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OPINION
Updated - Video: "Cyclists are their own worst enemy. They deserve to die!"
Thu, Feb 26, 2015 09:39
95
Own worst enemyHere's one of the most bizarre helmet camera videos I've ever seen, in which a rider walking her bike, minding her own business and behaving perfectly and utterly legally is subjected to anti-cycling opinions offered unsolicited by a complete stranger.
YouTuber leveret day remains remarkably calm throughout the encounter despite being told that cyclists, including presumably herself "are their own worst enemy" and "deserve to die'. Lovely.
The encounter happened on the morning of Friday November 20 as she was pushing her bike in South Kensington.
She said: "This stranger walked up behind me and started talking to me. Note that this was not the result of any encounter between us as I was actually cycling along. I was just wheeling my bike along, to cross the road at the traffic lights.
"To begin with I thought he was perhaps a cyclist commiserating about recent tragic cyclist deaths with some rather uncomfortable 'gallows humour' … but then he used the words 'road tax' and was alas shown to be just a really vile man.
"I'm not at my most articulate but really I was quite thrown by how to respond to him.
He didn't seem to mind that I had my helmet camera recording so, well, here we go."
Her response is a great lesson in how to remain calm in the face of random unreasonable nonsense, pointing out that nobody pays road tax and despite being trained and licensed, drivers still do reckless things.
I have to wonder though, would this man have offered his odious opinions to a male rider?
Update: did this man see Claire Hitier-Abadie die?
A blog entry containing opinions eerily similar to those espoused by the man in this video has emerged. In it, the blogger identifying himself as James Nash writes: "I saw the crash at Victoria station when a cyclist was crushed by a tipper truck and yes, as expected the cyclist was weaving in and out of traffic with no care for other road users and paid the penalty and another one bites the dust."
(The blog has since been deleted, but a screenshot of a later version of it is here.)
The blog posting is dated February 20, the day after Claire Hitier-Abadie died after being hit by a tipper truck at Victoria.
Police are appealing for witnesses to that crash. I hope James Nash has come forward with his account.
Update 2: Denial, admission & counter-claim
James Nash initially denied he had been the person in the video, but now seems to be admitting it.
As he has deleted all the content of his blog, discussion has moved to a post on his Google Plus page.
He denies saying that cyclists deserve to die, despite it being clearly audible in leveret day's video of Nash telling her his thoughts on cycling, and then claims the video was "taken out of context".
He says he was struck by leveret day as she mounted the kerb and then received "a torrent of abuse" from her.
He wrote: "What happened was thast I was walking along Cromwell Road the other day about to cross over to the other side of the street when, all of a sudden I was struck by a cyclist mounting the pavement as I was about to step off and cross the road. My thirst thoughts was to enquire regarding the cyclist's well-being when all of a sudden I was receiving a torrent of abuse from the said individual."
Leveret day responded: "It's lucky that I've kept the video footage of the time prior to our 'conversation'. Will be posting it up soon. Interestingly it doesn't show me striking you at all!"
And indeed it doesn't. Here it is:
James Nash has been asked several times if he has given a witness statement regarding the death of Claire Hitier-Abadie, which he claimed to have witnessed. He has so far failed to respond.
In recognition of the fact that it has been claimed James Nash is mentally ill, comments on this story have been locked.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
More Opinion
Latest Comments
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Wait - I've got it! It's actually an accessible design - for cyclists without arms. Hey presto, you can be in the drops using only your feet!
- chrisonabike 37 min 26 sec ago
Why leave yourself open to the problem in the first place? No windows, no draughty windows.
- chrisonabike 39 min 15 sec ago
Yup - although as a more "distributed" / low cost kind of "good" (which the public purse pays towards) cycling will likely always be susceptible to...
- quiff 1 hour 46 min ago
I'm sure they'd ask Lime to do that too. Come and collect your bikes and my neighbour - they're in pieces.
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Ireland seems to have a lot of problems with their cycle lanes… Almost as many as England
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Fair point - I was restricting myself to pedal bikes. As I've never spent that kind of money on anything though (mortgage doesn't count), it's kind...
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And finally: I wonder how many of the "more than 3,000" signatures on that petition are actually locals, who live or work there (and are not just...
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I think you're missing an opportunity to pack even more tech into it - add accelerometers that can detect whether they're pedalling or stepping....
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95 comments
I think the gentleman needs help. Reading his blog, posts, gofundme page etc, if all true, it's clear that he has issues. Let's hope that the police act to see that those are met/appropriate measures are taken....
His response is just complete gibberish. As oldridgeback says he seems to suggest that the knocking him down now he has breathing issues and the bit where he's videoed are one and the same incident. And as for all the stuff about 'I thought it was a private conversation'. well isn't that what people say when they get caught out saying things that are racist or yes I can get in touch with any of our nations ambassadors etc. They are only sorry because they got caught out.
Long time reader. first time poster so hello everyone
James Nash - http://tinyurl.com/ntn8bz6
A broadcast media professional, now a social media expert too.
Long after this story has been forgotten, I think the name James Nash may live on to represent a whole mass of hysterical Daily Fail commenters and lazy journalists who portray cycling as some deadly pastime invented to terrorise innocent pedestrians (and sometimes their guide dogs...)
If I were a prospective employer who happened to ride a bike (let's face it, more and more are!), this guy would get a PFO and some choice words on top.
Can I call him a disgusting human being?
James also knows "Public Speaking" - Clearly, he can't seem to shut up in public.
"Public relations" - Yep, doing great things in managing his profile seeing as most people think he's nuts.
"Blogging" - Talking about fatal accidents in a biased and non-factual manner is definitely something we want in our future FOX News correspondents.
"Media planning" - Wait, James, was this all an elaborate ruse to get yourself onto the national stage? You diabolical genius, someone hire him!
https://twitter.com/veloevol/status/569896794752196608/photo/1
Very helpful of him. I will bear it in mind. Although I am now at greater risk as I shall be shaking with laughter every time I recall his advice
Have you actually read his appeal for money - the cyclist 'came out of nowhere', and knocked a grown man to the ground, severely injuring him apparently, but was able to cycle on his way undisturbed by the collision/ Sorry, but I don't actually believe a word of it.
No, not a clue.
He's got UKIP all over him.
UKIP or Yew Tree, one of those anyway.
That 'gofundme' claim might well be fraudulent and an attempt at obtaining money by deception.
Where's that crimestoppers link?
That's why he crashed. You don't really think that was unscripted, do you?
Now try and say all that in one go. I think he's realising now that a lot of people have taken offence. His account does seem to contain a number of inconsistencies. So was he struck by the woman who videos him as this implies? And if so, why was he not out of breath as he has referred to elsewhere? Or was he struck by some other random cyclist perhaps?
I do think he may need some help.
If you live in Catford I commute thru there regularly - good to see another south Londoner.
Anyway it's hard not to keep watching what happens with this bloke, like a car crash in slow motion you want to look away from but can't. The more I read the more I think he has issues that all this will simply make worse.
hopefully based on his postings that this is not a job to support himself.
I forget that sarcasm is often lost in type...
Yep I live in central catford. commute Catford to Surrey Quays most days, You'll notice me, bloke the size of a wardrobe on a yellow Giant.
I actually think that whilst this bloke does seem to need some help he's quite sinister. Whilst I'm sure that the rider who filmed it could look after themselves judging by their other vid's, I think it's highly unlikely that he'd have say come up to me to say it for instance.
He just seems like a classic prejudice filled hateful idiot who's got his idea and is sticking to it. He also sounds like a complete fantasist with his broadcast media professional blog that reposts other peoples copy and what he does write is just rubbish toot. A very sad man al round, but even sadder is that the internet gives him a voice.
Jesus dude, you're awful. you don't like the kippers, did Nigel pour a pint over you?
Sheesh, He's obviously Labour. His views are as abhorrent as yours are politically
Fair comment!
Cyclists come from somewhere, not nowhere. His account of the incident suggests that he didn't first look properly, which would make him at fault.
Don't pedestrians always have right of way though? Even if they don't look properly and try and cross the road when a cyclist is coming.
Sometimes.
170 Road Junctions.
Take extra care at junctions. You should.....
watch out for pedestrians crossing a road into which you are turning. If they have started to cross they have priority, so give way.
Good point actually - forgot about that one. But pedestrians have priority at junctions, unless they are signalised. His account does not make it clear where the incident occurred. He may indeed have tried to cross against a red light himself, or simply stepped into the roadway without looking. Given his comments, it is entirely possible he has skirted around the truth. His lack of detail on the point suggests there may be more to the incident than he is revealing.
Overall I think he's likely to find his employability has been severely reduced. You have to feel some sympathy for him as he's probably had an unwelcome shock as to the power of the Internet. Let he who is innocent cast the first stone and all that...
Probably. Or maybe he's actually a highly internet-aware marketing genius who's spotted a job at Addison Lee which he really fancies...
He didn't seem that out of breath keeping up with a woman he wanted to abuse and telling homophobic jokes!
The cyclist is my cycling hero of the year so far. Excellent reasoning and staying so calm. I'd not have been half as restrained.
I am not a violent man, but I would punch him in the mouth soooo hard, he would have to stick a toothpick up his @rse to keep his teeth clean. Kudos to the young lady.
I just investigated his Facebook and Linkedin profiles. Was planning to post them here, perhaps contact his employee etc. However, reading over his Linkedin, where he talks about his care for his terminally ill partner, I was struck with the fact that this is a real person, with a real history, not just a walking robot with an offensive opinion.
Obviously I despise what he said (and kudos to the respondent)...but I now feel like I'm the guilty party for wanting to take my vitriol out on someone who maybe was just having a bad day, or perhaps has underlying mental health issues.
Just a heads up. Consider the person.
Ok, there is now a name and some easy detective work will lead to him, his company or his employer.
Lets not be vigilantes. He's certainly a dick, but he didn't hurt anyone, not in that video at least. Lets take the higher ground and not hunt him down. That'll do us no favours. And its simply not right or fair. People do stupid things, they shouldn't be destroyed because of it. A sense of scale is important.
This piece by Jon Ronson on internet shaming is prescient:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/21/internet-shaming-linds...
Damnit Das, you beat me to it! (see below)
I knew I was right to buy all that vulpine stuff
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