Cycling in Melbourne Australia

Is the media inciting hatred against cyclists?

Last weekend at the Yarraville Festival, I was assaulted by a maniac with anger-management issues. I believe this was because I had a bike.

On the day of the Festival, Feb 11, I was due to start work at 11am. My place of work is close to the intersection of Ballarat and Anderson Streets - smack bang in the centre of the festival district. I ride my bike to work.

On arriving at Anderson Street I saw a large crowd across the middle of the road. First instinct is to avoid the people, so I manoeuvred my bike behind the marquees and displays along the footpath. At one point, the footpath became too overcrowded with stands and equipment, and I had no choice but to negotiate my way through the crowd. I walked through the crowd of people with my bike, wearing a bright yellow safety shirt, and lights blinking. I would have been easy to spot by anyone pedestrian paying attention.

Once through the crowd,the street was clear for a distance. I sat back on my bike and proceeded to peddle slowly and carefully through this gap, when I suddenly felt a series of violent pulls on my backpack - as someone was trying to pull me off my bike. The fact that I was going so slowly saved me from serious injury, as I was able to remain stable.

When I turned to look at what had caused this, a man was screaming abuse at me and accusing me of riding my bike blindly through the crowd and running over his foot in the process.

I got off my bike and went back and confronted him about the assault, and he continued to abuse, intimidate and bully me in front of hundreds of witnesses in the middle of the street - again accusing me of riding through the crowd and running over his foot. I told him that even if my bike had accidentally come in contact with him at all, that did not give him permission to assault me. He continued his verbal abuse, and I moved away to the footpath to contact the police.

Due to his attack, my phone was actually in pieces, and I struggled to get the battery back in place before I could call the police as I was traumatised and shaking.

Two "officials" from the Maribyrnong Council approached the man in the street, spoke to him, and then came to me. They both took the defensive stance of the irate idiot standing in the middle of the street, who realised by now that I DID in fact contact the police, and started taking photos of me with his phone camera. I corrected these two as to what really happened (No, I was not riding my bike through the crowd, I walked it). The woman who introduced herself to me as the "Risk Manager" of the festival trivialised the situation, and eventually goaded me into dropping the assault charge and letting this criminal continue his enjoyment of the festival.

Imagine if a pram had bumped this man (a grey-haired guy around 55 years, who should have more emotional intelligence) - would he attack the mother pushing that pram? There were unmuzzled dogs wandering through that crowd - some were bull terriers and greyhounds. What happened if one of these dogs bit him in a crowd? Would he attack the owner? I don't think so. The verbal diahorrea emanating from this man's mouth was punctuated with the words "YOU CYCLISTS ..."

I believe that the events involving Shane Warne last month, and the media's ridiculous attempts to support him in the face of a civil case have incited hatred against cyclists in Melbourne. I did not sleep for two nights after this attack, and became quite ill.

I drive, and I ride. I see, and am affected by, more stupid drivers both when cycling and driving, than I am by cyclists. Pedestrians are also not blameless by blocking lanes in both directions on shared paths, refusing to move to let a cyclist past, and walking their dogs on long leads.

I have emailed my complaint to the Maribyrnong Council, the Yarraville Festival organisers and the Footscray Police. Will let you know what response I get ...

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Permalink Reply by Nick Biker on February 24, 2012 at 7:49pm

In this case I'll just ignore the person and even throw in a couple of tease comments so the person get even more irritated and acts even worse and I'll get more evidence in the process. Then I'll anonymously post it on Youtube, the same way as Kevin Rudd's rage was posted. This is the best way to deal with misbehaving idiots in public.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Harris on February 15, 2012 at 8:26pm

yes i think the "news" circus definately plays a part in this sort of thing.
it's all about selling advertising

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Permalink Reply by Steve Jay on February 23, 2012 at 7:18am

"The Media" are just people doing a job. For example, would you expect Charlie Pickering (an avid cyclist apparently) to put an anti-bicycle slant to a story, or Will Hagen to put an anti-motoring slant to one. It's easy to blame the media because they are there reflecting society's biases to us, but most are just reporting from their experience as a member of society. The problem is most of society is car mad, therefore, most reporters, being a product of that society, are likely to be car mad.

Blaming the media is a lazy, rat-arsed cop out to use on any issue. Use the media. Distort the reflection and help people see the different way. It worked for "tree hugging", saving the forests is only one small part of environmentalism, yet in Australia, the public perception is that is the bulk of environmentalism.

Yes, I'm biased towards the media, I work in it, but that also means I know how it works and how to work it. It's actually as easy as forming a small group, writing a 1 page media release that could "rip and read" as a radio or newspaper story, include 1 or 2 quotes and make it "sexy." Include your contact number and be on it for the whole day, ready to interview. It's not rocket science, it doesn't need a uni degree, you just need to be authoritative and active.

Blaming the media is to blame yourself for doing nothing to change things.

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Permalink Reply by brian smith on February 23, 2012 at 9:26pm

As a person in a very public industry it is easy to blame biased print and eletronic media as for being rat asred cop out i do not think so i do not see how it would be only rats are those in the Media industry.

Is the media inciting hatred against cyclists?

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