Transport secretary Chris Grayling ignites fresh row by claiming cyclists aren’t road users

riotgibbon wrote:

so, if you actually read what he says, he thinks that there are cycle lanes beside roads.

If you had listened to anyone besides other cyclists that love "facilities" you'd understand that this lesson  is exactly what the majority has taken as the lesson from the provision of said shit facilities.  

Ush wrote:

riotgibbon wrote:

so, if you actually read what he says, he thinks that there are cycle lanes beside roads.

 

If you had listened to anyone besides other cyclists that love "facilities" you'd understand that this lesson  is exactly what the majority has taken as the lesson from the provision of said shit facilities.  

Yes.

As for the slimy twat's disingenuous overstatement of those facilities in his non-answer to the question: he knows only too well about cycling lanes, paths and lack thereof and cyclists being in the road, having doored one in the road a few months ago.

There is a kind of arrogance that ignorance about a topic breeds - ie. you don't know how complex a topic is, and how little you know about it, until you start studying it. Grayling, along with Hunt, Gove and others, appear to have no desire to get to grips with the areas that they were made ministers of. And why would they? They might be shuffled in a year or so, and how can you become an expert in something as complex as transport or health or education in that time, while still trying to function as a MP? It's the system that's at fault there, allowing completely unqualified ministers. Who do they have advising them? Sycophantic aides who've never worked and aspire to be one of them.

That cuts across all political parties. I think the Tories still have a monopoly on their particular brand of entitlement, though, which, when combined with the arrogance and ignorance, really damages public confidence in any of them knowing their arse from their fucking elbow.

Ush wrote:

riotgibbon wrote:

so, if you actually read what he says, he thinks that there are cycle lanes beside roads.

 

If you had listened to anyone besides other cyclists that love "facilities" you'd understand that this lesson  is exactly what the majority has taken as the lesson from the provision of said shit facilities.  

woah! leave me out of it!   I just went back to the official record to see what actually was said, not just what was said was said, to see if if there was a bit more context that hadn't come across. That sometimes happens. What comes across in the video version was that  a) the other MP was clearly taking the piss, b) Grayling doesn't give a hoot either way, c) Grayling is considered a figure of fun by his peers

Not exactly holding my breath for this new cycling strategy

captain_slog wrote:

Quote:

“Where you have cycle lanes, cyclists are the users of cycle lanes.

“And there’s a road alongside – the motorists are the road users, the users of the road.

“It’s fairly straightforward to be honest.”

So what about a cyclist who uses the road instead of the cycle lane, as is their right? Are they a motorist? A non-cyclist? Does the presence of the cycle lane cause them problems? I think I need a Venn diagram.

This is post-truth: not lies, but people spouting total nonsense which they know no one they care about will be inclined to challenge.

That's what I do whenever the cycle lane seems dangerous to me.  And I can tell you what a lot of other people say about me, many of them cyclists..  you won't like it.

jasecd wrote:

This guy is a fucking joke.

Exactly what you expect from a Tory government: Grayling is to transport what Hunt is to healthcare or Johnson to foreign affairs - completely unsuited to the job and full of prejudices that will ultimately damage society.

It's a continuing example of politicians being given jobs they have absolutley no experience for and are completley unqualified to do. 

thx1138 wrote:

jasecd wrote:

This guy is a fucking joke.

Exactly what you expect from a Tory government: Grayling is to transport what Hunt is to healthcare or Johnson to foreign affairs - completely unsuited to the job and full of prejudices that will ultimately damage society.

It's a continuing example of politicians being given jobs they have absolutley no experience for and are completley unqualified to do. 

tbf they dont need to have experience or qualifications related to do their job, their job is just to speak to the press and occasionally stand up in the Commons and announce stuff, theyve got a whole department of civil servants working doing all the clever expert stuff for them, they just dont have to be blithering idiots...er oh

jasecd wrote:

This guy is a fucking joke.

Exactly what you expect from a Tory government: Grayling is to transport what Hunt is to healthcare or Johnson to foreign affairs - completely unsuited to the job and full of prejudices that will ultimately damage society.

 

 

As much as it would simplify everything if it were only Tories...

Was it not a Labour member of the transport committee who recently declared that cycle lanes 'cause congestion'? And then there are Kate 'cyclists get in my way' Hoey and Dave 'cyclists are the wealthy elite' Hill...

Though it was another Tory, I think, who suggested removing zebra-crossings to 'ease traffic flow'.

Oh, and not to forget the RMT (presumably Labour-supporting) and their belief that cycling is something you only do out of 'desperation'.

There's just a cross-party political lobby for idiocy, unfortunately.

jasecd wrote:

This guy is a fucking joke.

Exactly what you expect from a Tory government: Grayling is to transport what Hunt is to healthcare or Johnson to foreign affairs - completely unsuited to the job and full of prejudices that will ultimately damage society.

 

 

Completely Agree!