So, what’s McKenna’s doubtlessly thought-provoking solution? “Worse, your carbon footprint is going from a manageable size six to a dangerous size 10 as you slow to a crawl and your engine begins to consume more petrol, along with the long line of cars behind you.” Next, he moves onto one of the more recent anti-cycling bingo lines, fuelled no doubt by the reaction to LTNs and the ‘extra pollution’ they cause: Just look at all these work-shy leisure cyclists, holding all the important people in cars up… Because no cyclist ever uses their bike to commute. “Then you begin to realise that you’re about to be late for making the working contribution to society that they seem to be dodging.”Īh yes, the ‘cyclists holding up people actually trying to go to work and help society’ trope, good one. “To the unwary, these gentle and unassuming road snails are merely well-meaning types with too much time on their hands who are seeking fresh air and exercise amid the grandeur of Scotland’s wild open spaces. “Cyclists,” he begins, readying his anti-cycling bingo pen. Which sounds extremely safe for all involved. Well, it seems as if McKenna’s attitudes towards cycling haven’t dimmed in the intervening ten years, judging by a column in which he urges readers to create their own “wellness plan” to combat and find an outlet for their “repressed rage” – with one element of his plan involving “transferring his rage” onto one of his seemingly many “triggers”: Cyclists on the road. > Cities are for cars - and the Road Share campaign criminalises motorists, says Scots commentator Ten years ago, you may or may not recall, McKenna condemned a campaign to introduce a system of “strict liability” in incidents involving motorists and vulnerable road users, claiming that cycling in Scotland was strictly the preserve of the middle class and that the move would risk “criminalising innocent citizens”, while forcing them to “chug along permanently in second gear” behind cyclists on the roads. Just when you thought the world of anti-cycling columns couldn’t plunge any deeper, especially after Jeremy Clarkson’s latest tirade against the “two-wheeled Stasi” or the Spectator’s almost monthly assertion that “Lycra-clad” cyclists “own the roads”, well think again.īecause yesterday the Herald published one of the more bizarre anti-cycling bingo rants of recent times, courtesy of commentator and former deputy editor Kevin McKenna.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |