Video emerges of Britain’s transport secretary dooring cyclist days after calling bike lanes “too much of a problem” for drivers
Downed cyclist said minister told him he was going too fast
A video of UK secretary of transport Chris Grayling dooring a cyclist emerged days after he called bike lanes “too much of a problem” for drivers in London.
Taken on October 12 by cyclist Laurence de Hoest, the video shows the transport secretary open the door of the SUV he is riding in and knock rider Jaiqi Liu off his bike.
The video was only released after comments Grayling made about the problems he believes bike lanes can cause for London drivers. Outlining his transportation plan to modernize Britain’s infrastructure, the minister also revealed some of his thoughts about bike infrastructure which falls under the domain of the city’s major.
After it was announced that the major of London planned to spend £770 million ($1282 million) on cycling and cycle infrastructure, Gayling said, “As transport secretary, I can only watch, because it is a matter for the mayor.
“I don’t think all the cycle lanes in London have been designed as well as they should have been,” he told the Evening Standard in an exclusive interview. “There are places where they perhaps cause too much of a problem for road users and they could have been designed in a smarter way.
“Motorists in London have got to be immensely careful of cyclists,” he explained. “At the same time, cyclists in London are too often unwilling to obey the road signs. I’ve seen regular examples of people who just bolt through red lights.
He continued saying, “The growth of cycling is a good thing. But good cycling is responsible cycling.”
Following dooring Liu, Gayling is seen in the video getting out of the vehicle to go speak to the downed cyclist and according to his spokesperson wanted to make sure he was okay and apologize.
But Liu, who was sent sprawling onto the pavement and filed a police report in what was his first and only bike accident felt differently about their conversation. “One thing he did say was that I was cycling too fast, which was not true,” Liu told The Guardian. At the time he was not aware who the man who had knocked him down was. “That made me really upset. He made out it was my fault.”
In Canada, Liberal MP Joël Lightbound has been an outspoken advocate for a technique he believes would prevent many cyclists getting doored called the dutch reach.
