"Ian Jackson" wrote in message
...
In article
,
ed wrote:
We make serious documentaries for British TV - BBC and Channel 4
mostly, and are now working on programme about cycling accidents
involving heavy goods vehicles around the UK.

As a responsibile documentary maker, would you please consider the
secondary message you're sending ?

Obviously it is important to reduce risks. But, overall, cycling is
not a dangerous activity. If we concentrate too much on bad accidents
people will tend to think that cycling is very dangerous. This
reduces the number of people who want to cycle. Fewer people cycling
is bad for congestion and bad for the environment; conversely the more
cyclists there are the more pleasant (and safer) cycling becomes.

I don't know the planned structure of your programme, but it might be
worth you thinking about how to avoid making your viewers pessimistic
about the safety of cycling.

I think I can see your concerns, but one could just as easily as you to
consider the 'secondary message' that *you* are sending; which is "don't
give people information that will improve their safety because that only
makes them think it's dangerous"

There is particular risk for cyclists from left turning lorries, and as most
newbie cyclists have probably not received training or read Cyclecraft they
are likely to be unaware of the danger.