Ok my next blog was meant to be my first proper one for BikeTreks Specialized RT after the photo shoot yesterday but after reading something at work this morning I just have to do one. My first blog about how people are offended too easily largely received positive comments but a few people were not overly happy (which is to be expected). The main problem they had is that I generalised all old people as bad drivers, workmen as transit drivers and chavs as dangerous Vauxhall Corsa drivers. This was not my aim and I accept the criticism but there's a problem, in this day and age it seems utterly impossible to make a reference to a group of people without making a g
eneralisation. I accept not all old people are bad drivers and not all bad drivers are old people, its just that in recent months I've had so many close calls with elderly drivers that my honest opinion is that a lot of them should not be on the road. If I said the words 'sports car' to you what are the first words that pop into your head? For many of you they'll be negative words such as
boring or
unexciting, and that's fine. And for others they'll be positive words like
creative or
unique, and again that's fine. Those with negative words might not think all sports cars are boring but its the first word they associate with it. My mum isn't particularly interested in sports cars, but I know she wouldn't turn down a red Ferrari given the chance, and neither would you. As humans we naturally assign cars/people/places ect to groups and quickly form opinions. I'm not saying that's right its just what we subconsciously do. And so I felt a degree of joy while reading an article on Twitter this morning that completely backed up what I was saying (sadly the feeling of joy was soon relinquished due to the subject of the article). The tweet read:
"Cyclist dies when hit by second driver while exchanging details with first to hit him…third driver steals bike " (the link to the article cane be found in red). Now bear in mind I wrote my first blog on the 27th and read this article today - 29th.
I decided in my first blog to address the van driver as a
Transit driver and the chav as a
Vauxhall Corsa driver. I did this simply because It's the first thing that popped into my head, in the same way if I said to you "what does a business man drive?" I bet you thought Merc, BMW or Audi. Don't lie you did. And that's exactly what I did but of course I'm wrong to do so... Anyway in the article about the poor gentleman who lost his life reads: "
While Mr Coates was exchanging details with the first driver, he was hit by another. Both cars were Vauxhall Corsas." So you see I was spot on with my generalisation, two young drivers, both involved in a collision with a cyclist and both driving
Vauxhall Corsas. I went on to read:
"Meanwhile, two men who claimed to know Mr Coates picked up his bike from the roadside - but have since gone missing with the bicycle. The two men, in a grey Transit van, "looked as if they had just finished work", according to police, who are seeking witnesses." Again my generalisation seems to fit the bill; two workmen in a
Transit. OK a large percentage of the time my generalisation would be incorrect, just like yours about business drivers would be, but an awful lot of the time it would be bang on. I don't want to have to list every single type of van ever manufactured when I'm asked what a workman drives, and neither would you, instead I'd prefer to just make a generalisation based on my own experiences.
I understand you shouldn't tarnish everyone with the same brush; not all cyclists are dopers, not all footballers are pansies, not all workmen are Transit drivers and not all chavs are Corsa drivers. I know plenty of extremely nice workmen and some very nice chavs, they don't all drive Transits and Corsas, but guess what, a lot of them do.
My thoughts are with the family and friends of Stan Coates. TB
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