Don't read the comments!

As we all know reading the comments under a cycling article in a local rag can be a disturbing experience. Victim blaming, communal guilt and anti-bicycle bingo are all typical.

I thought it would be nice to post the ''best'' of these, such as this beauty from the Birmingham mail

Cyclists and pedestrians are unable to live together safely in the UK. Cyclists are a menace to themselves and others wit their blatant disregard for laws/ regulations that others obey- they jump red lights, cycle on pavements and place poor pedestrians (including small children) in constant danger.

London is a great example of where cyclists have been given priority and protection over pedestrians (ep. by an over zealous mayor) and how it has all fallen part.

Cyclists are inhumane!

Few spelling errors. Passable grammar. Insufficient hysteria. No mention of lycra - 4/10

Needs moar rode tax

No mention of helmets: could do better.

How can you not love the rhetorical stylings of "How it has all fallen apart." ?

rode tax

There's no such thing. Willem Defoe repealed it in 1926 and replaced it with VKD (Voight-Kampff Duty).

All these tax revenues will be lost, like tears in the precipitation.

How can you not love the rhetorical stylings of "How it has all fallen apart." ?

They appear to have posted 'how it has all fallen part'. :)

The green ink just doesn't show up well...

No implausible anecdote that happened "just the other day". 6/10

"My sisters father in law, just the other day, was killed repeatedly by a cyclist who was invisible at mid-day etc"

On the other hand I note hypothetical "small children" at risk of cyclist-inflicted injury are present and correct, albeit without their usual accompaniment of hypothetical "old folk"

Ha! Told myself not to open this thread (why make myself angry and shouty and despairing of the human race?) but clearly, my ability to resist reading your quoted comment @hairnetnic is about as poor as refraining from reading them direct. #shootmenow

The Brighton Argus is always good for a laugh, particularly as it seems to indulge in a spot of editorial cyclist-baiting itself:

http://m.theargus.co.uk/news/10149911.Red_light_for_Brighton_and_Hove_cyclists/

Well done Argus - it is totally unacceptable and frankly, inexplicable, that cyclists flaunt the laws of the road as they do. They should pay road tax, be insured and get prosecuted - as a motorist would - if they committ traffic offences - which by the way most of them do on a daily if not hourly basis.

Another Hove-based classic, after a story about a pavement-based fracas:

What is it with some cyclists that they arrogantly think they have the right to ride wherever they like, regardless of the law and regardless of pedestrians? And why is it that the police and councils totally ignore this problem? How many more pedestrians are going to be attacked for making a reasonable complaint? And let us not forget that one was murdered by a cyclist in Hove not that long ago. 

And let us not forget that one was murdered by a cyclist in Hove not that long ago.

A salient point if ever there was one...

Sometimes it helps to embrace the hatred and bile and reclaim it, quite frankly a lot of these anti-cycling comments are laughably irrelevant/inappropriate...

I do quite like calling up BBC London radio when I hear cyclists being berated/unfairly demonised.

It was fun the other morning to be able to reference and concur with our lass @tricitybendix who was interviewed before me.

Fortunately some of the presenters are keen and sensible cyclists which always helps diffuse ranting taxi/white van drivers.

" Are people so thick they have to have common sense cycling explained to them? It would be interesting to do a psychological study on bicyclists. They do seem to have an enormous chip on their shoulders. I've often seen them shouting at both drivers and pedestrians. It seems no one likes them, and they lash out at all around them. I wonder if it stems from an inferiority complex. They need to be reassured, that Just because they can't afford a a car and are still riding a bicycle as a grown adult, doesn't mean that everyone is looking down on them."

from the Bristol Post

This thread is great. And by great, I mean it proves my point that 90% of humanity are fucking idiots and I'm surprised they can operate a computer to the degree that allows them to comment on articles.

I like the idea of flaunting the law. I should do more of it I suppose, what with being a lawyer myself...

This is great

Just because they can't afford a a car and are still riding a bicycle as a grown adult, doesn't mean that everyone is looking down on them

This thread is so meta, people bitching about comments in comments.

It's all David's fault for renaming posts. :)

The best ones are those that begin with ;

"I have nothing against cyclists but .....",

Yeah I love "I'm a cyclist AND a motorist" type comments, there a bit like the, "I'm not a racist, but" comments

https://www.facebook.com/transportforlondon/photos/a.231642850225865.59681.212038972186253/809379235785554/?type=1

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I particularly like the way that Anthony Morris puts cyclists (or, rather, the cycling mafia), in the same buckot-o-bigotry as Eastern European migrant workers (who, apparently, are all bodgers).