Motoring company takes CTC for a ride
- Thursday, 25 March 2010
- 4 Comments
A motoring company, which published a survey of UK potholes as its own, has been obliged to apologise to an angry CTC, the national cyclists' organisation, which says the data used was identical to its own.
What rankled the CTC was that this PR stunt for Kia Motors earned the company lots publicity, but with no credit to the CTC whatsoever.
From the Kia website:
"WEYBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM - March 10, 2010: Surrey has been named as the pothole capital of the UK in new research released today. The county has topped the league table of regions most blighted by damaged road surfaces, with some 1,998 potholes afflicting Surrey's 450,000 motorists.
"The Kia Motors UK Pothole Survey identifies Hampshire as the second worse-off county, where drivers have logged 892 potholes, followed by Kent with 857, painting a hazardous picture of the country's road network."
CTC Right to Ride rep Jim Bush spotted that ‘The Kia Motors UK Pothole Survey' is identical to CTC's league table on www.fillthathole.org.uk
"Their press release titled 'Surrey named as UK's pothole capital' is inaccurate," claims Victoria Hazael, CTC press officer.
"Surrey comes top on fill that hole as CTC's National Office is based in Guildford, so most staff log potholes regularly and CTC has a large membership in Surrey too. CTC has never used the data on Fillthathole to name and shame local authorities, as the data is not robust.
"It relies on cyclists reporting potholes and in areas where there are more CTC members there are more reports. For example Torfaen has a 75% fixed rate, but only four potholes have been reported there. It is very unlikely that they are only four potholes in the area."
Sophie Gregory of Kia's PR agency told Cycling Weekly.
'We have apologised to the CTC for not crediting them as a data source. It was a genuine oversight on our part and we were in no way wishing to take undue credit for the excellent research undertaken by the CTC and will be more vigilant when referencing sources in the future."
The irony that a car company would seek to use Fillthathole data to promote themselves was not lost on the CTC. "I don't remember seeing any research into cyclists causing potholes on the roads, but there is plenty of evidence to show motor vehicles do!" said Hazael.
The CTC has requested some form of recompense for Kia's use of information from Fillthathole without asking permission and without any credit.
Reader comments
Add your commentsMarch 26 18:46
Jason Penn
CTC's Victoria Hazael said:
"I don't remember seeing any research into cyclists causing potholes on the roads, but there is plenty of evidence to show motor vehicles do!"
True of course but cyclists do not pay to use the roads whilst motor vehicle drivers pay way over the odds.
In all fairness, the roads should be maintained properly for all road users especially those on two wheels as the broken surfaces can be far more dangerous. Motorists however do pay an awful lot of motoring related taxes and we have a right to expect far better roads from this government.
March 26 20:56
James Wyper
Jason,
I know lots of adult cyclists. All of them own cars, they pay road tax just like people who only drive. But every time they choose to cycle instead they cause less wear to both the road and the environment in general. Which group gets better value from their tax disc? The car drivers.
March 27 15:19
Anthony Cartmell
@Jason: Everyone pays for the roads, whether they run a car or not. Local roads are paid for by local councils, from roughly-equal proportions of Council Tax, Business Rates, and central government funding. Motorways and trunk roads are paid for from central government funding: cash raised from all tax-payers.
Remember that VED is not "road tax" and is only paid by the registered owner of a car, not by everyone who drives that car. Many car drivers therefore haven't ever paid any VED, while cyclists who also own cars, have paid VED :)
March 29 12:02
Simon Geller
I take particular exception to Jason's remarks as I own two motor vehicles on which I pay full VED, one of which is a camper van. When I choose to cycle around town therefore, I am subsidising motorists, and I think I should get more respect from them!