Edmund King is the President of the AA.

On appointment, in December 2007, he spoke about the potential of the AA “…for championing the interest of the motorist in both a representative and commercial sense.”

What happened to this promise?

What kind of representative of drivers spends weekends on a mountain bike, rides a Brompton bicycle in London where he refuses to drive. “I never drive in London”

How can this velo-lover understand ‘the mind of a motorist”?

Edmund is going to point the finger at drivers who express their hatred of bicyclists on Twitter (as retweeted by @cyclehatred). He is planning this betrayal of drivers at a road safety conference this week where he will state that a minority of drivers have a strong antipathy to people not in cars. Some examples of what these drivers tweet include:

From the mild…

@MrTrigz I hope every cyclist in the road gets a puncture commuting this morning

To the more extreme:

‏@MrTrigz Oi cycling c**ts go ride into a river on ur shit means of transport

@baldybhoy Yaaaaaaaassssssssss squash the cyclists.

Is it any wonder that people in cars are annoyed with bicyclists. The bicyclists are faster in towns, they don’t get stuck in traffic jams, don’t sit behind other drivers exhaust fumes, look slimmer and healthier, and are fitter, they pay nothing to get around and don’t have to wear a helmet or stick to cycle lanes. Outrageous!

How can the AA president talk about people being encouraged to walk and cycle when he should be promoting driving? His comment after learning about London Drive to Work Day on twitter was

@AAPresident Interesting… London Drive to Work Day 11th December. Will cost £10 Congestion Charge, £45 parking, £12 petrol

Too right! At least he’s with us on this one. This ridiculous cost to the driver is one of the reasons why we’re driving to work on 11th December.

Will you join us Mr King?

Perhaps the AA should have picked a real champion of the motorist for their president:

Jeremy sensibly wearing his motoring helmet