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news
Marble Arch cycle lane (copyright Simon MacMichael)Cycling UK accuse Fair Fuel UK of running ‘how much do you hate cycling’ survey
Fair Fuel UK, the pro-motoring lobby group that consistently opposes measures by central and local governments to curb car use and promote active travel, has been accused by Cycling UK of “rigging” its Annual Road User Opinion Survey, the 2020 edition of which was launched yesterday.
Among the criticisms levelled by the national cyclists’ charity are that the survey is designed around “leading questions” – ie ones that aim to provoke a certain desired response.
A number of those are related to cycle lanes and low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), initiatives that Fair Fuel UK has consistently opposed.
Just last month, the group was co-signatory to a letter from the All Party Parliamentary Group Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and Hauliers which called on Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to withdraw support for emergency cycle lanes and LTNs.
Despite that letter receiving widespread coverage in national and local newspapers, and Fair Fuel UK promising that its survey results “will be published in the press,” the group claims on the opening page of its poll that “With Covid & Brexit dominating media and political attention, road user issues are getting little media coverage.”
However, a Google News search with the group’s name reveals that founder Howard Cox has regularly been quoted in the press in recent months, and print and broadcast media, both local and national, have regularly covered issues including LTNs and cycle lanes – certainly there was no shortage of reporting on the removal of the Kensington High Street one last week.
Fair Fuel UK says that “Motorists, cyclists, businesses, truckers, taxis, van drivers, buses, coaches, pedestrians are welcome to take part” in the survey, adding that “It is important a wide spectrum of responses are received.”
But even without knowing the group’s history or positions, the way some of the questions are phrased gives a strong hint of where it is coming from – for example, “From recent media reports, unelected special advisors in No 10 are influencing the roll out of cycle lanes. What do you think about this?”
Clearly a reference to Boris Johnson’s transport advisor Andrew Gilligan, the choice of responses are “No problem,” “Its fine” and “Don’t know.”
Another question, with responses of “Yes,” “No” and “Not sure,” asks “Has rolling out hundreds of miles of dedicated cycle lanes during the pandemic been the right time to implement?”
The next question meanwhile includes the obligatory reference to so-called “road tax” as it asks: “Should road cyclists be made to adhere to the same road user rules that drivers legally must follow, such as:
“1. Motoring laws & penalties
“2. Road user tests
“3. Road taxes.”
Questions relating to cycling and LTNs take up around half of the survey, with others relating to the potential introduction of road tax and planned phasing out of petrol and diesel-fuelled vehicles by 2030.
Commenting on the survey, Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s head of campaigns, said: “It’s nearly Christmas, so it must be time for Fair Fuel UK’s annual ‘how much do you hate cycling’ survey.
“Whilst all road users are welcome to take part, some are more welcome than others, with the first nine questions all devoted to cycle lane bashing. But fear not, if you love a rigged survey there’s plenty more leading questions to follow on low traffic neighbourhoods, hard done drivers and the biased BBC.”
He added: “Rumour has it that one year Fair Fuel UK will pay for a polling company to conduct one of their surveys, but where’s the fun in that? Who wants truth, transparency in polling and standards for ensuring the reliability and validity of results if it doesn’t fit your toxic narrative?”
In an email, Fair Fuel UK founder Howard Cox reiterated that the survey was intended to canvas the opinions of all road users and refuted Cycling UK's accusation that it was rigged. He also insisted that the group was willing to try and "bridge the divide" between cyclists and motorists.
He said: "Our intentions are clear and always have been, as shown on a Twitter interchange (see below) with Jeremy Vine, one of your champions, who I have the utmost respect.
"I repeat my call to you to work together and to bridge the divide that has gotten too big and is not helped by the zealots on both sides.
"The results of this survey will be published, broken down by road user type and by other ways to slice up the responses. This is a conventional approach."
Give me a figure between 116 and 15,000. That's a good place to start pic.twitter.com/IAE25YsgOy
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) December 8, 2020
I'd really like to have a constructive discussion with U Jeremy instead of Twitter points scoring. The countless requests from us to work together with cycling groups are ignored, or returned with abuse. We have to bridge this divide, I'm keen to make it happen,will U help please
— Howard Cox (@HowardCCox) December 9, 2020
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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46 comments
well, the 'results' are out...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9047543/We-ditch-Boris-Johnson-...
Did you have to give a fail link - sob
Anyhow here are the points
11000 responded (excluding those with mickey mouse email addresses no doubt !)
More than 2,000 people who answered the questions said they were cyclists.
The findings, which will make uncomfortable reading for No 10, revealed:
More than one in four people – 27 per cent – who voted Conservative in last year’s General Election say they will not do so next time due to the congestion and disruption caused in towns and cities across the country.
Just three per cent of car drivers said they had taken part in a public consultation on the introduction of cycle lanes and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, compared to 34 per cent of cyclists;
Only two per cent of cyclists said they should be made to adhere to the same road user rules that drivers must legally follow, including paying tax;
Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of car drivers said the pandemic had been the wrong time to roll out hundreds of miles of new cycle lanes;
Seventy-six per cent of cyclists said they had ‘no problem’ with unelected special advisers in No 10 influencing the roll-out of cycle lanes.
"Do you think car drivers should follow the same laws and taxes as HGVs do? That's basically the question they asked cyclists, joke of a survey. "
reply - "YES, they should!" -- oh dear
"CYCLISTS contribute NOTHING to the upkeep of roads ,they are a pain in the ars-, make them pay 100 pounds per year tax ,to me they are fair game in the struggle to get to work "
This chap seems sensible though
"14% of drivers willing to give up the car in favour of cycling is very encouraging and certainly in the ballpark required to prevent a return to pre Covid congestion and pollution levels. Anyone who completed the survey will be aware of how biased the questions and answer options were." could almost be a road.cc subscriber !
"27% will ditch him over bike lanes? How many will ditch over his pathetic handling of Brexit and Covid which will decimate our economy for many years to come. He shouldnt have a voter left."
"Howard Cox, founder of the FairFuelUK Campaign, said: ‘Nowhere in the Tory Election manifesto was any mention of our already clogged urban roads being reduced in size for the benefit of so few."
From the man who continually says that he wants cyclists to work with him; I wonder why they don't.
Quelle suprise
This 'survey' is laughable. Asking if the respondent will vote Conservative in the next election "if they are still doing a good job". PARDON?!?
Still, no harm in answering the questions in the opposite way to which the obviously loaded questions intend!
Do we know what arose from the "constructive criticism" tweet? thoughts on what the best response (if any) to it might be?
Is this an "I support cycling, BUT" [Cue: list of caveats that cancel out any "support"] a la "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears"?
They appear to have switched the survey off!
I hadn't noticed the disingenuous pseudo-requests from the shyster running this bent organisation to jeremy Vine that they should co-operate. I trust that Mr Vine treats these comments with the contempt they deserve.
There's nothing wrong with that swine Cox and his scumbag cronies at the Association of Bad Drivers that couldn't be fixed with a few solid kicks to the head with a steelie.
It's time for a real war on the motorist involving the judicious denting of body panels of German cars (bonus: these cretins always support Brexit, so the spares will be more expensive from January 1…)
If you feel comfortable and confident about going into a gunfight armed only with a catapult, then go for it. Personally I'd prefer to lobby for peace, and for risible sentences for killers in cars to be in line with other crimes against the person.
You seem not to realise that advocating criminal damage is exactly the sort of thing the rabid motoring lobby loves to see as it helps to underline their largely false image of cyclists as scofflaws and rebels?
Get a grip. If you were to touch my German car, there would be words.
Come on Mis, you're better than that...
I thought it was strange that in a survey about road use you were asked if you trusted BBC news reporting. Hiding your agenda in plain sight?
We criticise the BBC on here some times don't we. Maybe they are doing something right?
I responded to that one by saying no as it was driver centric.
Strange that there are so few questions about cars and driving on that survey, and no mention of the pollution, congestion and danger that cars cause, and coincidentally, it's just been announced that pollution levels are back to where they were or worse. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/10/air-pollution-roars-...
My response in the final page:
You are far more polite than I would have been, but then I'm an Aussie and we don't give a shit if we offend people with the frank crudity of our responses…
Survey completed. I won't be on their Christmas card list this year.
Survey completed. I won't be on their Christmas card list this year
Wrong! They won't even know you exist, because answers they don't like are just deleted. This is a bent organisation arranging a bent pseudo-survey.
I filled int he questionnaire. I pointed out that one question is impossible to answer correctly as the question is factually incorrect.
I did do the survey. Some questions were odd.
I didn't know how to answer the 'what will your next car be'? I have being thinking that I'd not get another car following lockdown and the change to wfh. I could get an ecargo bike and simply hire a car as required. However the only option was not to drive ever again.
He sounded a bit panicked about the impending ban on new petrol and diesel cars!
I said electric, can just imagine their head spinning at the thought
Me too
Likewise. I've never owned a car and haven't driven in almost 20 years (actually), and there wasn't a response covering my position. It's almost like they only expect responses from motorists.
Similarly I felt the need to point out in the question about my support or otherwise for the Conservative Party (which is completely normal in a survey about road use) that the option of "I might support them if they do more to combat motoring pollution" was missing. ("I'd support them if they did more to support drivers" was available, naturally).
For some reason, this classic scene came to mind.
https://youtu.be/G0ZZJXw4MTA
“From recent media reports, unelected special advisors in No 10 are influencing the roll out of cycle lanes. What do you think about this?”
Clearly a reference to Boris Johnson’s transport advisor Andrew Gilligan..."
I didn't know that. A very poorly-worded question. Were these unelected advisors advising for or against cycle lanes, it doesn't explain? If I'd known what they were talking about I'd have answered 'no problem'.
Despite the questionnaire being incredibly skewed, it's important they're deluged with replies from cyclists otherwise it will just confirm their belief that we're insignificant road users.
Unelected people have to be involved in our government ... can you imagine the chaos if everything was left to the politicians who don't actually know anything about the area they are looking after.
It should go without saying that there should be experts assisting with policy and implementation at the highest levels of government. The problem is when we talk about SPADs, we all picture Dominic Cummings who appears to only be an expert in politicking ... which is not really the same thing.
Unfortunately "Unelected special advisers in No 10 are influemcing everthing the government does. Why would it be a problem only in respect of cycle lanes?" wasn't one of the options.
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