Hooray, everyone’s favourite (former) GBNews producer and anti-cycling bingo enthusiast Charlotte Gill is back at it, this time with something a bit more flamboyant and swashbuckling than what her previous attempts have been, some might say.
Her hall of fame highlights include the article in the eye-openingly conservative magazine The Critic, criticising a new study on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, despite failing to address any of the study’s findings, as well as the elite, deluxe edition of the anti-cycling bingo with a top of the shop entering, ticking off every single uninspired checkbox: from “a war is being waged against car drivers”, “a ‘Lycra Lobby’ of cycling activists and eco wonks”, “I don’t drive, enjoy cycling and probably have a relatively low carbon footprint”, “an assault on democracy”…
Oh before I forget, she was also behind bringing up an argument on Twitter in March that it’s mums who should stand up and oppose the dreaded Lycra lobby – because they can’t “cart around children” by bike, apparently – a claim swiftly shut down by loads of women posting pictures of them doing exactly the same activity, including Bath’s bicycle mayor Saskia Heijltjes.
> “Oh dear, can you imagine being a mum carting around children”: Bath’s bicycle mayor shuts down GB News producer’s claim that mums need cars
Gill, who last month left her role as producer at GB News, was most recently under fire for comparing the 20mph speed limit in Wales to cyclists needing stabilisers. I know the list is long…
What happened when I turned the camera on cyclists 🚴♀️ 🎥 https://t.co/8iPa4N8FDn pic.twitter.com/H0j9bwsyOC
— Charlotte Gill (@CharlotteCGill) November 28, 2023
Well now, Gill has been on an expedition on the streets of London, and for once, she couldn’t stop herself from applauding a cyclist, albeit only for a tiny bit of inspiration. Following in the footsteps of one “lycra-loving” Jeremy Vine, she strapped on a body cam (her iPhone) and took to the streets, becoming the “pedestrian version” of the Channel 5 presenter and “play cyclists at their own game, filming their transgressions”.
Lo and behold, the inception of the one and only ‘Chaz Cam’, as christened by her.
> “Perhaps cars should have great big beanbags taped to them, too?” GB News producer slammed for comparing 20mph speed limits to cyclists requiring stabilisers
She wrote on her blog: “It goes without saying that cyclists aren’t as dangerous as cars on average, and of course, not everyone cycles badly. But too often you hear “it’s only a few bad eggs giving others a bad name” to minimise the number of naughty cyclists – when the issue is actually quite pronounced, as I have found. I would guess it’s more like half of cyclists behaving badly on the road, not a minority.”
Chaz Cam Investigates: Taking my research pretending to be Jeremy Vine (to cyclists) extremely seriously pic.twitter.com/qE1bQ6hBC9
— Charlotte Gill (@CharlotteCGill) October 25, 2023
And in case you didn’t feel like clicking on the link above this very fine day, worry not! Your live blog host has done his homework and read through Gill’s handiwork, laying down all the horrible, spiteful and malicious deeds cyclists are responsible for.
It begins with probably the most common one — one which we at road.cc have also brought up in our discussions on the live blog: Going through red lights. “I lost count of the number of cyclists doing this on my day out with the Chaz Cam,” she wrote.
“Although you might say I was being pedantic (well, I was pretending to be the pedestrian version of Jeremy Vine) and that cyclists may as well go through the light if no pedestrians are waiting, I found they do even when a pedestrian is there. One female cyclist dashed out at me as soon as the pedestrian light went green (see below).
> Are red-light jumping cyclists “great adverts” for cycling? Jeremy Vine seems to think so…
Alright, next up, cyclists on phones. She said: “It wasn’t unusual to see cyclists riding with one hand or none on their handlebars, as if thinking they looked extremely cool while doing so.
“One cyclist, who a van white beeped at, due to his being dangerously close in front, sped away, only to look at something other than the road (my guess being his phone).”
> “If you don’t like cyclists going through red lights, support proper cycling infrastructure”: Calls for better cycling infrastructure after cyclists jumping lights goes viral
Also in the findings of the investigation were the age-old “lighting issues” and “riding on the pavement” (cough, yesterday’s live blog comes to mind, cough). And finally, she took aim at another easy target, delivery riders, claiming that they were just “bad cyclists” rushing through people for “tiny sums of money”.
In conclusion? She said that the “Chaz Cam investigations” have hardly convinced her that “the UK is ready for a cycling revolution”.
“The reality, in my opinion, is that half of cyclists behave well, and half of cyclists don’t. It’s definitely not the case that ‘most cyclists follow the rules’,” she said. “They don’t – because they perceive themselves as “the green and the good” of British society. It’s also generally my experience that most cyclists are male (and young), and the most aggressive ones almost always so, countering councils’ propaganda of inclusive transport.”
So if not all cyclists are bad, and the ones which are do not cause nowhere nearly as harm or damage as a bad motorists, shouldn’t by the same benchmark we all should be in agreement that the UK is also not ready for a driving revolution? Ah well.
That was quite a way to start my Wednesday, is this all a painstakingly wonderful and detailed attempt at parody or just a lousy attempt with poor arguments for cheap clicks? I feel I’m losing my mind here, help me figure this out…
