Jeremy Vine stops posting cycling videos after trolling became ‘too much’

Jeremy Vine has said he is going to stop posting videos of his clashes with motorists in London after he received death threats online.

Speaking exclusively to Metro, the TV and radio presenter said he stopped posting videos of drivers behaving badly – including countless close passes – during his daily rides after ‘trolling just got too bad.’

Vine, 59, began posting the videos of his daily commutes to his social media pages more than ten years ago to highlight road safety, but said the comments have been so awful he’s now pulling the plug on the project.

He told Metro: ‘I can’t work out why people are driven so crazy online by this stuff.

‘It is amazing to me that the anger online is greater than the anger on the roads.

‘I don’t know whether it’s frustration or whether it is just particularly X where very angry people meet, but it is unbelievable.

‘Even if you look at the replies to me saying I’m going to stop there were replies to me saying “I wish you would keep going because we want to see you get run over.” It’s really bizarre.’

‘To be honest, it wore me down. Secondly, I’ve got this book now, so I’ll rather be talking about Agatha Christie and cosy crime than getting into arguments on the road.

‘And thirdly, my bike was stolen and I can’t cycle at the moment.

‘It made me think about the whole thing.’

Vine added he is currently dealing with two death threats that are being investigated by the police.

In a post on X on Sunday, he said the videos ‘had well over 100 million views but in the end the anger they generate has genuinely upset me.’

Online vitriol he received included violent fantasies of him being ‘crushed by a truck,’ which is ‘a very real danger’ to cyclists and five cars reversing on him to ‘make sure the job’s done.’

He continued: ‘I thought it was really helpful for people even if they drive to see what it’s like to use the roads from the perspective of cyclists.

‘But drivers are really reluctant to give up their right to road space, there is the whole thing about they pay taxes and cyclists don’t.

‘In the end, there is just an assumption that the roads belong to drivers and if you challenge it in any way, they lose their s***.’

Despite the online hate, he hopes that some of the posts and ensuing debates have challenged dangerous habits that are all too common in London, including turning across cycle lanes without looking and why drivers do that, which was ‘quite useful.’

‘It’s just having an appreciation for other peoples value – that people on bicycles are just a bag of blood, we have value,’ he said.

‘I’m a father of two girls, so I want to be able to cycle safely so I can see them in the evenings. And I do want them to be able to cycle safely as well.

‘Some of the drivers who are so hostile actually have kids who cycle, so we are all in this together.’

He said that the culture on the UK’s roads has changed because ‘a whole army of people are not willing to accept the level of danger and they are prepared to challenge it.’

‘The biggest single thing that has helped road safety in London is that if you drive around on a mobile, within a few hours you’ll definitely be seen and reported.’

He praised London Metropolitan Police’s reporting portal, where cyclists can upload clips of footage, and YouTuber Cycling Mikey, who posts videos of distracted drivers using mobile phones in traffic, as the biggest drivers for improved safety for cyclists.

Jeremy said that Cycling Mikey’s reports to the police have raised ‘a quarter of a million pounds in fines from drivers.’

Cycling Mikey told the Pulse Of The Nation podcast hosts that he reports ‘roughly a driver a day.’

‘It is not even very much. If I made an effort, I could catch ten, even 50 drivers a day without trying very hard,’ he said.

‘The furnace has got too hot for me,’ Jeremy said.

‘When I get back on two wheels again, I’m going to be a bit more private.

‘I’m not going to stop cycling, it’s what keeps me sane and happy.’

However, he is not ‘putting my camera in a drawer’ completely and he will still report poor driving to the police.

‘The trolls are already missing me, I can tell. They started getting at each other now,’ he added.

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