Through the wonders of Facebook, this little vid of Magda Szubanski going off about cyclists on Good News Week the other day has been brought to my attention:
Magda Szubanski being stupid about cyclists
Now, I know this is hardly the worst rant ever, and it is even somewhat funny in parts. But I do find it extremely disturbing, as does another blogger over at OzSoapbox, that Szubanski’s call out to people at the end of her rant to run down cyclists or open car doors on them was greeted by whoops and cheers from the audience.
In terms of serious advocacy of violence towards cyclists, it certainly doesn’t rate against this column in the London Times which caused a tremendous furore in the UK and in cycling communities around the world. Matthew Parris, a former Tory MP, opened his column with the following:
A festive custom we could do worse than foster would be stringing piano wire across country lanes to decapitate cyclists.
Charming.
I am not going to defend littering by cyclists. I think it’s abominable. And neither am I going to defend ugly lycra – it’s perfectly fine to ride in shorts and t-shirts, folks. But advocating violence against a set of people because you find them annoying is absolutely beyond the pale. I find right wing columnists bloody annoying, but I don’t say we should lynch them!
This light-heartedness, however, masks what is a very serious underlying issue. As someone who rides to and from work every day, trailing 2 kids behind me in one direction, I have noticed a disturbing increase in aggressive behaviour on the part of drivers towards cyclists.
On one occasion recently, having had a driver accelerate towards me on an empty stretch of road (this is Canberra – we have very wide, empty roads!), honk loudly and shout abuse out of his window at me for no apparent reason, I posted a comment about it to my twitter and Facebook. Within minutes it had been widely re-tweeted and I had a stream of comments on my Facebook with people recounting similar experiences. One friend in Melbourne had even had a dickhead deliberately reverse into her on a Melbourne street – looking her in the eye while doing so.
Cyclists have a right to be on the road as much as drivers and pedestrians. Yes, some cyclists abuse that right by riding aggressively, and I won’t defend that. But many more drivers drive dangerously and we don’t demonise all drivers for the sins of the few. We certainly don’t advocate lynchings because we don’t like the look of their cars (even though their cars are capable of killing us, and are polluting the planet needlessly).
This is a growing issue and we need to be very vigilant to make sure we don’t let it grow. I’d be interested to hear if others have also noticed this trend.
Update: Szubanski has apologised. Good on her!
12 Comments
I don’t own a car, nor do I want to. Why then do I have to listen to people like Magda bleat on about cyclists using their roads, etc. etc. WAKE UP!!! Car rego mostly pays for admin fees and 3rd party insurance. The majority of funding for road infrastructure is paid through general tax revenue. That’s right, I pay like everybody else for our roads and what do I get in return, ignorant self obsessed drivers who want to kill me for reducing congestion, reducing road wear, not spewing pollution into the air, not creating excessive road noise and being less of a burden on the health system. Plus I don’t even get to use freeways or other big ticket infrastructure that I paid for. If you want to know more I’d suggest reading about it here: http://www.cyclingpromotion.com.au/resources/cycling-faqs/
Magda is the biggest hypocrite of the lot anyway. She is an ambassador for a weight loss company and for Enviroweek. Yeah I can think of a simple activity to keep you in shape and help the environment Magda, it’s called cycling.
I agree with Magda, all cyclists should be diverted into gas chambers
> I am not going to defend littering by cyclists. I think it’s abominable. And neither am I going to defend ugly lycra – it’s perfectly fine to ride in shorts and t-shirts, folks.
Why do people get so hung up on lycra? Wear the clothing that is designed for the activity. Do you hear people saying things like it’s perfectly fine to play cricket, football, netball, or swim laps in shorts and t-shirts?
Shorts and t-shirts would be fine for a slow and short weekend ride with the kids, but if I attempted Around The Bay in a Day with shorts and t-shirt I would bleed to death through the crotch.
Thanks for that constructive comment, Mr Pastry.
And fair point davecole. I totally agree that lycra has its place, particularly for long commutes and competitive cycling and training. I guess it’s just one of those things that it’s easy to take the piss when people who are obviously not doing either get all kitted up. It’s the old “conspicuous cycling” thing – people wanting to look the part.
Too easy to take the piss and I fell for it. Sorry it distracts from the serious point – advocating violence is never OK.
> I guess it’s just one of those things that it’s easy to take the piss when people who are obviously not doing either get all kitted up. It’s the old “conspicuous cycling” thing – people wanting to look the part.
I agree with you there. When you see someone who does not ride as much as you but is kitted out like a member of a pro team, it is hard not to think them pretentious.
Last year when doing the Degani Kinglake ride, my friends and I rode past a guy pushing his really expensive Bianchi road bike up the hill. To this day we describe it as “some guy whose Bianchi road bike must have broken because he was pushing it”.
While I find humour in things like the above, I have nothing but encouragement for anyone who wants to ride a bike on the road. Even if they bite off more than they can chew when participating on the various organised recreational rides, regardless of what they wear, or what bike they ride.
Hi Tim,
While certainly not advocvating violence against anyone, perhaps cyclists wouldn’t be the subject of so much hostility if there weren’t so many dickheads in their ranks. Why do cyclists move to the front of banked up traffic at stoplights when they know full well that they’ll be slowing up all the cars behind them when the lights turn green? Why do they insist on riding two abreast when there is room for them to move to the shoulder & allow cars to pass? Why do they insist on taking their bikes on packed commuter trains? (This one really annoys me. Try squeezing into a peak hour train at Town Hall when some bozo has blocked half the carriage off with his snazzy new racer. He didn’t buy four tickets – why should he take up the space of four people?)
And on the subject of entitlement to the road, the last I checked pedestrians could be charged for crossing roads at will and cyclists were meant to ride within a metre of the kerb. As bike riders don’t contribute to the mainenance of roads via license, registration & fuel levy, the statement that they are ‘equally entitled’ seems a bit rich.
Of course, in stating the above, I realise that many cyclists are courteous & responsible. I’m certainly not lumping them all together, merely suggesting that there are legitimate reasons why there is hostility toiward them.
Oh, and as for lycra – nobody deserves to cop an eyeful of gladwrapped fruitbowl at 7am on their way to work. Ever.
>As bike riders don’t contribute to the mainenance of roads via license, registration & fuel levy, the statement that they are ‘equally entitled’ seems a bit rich
Um, Gibbot, you’ve made two assumptions;
1. that cyclists don’t pay license, rego and fuel levies. Most do because they own cars as well as bikes!
2. that license fees and fuel levies are used to maintain roads. They’re not. Most roads are paid for and maintained by local government authorities through property rates and federal and state grants from consolidated revenue, ie income and company tax. Major roads are paid for by state governments from the same source.
I realise that many negros are courteous & responsible. I’m certainly not lumping them all together, merely suggesting that there are legitimate reasons why there is hostility toward them.
Robert Firth – Fair call, I stand corrected. At the risk of being pedantic, though, ‘most do’ is almost as sweeping a generalisation as my initial claim.
Jcartledge – Forgive my insensitivity. I cannot imagine the social stigma you must endure. It obviously wasn’t your choice that you were born wearing lycra.
@ Gibbot
1 – how many cyclists are dickheads and how did you count them? What evidence do you have that this proportion is any greater than any other group of people. On this one I suggest you stop worrying yourself about what other people do and carry on with your own life.
2 -Cyclists move to the front of traffic lights to be visible to traffic, to avoid left turning cars that may not see them, because that is the advice they are given by roads authorities, because that is where the MARKED ‘cycle only’ refuge often is and so they can get into the cycling lane quickly to avoid getting in the way of banked up traffic.
3 – Why do they insist on riding two abreast? Because its safer and its legal and they have every right to. So they hold you up, well why do trucks insist on driving on our roads and slowing us down, why do pedestrians insist on crossing at zebra crossings and making us stop for them? Learn to share the road.
4 – Some people take bikes on trains and cause inconvenience, some people take prams on trains and cause inconvenience, some people get on at the stop before me and take the seat I could have had and so on. It’s a public system and you just have to put up with the public using it. At any rate most of the people I see with bikes on trains have low end commuter bikes that are only suitable for shorter rides so they take the train for part of the trip. I don’t like it but it’s legal and they are entitled to use the service. And how about those pensioners and school kids? they only bought concession tickets yet they want to use as much of the train as me. Outrageous.
5 – On the subject of road entitlement you’re missinformed, The law treats a cycle as a vehicle and it is entitled to a whole traffic lane. This isn’t “a bit rich” it’s just the law. The fact that we usually don’t use it to allow cars to pass flies in the face of two of your arlier gripes. Read your road rules.
So there’s an answer to your ‘legitimate reasons for hostility’ There not legitimate they’re just irrational prejudice.
Now here’s some for you.
1 – why do cars feel they have a right to force cyclists off the road? (four times this year)
2 – why do cars insist on driving in marked cycle lanes and blowing their horn to indicate that you’re in their way?
3 – Why do drivers throw things at cyclists creating a very real risk of serios injury and death?
4 – Why do so few drivers read the road rules and understand the rights of other, far more vulnerable road users and their own obligations to drive safely?
5 – Why do drivers think it’s ok to scream abuse at a person who they don’t know, have never met and who is having no interaction with them whatsoever?
And what on earth is this thing with lycra? Truly mysitfying as to why someone else’s choice of clothes upsets you so. Does other people’s lycra wearing make you feel less of a man? Do you get this cross with boleros, wool blends or capri pants?
I am a regular commuter cyclist, and have seen an increase in aggression towards me over the past few years. Just last week a group of jaywalking pedestrians were discussing amongst themselves how best to “take me out” as I was passing, and last month a driver tried to knock me off with his door, and when he missed, ran after me screaming and shaking his fists.
Even after well publicised events, such as the Sydney driver who targeted the peleton near the airport a year back, I have seen nobody in a position of authority (such as police minister, premier, transport minister etc) loudly and publicly denouce the nutters who advocate violence towards cyclists. Anyone who has been targeted by a car, bus or truck would agree that there are some crazy drivers with an irrational hatred of cyclists who need a stern voice telling them that deliberately running over cyclists is murder and could land them in jail. Something needs to be done to discourage such idiots from acting on their hatred.
When a cyclist killed a pedestrian on Beach Rd Melbourne a couple of years back, there was justified outrage at the lawlessness of those responsible. However, more column inches and talkback hours were devoted to this one event than all of the cyclists and pedestrians killed by cars in the previous 10 years. Why?
I have a suspicion that some vested interest groups (oil/car/road) are working to prevent any sustainable forms of transport from becoming viable for the majority, which is really going to hurt when oil prices start to really take off. Many journeys we take (school, shops, station, work) are within easy riding distance if the (mostly local council funded) local infrastructure was designed to encourage it. All we are seeing is minimal tinkering around the edges, combined with vocal critics of cycling working to maginalise those who choose not to drive.
> I am not going to defend littering by cyclists<
Where is this "littering from cyclists" crap coming from? I have seen cigarettes, bottles cans etc dropped by pedestrians, car drivers emptying ashtrays into the gutter, a truck driver empty a load of broken concrete and bricks in a park, and plenty of rubbish bags, furniture, matresses etc dumped on the roadside – but NOT by cyclists. The only littering I have seen from cyclists is the Tour de France guys throwing their drink bottles, which I suspect are collected as trophies by some of the 15 million people lining the route.