Cyclists and motorists are locked in a heated battle, according to the press. So Australia’s Charlie Pickering from ABC TV show The Weekly decided to do something about it – and his advice is to ‘stop being a wanker’.
In typical Aussie no nonense fashion, the video pokes fun at how motorists treat cyclists, explaining, quite rightly, that roads are paid for through taxes all Australians pay and that by living longer on average they actually end up paying more.
“As a white, middle class, hetero male, it’s not often I get to feel like a hard done by minority. It’s why I love cycling. It gives me an insight into some full blown, Aussie bigotry,” Pickering begins, before later explaining that four in every five crashes between bikes and cars are caused by the latter.
Throughout the video are other interesting statistics and facts that point to cyclists being unfairly victimised on roads, going against reports such as this one that say otherwise.
Pickering’s jokey video paints a picture of a serious problem that has lead to numerous road rage videos between cyclists and motorists and, in worst case scenarios, a significant number of cycling-related deaths and serious injuries on roads throughout the world, particularly in London.
Some of the clips borrowed from Australian shows might seem fake, but the Family Feud question that asked, “what’s something annoying a cyclist might do?” really did get a reply of ‘everything’ – and it was the third most popular answer. We thought the UK was bad.
So it’s somewhat fair for the slogan to be as blunt as it is. Pickering concludes: “Stop being a wanker. More people would ride, the roads would be less congested if everyone, cars and bikes, just stopped being a wanker… Because only when we all stop being wankers can we all pull together.”
There is, of course, no smoke without fire and there have been plenty of times we have watched a cyclist try to undercut a lorry or run a red light, both of which can and have had tragic consequences. No wonder, then, some drivers get a bit miffed. Whichever side you are on, respect other road users.
Or risk being called a wanker.
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