You are reading a single comment by @Fox and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
skydancer
@Fox
Feels weird to be defending a motoring organisation, but...
Edmund King has been a consistently pro-cycling AA president which is great. He cycles himself, is a member of the DfT's Cycling Safety Stakeholder Group and in 2012 called cyclist-hating drivers 'absolute idiots'.
This this isn't the first time the AA have done things on cycling so they're not exactly suddenly coming out as an authority on cycling matters. They have also worked with Carlton Reid, the Editor of Bike Biz on the content, which seems like a sensible approach.
For what it's worth the AA is now mostly commercial (it's a FTSE 250 company) but also has a trust which was created to continue its public interest and road safety activities. I don't know if the £4.99 goes to the commercial arm or the trust but it's the price of a pint in a lot of London pubs so it doesn't seem outrageous.
Personally I think it's a good thing that an organisation which has traditionally only cared about motorists is now taking an interest in cycling. Perhaps it's a sign of changing times.