#44

Look if you can’t say something nasty about Chris Grayling then don’t say anything at all. Sheesh.

#45

I get what you’re saying though. The cycling infrastructure we have here means people are conditioned to hug the kerb and get out of the way of the important motor vehicles, even when the cycle lane disappears.

Also being able/confident/fast/young enough to “be part of the general flow of traffic” is a privilege not afforded to all and not particularly helpful in enabling mass cycling, making us all safer. It also relies on motorists treating cyclists fairly and equally like road users, which is rare.

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#46

Eh? That is quite literally victim blaming.

#48

^this

Also, that kind of statement comes from a place where you think that cars have a right over any other transport on the road, which is a fucking irresponsible thing for a transport secretary to say.

#49

I’d put money he was watching him in the wing mirror all the way up to the last second.

#50

They’re not a victim?? What?

#52

I dunno. Don’t want to get bogged-down in semantics but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to use the word victim here?

victim
noun
a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action.

#53

victim: noun

a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action.

#54

If he’d been knocked into the path of a bus and killed would he be a victim?

#56

Clueless passenger in car vs clueless cyclist.
At least one of them should’ve seen it coming.
Kill them both. Fucking idiots.

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#58

Yeah, that’s fair. I even avoided using that as an analogy.

#59

depends what you mean. if you just mean in a casual sense where they were the victim and they’re getting blamed then aye, I guess and it’s fine to do that. but if you’re talking about victim blaming where it is A Bad Thing, then it’s not. imo

#60

I get what you mean now, but I don’t think people should err away from using the word victim just because what they’ve suffered isn’t particularly serious. Like if someone nicks a tenner off you you’re still a victim, it’s just not as big a deal as if they’d cleaned out your bank account

#61

I’m not sure if I want to stir up the pot or not…:upside_down:

But what if the same cyclist was undertaking stationary traffic and a mum with a pushchair crossing the road appeared from behind the bus - and he ran into the pushchair

I don’t think anyone would be calling him the victim then…, but he would have been riding in exactly the same fashion

anyway - transport/ traffic in london/ big cities is rubbish (we are all victims of it maaaaaan) and cyclists are fucking awesome

#62

By victim blaming I mean someone who has suffered personal injury and damage to their property while not breaking the law and following the rules of the road being apportioned some of the blame for something that is entirely as a result of another’s negligence.

#63

and on double yellows too, tut tut tut.

#64

so if you tell someone to lock up their bike when they leave it outside you are victim blaming? to me that trivialises it as a concept

idk fuck knows why i’m even talking about this. must be bored i guess.

#65

If you watch the video carefully you’ll see the injured cyclist was actually riding pretty slowly, certainly slowly enough to brake if someone appeared from between vehicles, which is appropriate. Grayling actually opened the door into him from the side, which makes him even more of a twat.

The cyclist was riding legally and sensibly.

#66

fair enough

I tried to see the close up detail - but couldn’t really see it well (does the video zoom in later? maybe i missed that bit)

#67

Yeah, I don’t know either. I’m pretty bored and I’ve got loads of work to do.

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