deconstructing Edmund King and the AA cyclists

The helmets and vests will be handed out by AA president Edmund King and a crew of AA staffers. King is a keen cyclist, riding in cities on his Brompton and at home on his Whyte mountain bike.

The AA 'Cycle Safety Day' is a promotion organised by the AA Charitable Trust and is to highlight new research that shows that motorists want cyclists to wear helmets. Ninety seven per cent of AA members think cyclists should wear helmets, according to an AA Populus poll of almost 16,000 AA members

Edmund King, director of the AA Charitable Trust as well as being AA president, said: "Cycling has always been a part of the AA’s history. The first AA patrols rode bicycles from 1905 – some 40 years before patrol vans – and they were a regular sight on the nation's roads until the outbreak of the Second World War.

This stunt reminds me how much this blog has been neglecting its Edmund King Watch. (Catch up with our last educational EKW here.)

And before you get too carried away with that idyllic vision of friendly AA cyclists, do read Robert Davis’s comprehensive demolition job here.