Not Road Users

[Socks]

According to the current Transport minister, we aren't road users:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/transport-secretary-chris-grayling-says-cyclists-are-not-road-users-a7524061.html

[Pingu]

Grayling is a cunt - not news.

[Nethypete]

 

[matthew]

By the logic that cyclists are in cycle lanes and road users are on the road then I am a road user as there aren't cycle lanes on most of the roads I ride down.

[Kim]

And car-parkers aren't road users either...

[Canardly]

The more time goes by, the more I realise just how ignorant our so called leaders actually are.

[spindrift]

 Nobody seems to like him, I get what he was TRYING to say and now it's been twisted into

"NO PLACE FOR YOU ON THE ROADS, YOU SCUM!" Grayling barks at cyclists.

Then again he knew he was under fire and he had loads of time to prepare and give a sensible answer so he can go and boil his stupid head.

[Redlight]

Grayling is prize twat - let's recall his great idea of banning books from prisons - but I think his actual answer to the question was so incoherent as to defy interpretation:

Mr Zeichner asked: “I was wondering if he could clarify for the house exactly who he thinks road users are?”

Mr Grayling told him: “Where you have cycle lanes, cyclists are the users of cycle lanes and the road users are the users of the road. It’s very simple.”

I agree that he seems to be saying that cyclists should not be on the road when there are cycle lanes available - which is legally and in practice incorrect - but I wouldn't take this to mean that cyclists are not road users when there are no cycle lanes available. It was a poor answer, reflecting a lack of knowledge and revealing a lack of interest in some aspects of his brief, but I would expect the department to issue a 'clarification' shortly.

[spindrift]

Claimed expenses to refurbish a flat we paid the mortgage on cos his real home was too far away to commute.

(17 miles)

[Kim]

(17 miles)

That would have involved Road Using...

[Cudzoziemiec]

He is a prime product of Big Road Inc.

[spindrift]

THE child actor who played Damien in The Omen punched two cyclists in a road rage attack and faces jail when he is sentenced — Friday the 13th.

Notre Dame predicted all this. What chance do we have with the arraigned forces of The Antichrist AND Damien off The Omen against us?

[Pickled Onion]

According to the current Transport minister, we aren't road users:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/transport-secretary-chris-grayling-says-cyclists-are-not-road-users-a7524061.html

Not forgetting this is a transport minister who doesn't think cyclists count as road users.

[spindrift]

Grayling became best known for the scene in which he cycles on a tricycle, before watching calmly as his "mother" falls from a balcony. His real mother was a jackal.

[trekker12]

So, if a cyclist is using a cycle lane which is painted on the road is not a road user and I'm driving in the left hand lane of a motorway, Am I also not a road user, I'm a left lane user?

[hellymedic]

I was eleven when I first saw the Highway Code in 1969.
It had various sections as I recall:

The Road User on Foot
The Road User on Wheels
The Road User and Animals etc

If Grayling does not think pedestrians and cyclists are road users, he is unfamiliar with the Highway Code and unfit for purpose.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Yes, Chris Grayling is clearly NOT a Transport Minister.  But what is he?  In addition to what Pingu said?

[spindrift]

He's the child of Beelzebub. This was all foretold, I forget the exact version:

"When the Jews return to Zion,

                and a comet fills the sky

Something something something

Tum ti tum ti tie

Chilling.

[Nutbeem]

We're talking about the same Transport Minister who says the Government won't get involved in the Southern Rail dispute when in fact the unique franchise they have means the government are foot the bill which allows the company to continue its stance.

http://www.lbc.co.uk/news/the-news-explained/lbcs-long-read-the-southern-rail-debacle/

The cynic in me can't help thinking there has to be something in this for the government & also wonders why the underlying facts are so poorly reported in the media.

[orienteer]

The government has instructed Southern not to give in to the rail unions, in order not to set a precedent for other rail franchises. That's why they won't take any action against Southern.

Remember, Grayling is the twat who screwed up the justice system, including the prisons.

[red marley]

The language of his original comment, his "clarification" in the house and his dooring of a cyclist all seem to betray an underlying problematic (and factually wrong) view of roads. A view that assumes that the entire road from pavement to pavement, as well as a door's width beyond, belongs to people driving private motor vehicles. Anyone else is intruding into that space and does should do so at their own risk and only with permission of  drivers.

That the secretary of state for transport can come out with this view and largely get away with it is as "post-truth" as a £350m bus painting or a Trumptweet.

[Kim]

The language of his original comment, his "clarification" in the house and his dooring of a cyclist all seem to betray an underlying problematic (and factually wrong) view of roads. A view that assumes that the entire road from pavement to pavement, as well as a door's width beyond, belongs to people driving private motor vehicles. Anyone else is intruding into that space and does should do so at their own risk and only with permission of  drivers.

A view which is probably representative of that of the average member of the public, of course.

For some reason - in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary - we seem to expect ministers to have (or at least refer to) some expert knowledge of their department's responsibilities.

[Guy]

...Grayling...is...unfit for purpose.

FTFY