LANING LIFE

by Lauren Eaton

Stilettos, Stupidity, Snowdonia, and a whole lot of Spin

On the 20th August North Wales Live ran the headline “Stiletto wearing Snowdon walkers prompt mountain rescue teams to issue exasperated safety warning”.

Can you imagine the outcry if this stupidity, the sheer numbers of users queuing along RoWs, or emergency incidents was down to us as vehicular users?

I can honestly say in the history of laning no one has gone out in stilettos and needed to waste emergency worker's time over anything so unbelievably daft. At no point in the history of laning have this many vehicular users ever descended on one RoW, nor have there ever been so many injuries and even deaths on a RoW due to laning...or parking issues on main roads, litter, human excrement along a RoW, ever - which are all a continuous problem in Gwynedd, Cumbria, The Peak District and elsewhere.

But this is happening in most national parks on footpaths, and no one is saying "those yobs in walking boots and cagoules are causing havoc! Close the footpath!"

Ironically I know many laners are members of rescue/response services, I’ve been one myself. I find it incomprehensible that people like and support response service personnel when they are seen dealing with this kind of incident, that is until any of them drive a 4x4 down a quiet lane on their day off!

Each year around seven people die falling off Crib Goch, and this figure is echoed on most peaks in the UK. We all know climbing a mountain is a dangerous pursuit even in the relatively 'low' terrain of the British Isles. Driving RoWs appears to be much safer, and thankfully injuries and deaths while laning are rare to unheard of. I think the worst I’ve ever done was break a nail opening a gate, quite a feat to be honest as I’ve usually taken most of them off fixing the Landy the day before.

Unfortunately, despite not experiencing the incidents other user groups regularly fall foul of, some of us may be the ones who have to risk their own safety to retrieve the remains of the next person to fall off Crib Goch, and deal with the emotional aftermath of that experience. Yet you'll still be 'the problem' and unwelcome on the nearest byway the second you get into your 4x4 and go laning.

Others will continue to pick up walkers with twisted ankles, cyclists and motorcyclists who’ve come a cropper, and drop them off safely back in civilisation, not to mention organise litter picks, clearance days and repairs. But don’t ever expect that to change the minds of the masses who read the Guardian…although saying that the news has been rather full of walking related articles during August, and most were highlighting the damage the millions of feet are causing in the Lake District, as well as the havoc on Snowdon.

Problems have escalated to such an extent that they even reached the national news and radio.

This isn’t actually news, well not new news at least. We’ve known this for a long time although it’s never made for a scandalous headline calling to ban anyone from a footpath.

The Lake District National Park Authority wrote a report on High Tilberthwaite and High Oxen Fell several years ago including photographs showing the erosion caused by more visitors than any other outdoor area in the UK.

Maintenance bills in their millions for footpaths we’re evidenced in this report while only £50,000 had been spent on lanes in the area in living memory.

Helicopters can be seen flying relay over the fells transporting tons of stone to keep the erosion at bay, many walking groups like to photograph them and don’t see them as a problem. Although said helicopters must be special ones that fly silently, after all if a group of half a dozen 4x4s spotted running at tick over get accused of 'ruining the tranquillity of the whole park'.

These helicopters must have some serious stealth technology to not be heard for miles around like the average chopper!

Then there is the old chestnut '4x4s are jeopardising the UNESCO World Heritage Status'. This false allegation has reared its head again during August while articles like these appear at the very same time:

It almost feels like the media are starting to sway under the burden of proof that all user groups cause problems, and the larger user groups might well be guilty of causing the most problems (like it wasn’t obvious!), but even so they cannot let go of the old wives tales about laning.

One thing we need to remember is most of this is just noise, not necessarily noise we should ignore, but noise we need to be careful how we handle, and realise it for what it is: a trashy way of selling newspapers, rather than a realistic description of laning or the future of our hobby.

Facts don’t sell, people don’t like being corrected with the truth (and boy don’t I know it being the person 'blessed' with the role of pumping out educational material!).

They won’t buy the truth, won’t like it if it does not fit their rhetoric, and will argue with any amount of evidenced facts until they’re blue in the face, while hating the person/organisation who had the misfortune of having to publish it on a public platform, however little they deserve it.

Controversy, spin, and badly written and unevidenced drivel does sell.

People are buying into the drama and entertainment of it rather than reading to learn or be informed, and this is why media stories are often so biased, and also why us trying to set the record straight can often be ignored.

Headlines like:

'Green laners aren’t the yobs we thought they were'

or

'Green laners go laning and nothing much happens, they cleared a fallen branch and ate some butties in a layby'

will not sell half as many newspapers as

'Off roading louts destroy the Lake District and take out a pensioner walking her dog'

ever will.

The fact that Gladys had just forgotten her hearing aid and had nothing more than a bit of a shock to find three Land Rovers had been patiently waiting for her to realise she was blocking their access to a public road is besides the point, spin always wins.

In print Gladys was 'accosted' or 'terrified', maybe even 'abused'. If she has a medical condition you can bet your bottom dollar the laners would have 'threatened her safety' or even 'her life' by their mere presence on a public road.

I have written so many rebuttals to this drivel that my fingers are worn to their knuckles, but, hyperbole aside, we will never get into the press on this scale with positive and truthful news. We’d need to play the mud-slinging game and start making up false accusations about Gladys and co to catch the attention of those who believe the dross pumped out by the larger news organisations. Maybe we could say Gladys didn’t tut at the laners, instead we could say she 'verbally abused the legal drivers' while she was 'illegally obstructing a public road and putting an animal (her dog) in danger'.

Gladys is now a potty mouthed animal abuser, committing a criminal act of illegal obstruction.

Maybe Ben, who was in one of the Land Rovers, was diabetic and it was quarter past lunchtime? We could then say she was 'putting a man’s life in danger' by preventing him accessing the local café. It could even be termed as 'wilful endangerment of human life'.

We could play that game, but where would it get us?

It certainly wouldn’t be as easily accepted by those who already dislike us as lies about laners are lapped up by people who already probably think we’re all yobs, and it wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny when real decisions about our hobby are made.

This was seen in the Lake District assessment report, and later at judicial review stage. While so much noise was made by the 'antis' via every media platform at their disposal, the exaggeration, inaccuracy, and down right lies were discovered for what they were in court...TWICE!

There are many calls for GLASS to answer every news item published about laning and 4x4s, and we understand why. It isn’t truthful, at best exaggerated, at worst down right untrue, and that is extremely frustrating and absolutely unfair.

We do respond to the majority of anti-laning press coverage, and anti-GLASS rhetoric from inside our community, but for the sake of our hobby it cannot become a primary focus. At least not in a tit-for-tat fashion, we’re better than that.

I’ve used the quote “the empty vessel makes the loudest sound” in a previous column, and while I do try and avoid repetition it is the most apt phrase for this situation. Not only because those who have to shout loudly usually have the least to back up their words, but because they are wasting time, money and resources on trying to beat a perceived 'enemy' by bringing them down, rather than spending those precious resources on bettering themselves and being ready to defend their words with evidence when the time inevitably comes.

GLASS, on the other hand, work very differently. While the empty vessel is content with mud slinging and clattering about with spurious claims, we are quietly busy working on positive projects, relationships, and planning for the future. But we’re also collecting evidence, watching, learning, and readying ourselves to act in ways that cannot be defended with nothing more substantial than hot air from those who act against us.

We are creating the antithesis of the accusations being made against us by acting far more professionally and biding our time until the moment to respond, and our case for the prosecution, is just right. Or, like in several ongoing cases, taking action against those who believe they can affect laning, GLASS, or even particular representatives of the organisation in a negative way simply by shooting their mouths off with nothing tangible to back up their words.

There are storms brewing, but they have been recognised, and there are wind breaks being put in place. Things are going to change over the next year, they have to, GLASS is now too large and too busy, and the antis’ pressure and general workload too constant and sizeable.

As well as the anti laning propaganda, there are other thorns in our side, and while we’ve not been swept up in the hype which may look (to some less keen eyed folk) like we’re 'doing nothing' compared to the vocal antis and the shouty types in our own community, we’re very much working where it matters to address both problem groups for the benefit of anyone wishing to drive lanes in future.

While changes will become obvious as they happen, and will be covered here in future columns, hopefully by next month I’ll be able to give you some updates on some of the more infamous cases we are working on.

We have meetings about the next stage of action that will begin over lanes like Whitestones and Spring Lane over the next month.

While there have been allegations that addressing the former has “made matters worse” by some anti-GLASS types, I can assure you that time will reveal that is simply not the case, although I’m not sure that really needs explaining to the majority of laners!

That’s all from me this month folks!

Happy laning!

Lauren x