Cycling columnist sparks row

A cycling columnist for The Independent has sparked a row on the paper’s website by claiming motorcycles in bus lanes is a ‘recipe for disaster’.

James Daley says letting ‘carbon-emitting, noise-polluting motorbikers’ into the lanes has made cycling in them more dangerous. He claims motorcycles are both more polluting and more dangerous to cyclists than cars are.

The column has attracted dozens of angry posts from readers on The Independent’s site but almost none in support of Daley.

Daley claims we’re ‘about 50% more likely than cars to be involved in an accident which causes serious injury to a cyclist, and about 200% more likely to be involved in an incident that results in a cyclist fatality’.

He goes on: ‘Furthermore, a recent study showed that when motorbikes are allowed to travel in bus lanes, their average speed increases – with many travelling at speeds of more than 40 or even 50mph in built-up areas.

‘These facts alone are enough to suggest that letting bikers sidle up alongside cyclists in bus lanes is a recipe for disaster.

‘Add in the environmental statistics (motorbikes emit 11.3 times more methane than cars – and an infinite amount more than cyclists, who emit nothing).’

Comments posted under the column include: ‘On the contrary, Sir, they seem to emit a lot of hot air.’

A second says: ‘So how are the bikes made, then? In some polluting factory in China, probably.’

A poster called molineau writes: ‘The facts are actually quite plain, and somewhat at odds with the position of Mr Daley.

‘Seventeen local authorities around the UK and all of Northern Ireland allow motorcycles to use bus lanes and there is ample evidence that this has proved of benefit to overall safety levels.

‘While Mr Daley says that bikes are 50% more likely to be involved in a cycle crash, he relies on figures dating from 1984 which are largely irrelevant. More recent statistics do not support this analysis and in fact in 2005/2006, of 7000+ accidents involving cyclists, only 50 involved a motorcycle while 89 involved another bicycle.

‘Modern motorcycles are no more polluting than modern cars (according to figures put out by the DoT). Mr Daley’s claims do not stack up – this is lazy, cynical and biased – not factual reporting.’

In 2007 Daley won a spoof award from a cycle magazine for ‘muppetry’ over one of his earlier columns. Moving Target awarded Daley the Golden Kermit for ‘starting a pointless and baseless war with motorcyclists’. 

In Daley’s offending column he had literally declared ‘war’ on us, claiming: ‘Motorbikes are a menace – it’s time we took them on.’

National cycling group CTC has previously relied on similar stastics to Daley to claim motorcyclists are “more likely to be involved in killing” cyclists than car drivers are.

But the group later admitted not taking into account whether cyclists were at fault for the crashes or how frequently motorcyclists were killed in them.

Government figures show that in collisions between cyclists and motorcyclists, 38% of cyclists contributed by ‘failing to look’ compared to just 22% of motorcyclists.

Add your comment to Daley’s latest column here