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news
Cyclists in London (copyright Britishcycling.org_.uk).jpgSky's Adam Boulton delivers full-blooded anti-cycling rant in Sunday Times
Sky’s Adam Boulton really has his finger on the pulse. You probably thought that everyone in the country was 100 per cent sold on cycling, but in a Sunday Times article, he exclusively reveals that “a backlash could be stirring against cyclophilia.”
Boulton, it seems, is auditioning to lead it.
“At last the wheels are coming off our senseless worship of bicycles” is the headline; “Forget about zombies and North Koreans: the cyclists are coming,” is the opening line.
Finally, someone’s bringing a little bit of balance to the cycling debate.
Sky has championed everyday cycling via its sponsorship of British Cycling and is of course still involved with bike racing via its pro team, but the editor-at-large of Sky News is clearly on a different page from his employer.
“Cycling is still a minority activity and likely to remain so. Lawmakers should balance how they cater to cyclists against the interests of the vast majority who don’t cycle,” he recommends.
“There is fear — for pedestrians of not seeing a fast and largely silent projectile; for motorists of being in an accident with someone who may not obey the rules of the road. There is inconvenience too. Inner-city cycle lanes, largely deserted outside rush hours, cause congestion on squeezed roads.”
Boulton continues by inadvertently writing a parody of The Birds, which would presumably be called The Bikes.
“Many urban businesses are now having to provide showers for their Lycra-clad workers, and bikes are being brought into the office because their owners fear to leave them outside. Meanwhile, official documents commend cyclists for avoiding overcrowded commuter transport and then advocate more space for bikes on trains.”
At one point he expresses his belief that, “anyone who complains that cycling is evolving in the UK without proper regulation and at the expense of pedestrians and motorists faces ridicule and online abuse.”
So what’s his beef?
A motorist has today been charged with causing a cyclist’s death by dangerous driving in Timperley, while a London motorist has been arrested on suspicion of the same offence. These incidents will not inspire any Sunday newspaper columnists.
In contrast, Charlie Alliston, convicted last week over the death of Kim Briggs after he struck her on his bike, is seen by some as being somehow symptomatic of a broader cycling “problem”.
You get the sense that this is Boulton’s view; that there is a defined cycling subculture that is getting away with all manner of rule breaking, in part thanks to powerful “lobby groups”.
Boulton accuses Cycling UK of “cherrypicking facts” in relation to pedestrian deaths caused by cyclists – before proceeding to show them how it’s done.
He writes that: “[Cycling UK] claims on its website: ‘In 2005-14, no pedestrians were killed by red-light-jumping cyclists, while around five a year were killed by red-light-jumping drivers.’ This may well be true, but broader government statistics show that cyclists killed 23 pedestrians between 2002 and 2012.”
Boulton has very much cherry picked the charity’s red light jumping statistic to make it seem like the organisation has been guilty of cherry picking. That stat is quite literally one bullet point within a broader list comparing the threat presented to pedestrians by motorists and cyclists respectively.
If he genuinely wanted to provide a clear picture, the very same list states that in Great Britain, from 2011 to 2015, "Mile-for-mile, motor vehicles were more likely than a cycle to seriously injure a pedestrian and over twice as likely as a cycle to kill them."
He closes with a plea. “Zombies and North Koreans are famously impervious to rational argument. For all our sakes, Britain’s cycling organisations need to engage their brains as well as their pedals and brakes.”
The column has lost the newspaper at least one subscriber, Martin Porter QC tweeting:
Done. They invited feedback and I told them Boulton was the final straw. I will miss @kayaburgess but belong with the Guardian https://t.co/MSLPaOdrKP
— Martin Porter QC (@MartinPorter6) August 28, 2017
Kaya Burgess was the lead journalist on The Times’ award-winning safety campaign, Cities Fit For Cyclists.
He responded to point out that The Times and Sunday Times are separate newspapers and do not share editorial staff or campaigns – although Porter said the newspaper had “also disappointed in recent days.”
For more on the anti-cycling backlash in the media in the aftermath of the Alliston trial, you can read Peter Walker’s piece for Porter’s now-preferred newspaper. Richard Madeley’s Partridgesque meltdown on Friday was another good example of the phenomenon.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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35 comments
So, how can we get back at c*nts like this? Is there an email we can bombard, a twitter account we can screw up? Why are we just on here talking about it? Let's get after the bastard
Are Boulton and Clarkson related? You can always tell when a 'career' is almost at the bottom of the pit. Same old tired BS from those who can offer nothing to humanity.
Why is it only the anti - cyclists are allowed to have articles in the media?
Because a well-reasoned argument with evidence (see C. Boardman) doesn't generate 1. a name for yourself, 2. clicks and 3. ad revenue.
That's what I don't understand about the (not excessive, admittedly) backlash to JS's piece about leaving the scene. I do not understand those espousing winning the argument via logic: 'we' already have logic and evidence on our side:
The number of drivers walking from court or not being charged in the first place for substandard driving that leaves people dead or seriously injured;
the number of cars parked in cycle lanes and across pavements;
the number of people KSId in motor vehicle collisions (5 per day in the UK and a Hiroshima each month worldwide);
the thousands more being killed by motor vehicle pollution in the UK alone;
the NHS funding crisis and looming obesity crisis;
the 6 million UK adults not even getting 10 minutes of brisk walking per month;
and the European cities that have integrated proper bike infrastructure and can demonstrate the benefits that join this argument together...
In a sane world, that leads to less driving, and more walking/biking.
In our world, it leads to 'us' being loathed on the roads, pavements and paths; double-standards in law enforcement; calls for registration, insurance and compulsory hi-viz/helmet wearing; and a transport minister suggesting that a cyclist he didn't look for or see was going too quickly because he ended up doored by said transport minister.
The media, car lobby, haulage lobby, idiot ministers... there are too many vested interests and biases for logical argument to work, to overturn the pervasive culture. We need a single individual act, like a liability law, to kick-start the change. Til then? You're an outcast. Might as well act like one.
Tl;dr - understand as a cyclist that it's rigged against you.
Yup, there's always more money and personal advancement to be had in going along with the majority or just sucking up to those with power. Hence that's what most prominent journalists do in most cases.
His anger is fuelled by fear. Like the Neandethals before them Homo Sapiens will be replaced by the Velo Sapien. The Cyclists are coming...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFFrsvgu1Y
I note that one of his gripes is that cycle lanes tend to be less used outside of the morning and evening rush hours and are therefore a waste of good Tarmac.
Isn't that a defining characteristic of "rush hours", that they are busier than at times outside of rush hour? Hasn't he ever noticed that roads are the same - generally much quieter outside of rush hour?
(I wonder what his justification would be, for why that's *totally* different...)
OT: I've got to say that I find the Times paywall really f-ing annoying!
Saves you, and most, reading the shit they clearly publish.
I lose track: is Mr Boulton the one who punched a member of the public who interrupted an open air interview or the one who grabbed a woman's boob to move her out of the way during an open air interview?
Jus t preparing for when Fox takes over Sky News, this will be it, ranty big gobs, trying to be the next Hannity etc.
Having just read his bio, he's obviously not 'technically' thick but is obviously going down the Clarkson route of pieces that seem stupidly reactionary. The idiot crowd agree - click, click, click. The aggrieved crowd get angry - click, click, click. £££
We are like Americans with guns when it comes to cars though. No matter how many die, we won't stop driving in the same manner. On the other hand, ban fixies if it save just one life.
The irony of it all. Never mind the Sky/News International connection, if there is one person who could clearly benefit from cycling, it's Boulton. He claims on his Twitter timeline that he `owns a bike and rides it` and is `in a rude state of health`. To test the veracity of these statements simply enter `Adam Boulton Budget Selfie` into Google. I rest my case. On your bike, Adam!
Is that Adam the Ranty Engine?
Cycling isnt the first thing he's had a pop at......he called the death of Bruce Forsyth "inconsequential" for headline news.
Mind you he does have a point about that
In all honesty he's just at the head of a long line of journo's who have spat their dummies out over cycling but its still the biggest growing activity in the country despite their views.
"why bother with newspapers if this is all they offer? ... Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits - a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masterbate like a chimp in a zoo cage"
Hunter S Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Last Vegas.
I'm going to retweet every single report of a motorist injuring a cyclist or pedestrian that I see to him. I suggest everyone else does. He may not read each and every one, but he'll at least get a sense of the size of the issue.
Won't change his bigotted, overweight, over-privelidged, blubbery mind though.
Take comfort in Adam Boulton's life expectancy. If he actually exercised anything apart from his mouth we'd be faced with the prospect of having to put with his crap for much longer.
Yes using body shaming is neither clever or pleasant. But why should I make the effort of a reasoned argument? He's a professional journalist (I assume) and he can't be bothered to.
Body shaming is something we shouldn't be encouraging even though Adam Boulton is an ass. We have a problem with him because of what he says, not because of his body shape. There's plenty of overweight cyclists around and there's no reason at all to put them into the same category as an asshole like Boulton.
To be fair he's not so much body shamed him as wished him dead which I think is fine.
That does strangely make it a bit better.
sounds like a case of "cyclists, know your place!" - alongside women, the working class, immigrants, homosexuals etc.
sounds like the best place to be, if you ask me, looking at the other option.
Cretin
It's incredible to think that this muppet works for the company that also sponsors one of the best Pro Teams out there with multiple TdF winners. Spare me the jiffey bag blah blah blah, what ever your thoughts are. This about a journalist who works and represents Sky: I'm just glad that I don't have Sky TV or broadband at home.
What an arsehole!
So the times journalist that was rendered a vegetable (or a zombie?) thanks to a law breaking driver has now been forgotten at the times then?
Oh come on, journos will write anything to sell more papers - since when was truth a requirement?
This week, the headline is “At last the wheels are coming off our senseless worship of bicycles”
Next week it'll be “At last the wheels are coming off our senseless worship of cars”
We all have to share the roads, and mutual courtesy and respect are the way forward.
That will never happen as the UK's entire newspaper industry gets a huge proportion of its advertising revenue from the motoring industry.
You would require a considerable number of Adam Boulton's to make just one functioning halfwit. His odure is best ignored.
Doesnt his employer Sky, kind of sponser some bike thing or other ???
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