Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

forum
road.cc bike forum

BBC Fake News

by iandusud
Mon, May 04, 2020 07:47
8

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-leeds-52395378?ns_mchannel=so...
I have just read the above article and written to yorkshirelive [at] bbc.co.uk with the following. Could I please ask as many of you as possible to do likewise.
Thanks, Ian
Please remove this headline. It is inaccurate. The statement from NY Police says nothing about cyclists crashing. It refers to more cyclists being involved in collisions. The headline implies that the increase is due to the behaviour of the cyclists, whereas statistics clearly demonstrate that in the vast majority of collisions involving cyclists with other roads users it is the other road user who is at fault. If the number of collisions has increased along with an increase in the number of cyclists on the road then that only reflects the status quo.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

Add new comment

8 comments

Avatar
srchar | 4 years ago
0 likes

It's not just the headline that needs changing, it's the article content:

"The number of collisions with cyclists has gone up from 20% to 27%, compared to the same period last year."

What does that even mean?

Avatar
iandusud | 4 years ago
0 likes

I'm very pleased to note that the BBC have changed the headline, which originally read "More cyclists crashing as novices take to saddle". It would have been nice if the BBC had acknowledged my email.

Avatar
mdavidford replied to iandusud | 4 years ago
1 like

It still contains this statistically illiterate claim:

Quote:

The number of collisions with cyclists has gone up from 20% to 27%

Numbers of collisions and percentages are two different things; one can go up while the other stays the same, or even goes down. They need to be reported to the More Or Less police.

Avatar
OnTheRopes | 4 years ago
0 likes

Shameful and innacurrate reporting, I did email them

Avatar
ridiculouscyclist replied to OnTheRopes | 4 years ago
1 like

Not sure if the headline has changed, but at the moment I can't see a problem. "ROAD USERS urged to take care as cycle use increases" - what's wrong with that? sounds like good advice to road users.

 

Avatar
OnTheRopes replied to ridiculouscyclist | 4 years ago
0 likes

Yes they have changed the headline

Avatar
iandusud replied to ridiculouscyclist | 4 years ago
1 like

Yes, original headline was "More cyclists crashing as novices take to saddle". A shameful piece of victim blaming. If you read the article the only correlation that is made is with the increase of drivers speeding. So headline should have read "Speeding drivers cause increase in accidents"

Avatar
efail replied to iandusud | 4 years ago
0 likes

I emailed them, also. It's just poor thinking. Not sure if they mean any harm.

Latest Comments