Jeremy Vine boasts to Twitter about safety of cycle route – as collision unfolds

When Jeremy Vine posted a video boasting how safe a new cycle lane near his home was, he was typically dismissive of anyone who dared to question his views about anything on two wheels.

Next to the clip on Twitter of children cycling in West London, he wrote that “it’s crazy I have to point this out… children can move up and down my high street safely… just watch…”

But, what the BBC radio presenter failed to spot was that he had unwittingly captured the aftermath of a collision that had left an injured cyclist on that route being treated by police and paramedics at the roadside.

A car and bike had collided just after noon that October day, prompting a 999 call so the cyclist, who suffered slight injuries, could receive emergency treatment as he or she lay on the pavement.

Another cyclist who spotted the daytime television presenter stopped to photograph the aftermath of the accident.

The accident happened on Chiswick High Road and was logged among Transport for London’s accident data on a route that last year saw a fourfold increase in serious injuries to cyclists.

Mr Vine, a passionate cycling campaigner who often posts controversial videos of himself getting into scrapes with motorists, filmed a child riding along the segregated bike path in the affluent neighbourhood.

The homemade video opens with the headline: “The new cycle lane in my high street… shouldn’t still be amazing to me.”

After identifying one child as a seven-year-old, he wrote “you would never have seen this before the lane was built” because “official advice” was for youngsters to “cycle on the pavement.”

At the very moment a cartoon picture of a “bang” appears alongside his comments about how some local residents are trying to get the lane “torn out”, the yellow-and-blue Battenburg markings of a fast-response police car become visible as police and paramedics tend to an injured cyclist.

As Mr Vine, 58, turns off down a separate junction, he concludes the video with a comment about the young cyclist: “Isn’t this great to see on a busy road?”

The latest data shows the junction where the collision he filmed took place is one of a number of accident black spots for cyclists.

In a later Twitter exchange, someone challenged Mr Vine about whether he should be promoting the route as a “family cycle lane” after data showed there had been a number of cyclists seriously injured.

Mr Vine replied that “any new layout is hazardous at first… this will settle down”.

In a statement, Mr Vine said: “I can only speak from my own experience.

“The road feels a thousand times safer than it was with four lanes of cars. There are some issues with drivers who aren’t clear about where they need to give way, but I think that will settle down.

“If there’s been an increase in accidents it’ll be because so many more people are cycling now.”