“Motorcyclists are uncongenial”

A website moderator for a national cycling body has exposed the irrational depths of anti-motorcycle bigotry in the group with an unintentionally comical rant.

In a searingly smug denouncement of all traffic except for cycles, the moderator for CTC brands us irrelevant to the future of transport.

Using the name Simon L6, he goes on to say we are uncongenial and even suggests we somehow defeat the purpose of the roads.

“Cyclists matter,” he declares. “They are the future of London’s commuting. Motorcyclists are an irrelevance. They are not numerous, and the environmental benefits of motorcycling are nothing or less than nothing.”

His ravings have appeared in a forum row over motorcyclists in bus lanes which started when someone posted a story copied from this website onto the forums of CTC’s site.

The story revealed crashes between cyclists and motorcyclists fell 40% in the first four months of their sharing bus lanes in London. 

The moderator – effectively a content regulator for the site – said the fact cyclists might see us as a threat to safety was reason enough to boot us out, even if they were wrong.

Asked “Should we ban one group of road users from a road space because of the unfounded fears of another group?” he replied: “Yes – although I don’t accept that it is unfounded…

“If the presence of motorcyclists in bus lanes discourages people from cycling that’s good enough reason to ban them.

“That may be unfair, but streets serve a purpose, and if motorcyclists, for whatever reason, defeat that purpose, then they’re going to have to join the rest of the traffic outside of the red tarmac.”

In a separate post dismissing motorcycles as inefficient, he adds: ”My measure of efficiency encompasses safety, noise reduction, sustainability and, most of all, congeniality.

“Motorcyclists do not offer any benefits by any of these measures.”

Thankfully users of the forum don’t appear to have taken him too seriously.
One comments: “The purpose of the streets are to afford people transport from place to place and I don’t see how you can argue that motorcycles defeat that purpose.”

• Read Simon L6’s hilarious ravings here

A CTC spokesman said: “CTC has a busy forum, so we are not surprised that there is a discussion about motorcycles.

“CTC forum moderators are volunteers not policy makers; CTC’s policy on motorbikes is available on our website.”