On 8th October, the Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser Facebook page shared a video captured by a motorist passing cyclists who were riding lawfully and peacefully up Box Hill on 5th October. The poster headlined it 'Box Hill Bedlam'. The D&LA Facebook contributor shared this video adding the comment...
This video by [name omitted] shows the man versus bicycle that goes on daily at Box Hill.
In my role as RCC Chairman, and consistent with the Club's objective which is to promote cycling in all its forms in East Surrey, I sent the following email to Oliver Frankham, the news editor of the Surrey Mirror series:
Dear Mr Frankham
Please can I register the concern and dismay of the members of Redhill Cycling Club (and probably every other cyclist within your catchment area) at the posting of the 'Man vs Cycle - Box Hill Bedlam' video posted recently on the Dorking and Leatherhead Avertiser Facebook page.
We accept that Box Hill has become a 'go to' place for riders but cyclists have exactly the same legal and fiscal rights as drivers to use the road - and probably greater environmental and public health justification too. Yet the way you chose to show footage of cyclists riding lawfully on a public road and headline it as 'bedlam' was naive at best and irresponsible at worst.
Two of the most serious threats to the lives of young people are 1) car crashes (the biggest cause of death among 17-21 year olds in Britain) and 2) obesity. With your post you are complicit in sending a message to children that a car is the only vehicle truly allowed on the road... That a short journey is probably best done in a 4x4 rather than on a bicycle... and that intolerance of other lawful road users is acceptable. This will help neither threat.
The vitriolic comments that followed your post will exacerbate the feeling among those who abuse and close-pass cyclists that this behaviour is 'right'. Encouraging adults and children to exercise and use bikes for short journeys as well as pleasure would show real regard for your community. Instead, Dorking and Leatherhead residents will believe that their local paper is in the 'roads belong to cars' camp.
Cyclists do not get in the way of traffic: cyclists ARE traffic. 85% of cyclists are drivers too, we too dislike cyclists who break the law or cycle irresponsibly but irresponsibly does not mean use of the road only in the way that drivers deem convenient to them.
The person on the bike is the vulnerable road user and drivers have a duty of care to them, just as they do for horses and pedestrians. I think an apology to the hundreds of cyclists among your readership is due.
Yours sincerely
Adrian Webb
After further exchanges with me stressing how such a comment comes across as anti-cyclists and Mr Frankham insisting that the paper was entirely neutral and not accepting that offence could have been taken by the 'Man versus Cycles' comment, he ended with the following:
The original post has now been deleted by the person who originally posted it.
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