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news
Police tape (CC licensed by freefotouk on Flickr)Sussex cyclist breaks collarbone after hitting tripwire in third such incident in a fortnight
A Sussex cyclist has sustained injuries including a broken collarbone as a result of a tripwire strung across a cycle path – the third such incident near Brighton in around a fortnight. One local sustainable transport expert believes anti-cyclist sentiment fuelled by the media may be to blame.
Darren Gibson, aged 49, was riding towards Rottingdean through woodland near East Brighton Golf Club on Saturday lunchtime when he was knocked off his bike after hitting the wire, reports The Mirror. He said he had no chance of avoiding it.
He said: "Sadly, even if you were going slowly you wouldn't have seen it. You're talking about a thin wire, there's nothing else to see - that's the worrying thing.
"It's quite a steep, wide path and normally you can go quite fast,” he went on. "I was with my brother and a friend and I was going very fast and suddenly felt my foot being dragged.
"I knew that there was something trying to hold me back but there was no way I could hold back because I was going too fast. I knew I was coming off so I went into a roll as I went over the handlebars and landing on my shoulder.
"There was a very large fence post with wire attached which had been dragged from one side of the path to the other so the wire was about two feet in the air.
"I've broken my collarbone, I've got bruised ribs, and my shoulder joints have been smashed about,” added Mr Gibson, who said he had been contacted by police about the incident, adding they appeared “very concerned.”
"There's no way that post could have been there on its own. I'm not saying it's definitely malicious. It could have been kids. But in the light of the other incidents you begin to wonder. I'll probably never know,” he added.
Mark Strong, who works as a consultant with Brighton-based firm Transport Initiatives, said: "This is just too depressing. I have feeling this is not 'just kids' but someone with a real grudge against people on bikes.
"I suspect this is a person or people wound up by anti-cycling biased pieces on radio, for example the BBC Radio 4 You & Yours feature a few weeks ago, and in print.
"Tripwires can be fatal, it is conspiracy to murder,” he added. "There is no justification for it, especially with the children. This is at the thin end of a wedge of anti-cycling sentiment."
The incident in which Mr Gibson was injured comes just two weeks after two other cyclists were injured in similar incidents at Coldean Woods.
After they happened, Sergeant Alison Penny of Sussex Police’s East Brighton Neighbourhood Policing Team said in an appeal: "These wires appear to have been deliberately placed across paths.
"There is a real risk that someone could run into them and suffer serious injury as a result.
"It is an extremely foolhardy thing to do and those responsible can expect to be dealt with robustly. Extra patrols are on the look-out for offenders.
"Meanwhile, I would urge people using the woods to take care and also to report any suspicious behaviour without delay."
The Mirror reports that rangers working for Brighton & Hove City Council are looking for more such traps and that extra patrols will be mounted.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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37 comments
Matthew Parris advocated setting tripwires to deal with cyclists a few years back. You don't get to be much more of an establishment insider than a former Tory MP, Times columnist and today's co-host of the Daily Politics in Andrew Neil's absence, so this hatred seems to be pretty much endemic from the top to the bottom of our society.
I'm not sure that this is an example of anti-cycling sentiment. It's just as likely (perhaps more so) to be a couple of idiot teenagers who think they're being funny, rather than a vengeful cyclist-hater bent on seriously injuring someone.
Interesting question from Ian Walker:
https://twitter.com/ianwalker/status/610490964411568128
Why is this not regarded as an act of terrorism?
If that tripwire had set off an IED, then yes, it would have been an act of terrorism.
"noun
1.
the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes"
Nope. Stringing wires across cycle paths fits the definition.
So by your definition mugging is now an act of terrorism?
If the muggings were being directed solely at members of one particular group, then possibly yes. If people of a particular ethnic group, say, were regularly being attacked in a neighbourhood, then you could argue that was about spreading terror, ergo it was terrorism.
Anyway 'terrorism' is a very subjective concept. You could start any number of totally off-topic arguments by getting into that.
Nobody even knows if this was motivated by hate of cyclists or if it was just anti-social idiots being anti-social idiots.
Cycling is more popular, more aspirational and more accepted than at any time since the 1960s.
Do stop whimpering.
At the same time cyclists are much more of an outgroup that it is okay to hate, with the media actively fueling the prejudice and resentments. It's called polarisation, do open your eyes.
I wonder if the BBC were as complicit in fomenting race and gay hatred back in the day?
Out of curiosity, what's your evidence for this claim?
Bearing in mind
And that, personally, what I've seen over my lifetime is a steady increase in the number (and size) of cars on the roads (and on the pavements, come to that).
But maybe where you are there's been a dramatic shift from cars to bikes, right?
Can you post the figures?
Maybe he is taking his numbers from the amount being spent on cycling gear? I do personally think that cycling is getting more popular but, outside of say London, it's from a truly tiny base ... to a marginally less tiny base.
I do think that cycling as a 'recreational sport' is becoming more popular but not so much as a means of transport. When I rock up at local social events, like BBQs and parties for example, I'll almost definitely be the only one to do so on a bike. Cycling in the UK is still a long way from becoming a 'normal' means of transport. Shame really.
And that, personally, what I've seen over my lifetime is a steady increase in the number (and size) of cars on the roads (and on the pavements, come to that).
But maybe where you are there's been a dramatic shift from cars to bikes, right?
Can you post the figures?[/quote]
that is an interesting chart, but 3 years old, and seems to only go to 2010. Have you an update?
Is this Keith Peat AKA JollySelfRighteous AKA Bogtrotter AKA DriversUnion AKA ... ?
and now also crikey?
I think this may be part of the problem. Cyclists used to be seen as poor, harmless folk who obviously rode bikes because they couldn't afford a car. More recently, however, cyclists have become seen as a bunch of middle aged men with money to throw away on an expensive "toy". And we all know how England likes to treat people who are perceived to be successful.
Um, allow them to avoid paying any tax?
Exactly... we don't pay 'Road Tax'
It feels like there is a growing undercurrent of anti-cycling these days - or is it just me?
No it's not just you. Cyclists now seem almost more hated than benefit scrounging immigrants
There'e been a barrage lately, all after that incident in Blackpool.
We've had radio 4 running a national phone in asking if cyclists were the most dangerous thing in Britain. The Sun waded in last week. A barrage of anti-cyclist hate and bile spewed by the media and lapped up by knuckle dragging loons who froth at the mouth who enjoy having prejudices reinforced.
I'm based in Southampton. Some little fucktard tied a bloody brake cable at neck height, between two posts, in a park near me a while back. Now that had the potential to decapitate someone hitting it.
It's just some idiots. The country is not bursting at the seams with groups of people going around hunting for cyclists to hurt (well poor drivers could well be viewed as such a group, but it's pushing it a bit).
I hope Darren gets well soon and the culprits are caught.
I'm beginning to consider vigilante action. If the government and police don't take these acts of violence seriously, then I will have to take the law into my own hands. Maybe then they'll take notice.
Plus 1 for this
There is something seriously wrong with this country. How can something as innocent as riding a bike be targeted?
A socially accepted form of bigotry.
I fear this will be a deeply unpopular post, but, I am going to stick to my guns. Part of the problem for most of us cyclists is that we are tarred by some idiots.
In fact, I am going to stop there for now.
And you need to stop, and this is why:
1) A dog bites you, do you then assume all dogs will bite you?
2) A plane crashes, do you assume all planes will crash?
3) A car lets you pull out first at a junction, do you assume all cars will do the same?
People act according to their level of understanding. When you de-humanise someone then the normal rules don't apply (as the media so often does). Have you ever noticed, that when you're cycling and there are cars around you, some people give more priority to other cars than you, even though you are in the weakest position? Perhaps they don't want to risk their no claims bonus, or perhaps they identify with the other car user rather than you on your bike. Who knows...
Please stay stopped!
Stop giving 'people who post on the internet' a bad name!
Edit - don't mean to be rude, just saying I disagree to the extent it baffles me how people can believe that.
I'm puzzled where all these cyclist-haters are. I live in Bracknell & cycle in Swinley Forest & on the lanes between here & Basingstoke for recreation, & on cycle paths through the town for shopping & errands. I hardly ever use the car & I encounter virtually no agression -- well, OK, the occasional close pass (1 or 2 a month?), the rare rude comment flung from an open car window (ummm, last time, about 2 years ago I think).
Ah, but around here we have no real traffic congestion, & the ubiquity of cycle paths, plus plenty of quiet streets & lanes to provide alternative routes, means there are relatively few bikes on the major roads, so I guess drivers aren't being repeatedly delayed by bicycles moving frustratingly slowly in front of them. Could that be it? Not hatred of bicycles & those who ride them per se, but simply frustration?
Yes, I think there is something wrong with the country. But it's the not-fit-for-purpose roads & town planners still stuck in their 1950s car-topia that are the problem, not the attitudes of the people, who are, by & large, as tolerant & easy going as anyone anywhere in the world. IME.
Just my two penn'orth.
shocking the type of person who would do that.
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