The live blog is sometimes slow to load, so please be patient. Failing that, refreshing the page can often encourage it to show its face.
Live blog: Highlights of Tour de France team time trial + reaction, Wiggins defends Froome in Eurosport podcast, cyclist sets zebra crossing example + more
All the news from the site and beyond as we start a new week
Mon, Jul 09, 2018 14:25
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
14 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
Tradescant 2 hours ago
@jackcycles I'm not sure my grandchildren got that memo. Cycling should not be just for hardened road warriors.
DS2025 2 hours ago
Chrisonabike There are a number of police forces in England and Wales that are using portable testing equipment already... How effective it is another matter, I haven't looked into the results of failing (I would hope they just seize and crush the motorbike without any faff but I am sure there are appeal processes, promises not to use them on public roads etc).
KiwiMike 2 hours ago
Woah there - a precision-engineered European-made product, with unparalleled adaptability, is somehow a ‘rip off’? Compared to what - Temu? As per the article, most quality through-axles go for £50-60+, but aren’t adaptable and don’t provide any stand or trailer capability. If you want to balance your £3-4-5k suspension or carbon bike, or bikepacking setup on a budget product subject to highly focused stresses, fair play. Cycling’s a broad church.
Dnnnnnn 2 hours ago
@eburtthebike I've found Spanish drivers to be almost entirely excellent around cyclists.
neilmck 3 hours ago
I agree, the study was made after cycle paths that had been introduced in Berlin during the 70’s and 80’s caused a big increase in cycling deaths. It is an interesting study for cyclists to read in order to know what dangers exist at badly designed junctions. Here in Paris we have very few bi-directional paths. The ones I have cycled on have no building entrances or courtyards (so no cars crossing the path) and every junction is traffic lights to prevent accidents.
thrawed 3 hours ago
We have enough regulation. They're running a motorbike without insurance/registration and possibly without a licence, and the punishment for being caught with all that is pretty severe already. The problem is lack of enforcement.
chrisonabike 4 hours ago
In my experience with anything less than one of those serious mid-bike two-foot kickstands, a wall / tree / hedge is the better option, or the bike will sometimes show you the alternative and lie down by itself. Maybe I've got panniers that are just too large and the wrong balance of (too much) cargo though? And of course Edinburgh streets are great at funneling gusts of wind...
chrisonabike 4 hours ago
I agree there's a clear legal line * but I do see something here. Like much tech it's entirely opaque from the outside (without even invoking things like the VW emissions cheating).** I know in NL they have trialled semi-portable "test stations" to check max motor speeds. However with the latest "but there's no money" crisis I can't see that over here. Indeed it's hard to see the police being motivated to do any more roads policing, with this even further down the priority list. Hope I'm wrong... While I guess many of us *would* be fine with EAPCs as a means to attract "non-cyclists" ... perhaps there's an "attractive nuisance" element to this? We're ushering people into an apparently effortless, easy and minimal consequence mobility mode without the "learning experience" of managing a lighter, unpowered machine on roads. And it's still (busy) *roads* where the new power-assisted riders will often find themselves. Not like in more advanced countries where people usually cycle in much safer and more controlled environments. OTOH we should always balance such concerns against "but cars and full-power ICE motorbikes now" though! Number plates, licences and insurance aren't necessarily mitigating that well... * As soon as there are laws games will be played. How long can you be above the "continuous rate power" for? Can we have *multiple* legal motors on one machine? ** Is the power / speed actually regulated by software, and how long will that keep a child armed with the internet from unlocking it?
Zazz53 4 hours ago
And maybe a planning obligation to have traffic Marshalls controlling access out of the site not obstructing the path and restricting it if cyclists are likely to be obstructed …one can hope
Bob Sprocket 5 hours ago
I'll stick to my low rider with Karrimor Kalahari dry bag panniers and Karrimor Kalahari barbag thanks.
14 thoughts on “Live blog: Highlights of Tour de France team time trial + reaction, Wiggins defends Froome in Eurosport podcast, cyclist sets zebra crossing example + more”
A few years ago I stopped
A few years ago I stopped next to another cyclist at a zebra when a parent and 2 kids wanted to cross.
Driver just piled through, when I caught up with him to tell him he wasn’t far off mowing a 5 year old over, all he could say was that I shouldn’t have stopped next to the other cyclist.
hirsute wrote:
So essentially “I was being a dick because of cyclists!”
I wonder if you managed to keep a straight face!
KendalRed wrote:
I didn’t get very far ,as I was still quite angry at what could have happened and I that I would have felt partly responsible if the kid had started to cross and been hit.
I usually expect at least a
I usually expect at least a car maybe 2 to pile on through when I stop for zebra crossings,but that’s ridiculous amount of not paying attention by the motorists there
Awavey wrote:
Difficult to know what’s going on in people’s heads or what they’re taking in from their surroundings but some wheeled users seem to expect pedestrians to step out before they’ll consider stopping. Probably something you’d be reluctant to do with a pram/pushchair…
Maybe it’s part of the thinking – subconscious perhaps – that other road users’ safety isn’t your responsibility too (especially if it might delay your all-important journey by a few seconds).
A lot of London cyclists are bad for this mindset too – fortunately they’re less lethal.
Duncann wrote:
I can confirm that many more London drivers are worse for this mindset.
Some zebra crossings seem
Some zebra crossings seem worse than others- there is one by our office which frequently gets ignored. I think its because it comes just after a mini roundabout.
There are a few red lights on
There are a few traffic lights on my commute where I do not wish to be anywhere near them as they change to red, understanding that cars will barrel through both myself and the stopping power of the red light. If I do have to stop (always for a red) it will be as close to the kerb as possible.
There is one where I will wait, at some distance, until the light has changed and watch 2-3 cars (sometimes mind) accelerate through the red and only then do I join the queue.
A few weeks back, I saw a driver, 3 cars back in the queue, upon the first car stopping for the red, pull out and pass the 2 cars that had stopped and then breeze through the red at speed. Oh for a helmet cam or a big artic coming the other way. Or both…
ktache wrote:
I do the opposite, I approach lights already central in the lane further right than primary, if it’s one of those two into one jobs I’ll ride pretty much as far right so a motor can’t undertake me, I don’t want a close overtake through a set of lights nor someone trying to barge in from the right as we saw a month or so back.
On approach to zebras and can see peds nearby I’ll be bang in the middle of the lane to control things, shoulder check and slow to antipate and then stop. Never had issues doing this in the 20 years I’ve been taking this approach and I even do it on a main through road when I can see peds waiting to cross when there’s no crossing. Being assertive and good road position makes a huge amount of difference and from the stats being mown down from behind is extremely rare, pschologically this is very very difficult for a driver to do it even if they are a total cockwomble, yes you can’t account for the Gail Purcell type driver but again that’s incredibly rare, I’d feel less safe doing what you’re doing, it makes you more vulnerable IMHO.
Not defending the drivers who
Not defending the drivers who didnt stop to let the woman and baby cross but legally you dont need to stop at a zebra crossing unless a person has stepped on to it
Its just good manners to stop and allow someone to cross rather than wait till they have stepped on to the crossing
https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/rules-for-pedestrians-crossings.html
kev-s wrote:
What a stupid rule.
kev-s wrote:
True, and it is also illegal to overtake a vehicle in the zig-zag line area.
#bloodycyclists
#bloodycyclists #bloodyredlightjumpingcyclists
The regulations for this
The regulations for this changed in 1997. Road users are required to afford priority to those who are actually on the crossing, not those waiting to cross. Stopping for the pedestrian in these circumstances would be a driving test fail.
Overtaking within zig-zags only applies to an overtake on a motor vehicle, not a cyclist. It’s not an opinion it’s the 1997 ped. crossing regs.