and the "elites" do it for everything: immigrants, communism, Palestine, China.. basically anyone the Americans are against.
Customer “I hate these red bags, we are trying to save the environment”. Me “That’s why I ride a bike and don’t drive a car” she hasn’t spoken to me since. I’d like some respect from the drivers in my town. Only a mile each way to work near misses every week and i have video to prove it. I think once you pass a driving test six automatic months riding a push bike
There aren't many places to park a car where I live so there are cars parked on pavements and you have to squeeze past them. If narrow streets were made into one way systems the cars wouldn't have to be parked on pavements.
Living in the east and cycling in both Norwich and ipswitch, it has always baffled me why there’s so much push back for independent segregated cycle ways. It separates both cyclists and motorists. Yet motorists still complain about them, despite the fact it (on paper) means it would get us cyclists off the road in cities! I can cycle from the center of Norwich, out to the airport in 15 minutes if the traffic is good. Yet if there was a dedicated cycleway this could be cut down to 7 ish minutes, and I wouldn’t nearly die by terrible overtaking on my trips. Instead local authorities insist on low cost shared paths and road cycle lanes, which then just pisses off pedestrians and drivers, because they can’t read signs. Truely baffles me how we approach cycle infrastructure in this country, despite our world pedigree in the sport. Rant over, thank you for your video!
It's baffling, but probably explained by the bias in the media. I think a lot of people just want people to stop cycling altogether. If only they understood that more cyclists means less congested roads and therefore nicer driving experiences, maybe they'll learn...
@@devononair Yep, completely agree with you here. I’m not even an avid road cyclist, but I cant ignore the practicality of it over driving in dense urban areas. And as shown in the video, it’s disgusting the way right leaning media frames cyclists.
Good bike infra means that a percentage of the car drivers will switch to bikes, especially in cities: less cars on the road so less congestion. It baffles me that most car drivers are too dense to understand that.
I suspect that part of the problem as well is that most folks - media & govt alike - don't cycle or know anyone who does, while EVERY adult drives. Otherwise quite rational friends look at me with a mix of pity & incomprehension when I suggest commuting or shopping by bike, as I do. It is a huge cognitive blindspot, usually unthinking.
@@michaelgurd7477 I think it was Art Linkletter who wrote years ago that a man could do almost anything and be excused for it, but the moment he said that he didn't drive, people would question his sanity.
Spot on. It's also the reason that gammon types don't demand that pedestrians pay road tax for all their lightly-used pavements because everyone is also a pedestrian. Normalising using a bicycle as a means of transport and exercise is the best way of neutralising the culture war narratives.
Spot on. It's also the reason that gammon types don't demand that pedestrians pay road tax for all their lightly-used pavements because everyone is also a pedestrian. Normalising using a bicycle as a means of transport and exercise is the best way of neutralising the culture war narratives.
They also don't think that most cyclists are drivers too which is very much the case. Hence the bollocks about "not paying road tax" and other such bollocks.
Everybody is forgetting that for many people the car isn't even an option. Being it they are too young, too old, injured or caught driving drunk, car-centrism is what the able-bodied force onto everybody else.
So their bodies are capable of handling safer cleaner forms of transportation but they'd rather sit on their asses and press a pedal that allows them to effortlessly reach fatality inducing speeds
I've seen an American argue the exact opposite for elderly: bike lanes are bad because many can't bike anymore and then they wouldn't be able to use a car either. I almost literally shook my head. No one said car lanes should disappear entirely. And I am Dutch so I see loads of elderly on their (e)bike, independantly going where ever they want. Among them probably a few that don't feel safe driving anymore, or had their driver's license taken because of that. The American probably also didn't realise that with a bike culture, people stay capable cyclists up to a higher age.
Note how it is 'cyclist' and 'car', not 'bicycle' and 'driver'. Everyday absolution of drivers is systemic in our language, society and justice system. Cars make people feel 'powerful': "Look at how fast I can go without even breaking a sweat!" Cycling takes effort - something most humans instinctively avoid. Cycling has almost no downsides but cars harm everything (we just ignore the externalities).
I've been a motorcyclist and cyclist for 6 decades plus until loosing my legs to Sepsis in 2021.. The last Cycles I rode locally..I live in rural Kent...were refurbished machines some 50 years old... They were ideal for local use.. I always fit a 'bell' and rear-view mirror..I want to see what the Alpha-Male behind me in 2,5tons of 4x4 is doing... Unfortunately, the sheer terror induced in British traffic conditions has certainly removed any further interest in venturing onto our roads.. You are so right to highlight the aggression towards 2 wheels fostered and encouraged by the irresponsible elements of our 'Meeja'...Most car drivers have no empathy towards those who choose otherwise; an attitude in stark contrast to that generally met just 35km across the Dover Strait.... Britain is far less egalitarian now than as recently as the '70s.... I've handed in my M/C licence... There's no desire to risk what's left of me out on the roads...
I had the pleasure of hiring a bike in Saint Cyprien in the south east corner of France and it was a pleasure to cycle around the countryside on that mode of transport. There were good well marked lanes in most of the towns and out in the countryside ALL the cars waited patiently behind me as I cycled along. Once I detected a build up behind me I would pull into a convenient gateway or other wide part of the road and let the traffic go past. There was never any hostility or revving up or close shaves or other such nonsense that you can find on Irish roads. The difference seems to be that most areas of France are very well policed and they are highly visible at most times of the day. Remarkably you see very little engagement or people being pulled over, the very presence of the police seems to cool down any rule breaking and make all people behave and act by the rules. Because of a recent shoulder injury and also less flexible hips I had to give up bike riding as I am now getting on in years, blind in one eye and do not risk another injury by riding a bike in Irelands often chaotic roads.
I do think it boils down to advertising. Like when is the last time you saw a bike commercial? So they are gonna side with the people paying the bills, because these days you the reader/watcher is the commodity, they are selling you and your eyeballs to the advertisers. And if that advertiser has an adversary, the media is gonna side with the money.
I survived a T-bone hit and run, while riding in a bike lane. Through my own efforts, not those of the police, the driver was eventually found and made an admission of guilt. The police have been indifferent. The media was unresponsive. Not even my local bicycle community has moved to help me leverage this opportunity.
I get a lot of guessing where my accent is from. Had everything from Canadian to American. Had to Google Adam Something, I've never been mistaken for a Hungarian before, I think he sounds like Giancarlo Esposito personally. I put an Irish flag in my logo to save guesswork.
As with many spheres of life - just follow the path of money and things start to make sense. As a driver you're dependent on so many things to remain operational - as a cyclist, you just hop on your bike. It's complete freedom. No wonder electronic this and wireless that is forced on bikes to create the same dependency.
Very well said, indeed. We in the UK have blindly followed the US and other car centric countries, in the pursuit of the "freedom" that the car gives us (but only if you have a car, everyone else doesn't count!). This pursuit has been to the detriment of active and public transport, causing a vicious circle of forcing more and more people into cars. For most people, there appears to be no viable alternative to the car and therefore they perceive cars as a "must have and must use" necessity. Regrettably, there is no concerted effort to improve and integrate public transport and put it on a more even par with motor vehicles (such as travel cards allowing unlimited travel in an area for a specified period). Congestion charging is an obvious way to reduce traffic, and encourage the take up of other forms of transport, but this is universally slammed by motorists who see it simply as war on motorists, who of course happen to form the vast majority of the electorate. The widespread chaos, congestion, pollution etc caused by far too many motor vehicles has been normalised. People only consider their own convenience, and disregard the effect this is having on the wider society ("my SUV only emits a tiny amount of greenhouse gases and takes up a small amount if space compared to the total, so it causes negligible harm or inconvenience"). All of this has led the UK to adopt the following transport policy; 1. Motorists are first class citizens 2. Public transport users are second class citizens 3. Pedestrians are third class citizens 4. Cyclists are scum of the Earth An utter disgrace, especially when compared with enlightened countries such as The Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark etc etc When will our politicians and local authority officials wake up and take effective action to reverse this insanity? Not any time soon if they continue to read the Mail and other such rags.
Well-written and 100% true in the US as well as the UK. Car dependency is basically subscription mobility, even though it's pushed as "freedom".... which also depends on communist road funding.
I recall in the early 90's being on assignment from Ireland to Massachusetts when I was questioned by the local police for walking to a grocery store from my appartment rather than taking my car for the less than 1 mile trip. Once they were happy that I was not about to do something illegal they went on their way, stating that it was "most unusual" for a person not to take their car even for a 1 mile trip. Back in the 1990's car ownership and usage was not as intense as it is now in Ireland and the people walked most short trips rather than take their cars. Now all the buildings and retail has become very car orientated despite the fact that Ireland has a negligible car industry and, hence, a less powerful pro-car lobby than most other European countries. Ireland has acquired a lot of wealth and good jobs recently and much of that money had been spent on cars, houses being too expensive for most average people. This is not good in the long term both for environmental and health reasons but also for the future because housing is a relatively permanent asset which you will own outright in 30 years but a car is a heavily depreciating asset which is a drain on anyones finances.At the moment the Green Party are part of a three-way coalition in power and are having some influence in advocating for green transport and moving away from overdependence on cars. There has been huge extra spending on public transport and cycling greenways etc. In rural areas local minibus links now operate to provide links for people with no cars to the nearest public transport hubs but a lot more work needs to be done in this regard.
I've never been to England, but I kind of like the Beatles. Here in my little isolated corner of the US, I see a lot of electric bicycles being ridden by people of all ages. The thought occurred to me the other day that one of these days all these folks are going to be doing more of their chores with these bikes. They could be ideal for a grocery store run. As that happens won't these electric bike users be demanding better bicycle paths? It's just a thought.
Hopefully! But the biking culture in the USA has been recreational for a long time. But with e-bikes becoming common and gas prices going up, I think more people will start considering them for non-recreational use. I actually calculated how much my gas (petrol) cost vs how much electricity cost for trips to work, and my bike will pay for itself in 2-5 years. If I factor in maintenance for the car and other costs, probably even sooner.
Hey, cool channel. I have been a regular cyclist most of my life and am lucky enough to live in a city (Montreal, Canada) which encourages cycling more than most on this continent, just ask the youtube channels ‘shifter’ in Calgary, Alberta or ‘oh the urbanity’ here in Montreal.
Since 2013 still using bike as main transportation because it is cheap, low maintenance and tax free, i bought it only cost 200$ and still hold on piece
For real! Bought a used bike three years ago for 200 bucks and spent 200 on accesories. I now pay less than 100 bucks per year for maintenance and replacement parts while I can deduct a lump sum of 700 from taxes, no questions asked.
Cars, insurance, maintenance and fuel have pushed themselves so high that many young adults simply can't afford them and pay rent/buy a house/start a family, get higher education, and eat. Bicycling/e-biking are excellent alternatives with all the advantages you have mentioned. As more people shun cars cities and communities of all sizes are going to need to accommodate these alternative modes of transportation. People complain that it's not safe, but in many communities there are side roads and alternate routes than can be followed ti avoid much of the heavy traffic. To find these you can study Google Earth or just watch kids and see where they ride to get around on their bikes.
I have been to the Netherlands, I been to New York City. I can breath fresh air in the Netherlands, hear the chat when i walk with friends. Enjoy window shopping a cafe on the street. When in New York, lets say one must shower every day and maybe it is best to wear ear plugs to talk with friends.
Politicians and (cough*) some media outlets cater for the majority, and the majority uses cars. Everybody talks about a cultural change in traffic, but when you start taking away lanes or - gasp - parking space, you'll get home owners and shop owners on the barricades, and you'll need very few incentives from the mighty car industry to boost that. Plus, when people know you are invested in cycling they will inevitably tell you stories about some impudent bike riders they witnessed. It is difficult, and you need a concerted effort by engaged politicians and public push to change something, like in Paris. When you call in hearings and want to make everyone happy, very little will change. *Every country has tabloids to address peoples lower impulses, but I think the British ones are world-leading. I still recall the Daily Mirror putting pictures of judges above the headline "ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE", for which they should have earned a "Der Stürmer" - award.
Spot on. The way our urban areas are designed shows that governments don’t give a shit about cyclists, their health or getting to net zero. Where I live there are 4/5 different roads that all lead to the next biggest town, cars are littered on streets during the day because urban planners didn’t plan for households to have more than one car. Majority of trips by car are 5 miles or less and by single occupant drivers. The Govt. Has fleeced motorists for decades by using revenue from VED, fuel duty and VAT to help plug their financial black hole. Roads have therefore not been maintained and are full of potholes. Giving up road space and protected cycling infrastructure, which is far cheaper to build and maintain is a no brainer.
Totally agree. They pretend that the car is bad,by pushing for clean air zones and 20mph roads everywhere these days. It is really just a stealth tax in disguise as a safer and cleaner road😅but at the same time in my 40 year commute to work very little has changed in the infrastructure that benefits cycling. Unfortunately my commute is on horrendously busy and narrow roads. Apart from one section in my 14 mile journey each way,which is 600 yards long,and ironically was already the only quiet section,they have placed a cycle path on the actual footpath. It is useless for me,as on that little stretch if I was to use it,I would have to yield to cars and lorries coming in and out of businesses no fewer than 8 times. On the road section I have the right of way all along it. I honestly don't think that councillors have the foggiest idea about the cycling issues. The only positive I can think of in recent years is the placement of cycling boxes at the traffic lights,although on my commute there is only one,but it does help. On one section of my commute I do actually ride on the footpath,as it is a very steep road,and every 100 yards it has pedestrian islands that actually narrow the road dangerously,and some drivers don't seem to have any idea that there isnt enough space to pass me at these points. I hate having to do this,but I really do not feel safe at all,and I am a very confident cyclist. Plus I hate holding traffic up. The whole clean air/net zero is a pipe dream,and the powers that be know it isn't remotely possible to achieve,but they are getting plenty of revenue from drivers as a result,so sadly I don't expect things to improve any time soon. I certainly don't want to prevent motorists from using their vehicles,I just want transparency,and this horrible division the media are creating to end.
@@atmywitsend1984 totally agree on councillors not having the foggiest idea. I attended a borough council event to promote local walking and cycling infrastructure in my area. The local cycling officer stood up and said the reason why children cycle on pavements was because of a lack of education. No you idiot they cycle on there because of a lack Of protected cycling infrastructure in the area and they have been taught not to go on there by their parents who fear for their safety. To be fair council boroughs are dependent on county councils who are in turn dependent on central govt funding. We have a cycle loop that goes around our town centre that was supposed to be completed by next month. Absolute rubbish as they haven’t started on large sections of it.
Most of today's car manufacturers started by manufacturing bicycles, they don't promote that. Also you have your saddle set too low and you are not extending your leg, making for an inefficient pedal stroke. Good video with valid points
Since it is "not what you think"; I will post what I think it is before watching the video. Newspapers exist to sell advertising. The "News" they put on the front page is just a hook they use to get you to buy a copy. Years ago I noticed that the various sections of the newspaper were organized by advertising segments, including homes, automotive, and classifieds. Homes and autos have their own sections because they are big-ticket items, with a relatively high marketing budget. That is why I think that the media hates cyclists.
The mental state of most drivers now is frail at best.. most people seem to be angry from the get-go. Getting tailgated, honked at, cutoff or brakechecked is a regular occurrence now. Since I got a cheap bike to cycle around to replace my short journeys, I'm a lot more chilled out. I wish they'd encourage everyone to cycle more.
It's also jealousy - if you are commuting by car at 5 mph and know you have to find a parking spot at the other end, you end up hating the 'lower status' cyclist going 10 mph who can just get off their bike and lock up at their destination - which can be nearly anywhere, not a rare, full special facility.
You have to be careful where you park your bike. Bike theft is very common in Ireland whereas car theft has been reduced by better locks, tracking devices and other means of surveillance and detection. Also our heavily congested roads make escaping in a stolen car much harder than in the dark days of the joy-riding craze of the late 90's and early 00's. Bike are ideal if you have a secure lock-up or yard at your destination as is the case for many bar and restaurant workers but leaving a bike on the public road is a gamble.
An excellent example to prove how the news frames bicycling and infrastructure is a FOX5 NYC segment from last week reporting construction of the Bedford Avenue bike lane, there was implicit bias from the studio hosts as well as which interviewees to include for the story.
Very insightful. I never really considered the impact of auto advertising on bicycle perception in the media, and the resulting consequence on bicycle infrastructure.
Truth! Most articles I read conclude with a need to stop these bicyclists or get them riding elsewhere. They could easily conclude instead for a push to making bicycling safer for everyone with better bicycling infrastructure... but nope, not in car centric land!
Many drivers are careless and dangerous on a regular basis, everyone should know what it is like outside a car and then make a decision what form of transportation we should be focused on
Nice to hear someone else use the car centric term to describe our transport culture. I agree with what you say. One point though - insurance premiums can apply to cyclists. I insure my bicycles. Some will do this on their house insurance policy, but i insure mine with specific bike insurance.
@@RUBBER_BULLET Pedestrians and bikers are injured or killed in accidents with motorists constantly and they never make any headlines. But on a rare occasion when a biker runs over a pedestrian, you bet that's gonna make it to the front page. Media really gets going when something extraordinary happens.
@@RUBBER_BULLET That "doggy" expression is a sort of 100 yo meme, saying that only extraordinary news make it to front page. In the case of the video, bikers causing accidents are "extraordinary", but if the car industry is supporting the newspapers, of course that adds an extra twist.
@@SoundbrigadeBikers and pedestrians getting hit by cars can make headlines. But they usually involve victim blaming, like asking if the victim was wearing helmet if they’re on a bike and for pedestrians, asking if they’re visible.
Even the media that points cycling in a good light only sees cycling as excercize or recreation and not transportation. I always find it funny when people say that "you can go wherever you want when you want in a car." But that's not even true. A car can only drive where there are roads (or off road areas where cars are permitted.) Biking and hiking can actually get you into more places. And owning a car isn't necessary when everything you need on a daily basis is within walking distance.
Great video. Keep cycling guys and convincing others to cycle. Ride safe because dead cyclists are not good at convincing people to cycle. Promote cycling to your friends and family. Never argue with a motorist they can hurt you and you won't convince them at this nervous moment.
Seen a great GCN video involving a Welsh professor. The UK is so cultured to worship the car, all junctions are set to let a car get through them quicker and lights to cross roads are designed with cars first approach. So something like a bike is alien, often looked down upon as commuting transport. I am lucky old railway lines away from roads are cycle network now. Because its a nearly daily expoerince to nearly be murdered by peopl who lack basic judgement of situations. The motor industry has to keep selling more and more, bigger and bigger, cars barely fit car park spaces now. Going to be hard to break that trend. But a push for funcitional is kwey to our health. No going a mile to get milk in a car, ride it etc. Save money
I hope you enjoyed your visit to the New Forest. There are a few train stations which have good and reasonably flat offroad cycle routes nearby that are ideal for a car free mini adventure.
Oh God! It is like everything else. Like Corporate greed never gets blamed for the misery it creates, it's always the fault of poor and working people.
I've been aware of the anti-cycling bias in certain parts of the (UK) media for years, but never really understood the reasoning or mechanisms. Now I do :( And hello from Portchester!
Here in North America, big and small Simply Useless Vehicles dominant on the roads. When tighter emission and safety standards for cars were looming, All the big companies embraced lower production costs and bigger profit margins. After decades of decreases in deaths and injuries from cars despite more of them being driven further than ever. there has been a steady increase over recent years to levels not seen since the 70's. Before airbags, ABS, traction control, navigation, electronic aids that are standard on cars now. Yet cars are being promoted as safer than ever. And they help you get there with less effort on your part. No outcry or government hearings. No demand for action to stop the needless suffering. I am not a tree hugging environmentalist... I actually have enjoyed travelling b y car, driving on a track and the culture of social activities. But where are the smaller, lighter, efficient and fun to drive vehicles that modern technology promised? Instead cars are bigger and heavier and less efficient than 20 years ago. The world does not need more 2500kg wagons that can out accelerate a Bugatti to 150 mph but cannot stop to in time to run over Little Jimmy in 40kph school zone.
3:13 "_Drivers_ responsible for far more _collisions_ and deaths". (i.e 'drivers' not 'cars', and 'collisions', not 'accidents'). This language matters because framing crashes as 'accidents;' makes it seems like 'just one of those things, nothing can be done', and talking about 'cars' hitting things (not mentioning the drivers that are controlling them) removes responsibility from the drivers. You might find it helpful to read the 'Road Collision Reporting Guidelines' by Laura Laker, which is advice for media organisation, and explains why it matters and suggests fairer and more effective ways to talk about these things. Language is insidious in setting norms, so it's important for those of us talking about this stuff to use it carefully.
Motorists just are not used to cyclists on the road. Cyclists are a new category of road users and it forces motorists to pay more attention to the traffic as they used to do. While complaining the exaggerate problems with cyclists, for instance by counting deaths per decade, without saying the that same number of deaths caused by cares is reached within one week! Lot of accidents between cyclists and pedestrian are not caused by the cyclists, but by a motorist doing something which causes the cyclist to escape to the sidewalk. If you look to the Netherlands in cities lik Amsterdam, Utrecht or Rotterdam you see many cyclists. Because all these people are on a bicycle and not in a car, the car lanes are not overcrowded as the used to be in the seventies. One bike takes much less space on the road. One care takes more space than 4 bikes! The more people switch to cycling, the faster car traffic becomes! In the Dutch cities traffic congestion's are rare because so many people take the bike. So motorists should not complain, but encourage the use of bicycles!
There is good cycling infrastructure in several northern European countries. In Sweden the cycling infrastructure here is light years ahead of the UK and many more people cycle as their primary means of transportation. The public transport is amazing too, at least in the larger cities. The combination of these two things (plus expensive parking) results in a much lower volume of traffic on the roads. We went from being a 2 car to a 0 car household when we moved here.
@@peglor The first "modern" bicycle (safety bicycle) is from 1885 (Penny farthing from 1871), the first car is from 1886 (Mercedes Benz). That's not a big difference. In modern traffic bicycles are quite a new type of personal transport, which motorists are not used to. We have seen that in the Netherlands in the 1970's. It takes a few years, It is just a matter of time and bicycles will be a normal feature in English cities too.
There is also an element of chronically inactive and lead-poisoned boomers having a reflexive resentment towards people they see as physically fit and able in comparison. Look at how often they complain about lycra specifically. In the Netherlands, the proportion of journeys that elderly and disabled people complete by bicycle is nearly 10x the total rate of bicycle journeys in the UK so it's not even a well-founded prejudice.
I see a lot of product placement in shows and movies, including vehicle behaviour. I grew up on James Bond and The Italian Job, no wonder our generation glorifies the industry. The increase in vehicle size is concerning, it’s like a knock on effect, even single seniors previously happy with a top of the range little hatchback are willy waving giant electric 4x4’s, it would be interesting to analyse the motivation for their choice.
The issue is this isn´t even only about cycling (even tho I love cycling and I agree with you) but its also about public transit, walking but also smaller cars aka lite vehicles because these can fit on smaller roads and need less fuel, parkin spaces and are easier to electrify. But the auto industry makes more mony with bigger cars as the prices are higher to profit with those cars also rises wich increases the risks for cyclist, pedestrians and people on motorcycles as well as other smaller types of vehicles. They also take up an unecessary amount of space because in germany during rush our an average of 1.1 person sits in car and during "normal" traffic an average of 1.2 person sits in a car so you mostly only need a small type of vehicle with two seats so we also have to improve the situation for that. Even tho better bikelanes, pedestrian routes and public transit are the better solutions here as motorized individual traffic is pretty bad in cetrain regions frequent public transit is not viable (I know that there are good on demand systems I have on in my village it´s pretty good but can get overwhelmed or very complicated but I´d say it works 80 to 90 percent of the time and is a real game changer especially on sundays or when you need to get home late like from a party or something.) so for these rare places individual transport is a good options dosent mean there shouldn´t be any bike lanes or pedestrian infrastructure but if people who have 2 or more cars would replace on with a small electric vehicle that would help a lot in those regions. anyhow good video and I liked the point that also oil companies and insurance companies have a interest in car infrastructure/ dependence as I have mostly overlooked these two to have an interest in that but it makes sense because they make a lot of profit with cars and car usage.
Excellent and informative video! Many of my friends and family members have been hit by cars, either as pedestrians, cyclists or driving. I find it confusing and confounding talking about cyclist law breakers, yet cars are out here polluting, killing and injuring. Yes, here in the US some 40k die per year in car related deaths.
Yes, follow the money. Cycling is a threat to the auto, oil and tire industries, not to mention all the supporting businesses (e.g., parking, insurance). -- So many claim that bikes on roads are dangerous, but when I ask "Dangerous to whom?", it is obvious that it is motorists who are dangerous to cyclists. Just one narrative that keeps getting repeated rather than motorists taking responsibility for driving safely.
En France,c'est la même chose.Les medias parlent toujours de la soi disant "dangerosité" des utilisateurs de velo.. Mais pour developper le velo il faut d'abord construire des pistes cyclables sécurisées au pied de chaque maison, jusqu'aux portes des entreprises et commerces.Sinon personne, ou tres peu ,voudront changer de moyen de transport. 😊
I'm no cyclist and it doesn't particularly appeal to me but I agree there is an anti-cyclist narrative. I think the fact I know a few people who cycle seriously (or have done in the past) probably has something to do with that. I also think that motorists in general need to be more aware of, and considerate to, cyclists. On the stats at the beginning though, there are obviously going to be more motor vehicles hitting pedestrians by virtue of the fact there are way more motor vehicles on the road. That's just counting. I don't know what percentage of traffic in the UK if made up of by cyclists but I'd be surprised if it's anymore than 2 or 3% I'm not defending motorists here but I don't think those stats really mean very much.
We should ban cars. Also, these media biases apply to just about everything in capitalism. The private media will just follow the same incentives as big capital. Also also, good video!
UK cyclists are much more likely than any other country, to wear reflective high visibility clothes, helmets, equip their bikes with lights etc. And in the same time they are hated more than any country, I challenge you to find one other place in the advanced world, where people talk about cyclists paying road tax, getting insurance, getting licence plates etc. Black Cab, SUV and White Van drivers are a lot more dangerous and frustrating, but they don't get the same kind of hate, and this is all for the media to blame as they exaggerate the cyclists accidents. Yes there is lots of road rage and revengeful attitude from cyclists too, also militant youtuber activists who report motorists to the police, and cause drama out of nowhere, but this I think is a reaction of some cyclists against the anti-cyclist culture. Not the other way around.
While I like your presentation style, I feel like some segments severely lack with specificity and citation. Like, only saying "the auto industry wants this", "the oil industry wants that", "the news organisations do this" sounds too wish-washy to me, something that could come out of a conspiracy theory video (which, to clarify, I don‘t believe was your intention). Hope to see more from you!
The more people can be encouraged to cycle, the fewer cars will be one the roads making it more convenient for those who NEED to use their cars. Seems like a winner all round, and if the price of making that happen is building dedicated, safe infrastructure to separate them as far as possible it should be a no-brainer for those on both sides of the discussion.
If everyone had to pay for their per mile travel expenses in real time, a lot more people would be riding bicycles and public transit. They would be demanding improvements to bicycle and public transit infrastructure. As it is now, the real costs are hidden in taxes, negative health impacts, bad land use, etc.
People lose their shit around people dying for any other reason; "things HAVE to change!" And then all of a sudden with cars it's "🤷ehh... It's just the cost of doing business, y'know?"
Once a village or town is established far from its resources, like big box stores or even grocers, car culture is baked in and it won’t go away because most people just won’t cycle more than a Km to do anything. They make excuses like weather and getting sweaty in work clothes to continue justifying their car dependence. Even though examples like Amsterdam exist, if local ordinance is centered around car-centric design, it will always be that way, sadly.
I'm somewhere in the middle of this whole debate. I've got a car, pedal bike and motorbike. There are some trips that I'd never want to do a pedal bike and some trips I'd prefer a pedal bike compared to the other two. The same goes for the car and motorbike. So it all depends ! For short trips in a local area, reasonable weather, yes pedal bikes are great. I guess there are hard core pedallers who think a 25 mile ride is easy, personally I don't ! 25 miles on a motorcycle is pretty easy. Never really going to carry a large amount of shopping or luggage on a pedal bike, the bus can be a bit easier, but even that's limited, a couple of carrier bags ! my motorcycle with top box can carry about 1 carrier bag full. Add a ruck sack and I can carry a bit more. Panniers a bit more still. Probably 2 to 3 carrier bags worth ! (Panniers rarely get put on it) My car, and it's a B segment super mini, not that big, so think the size of a Ford Fiesta (it's not a fiesta ) , well I can carry all the shopping I need for a week and more. Then there's trips on cold, sometimes icey, wet or dark days. The pedal bike or motorbike aren't much fun on those days. Especially the icey days. 4 wheels are much better in the ice. Also there are large areas of the country where public transport is really naff. The bus around my way to the local town centre that stops running at just after 7 pm, and most of the day it's on an hourly schedule ! I think where bikes are the best option, yes people should be encouraged, but really they're not always the best option. I'm certainly not against dedicated cycle lanes in town centres. The one part that cyclists can't moan about is they really don't pay for the roads. Some really old numbers , I think from around 2012 ish. All forms of car taxation , VED, new car tax, fuel duty, VAT on all of those, well it was worth something like £40 billion to the Treasury. The money spent on roads was something like £10 billion in the year. So all forms of motor vehicle taxation did pay around 4 times over ( and probably still does) for all road building and maintenance. You can argue "well they're the ones mainly wearing the roads out" and "more of the road is dedicated to them !", these are both true . Pedal cyclists (who aren't motorists) aren't paying anything. So once all the cars have been removed by the coming "EV utopia" (Who can afford an EV ?) because a lot of motorists have been priced off the road, well the roads will be funded through general taxation, so the pedal cyclists will be paying for them then ! Be careful what you wish for. Currently pedal cyclists are freeloading on the roads that have been paid for via motoring taxation.
@@karlosh9286 Transport infrastructure is funded via general taxation. If you pay any tax, you're funding road building and maintenance. I might make a video about it 😉
@@averagemanonabike The point still stands , motoring taxes paid 4 times the amount that is spent on the roads. The cars, lorries, vans, motorcycles are paying 4 times over what is spent on the roads. ( on the 2012 ish figures I am sure I remember correctly ). if the motoring taxes aren't paying for the roads, well they're paying for something else that the non motorists aren't paying for, and are probably still using.
Remember the whole reason media exists to sell advertising , subscribers are only the service they provide to their advertisers. Subscriptions seldom make them much, subscribers are currency they provide to car industry to listen to their PR.
The car ads sell a dream, that in real life fail automatically. A lot of haters of cycling want to hold on the dream they are sold. Have a look at car ads, that are the same concept from the 1950s. The car that elevates you, while there is no one else on the road. When was the road empty just for you, while you transited to work?
Everybody wants to get where they want to go at everyone else's expense. Drivers want cyclists gone because cyclists are slow, weak, and get in the way. Cyclists want drivers excluded because cars can kill if they get in the way and are polluting and noisy. The problem is people, not the car, not the bike.
Certainly in cities people on buikes aren't slow or in the way. They're going faster than the traffic overall. And there is no equivalence between "I don't want you to be there" and "I don't want you to kill me". Quite clearly the group that poses a risk to the other _is_ the problem.
@@bestbehave People in cars or on foot have been dealing with each other long before present day, and in different cultures. That the car makes injury and death possible while also providing real benefits does not mean it should be excluded. It does mean that both the driver and pedestrian need to look out for each other, because they are both human and therefore of equal worth and thus both have a place in the city. Yes, physically isolated bike lanes are needed for access by bicycle and safety for said cyclist. Yes, I can see cars and drivers excluded from a street or space that seems to be mostly dominated by those on foot or bicycle already by organic growth. Yet to see some cycling advocates fight against car domination, win, and then turn around and become the same kind of overlords they protested against because car advocates might want low speed access for good reasons is contemptible behavior.
@@delftfietser The "dealing with each other" usually means people on foot being killed, and people who own cars being afforded privilege. Cars are a liabilty in modern cities , not a benefit And no, it is not the responsibilitiy of pedestrians not to be killed by car drivers. It is soley ther esponsibility of drivers not to kill
IMO, it's clickbait driven media. Since you're a cyclist, social media sites throw a bunch of cycling related content in your feeds including rage-click bait. In a month or two, there will just be some other clickbait topic poisoning news feeds with info that doesn't help anyone achieve anything meaningful. The "cars versus bikes" narrative is a fantasy on both sides. Most cyclists are also drivers and aren't crusader/activist types. Also, a surprisingly large portion of the population, even in the US, rides a bike at least a few times a year. All the people I know who ride many hours a week do it as a hobby and don't think the government or other people owe them infrastructure or at least aren't out campaigning for that--in fact some of the local racing community financed their own velodrome here in my area. The public trails we have are great, and very popular addition to the local infrastructure, and I'm glad the local parks built them, but should some struggling family cough up extra tax bucks for me to do my hobby on some more miles of trails or bike lanes? Nope and vice versa. In my area, there's a pretty good argument for more recreational infrastructure, but the people who are going to pay for it, the mass of taxpayers, needs to determine the priorities and decide what makes sense to go into debt for/spend money on.
The Dutch fought the auto lobby and one. Now everyone in the Netherlands cycles and everyone is happier.
Keep working for bike infrastructure in the UK
More people use a car in The Netherlands than a bike as their main source of transport.
you never win a fight like that, it is a constant battle against vested interests and crazy people who we know never give up
In the Netherlands, even with the bicycle infrastructure, and government policies suporting it, rail, and mass transit, there are still 2+ cars per Dutch household. For the Dutch,.they have a achieved a true choice for transport for all their people. No either/or nonsense, no false dilemmas.
@@highwayman15 No people riding around trying to catch drivers using their mobile phone at traffic lights, so they can report them to the police?
And please note hardly anyone in the Netherlands feels the urge to wear Lycra and look a twat. That’s what does it for your average car driver x people trying to hit 35mph on their treader and be superior about their fitness…
Your first mistake is reading the daily mail
I was about to say this haha. Guy needs more sources.
True, but whether we like it or not, tabloids are everywhere, and the other tabloid titles aren't much better. And often in local titles, the only time cyclists are mentioned are when they were in a (car) crash, they might not be as blatant about it, but there's clearly showing some bias as well, when they have to mention that 'the cyclist was not wearing a helmet or hi-vis vest', 'the cyclist was hit by a car' instead of 'hit by a driver', etc, to put as much responsibility of the crash on the cyclist as possible.
@@barvdw even the use of the passive voice contributes to it. Framing it as about a cyclist who was "hit by a car" not about a driver who hit a cyclist treats driving as unremarkable and unquestionable. It softens the figurative blow, and makes it easier to feel fine about car-centrism.
daily fail on par for truth as the sunday sport lol
Most of the people read this kind of junk, especially the lower educated ones, that's why auto industry lobby use them to form the 'public opinion'. Just like politicians. It's good to see their commnication, to be able to voice yours effectively.
Irony of the day...this video was interrupted by a Comercial for Honda automobiles
Using an adblocker solves that problem. You should try it and enjoy watching youtube without ads. For free.
evidence of the exact problem - our environment is up for sale, and the auto industry has the deep pockets to purchase it
the metro red line station in my neighborhood in North Hollywood has one of the biggest ford dealerships I have ever seen, right across the street from it, exactly where a huge high density apartment complex . So much for TOD 🤦♀🤷♀ The auto lobby dont fuck around, they play for keeps and are pure evil.
Very well argued. Unfortunately it's not all rational: I have been cycling the roads of London since 1980. I have also been watching TV car adverts since even earlier than that. Car adverts have turned the brains of 100s of millions to mush: for decades and decades these pernicious vile forms of propaganda have been promoting the idea of "car = the open road = freedom". Mostly driving or owning a car does not involve open roads, but congested roads, endless frustration, endless bills for fuel, maintenance, insurance, etc. To say nothing of the unbelievable costs of building and maintaining car infrastructure for all of us through our taxes, or the real cost to the climate of not adequately taxing fuel, driving, the industrial processes involved in manufacturing cars, etc.. Not driving keeps me healthier as well, likely to make me a lesser burden on the health system, etc. etc.
Due to these advertising campaigns over decades, car companies no longer even have to broadcast explicitly that message about freedom, as cars have, for 100s of millions of people, become a completely subconscious symbol of freedom. Which I why I also rage when car companies pay to do things like "book-end" documentaries and films on TV with some "brand identity" footage which simply says "Ford Motor Company (or whatever), sponsoring challenging documentaries" ... in just a few seconds they are not just subliminally injecting "brand identity" into the minds of the malleable, they are also reinforcing incrementally the continuing normalisation of these fantasies about cars generally. And it's all being done completely deliberately and purposefully of course.
As for the Daily Mail, I could feel the toxin level in my blood rising just from the few seconds of footage of those pages of carefully calibrated hatred and ignorance in your vid.
Good work though!
My people are here
It's funny how you talk about car ads brainwashing people. What I can't stand is when car ads seem to promote a racing culture. It makes people believe that the little souped-up passenger car their driving is a real race car, and the road is a race track. I can't tell you how many times I see people racing to get on our off of an exit first or racing to get to the next stop light first. It's ridiculous.
You are part of the problem🤦
Automobile brainwashing is epidemic. Breeds insanity and entitlement like nothing else!
In the US, its like we gave the entire country to the Auto lobbyin the 1950s and told them, “we trust you to build us a bright and prosperous future”. Of course the auto lobby promptly got greedy and extremely predatory. And today We find ourselfs in griplock with no other alternatives. They had to make sure that we have no other choice but to buy their gas and auto parts while we all slowly become diabetic and go into heart failure trapped in. our car-dependent suburban spraul. Its like the automobile is motorist “culture” is actually an extremely damaging and destructive MEMEPLEX, which, similar to relgion, just might be the MEMEPLEX that leads us to our extinction.
It used to be easy for those vested interests to say that good bike infrastructure was bad for local businesses and residents ability to get around. Now that there is real data on the effects of giving the streets back to pedestrians and cyclists, this is no longer the case.
The data is useless when ignored by government officials who are compromised car brains and anti-bike.
Here in the Philippines. The persons in charge of traffic. MMDA Chairman Artez vetoed the protected bike lane at EDSA. Since it would affect the car dealership business in that part of highway. As his actual reason during a town hall meeting recorded by the national press. The President of the MMDA Mayors representative Zamora removed all of the bike lane bollards in his city. The same Mayor who went on junket trip to the Netherlands to learn about bike lanes and road design.
You're under the strange assumption that most people act or are informed by anything other than their own views and that of the gutter press. They don't care about statistics. They don't care about reality. In the UK we have an obesity crisis, a cost of living crisis, our public services are creaking or already broken and the highstreet is dying. Prioritising active travel would help massively with all these issues but still they won't do it because its unpopular with the average idiot.
@@mctrials23 Completely agree with you but let's be clear that the average idiot has been indoctrinated from childhood to believe that car-centrism is the only way a society should be organised, that cars equal freedom and that it's a cultural rite of passage to own a car as young as legally possible. I only realised how deep this ran in to people's identity and psyche in the past few years. You're right that no matter how much data is presented to them, most people will refuse to change their mind especially when they have made such a huge financial and emotional commitment to their prized personal gasmobile ie climate controlled private armchair on wheels. It all comes out in 'road rage', which to me is the expression of an internal confliction - that people know deep down that it's all absurd and really they don't like the monotony of driving; the financial cost; the endless finding and paying for parking spaces; the sitting in traffic (causing traffic in fact); the staring at the back of another car and a load of asphalt whilst being totally seperated and isolated from other humans and the natural environment.
There needs to be a way to communicate the benefits of proper segregated bike lanes (and roads dedicated to bikes and tiny electric vehicles), public transport, traffic reduction measures such as pedestrianisation,LTN's and narrower roads etc to the majority of drivers, but I've found it's a very difficult task. It's probably better to get in direct touch with councillors and show the data and statistics to those who also appear to be clueless, or paid for in some way by people with vested interests in pollution machines.
Unfortunately, I have seen these studies rejected consistently by those who like the status quo. People are very good at ignoring facts that don't match their expectations, even scientists aren't fully free from biases...
Creating conflict gets clicks. Whether it’s immigrants, or cyclists it doesn’t matter to these media outlets. I left twitter because Elon musks algorithms would try and trigger me every time I logged in (often successfully). We do live in a car centric world and I’m glad I’ve broken free of that, it has saved me a fortune.
I agree. It's not just car advertising it's all advertising and if you have a story that gets eyes on it, that helps with advertising revenue. Also, people do tend to dislike or even hate a thing that they don't do themselves or anyone close to them. Since bike riders are a big minority, they are an easy target for dislike and hate. A lot of media knows this and play on it to get views on their story. Saying that the local media where I live is really positive about cycling and I find it more the commercial or right-wing media outlets that really demonise bike riders.
you live in an echo chamber and get triggered when anything outside your bubble is exposed to you?
@@16m49x3i opened twitter for the first time in months and got shown holocaust denialism and a rant about "the woke left". I get y'all arent the sharpest but meeting intolerance with tolerance is the same thing weimar conservatives did before they were put into concentration camps.
@@16m49x3i opened twitter for the first time in months and got shown holocaust denialism and a rant about "the woke left". I get y'all aint the brightest but meeting intolerance with tolerance is the same thing weimar conservatives did before they were put into concentration camps.
@@16m49x3i opened twitter for the first time in months and got shown holocaust denialism and a rant about "the woke left". Meeting intolerance with tolerance is the same thing weimar conservatives did before they were put into concentration camps.
I have been a professional driver for twenty years, and I'm an HGV driver. In that time, I saw it all. In my own experience, private car drivers ie non professional drivers . Are the group of road users I have had the most conflict with a lot of them do not pay any attention to what is going on around them. I have had very occasional run-ins, with cyclists being unaware of the blind spots on an HGV, if you can't see my mirrors I can't see you. We are all human we all make mistakes.
I find HGV drivers to be by far the most aware of their surroundings, including the presence of cyclists.
How is it that they kill the most cyclists and are fault for modt collisions. @@Frostbiker
Curious. I feel (in germany at least) professional drivers are the worst. Might be biased because I read of lawsuits where a truck driver got a stern speech from the judge after killing a person for the second time and a neglible punishment (10k€). Especially the low-paid people like parcel delivery doesn't give a fart about rules. Around here, they often block the road (single way) to deliver which I kind of understand and most people are chill with that, but sometimes you see vans parking like shit with a parking spot just a couple of dozen meters away. There are some people like craftsman that should be reasonably well paid that also break the rules out of habit (driving and parking on the walkway to avoid walking 5m to a legal free parking spot) and implicitly threaten with violence when you point out there wrongdoing.
The problem a lot of people seem to have is they cannot fathom that when the consequences for one group are much higher than for another, the safer group has a much higher obligation to the in-danger group. Far too many people think a cyclist running a red light is equivalent to a driver blowing through one. They are not the same. Cyclists shouldn't do it but the consequences are much lower and yet all we hear about is cyclists doing it. Driving standards are generally awful if you actually pay attention to it. Its just so normalised that people don't even notice the constant low level bad driving. They don't notice the constant speeding, cutting corners, accelerating to beat lights, flying through zebra crossings, not looking before pulling manoeuvres.
This idea that "mistakes are made" is at the core of bad driving and deaths on our roads. Its at the core of the idea that these are accidents that couldn't reasonably have been prevented which is complete rubbish a lot of the time.
Our sentencing for awful driving just reenforces this idea. Plough onto a roundabout and hit a cyclists? Didn't see him? Well thats because you didn't look properly. Sun was in your eyes? Was it? Even if it was, a good driver doesn't just continue on regardless when they can't see properly.
@@mctrials23 I disagree. It's not about vulnerability, it's about visibility. Rather than telling cars to give way to bikes who are trying to lane split past then on the inside while they're turning left (as they do in the UK, because the rider is more vulnerable), they should be telling riders not to pass cars in such situations. BTW, we don't hear so much about drivers running red lights because they get fined for doing that, and can lose their license.
I heard a driver moaning recently about a 20mph speed limit because she couldn’t overtake cyclists
It's ridiculous aye. The average speed of a car journey in my town is 14mph. In central London it's something like 8mph. One thing I've noticed with most drivers is that they love to speed to overtake cyclists only to get stuck at the next traffic lights and overtaken again by the cyclist. Yet, they never seem to learn/realise how idiotic that is. Even with our shite bike infrastructure, it's still quicker to cycle many routes than to drive in heavily built up areas.
“She” being a mummy who wants to get her kids safely to school in her armoured personnel carrier - sorry I meant Range Rover…
Remember when we all cycled to school and none of us needed to wear Lycra…
Stop trying to look like grumpy old Chris Boardman….
@@PhilbyFavourites "Remember when we all cycled to school and none of us needed to wear Lycra". You seem to have been brainwashed!
I would not wear Lycra for a local journey, I would do if I was cycling over ten miles and that's the reason when you see cyclists wear Lycra.
I often get stopped by a motorists asking where is xyz when I'am miles from home, they think its a local trip like you do!
@@mxj-x2r Average speeds on normal give and take roads are usually vastly over estimated by drivers. My trip to the Supermarket is 10 miles along a long bypassed Devon trunk road to the nearest small town. Most of mileage is 60mph limits, with a couple of 30s thrown in, plus the small town's 30. The old road is nearly deserted for half of my trip and drifting along at 60 is the norm for me.
Result? Average speed for the trip is consistently about 30mph!.
There was a lot af squawking about the 20 default in Wales, down from 30 in built up areas but I bet whole trip average speeds were barely affected in the larger towns and cities, but drivers are not aware just how low the average speed was anyway.
@@PhilbyFavourites Did I hear jealousy there from a 500 lbs dude? Stop skipping leg and brain day.
Designing for cars is totally different to designing for all other forms of urban transport - walking, cycling, bus etc etc. Cars require everything to be spread out, surrounded by huge car parks and served by wide roads. So we get out of town shopping centres - "trading estates" and out of town employment areas - "business parks", which are next to impossible to access via anything other than a car. Our cities are being rebuilt like this and so the centres are dying. What used to be countryside is now sprawling suburbs where you need a car just to live, a bland, uniform could-be-anywhere dullness.
There's also a lot of build up near motorway junctions such as hotels and shopping malls as it is easier to use the motorway. Directions to tourist attractions are given from the nearest motorway junction instead of railway station as well.
As a cyclist, I only ride on pavements when I feel unsafe so pushed off the roads by cars.
Many pavements have been redesignated as shared cycle paths. This is ridiculous, bikes and pedestrians going in both directions on a strip less than 2m wide. Cyclisted didn't ask for this but, of course we must get bikes off the roads, incase they slow the cars down. So often cyclists are blamed for OTT new cycle lanes, or issues on shared paths, none of which they were consulted on or asked for. I'd be more than happy with roads wide enough for all and a little more respect from drivers.
i find shared paths so hard when its busy, walkers (often with dogs) are often totally oblivious, earphones in, wearing all black in the dark, not keeping dogs under control.... aaaaaaaaaaaaa these shared paths are the only safe place to cycle but i feel unwelcome on them lol
I never thought I would care for cycling infrastructure but as I watch mi kiddo grow up, i see how much we’re bound to the auto culture. I just want my kid to ride his bike safely in a way that allows for freedom without the ridiculous risk of death.
Since the Dutch changed the law and infrastructure in 73 to prioritise pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Written in 2011 "The Dutch now experience an overall risk which is less than a quarter of that in 1973, and for children it's now a twentieth of that in 1973. Dutch cyclists are now the safest in the world" The dutch public demanded change and they got it.
Thats the whole problem, nobody cares until it affects them personally.
I was a good racing cyclist in my youth, and now in my 70's I still ride on a regular basis. I have found over the years, that my courtesy to other road users makes a big difference. I try not to be a nuisance when out on my bike, I wave vehicles by when I see a clear road, and often pull in to a gateway or lay-by, when i am a holding up. Lorries and buses especially, give a toot or a thunb's up as they go by, and cars often flash their hazard lights as a thankyou. I feel, that being thoughtful to other road users, they realise that we cyclists are not all the same.
I do the same,but unfortunately a lot of drivers have tarred us all with the same brush. On the whole my experience on the road is good. But a little too often I will get aggressive drivers blocking my route,I have even had one or two deliberately close pass at speed,and open their doors to knock me off. I have been spat on,and on one occasion actually punched by a back seat passenger. I have had a car turn off its headlights behind me and intimidate me for over a mile on a tight country lane,threatening to push me into the hawthorn Bush that ran along side the road. I have been brake checked on occasion,but the most common occurance is being over taken,for the driver to turn right in front of me. And don't get me started on the mobile phone users while driving,I swear that every other driver has their phone on their laps. I have also seen some shocking cyclists,but there are far fewer of them where I ride. I did actually see one once cycling the wrong way around a very busy roundabout. I am sure you have experienced a lot of the same things,even though we ride respectfully,there will always be morons that just hate us.❤
It might seem prudent in the moment to extend unwarranted courtesy to a motorist, but over the long term and in the bigger picture, giving way to a motor vehicle while the right of way is yours teaches motorists -- erroneously -- that people on bikes are _supposed to_ get out of their way.
@@atmywitsend1984It seems like the person you replied to is getting friendly waves and thank you's while you're getting literally life threatening assaults. Why is that?
Do you pull over to let faster moving traffic pass, or mostly carry on until they can get by?
@@rangersmith4652 I see what you're saying ,If I have right of way at a junction, or a roundabout, I stick to my passage through, but on the fairly narrow roads that I cycle, I found it better and safer for me to just pull in. Many years ago, probably 1970 or 71, I was out training with a club mate near Worcester. Riding towards Malvern there is a little village called Powick, a man in a Morris minor forced us both onto the grass verge, luckily about a half of a mile up the road we saw him pull on to a drive outside a bungalow. I said to my mate john. "I'm going to have a word with him" so we stopped. all I got was a mouthfull of abuse, i let him carry on for a couple of minutes then hit him. he fell on to his flower border, dropping his car keys. We picked up his keys, an rode off, throwing his keys onto the verge a few hundred yards up the road. A few weeks later we were riding a road race along the same road, and wondered if the guy would come out and cause a problem, but thankfully he didn't.
@@kramelbbiw I don't think it necessarily matters what they're doing--if they're actively blocking the road and intentionally making it impossible to pass using 2 or 3 biking friends to take up as much space as possible and going 5mph while blocking all traffic, they still shouldn't be receiving those kinds of reactions. Only literal psychopaths act like that. You're using the same logic rapists use saying things like "well maybe you shouldn't have been wearing a skirt."
It's time for media to start taking responsibility for the hatred that they stoke up and consequences it has on people's behaviour towards cyclists, immigrant, or any other group of people that it is in their interest to demonise.
Speeding Cyclists? The average cyclist can just hit 20 mph, 30+ when going downhill
20-30mph can be very dangerous in many situations.
Using miles per hour is cringe. Stick to kilometers per hour please.
depends on the hill , the wind can effect your speed as well go against it an you strugle go wth it an you fly , ah have been cycling for over 50 years most times ah crash has been ma own fault ! but there are some people out there who should not be on our roads drivin anything an now Y T is fillin up wi them thank god for the vid we now have the evedence every one has a camera so watch your step aw you bad drivers/riders , aye !
@@alexseguin5245 36 - 55 km/h
@@alexseguin5245 I don't think you quite understand what cringe means...
Take the Netherlands for example. In general, driving a car there is way better simply because not EVERYONE does it at once, like in most American cities or other places. It isn't like cars need to go away; we all use them, we simply don't need everyone to be driving them at once making for what amounts to a MISERABLE transportation situation. Car centricity is completely out of control in Boston MA and everywhere.
You hit the nail on the head. It's all about money and profits. See the video "I Went to an Anti-Bike-Lane Revolt And Here’s What I Learned" by Oh the Urbanity to see the pro oil and car company people attacking an effort to add more bike lanes in Montreal.
Have you ever noticed that when a motor vehicle accident is reported its always the vehicle's fault, e.g "Pedestrian hit by car" or "Car mounts pavement" but when its a cyclist they are a lot more likely to mention the cyclist specifically in the headline, e.g "Cyclist hits pedestrian". They're effectively removing blame from the driver and missing the opportunity to remind drivers about the risks they pose to the rest of the public.
Welcome to discourse analysis. Plenty of well known examples such as Manufacturing Consent - and the "elites" do it for everything: immigrants, communism, Palestine, China.. basically anyone the Americans are against.
Customer “I hate these red bags, we are trying to save the environment”. Me “That’s why I ride a bike and don’t drive a car” she hasn’t spoken to me since. I’d like some respect from the drivers in my town. Only a mile each way to work near misses every week and i have video to prove it. I think once you pass a driving test six automatic months riding a push bike
Six months on bike BEFORE being allowed to apply for a licence would be better.
There aren't many places to park a car where I live so there are cars parked on pavements and you have to squeeze past them. If narrow streets were made into one way systems the cars wouldn't have to be parked on pavements.
what red bags?
@@solentbum Only problem is I picked up a few bad habits: like rolling through stop signs.
Living in the east and cycling in both Norwich and ipswitch, it has always baffled me why there’s so much push back for independent segregated cycle ways. It separates both cyclists and motorists. Yet motorists still complain about them, despite the fact it (on paper) means it would get us cyclists off the road in cities! I can cycle from the center of Norwich, out to the airport in 15 minutes if the traffic is good. Yet if there was a dedicated cycleway this could be cut down to 7 ish minutes, and I wouldn’t nearly die by terrible overtaking on my trips. Instead local authorities insist on low cost shared paths and road cycle lanes, which then just pisses off pedestrians and drivers, because they can’t read signs. Truely baffles me how we approach cycle infrastructure in this country, despite our world pedigree in the sport. Rant over, thank you for your video!
It's baffling, but probably explained by the bias in the media. I think a lot of people just want people to stop cycling altogether. If only they understood that more cyclists means less congested roads and therefore nicer driving experiences, maybe they'll learn...
@@devononair Yep, completely agree with you here. I’m not even an avid road cyclist, but I cant ignore the practicality of it over driving in dense urban areas. And as shown in the video, it’s disgusting the way right leaning media frames cyclists.
Good bike infra means that a percentage of the car drivers will switch to bikes, especially in cities: less cars on the road so less congestion. It baffles me that most car drivers are too dense to understand that.
Cars are often parked on those paint jobs in the gutter even where there are double yellow lines.
I suspect that part of the problem as well is that most folks - media & govt alike - don't cycle or know anyone who does, while EVERY adult drives. Otherwise quite rational friends look at me with a mix of pity & incomprehension when I suggest commuting or shopping by bike, as I do. It is a huge cognitive blindspot, usually unthinking.
Correct, most adults will immediately identify as drivers.
@@michaelgurd7477 I think it was Art Linkletter who wrote years ago that a man could do almost anything and be excused for it, but the moment he said that he didn't drive, people would question his sanity.
Spot on. It's also the reason that gammon types don't demand that pedestrians pay road tax for all their lightly-used pavements because everyone is also a pedestrian. Normalising using a bicycle as a means of transport and exercise is the best way of neutralising the culture war narratives.
Spot on. It's also the reason that gammon types don't demand that pedestrians pay road tax for all their lightly-used pavements because everyone is also a pedestrian. Normalising using a bicycle as a means of transport and exercise is the best way of neutralising the culture war narratives.
They also don't think that most cyclists are drivers too which is very much the case. Hence the bollocks about "not paying road tax" and other such bollocks.
proof of content... this vid was directly followed by an f150 superdoody advert. we are owned.
My policy is that I never buy a product that comes up on my RUclips feed; I hope that is yours as well.
@@michaelgurd7477 Yes! if at all possible I shall niether influence nor be infuenced lest I fall into eternal hellfire.
Superdoody lol.
Everybody is forgetting that for many people the car isn't even an option. Being it they are too young, too old, injured or caught driving drunk, car-centrism is what the able-bodied force onto everybody else.
So their bodies are capable of handling safer cleaner forms of transportation but they'd rather sit on their asses and press a pedal that allows them to effortlessly reach fatality inducing speeds
I dunno motorists remind me of the people from the Wall-E movie
I've seen an American argue the exact opposite for elderly: bike lanes are bad because many can't bike anymore and then they wouldn't be able to use a car either. I almost literally shook my head. No one said car lanes should disappear entirely. And I am Dutch so I see loads of elderly on their (e)bike, independantly going where ever they want. Among them probably a few that don't feel safe driving anymore, or had their driver's license taken because of that. The American probably also didn't realise that with a bike culture, people stay capable cyclists up to a higher age.
Note how it is 'cyclist' and 'car', not 'bicycle' and 'driver'. Everyday absolution of drivers is systemic in our language, society and justice system.
Cars make people feel 'powerful': "Look at how fast I can go without even breaking a sweat!"
Cycling takes effort - something most humans instinctively avoid.
Cycling has almost no downsides but cars harm everything (we just ignore the externalities).
the daily hate mail
100% I've been saying this for years. Newspapers are looking after their income and have the blood of tens of thousands on their hands.
I've been a motorcyclist and cyclist for 6 decades plus until loosing my legs to Sepsis in 2021..
The last Cycles I rode locally..I live in rural Kent...were refurbished machines some 50 years old...
They were ideal for local use..
I always fit a 'bell' and rear-view mirror..I want to see what the Alpha-Male behind me in 2,5tons of 4x4 is doing...
Unfortunately, the sheer terror induced in British traffic conditions has certainly removed any further interest in venturing onto our roads..
You are so right to highlight the aggression towards 2 wheels fostered and encouraged by the irresponsible elements of our 'Meeja'...Most car drivers have no empathy towards those who choose otherwise; an attitude in stark contrast to that generally met just 35km across the Dover Strait....
Britain is far less egalitarian now than as recently as the '70s....
I've handed in my M/C licence...
There's no desire to risk what's left of me out on the roads...
I would suggest it’s the yummy mummy brigade in Discoveries and Range Rovers - that’s where the danger lies…..
How much did your motorcycle cost?
An arm and a leg?
I had the pleasure of hiring a bike in Saint Cyprien in the south east corner of France and it was a pleasure to cycle around the countryside on that mode of transport. There were good well marked lanes in most of the towns and out in the countryside ALL the cars waited patiently behind me as I cycled along. Once I detected a build up behind me I would pull into a convenient gateway or other wide part of the road and let the traffic go past. There was never any hostility or revving up or close shaves or other such nonsense that you can find on Irish roads. The difference seems to be that most areas of France are very well policed and they are highly visible at most times of the day. Remarkably you see very little engagement or people being pulled over, the very presence of the police seems to cool down any rule breaking and make all people behave and act by the rules.
Because of a recent shoulder injury and also less flexible hips I had to give up bike riding as I am now getting on in years, blind in one eye and do not risk another injury by riding a bike in Irelands often chaotic roads.
I do think it boils down to advertising. Like when is the last time you saw a bike commercial? So they are gonna side with the people paying the bills, because these days you the reader/watcher is the commodity, they are selling you and your eyeballs to the advertisers. And if that advertiser has an adversary, the media is gonna side with the money.
I survived a T-bone hit and run, while riding in a bike lane. Through my own efforts, not those of the police, the driver was eventually found and made an admission of guilt. The police have been indifferent. The media was unresponsive. Not even my local bicycle community has moved to help me leverage this opportunity.
I heard your accent and immediately thought i was watching an Adam Something video lmao. Great video, very high quality. Hope the algorhithm likes you
What? They have completely different accents from completely different countries....? 🤔
@@Bradum felt similiar enough honestly. Style of video too
I get a lot of guessing where my accent is from. Had everything from Canadian to American. Had to Google Adam Something, I've never been mistaken for a Hungarian before, I think he sounds like Giancarlo Esposito personally. I put an Irish flag in my logo to save guesswork.
@@averagemanonabike i think its the tones you start and end words with that made me connect the voices?? I don’t really know
@@KlavierGayming I can see where you're coming from
As with many spheres of life - just follow the path of money and things start to make sense.
As a driver you're dependent on so many things to remain operational - as a cyclist, you just hop on your bike. It's complete freedom. No wonder electronic this and wireless that is forced on bikes to create the same dependency.
Yeah I was thinking the same, they'll try to get you to subscribe to it as a service next.
@@averagemanonabike Absolutely! Why not cash in more?
Very well said, indeed. We in the UK have blindly followed the US and other car centric countries, in the pursuit of the "freedom" that the car gives us (but only if you have a car, everyone else doesn't count!). This pursuit has been to the detriment of active and public transport, causing a vicious circle of forcing more and more people into cars. For most people, there appears to be no viable alternative to the car and therefore they perceive cars as a "must have and must use" necessity. Regrettably, there is no concerted effort to improve and integrate public transport and put it on a more even par with motor vehicles (such as travel cards allowing unlimited travel in an area for a specified period). Congestion charging is an obvious way to reduce traffic, and encourage the take up of other forms of transport, but this is universally slammed by motorists who see it simply as war on motorists, who of course happen to form the vast majority of the electorate.
The widespread chaos, congestion, pollution etc caused by far too many motor vehicles has been normalised. People only consider their own convenience, and disregard the effect this is having on the wider society ("my SUV only emits a tiny amount of greenhouse gases and takes up a small amount if space compared to the total, so it causes negligible harm or inconvenience").
All of this has led the UK to adopt the following transport policy;
1. Motorists are first class citizens
2. Public transport users are second class citizens
3. Pedestrians are third class citizens
4. Cyclists are scum of the Earth
An utter disgrace, especially when compared with enlightened countries such as The Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark etc etc When will our politicians and local authority officials wake up and take effective action to reverse this insanity? Not any time soon if they continue to read the Mail and other such rags.
Well-written and 100% true in the US as well as the UK. Car dependency is basically subscription mobility, even though it's pushed as "freedom".... which also depends on communist road funding.
I recall in the early 90's being on assignment from Ireland to Massachusetts when I was questioned by the local police for walking to a grocery store from my appartment rather than taking my car for the less than 1 mile trip. Once they were happy that I was not about to do something illegal they went on their way, stating that it was "most unusual" for a person not to take their car even for a 1 mile trip.
Back in the 1990's car ownership and usage was not as intense as it is now in Ireland and the people walked most short trips rather than take their cars. Now all the buildings and retail has become very car orientated despite the fact that Ireland has a negligible car industry and, hence, a less powerful pro-car lobby than most other European countries. Ireland has acquired a lot of wealth and good jobs recently and much of that money had been spent on cars, houses being too expensive for most average people. This is not good in the long term both for environmental and health reasons but also for the future because housing is a relatively permanent asset which you will own outright in 30 years but a car is a heavily depreciating asset which is a drain on anyones finances.At the moment the Green Party are part of a three-way coalition in power and are having some influence in advocating for green transport and moving away from overdependence on cars. There has been huge extra spending on public transport and cycling greenways etc. In rural areas local minibus links now operate to provide links for people with no cars to the nearest public transport hubs but a lot more work needs to be done in this regard.
I've never been to England, but I kind of like the Beatles. Here in my little isolated corner of the US, I see a lot of electric bicycles being ridden by people of all ages. The thought occurred to me the other day that one of these days all these folks are going to be doing more of their chores with these bikes. They could be ideal for a grocery store run. As that happens won't these electric bike users be demanding better bicycle paths? It's just a thought.
Hopefully! But the biking culture in the USA has been recreational for a long time. But with e-bikes becoming common and gas prices going up, I think more people will start considering them for non-recreational use. I actually calculated how much my gas (petrol) cost vs how much electricity cost for trips to work, and my bike will pay for itself in 2-5 years. If I factor in maintenance for the car and other costs, probably even sooner.
Hey, cool channel. I have been a regular cyclist most of my life and am lucky enough to live in a city (Montreal, Canada) which encourages cycling more than most on this continent, just ask the youtube channels ‘shifter’ in Calgary, Alberta or ‘oh the urbanity’ here in Montreal.
Ridiculously high quality video for a channel with only 400 subs
Thank you 😀
I didn't even notice until I read your comment. In my mind this channel had at least 100k subs. Keep up the quality man! I love it.
@@niceone99 I'll do my best!
Since 2013 still using bike as main transportation because it is cheap, low maintenance and tax free, i bought it only cost 200$ and still hold on piece
For real! Bought a used bike three years ago for 200 bucks and spent 200 on accesories. I now pay less than 100 bucks per year for maintenance and replacement parts while I can deduct a lump sum of 700 from taxes, no questions asked.
Cars, insurance, maintenance and fuel have pushed themselves so high that many young adults simply can't afford them and pay rent/buy a house/start a family, get higher education, and eat. Bicycling/e-biking are excellent alternatives with all the advantages you have mentioned. As more people shun cars cities and communities of all sizes are going to need to accommodate these alternative modes of transportation. People complain that it's not safe, but in many communities there are side roads and alternate routes than can be followed ti avoid much of the heavy traffic. To find these you can study Google Earth or just watch kids and see where they ride to get around on their bikes.
I have been to the Netherlands, I been to New York City. I can breath fresh air in the Netherlands, hear the chat when i walk with friends. Enjoy window shopping a cafe on the street. When in New York, lets say one must shower every day and maybe it is best to wear ear plugs to talk with friends.
Politicians and (cough*) some media outlets cater for the majority, and the majority uses cars. Everybody talks about a cultural change in traffic, but when you start taking away lanes or - gasp - parking space, you'll get home owners and shop owners on the barricades, and you'll need very few incentives from the mighty car industry to boost that. Plus, when people know you are invested in cycling they will inevitably tell you stories about some impudent bike riders they witnessed. It is difficult, and you need a concerted effort by engaged politicians and public push to change something, like in Paris. When you call in hearings and want to make everyone happy, very little will change.
*Every country has tabloids to address peoples lower impulses, but I think the British ones are world-leading. I still recall the Daily Mirror putting pictures of judges above the headline "ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE", for which they should have earned a "Der Stürmer" - award.
Spot on. The way our urban areas are designed shows that governments don’t give a shit about cyclists, their health or getting to net zero.
Where I live there are 4/5 different roads that all lead to the next biggest town, cars are littered on streets during the day because urban planners didn’t plan for households to have more than one car. Majority of trips by car are 5 miles or less and by single occupant drivers.
The Govt. Has fleeced motorists for decades by using revenue from VED, fuel duty and VAT to help plug their financial black hole. Roads have therefore not been maintained and are full of potholes.
Giving up road space and protected cycling infrastructure, which is far cheaper to build and maintain is a no brainer.
Totally agree. They pretend that the car is bad,by pushing for clean air zones and 20mph roads everywhere these days. It is really just a stealth tax in disguise as a safer and cleaner road😅but at the same time in my 40 year commute to work very little has changed in the infrastructure that benefits cycling. Unfortunately my commute is on horrendously busy and narrow roads. Apart from one section in my 14 mile journey each way,which is 600 yards long,and ironically was already the only quiet section,they have placed a cycle path on the actual footpath. It is useless for me,as on that little stretch if I was to use it,I would have to yield to cars and lorries coming in and out of businesses no fewer than 8 times. On the road section I have the right of way all along it. I honestly don't think that councillors have the foggiest idea about the cycling issues. The only positive I can think of in recent years is the placement of cycling boxes at the traffic lights,although on my commute there is only one,but it does help. On one section of my commute I do actually ride on the footpath,as it is a very steep road,and every 100 yards it has pedestrian islands that actually narrow the road dangerously,and some drivers don't seem to have any idea that there isnt enough space to pass me at these points. I hate having to do this,but I really do not feel safe at all,and I am a very confident cyclist. Plus I hate holding traffic up.
The whole clean air/net zero is a pipe dream,and the powers that be know it isn't remotely possible to achieve,but they are getting plenty of revenue from drivers as a result,so sadly I don't expect things to improve any time soon.
I certainly don't want to prevent motorists from using their vehicles,I just want transparency,and this horrible division the media are creating to end.
@@atmywitsend1984 totally agree on councillors not having the foggiest idea. I attended a borough council event to promote local walking and cycling infrastructure in my area. The local cycling officer stood up and said the reason why children cycle on pavements was because of a lack of education. No you idiot they cycle on there because of a lack Of protected cycling infrastructure in the area and they have been taught not to go on there by their parents who fear for their safety.
To be fair council boroughs are dependent on county councils who are in turn dependent on central govt funding. We have a cycle loop that goes around our town centre that was supposed to be completed by next month. Absolute rubbish as they haven’t started on large sections of it.
As a daily cyclist from Lyon, France, the cycling infrastructure visible (or invisible) on your footage looks very scary.
There's a lot of work to be done. The speed limits around these parts have been reduced to 20mph (32.19 kmh) so it's a bit better than it was.
Great video. I know you're a very small channel still, but consider toning down the background music. I know it will make editing much more difficult.
Most of today's car manufacturers started by manufacturing bicycles, they don't promote that.
Also you have your saddle set too low and you are not extending your leg, making for an inefficient pedal stroke.
Good video with valid points
holy hell dude you are underrated
Since it is "not what you think"; I will post what I think it is before watching the video.
Newspapers exist to sell advertising. The "News" they put on the front page is just a hook they use to get you to buy a copy.
Years ago I noticed that the various sections of the newspaper were organized by advertising segments, including homes, automotive, and classifieds.
Homes and autos have their own sections because they are big-ticket items, with a relatively high marketing budget.
That is why I think that the media hates cyclists.
The mental state of most drivers now is frail at best.. most people seem to be angry from the get-go. Getting tailgated, honked at, cutoff or brakechecked is a regular occurrence now.
Since I got a cheap bike to cycle around to replace my short journeys, I'm a lot more chilled out. I wish they'd encourage everyone to cycle more.
@@thomasmanning477 Much better for one's mental health.
It's also jealousy - if you are commuting by car at 5 mph and know you have to find a parking spot at the other end, you end up hating the 'lower status' cyclist going 10 mph who can just get off their bike and lock up at their destination - which can be nearly anywhere, not a rare, full special facility.
You have to be careful where you park your bike. Bike theft is very common in Ireland whereas car theft has been reduced by better locks, tracking devices and other means of surveillance and detection. Also our heavily congested roads make escaping in a stolen car much harder than in the dark days of the joy-riding craze of the late 90's and early 00's. Bike are ideal if you have a secure lock-up or yard at your destination as is the case for many bar and restaurant workers but leaving a bike on the public road is a gamble.
An excellent example to prove how the news frames bicycling and infrastructure is a FOX5 NYC segment from last week reporting construction of the Bedford Avenue bike lane, there was implicit bias from the studio hosts as well as which interviewees to include for the story.
Very insightful. I never really considered the impact of auto advertising on bicycle perception in the media, and the resulting consequence on bicycle infrastructure.
Truth! Most articles I read conclude with a need to stop these bicyclists or get them riding elsewhere. They could easily conclude instead for a push to making bicycling safer for everyone with better bicycling infrastructure... but nope, not in car centric land!
Many drivers are careless and dangerous on a regular basis, everyone should know what it is like outside a car and then make a decision what form of transportation we should be focused on
Quality content, hope your channel gets traction. got my thumb up and subscription.
We have 25 mph residential streets not one car driver goes that slow...
Nice to hear someone else use the car centric term to describe our transport culture. I agree with what you say. One point though - insurance premiums can apply to cyclists. I insure my bicycles. Some will do this on their house insurance policy, but i insure mine with specific bike insurance.
A dog biting a man, makes no headlines, but a man biting a dog does.
Could you elaborate? I've seen plenty of headlines of the former and zero of the latter.
@@RUBBER_BULLET Pedestrians and bikers are injured or killed in accidents with motorists constantly and they never make any headlines. But on a rare occasion when a biker runs over a pedestrian, you bet that's gonna make it to the front page. Media really gets going when something extraordinary happens.
@@Soundbrigade I understand that, but I don't understand your analogy.
@@RUBBER_BULLET That "doggy" expression is a sort of 100 yo meme, saying that only extraordinary news make it to front page.
In the case of the video, bikers causing accidents are "extraordinary", but if the car industry is supporting the newspapers, of course that adds an extra twist.
@@SoundbrigadeBikers and pedestrians getting hit by cars can make headlines. But they usually involve victim blaming, like asking if the victim was wearing helmet if they’re on a bike and for pedestrians, asking if they’re visible.
Even the media that points cycling in a good light only sees cycling as excercize or recreation and not transportation.
I always find it funny when people say that "you can go wherever you want when you want in a car." But that's not even true. A car can only drive where there are roads (or off road areas where cars are permitted.) Biking and hiking can actually get you into more places. And owning a car isn't necessary when everything you need on a daily basis is within walking distance.
Great video. Keep cycling guys and convincing others to cycle. Ride safe because dead cyclists are not good at convincing people to cycle. Promote cycling to your friends and family. Never argue with a motorist they can hurt you and you won't convince them at this nervous moment.
100% agree with you. It's bothered me for years.
Seen a great GCN video involving a Welsh professor. The UK is so cultured to worship the car, all junctions are set to let a car get through them quicker and lights to cross roads are designed with cars first approach. So something like a bike is alien, often looked down upon as commuting transport. I am lucky old railway lines away from roads are cycle network now. Because its a nearly daily expoerince to nearly be murdered by peopl who lack basic judgement of situations. The motor industry has to keep selling more and more, bigger and bigger, cars barely fit car park spaces now. Going to be hard to break that trend. But a push for funcitional is kwey to our health. No going a mile to get milk in a car, ride it etc. Save money
I hope you enjoyed your visit to the New Forest. There are a few train stations which have good and reasonably flat offroad cycle routes nearby that are ideal for a car free mini adventure.
@@droguk1 I ride out there twice a week, very accessible from Southampton. Feel lucky to have it
Every media should be forced to be transparent with their sponsors.
Oh God! It is like everything else. Like Corporate greed never gets blamed for the misery it creates, it's always the fault of poor and working people.
Serbia here, full Sus specialized, can do 80miles like it's nothing, wheelies, jumps etc. but in the morning, I just cannot pedal to work...
Thankyou for this great content. Makes a lot of sense!
The Adam Something is strong with this one! Thanks for the video, it's nice to see people making the right kind of analysis on this stuff.
I've been aware of the anti-cycling bias in certain parts of the (UK) media for years, but never really understood the reasoning or mechanisms. Now I do :(
And hello from Portchester!
Here in North America, big and small Simply Useless Vehicles dominant on the roads. When tighter emission and safety standards for cars were looming, All the big companies embraced lower production costs and bigger profit margins. After decades of decreases in deaths and injuries from cars despite more of them being driven further than ever. there has been a steady increase over recent years to levels not seen since the 70's. Before airbags, ABS, traction control, navigation, electronic aids that are standard on cars now. Yet cars are being promoted as safer than ever. And they help you get there with less effort on your part. No outcry or government hearings. No demand for action to stop the needless suffering.
I am not a tree hugging environmentalist... I actually have enjoyed travelling b y car, driving on a track and the culture of social activities. But where are the smaller, lighter, efficient and fun to drive vehicles that modern technology promised? Instead cars are bigger and heavier and less efficient than 20 years ago. The world does not need more 2500kg wagons that can out accelerate a Bugatti to 150 mph but cannot stop to in time to run over Little Jimmy in 40kph school zone.
3:13 "_Drivers_ responsible for far more _collisions_ and deaths". (i.e 'drivers' not 'cars', and 'collisions', not 'accidents'). This language matters because framing crashes as 'accidents;' makes it seems like 'just one of those things, nothing can be done', and talking about 'cars' hitting things (not mentioning the drivers that are controlling them) removes responsibility from the drivers. You might find it helpful to read the 'Road Collision Reporting Guidelines' by Laura Laker, which is advice for media organisation, and explains why it matters and suggests fairer and more effective ways to talk about these things.
Language is insidious in setting norms, so it's important for those of us talking about this stuff to use it carefully.
Motorists just are not used to cyclists on the road. Cyclists are a new category of road users and it forces motorists to pay more attention to the traffic as they used to do.
While complaining the exaggerate problems with cyclists, for instance by counting deaths per decade, without saying the that same number of deaths caused by cares is reached within one week! Lot of accidents between cyclists and pedestrian are not caused by the cyclists, but by a motorist doing something which causes the cyclist to escape to the sidewalk.
If you look to the Netherlands in cities lik Amsterdam, Utrecht or Rotterdam you see many cyclists. Because all these people are on a bicycle and not in a car, the car lanes are not overcrowded as the used to be in the seventies. One bike takes much less space on the road. One care takes more space than 4 bikes! The more people switch to cycling, the faster car traffic becomes!
In the Dutch cities traffic congestion's are rare because so many people take the bike. So motorists should not complain, but encourage the use of bicycles!
There is good cycling infrastructure in several northern European countries. In Sweden the cycling infrastructure here is light years ahead of the UK and many more people cycle as their primary means of transportation. The public transport is amazing too, at least in the larger cities. The combination of these two things (plus expensive parking) results in a much lower volume of traffic on the roads. We went from being a 2 car to a 0 car household when we moved here.
Cyclists are not a new category of road user. Bicycles were around long before cars existed.
@@peglor The first "modern" bicycle (safety bicycle) is from 1885 (Penny farthing from 1871), the first car is from 1886 (Mercedes Benz). That's not a big difference.
In modern traffic bicycles are quite a new type of personal transport, which motorists are not used to. We have seen that in the Netherlands in the 1970's. It takes a few years, It is just a matter of time and bicycles will be a normal feature in English cities too.
There is also an element of chronically inactive and lead-poisoned boomers having a reflexive resentment towards people they see as physically fit and able in comparison. Look at how often they complain about lycra specifically. In the Netherlands, the proportion of journeys that elderly and disabled people complete by bicycle is nearly 10x the total rate of bicycle journeys in the UK so it's not even a well-founded prejudice.
I see a lot of product placement in shows and movies, including vehicle behaviour. I grew up on James Bond and The Italian Job, no wonder our generation glorifies the industry.
The increase in vehicle size is concerning, it’s like a knock on effect, even single seniors previously happy with a top of the range little hatchback are willy waving giant electric 4x4’s, it would be interesting to analyse the motivation for their choice.
The issue is this isn´t even only about cycling (even tho I love cycling and I agree with you) but its also about public transit, walking but also smaller cars aka lite vehicles because these can fit on smaller roads and need less fuel, parkin spaces and are easier to electrify. But the auto industry makes more mony with bigger cars as the prices are higher to profit with those cars also rises wich increases the risks for cyclist, pedestrians and people on motorcycles as well as other smaller types of vehicles. They also take up an unecessary amount of space because in germany during rush our an average of 1.1 person sits in car and during "normal" traffic an average of 1.2 person sits in a car so you mostly only need a small type of vehicle with two seats so we also have to improve the situation for that. Even tho better bikelanes, pedestrian routes and public transit are the better solutions here as motorized individual traffic is pretty bad in cetrain regions frequent public transit is not viable (I know that there are good on demand systems I have on in my village it´s pretty good but can get overwhelmed or very complicated but I´d say it works 80 to 90 percent of the time and is a real game changer especially on sundays or when you need to get home late like from a party or something.) so for these rare places individual transport is a good options dosent mean there shouldn´t be any bike lanes or pedestrian infrastructure but if people who have 2 or more cars would replace on with a small electric vehicle that would help a lot in those regions.
anyhow good video and I liked the point that also oil companies and insurance companies have a interest in car infrastructure/ dependence as I have mostly overlooked these two to have an interest in that but it makes sense because they make a lot of profit with cars and car usage.
Excellent and informative video!
Many of my friends and family members have been hit by cars, either as pedestrians, cyclists or driving. I find it confusing and confounding talking about cyclist law breakers, yet cars are out here polluting, killing and injuring. Yes, here in the US some 40k die per year in car related deaths.
Yes, follow the money. Cycling is a threat to the auto, oil and tire industries, not to mention all the supporting businesses (e.g., parking, insurance). -- So many claim that bikes on roads are dangerous, but when I ask "Dangerous to whom?", it is obvious that it is motorists who are dangerous to cyclists. Just one narrative that keeps getting repeated rather than motorists taking responsibility for driving safely.
En France,c'est la même chose.Les medias parlent toujours de la soi disant "dangerosité" des utilisateurs de velo..
Mais pour developper le velo il faut d'abord construire des pistes cyclables sécurisées au pied de chaque maison, jusqu'aux portes des entreprises et commerces.Sinon personne, ou tres peu ,voudront changer de moyen de transport. 😊
very well put together, thank you!
Excellent video about the issue well worth a follow 👌🏼
I'm no cyclist and it doesn't particularly appeal to me but I agree there is an anti-cyclist narrative. I think the fact I know a few people who cycle seriously (or have done in the past) probably has something to do with that. I also think that motorists in general need to be more aware of, and considerate to, cyclists.
On the stats at the beginning though, there are obviously going to be more motor vehicles hitting pedestrians by virtue of the fact there are way more motor vehicles on the road. That's just counting. I don't know what percentage of traffic in the UK if made up of by cyclists but I'd be surprised if it's anymore than 2 or 3% I'm not defending motorists here but I don't think those stats really mean very much.
We should ban cars.
Also, these media biases apply to just about everything in capitalism. The private media will just follow the same incentives as big capital.
Also also, good video!
Great video. Cheers from Portland, OR USA
UK cyclists are much more likely than any other country, to wear reflective high visibility clothes, helmets, equip their bikes with lights etc. And in the same time they are hated more than any country, I challenge you to find one other place in the advanced world, where people talk about cyclists paying road tax, getting insurance, getting licence plates etc.
Black Cab, SUV and White Van drivers are a lot more dangerous and frustrating, but they don't get the same kind of hate, and this is all for the media to blame as they exaggerate the cyclists accidents.
Yes there is lots of road rage and revengeful attitude from cyclists too, also militant youtuber activists who report motorists to the police, and cause drama out of nowhere, but this I think is a reaction of some cyclists against the anti-cyclist culture. Not the other way around.
Not all media is doing this…speaking as a transportation reporter for a public radio station.
While I like your presentation style, I feel like some segments severely lack with specificity and citation. Like, only saying "the auto industry wants this", "the oil industry wants that", "the news organisations do this" sounds too wish-washy to me, something that could come out of a conspiracy theory video (which, to clarify, I don‘t believe was your intention). Hope to see more from you!
👽
The more people can be encouraged to cycle, the fewer cars will be one the roads making it more convenient for those who NEED to use their cars. Seems like a winner all round, and if the price of making that happen is building dedicated, safe infrastructure to separate them as far as possible it should be a no-brainer for those on both sides of the discussion.
On a simplistic level, the auto companies, will lose market share, that is a lot of advertising going down the drain
The money they make from Auto industry, is enormous. The Ahole level of people once they get once the get behind wheel.
Great video!
If everyone had to pay for their per mile travel expenses in real time, a lot more people would be riding bicycles and public transit. They would be demanding improvements to bicycle and public transit infrastructure. As it is now, the real costs are hidden in taxes, negative health impacts, bad land use, etc.
That's a great point
People lose their shit around people dying for any other reason; "things HAVE to change!"
And then all of a sudden with cars it's "🤷ehh... It's just the cost of doing business, y'know?"
I also really like how it is called a traffic accident, when most of the times it was no accident.
6:05 narrator: "really really nice bike"
video: a planter lawn decoration
Beautiful isn't it.
@@averagemanonabike much nicer than a rusty old rotting car
OMG! You laid it out beautifully!!
Once a village or town is established far from its resources, like big box stores or even grocers, car culture is baked in and it won’t go away because most people just won’t cycle more than a Km to do anything. They make excuses like weather and getting sweaty in work clothes to continue justifying their car dependence. Even though examples like Amsterdam exist, if local ordinance is centered around car-centric design, it will always be that way, sadly.
I'm somewhere in the middle of this whole debate.
I've got a car, pedal bike and motorbike.
There are some trips that I'd never want to do a pedal bike and some trips I'd prefer a pedal bike compared to the other two. The same goes for the car and motorbike.
So it all depends !
For short trips in a local area, reasonable weather, yes pedal bikes are great.
I guess there are hard core pedallers who think a 25 mile ride is easy, personally I don't ! 25 miles on a motorcycle is pretty easy.
Never really going to carry a large amount of shopping or luggage on a pedal bike, the bus can be a bit easier, but even that's limited, a couple of carrier bags !
my motorcycle with top box can carry about 1 carrier bag full.
Add a ruck sack and I can carry a bit more. Panniers a bit more still. Probably 2 to 3 carrier bags worth ! (Panniers rarely get put on it)
My car, and it's a B segment super mini, not that big, so think the size of a Ford Fiesta (it's not a fiesta ) , well I can carry all the shopping I need for a week and more.
Then there's trips on cold, sometimes icey, wet or dark days. The pedal bike or motorbike aren't much fun on those days. Especially the icey days. 4 wheels are much better in the ice.
Also there are large areas of the country where public transport is really naff. The bus around my way to the local town centre that stops running at just after 7 pm, and most of the day it's on an hourly schedule !
I think where bikes are the best option, yes people should be encouraged, but really they're not always the best option. I'm certainly not against dedicated cycle lanes in town centres.
The one part that cyclists can't moan about is they really don't pay for the roads.
Some really old numbers , I think from around 2012 ish.
All forms of car taxation , VED, new car tax, fuel duty, VAT on all of those, well it was worth something like £40 billion to the Treasury. The money spent on roads was something like £10 billion in the year. So all forms of motor vehicle taxation did pay around 4 times over ( and probably still does) for all road building and maintenance. You can argue "well they're the ones mainly wearing the roads out" and "more of the road is dedicated to them !", these are both true . Pedal cyclists (who aren't motorists) aren't paying anything.
So once all the cars have been removed by the coming "EV utopia" (Who can afford an EV ?) because a lot of motorists have been priced off the road, well the roads will be funded through general taxation, so the pedal cyclists will be paying for them then ! Be careful what you wish for. Currently pedal cyclists are freeloading on the roads that have been paid for via motoring taxation.
@@karlosh9286 Transport infrastructure is funded via general taxation. If you pay any tax, you're funding road building and maintenance. I might make a video about it 😉
@@averagemanonabike
The point still stands , motoring taxes paid 4 times the amount that is spent on the roads. The cars, lorries, vans, motorcycles are paying 4 times over what is spent on the roads. ( on the 2012 ish figures I am sure I remember correctly ).
if the motoring taxes aren't paying for the roads, well they're paying for something else that the non motorists aren't paying for, and are probably still using.
@@karlosh9286 Yes and the tax on beer and cigarettes is put towards things other than cancer treatment. That's how general taxation works.
Very much on point! Great video
Remember the whole reason media exists to sell advertising , subscribers are only the service they provide to their advertisers. Subscriptions seldom make them much, subscribers are currency they provide to car industry to listen to their PR.
Awesome video! You made some really good points.
The car ads sell a dream, that in real life fail automatically. A lot of haters of cycling want to hold on the dream they are sold. Have a look at car ads, that are the same concept from the 1950s. The car that elevates you, while there is no one else on the road. When was the road empty just for you, while you transited to work?
Everybody wants to get where they want to go at everyone else's expense. Drivers want cyclists gone because cyclists are slow, weak, and get in the way. Cyclists want drivers excluded because cars can kill if they get in the way and are polluting and noisy. The problem is people, not the car, not the bike.
good point
Yes, people don’t like sharing space patiently.
Certainly in cities people on buikes aren't slow or in the way. They're going faster than the traffic overall.
And there is no equivalence between "I don't want you to be there" and "I don't want you to kill me". Quite clearly the group that poses a risk to the other _is_ the problem.
@@bestbehave People in cars or on foot have been dealing with each other long before present day, and in different cultures. That the car makes injury and death possible while also providing real benefits does not mean it should be excluded. It does mean that both the driver and pedestrian need to look out for each other, because they are both human and therefore of equal worth and thus both have a place in the city. Yes, physically isolated bike lanes are needed for access by bicycle and safety for said cyclist. Yes, I can see cars and drivers excluded from a street or space that seems to be mostly dominated by those on foot or bicycle already by organic growth. Yet to see some cycling advocates fight against car domination, win, and then turn around and become the same kind of overlords they protested against because car advocates might want low speed access for good reasons is contemptible behavior.
@@delftfietser The "dealing with each other" usually means people on foot being killed, and people who own cars being afforded privilege.
Cars are a liabilty in modern cities , not a benefit
And no, it is not the responsibilitiy of pedestrians not to be killed by car drivers.
It is soley ther esponsibility of drivers not to kill
IMO, it's clickbait driven media. Since you're a cyclist, social media sites throw a bunch of cycling related content in your feeds including rage-click bait. In a month or two, there will just be some other clickbait topic poisoning news feeds with info that doesn't help anyone achieve anything meaningful. The "cars versus bikes" narrative is a fantasy on both sides. Most cyclists are also drivers and aren't crusader/activist types. Also, a surprisingly large portion of the population, even in the US, rides a bike at least a few times a year. All the people I know who ride many hours a week do it as a hobby and don't think the government or other people owe them infrastructure or at least aren't out campaigning for that--in fact some of the local racing community financed their own velodrome here in my area. The public trails we have are great, and very popular addition to the local infrastructure, and I'm glad the local parks built them, but should some struggling family cough up extra tax bucks for me to do my hobby on some more miles of trails or bike lanes? Nope and vice versa. In my area, there's a pretty good argument for more recreational infrastructure, but the people who are going to pay for it, the mass of taxpayers, needs to determine the priorities and decide what makes sense to go into debt for/spend money on.