BBC 1 Mon 7 Jan 08 2100.

[Simon Mason]

Heads up.

"Britain is in the grip of an escalating road rage crisis. Filming on some
of the UK's most traffic-choked streets, this special investigation exposes
just how bad the situation has become; as violence and abuse in the war
between motorists, cyclists, wardens and police escalates without any
solution in sight.

For decades, the UK's ever-growing number of motorists have been kings of
the road; paying tax and fuel duty, they believe the streets belong to them.
But now the balance of power is shifting. Increasing numbers of cyclists and
pedestrians are demanding, and exercising, equal rights to the road and the
anger on each side is mounting. Strong language"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/listing...filename=20080107/20080107_2100_4223_12870_60

 

[Adam Lea]

"Simon Mason" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Heads up.
>
> "Britain is in the grip of an escalating road rage crisis. Filming on some
> of the UK's most traffic-choked streets, this special investigation
> exposes just how bad the situation has become; as violence and abuse in
> the war between motorists, cyclists, wardens and police escalates without
> any solution in sight.
>
> For decades, the UK's ever-growing number of motorists have been kings of
> the road; paying tax and fuel duty, they believe the streets belong to
> them. But now the balance of power is shifting. Increasing numbers of
> cyclists and pedestrians are demanding, and exercising, equal rights to
> the road and the anger on each side is mounting. Strong language"
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/listing...filename=20080107/20080107_2100_4223_12870_60

Thanks for pointing that out - definitly worth a watch.

I notice that they are investigating this on very crowded roads. It seems to
me that road rage is strongly related to how crowded the roads are. People
hate having to travel slower than what they see as a reasonable rate of
progress and this will spill over sooner or later. I cycle mostly on quiet
rural roads and I have very rarely had a problem with motorists in the 5
years I have been living here.

 

[Pete]

Simon Mason wrote:
> Heads up.
>
> "Britain is in the grip of an escalating road rage crisis. Filming on
> some of the UK's most traffic-choked streets, this special investigation
> exposes just how bad the situation has become; as violence and abuse in
> the war between motorists, cyclists, wardens and police escalates
> without any solution in sight.
>
> For decades, the UK's ever-growing number of motorists have been kings
> of the road; paying tax and fuel duty, they believe the streets belong
> to them. But now the balance of power is shifting. Increasing numbers of
> cyclists and pedestrians are demanding, and exercising, equal rights to
> the road and the anger on each side is mounting. Strong language"
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/listing...filename=20080107/20080107_2100_4223_12870_60
>

This sounds worryingly like a programme determined to tell us all how
awful and dangerous the roads are and that the various road using groups
all hate each other.

I hope to be proved wrong.

Pete

 

[al Mossah]

On 5 Jan, 12:25, Pete <[email protected]> wrote:

> This sounds worryingly like a programme determined to tell us all how
> awful and dangerous the roads are and that the various road using groups
> all hate each other.
>
> I hope to be proved wrong.
>
> Pete

Nope, you were 100% right. It focussed mainly on London, specifically
the school run in Hampstead and the critical mass ride, among others.

The 4x4 driver driving around Hampstead in his mega-fast Jeep
certainly came across as an idiot. "Why do these vans have to be HERE
at THIS time?" translated to "Why can't everybody stay off the roads
when I'm on them", and it was brilliant how he did not see his truck
as part of the congestion.

OTOH, the critical mass just came across as a load of idiots
obstructing the traffic; cars, other bikes and pedestrians. I'm
sorry, but if I'd been riding along at that time, I'd have joined the
motorists in their cries to ban the bikes. If that TV programme was
representative of the CM (and I accept that it may well not be; any
London CM participants feel free to put me right) , then it is
alientating more people than it is encouraging. By contrast, I
thought the good humoured crash-test dummies were much more likely to
get people to think about their choice of transport.

Peter.