Welcome to Tuesday on the road.cc live blog with Simon MacMichael, Jack Sexty and the rest of the team.
Live blog: Cyclist pops wheelie, falls off, almost gets run over, US study finds local news “subtly, but consistently, blames vulnerable road users for crashes”, Twitter acronym tribute to legendary Liggett TdF commentary, Video: crit carnage + more
All today’s news from the site and beyond
Tue, Jan 15, 2019 15:43
SUMMARY
15 January 2019, 15:43
eBay seller wants £150,000 for Rapha x Paul Smith Grand Depart jersey
An eBay seller who in 2017 listed a Rapha x Paul Smith London 2007 Tour de France Grand Depart jersey on the website with a Buy It Now price of £10,000 is looking to sell the same garment – or at least, one that is identical – but this time, it will cost you a cool £150,000.
The limited edition jersey cost £175 when it went on sale a little over a decade ago and gas achieved iconic status, even appearing in a retrospective of Sir Paul Smith’s work at the Design Museum in London five years ago.
15 January 2019, 15:43
Tour Down Under Stage 1 highlights
The World Tour kicked off early this morning in Australia with the first stage of the Tour Down Under. A sprint stage to begin with, so one for the flat track bullies to have a go at. And who came out on top? Watch the highlights to find out!
15 January 2019, 15:43
Criterium carnage
15 January 2019, 15:43
A quite phenomenal acronym...
And I’m done. Look back through my timeline and read the first word of each of my Tweets and you’ll find a, quite frankly, bizarre tribute to the greatest cycling commentary of all time.
And here it is (about 2 minutes in) enjoy! https://t.co/qiV6zOmTZM
— Cillian Kelly (@irishpeloton) January 14, 2019
Cillian Kelly may have a little too much time on his hands, but this is pretty impressive all the same! Ic you have a Twitter account, check out Kelly’s profile and read the first word of each tweet from the top-down.
15 January 2019, 15:43
Barking mad
15 January 2019, 15:43
Defo needs a bike fit...
Pedalling into the first race of the UCI WorldTour calendar like… @tourdownunder pic.twitter.com/5sfoZw8sKu
— UCI (@UCI_cycling) January 14, 2019
15 January 2019, 15:43
Elia Viviani wins first stage of 2019 at the Tour Down Under
When you win the first stage of the @UCI_cycling WorldTour Congratulations @eliaviviani … #tourdownunder pic.twitter.com/0UVafdqsBS
— Santos Tour Down Under (@tourdownunder) January 15, 2019
The Quick Step sprinter bagged his first victory of the year, out-kicking Max Walscheid of Team Sunweb and winning by more than two bike lengths.
15 January 2019, 15:43
American study finds vulnerable road users are "subtly, but consistently, blamed for crashes" in local news coverage
The Texas A&M University study, titled ‘Editorial Patterns in Bicyclist and Pedestrian Crash Reporting’, says that local news reports generally show overly negative reporting towards car crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists, often using terminology to suggest the victim may have been at fault. The study scraped 200 news articles from a two month period from early 2018, 100 involving cyclists and 100 pedestrians, and used content and linguistic analysis to examine how the information assigned blame and if the injuries and deaths were framed as public health issues.
They found that only 65% of articles identified the ‘agent’ who hit the vulnerable road user, and in 35% of cases the crash just ‘happened’ without describing any details. They also found 73% of articles emphasised mentions of the vulnerable road user, which is found to receive more blame. 48% of articles suggested that the incident could have been avoided if the VRU’s behaviour was different i.e. wearing high-vis clothing or crossing only at designated crossings. The researchers recommends this for journalists: “We first suggest journalists be aware of the relationship between grammatical choices and perceived blame. As a test, try replacing the word “car” with the word “hammer” when describing a crash. “A person was hit by a hammer” sounds strange, as someone must have been holding it. “Hit by a car” similarly obscures agency. Next, journalists should use public health framing when describing crashes. Linking each instance to the epidemic of VRU deaths will help bring about meaningful solutions. Finally, we advise journalists to include elements that humanize VRU crash victims when possible.”
Do you think crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians are often wrongly reported in the UK too?
15 January 2019, 15:43
Police hunt Bristol cyclist who seriously injured pedestrian in hit-and-run crash
Avon & Somerset Constabulary have launched a witness appeal after a cyclist and pedestrian were in a collision this morning, with the bike rider subsequently fleeing the scene. The appeal reads:
We’re appealing for information after a woman sustained potentially life-changing injuries in a collision in East Street, Bedminster.
The incident involved a man on a bicycle and a woman pedestrian. It happened just before 9am on Tuesday 15 January.
A woman is in hospital for treatment.
The cyclist left the scene of the crash in East Street, Bedminster. Officers are currently trying to trace him. We have seized a bike as part of our enquiries and the road remains closed while the investigation continues.
If you can help please get in touch quoting reference 5219010049
We will of course be keeping an eye on this story to see how it develops.
15 January 2019, 15:43
A familiar sight on British streets?
Haringey wants a reputation for being a walking and cycling borough nationally – yet this is what greets pedestrians on our streets….it’s time for change @haringeycouncil @kirstenhearn @CllrEjiofor @HaringeyCyclist @CrescentRdChaos @livingstreets @ZenaBrabazon pic.twitter.com/UsvPMxRRoc
— Catherine Kenyon (@cmdkenyon) January 15, 2019
15 January 2019, 15:43
Koo eyewear partners with Trek-Segafredo
The Word Tour team’s men’s and women’s squads will wear Koo shades for at least the next two years. They will wear the Open Cube and Orion sunglasses for the 2019 season, and have already being debuted at the Tour Down Under. head over to Koo’s website for more product info.
15 January 2019, 15:43
Video: Cyclist pops wheelie, falls off, almost gets run over
A dashcam user in Lincolnshire has filmed the moment that a cyclist popping a wheelie in Spalding fell off his bike and was almost run over, with the motorist managing to avoid the rider, who was apparently unhurt – apart, perhaps, for his pride. Maybe best leave it to the likes of Peter Sagan and Danny MacAskill, eh?
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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.
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Latest Comments
OnTheRopes 4 hours ago
So a driver who killed nobody can be charged with dangerous driving and receieve a prison sentence but they cannot get a dangerous driving conviction in this case? Beggers belief. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnwmPX-RXxU
Rendel Harris 4 hours ago
@perce Bit of both, our Nige isn't scared of multitasking!
perce 5 hours ago
@GMBasix Well normally I'd go for inveterate contrarian but on this occasion I think I'd go with befuddled idiot.
chrisonabike 5 hours ago
Unfortunately you'll be aware that the UK already has "dynamic speed limits". Before we even start, people should be dynamically *lowering* their speed anyway as the conditions dictate (restricted visibility, narrow carriageway, darkness, low sun, certain weather etc.) We have variable speed limits on motorways. Requiring people to check signs in a fairly "low distraction environment" is reasonable. Plus there's relative homogeneity of mass / speed / vulnerability of those thereon (excepting possibly motorbikers...) There are "please don't go faster when the lights are flashing" ones around schools. That is maybe not so good, eg. when children have to leave outside the regular times. Schools tend to be in "high mental workload for road users" urban environments also. Then there is the regular bad old UK habit of "the maximum is more of a target" and "I'll chance it because I've always got away with it and it's only taking the mick of you're more than 10mph over" "dynamic limits".
GMBasix 5 hours ago
I like to be courteous to correspondents. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes people have a different perspective. Some people have a lived experience that explains their world view. But nothing explains your response more readily than it is the contrivance of an inveterate contrarian or a befuddled idiot.
cruachan 7 hours ago
@Rendel Harris Given the state of the bike industry I fear that Raleigh will become yet another brand in the Frasers Group portfolio, they'll buy the IP and nothing else like they did with Wiggle CRC.
jackcycles 7 hours ago
[Petrol sniffer] Disappointingly illogical and rude comment. You've cheapened yourself there I'm afraid with a primitive lack of manners and understanding. To address the quote, of course lots of revenue can be gained by prosecuting people in a 20 zone, despite the fact that traffic speeds may only sometimes go above it. You might not have noticed, but traffic moves at different speeds depending on time of day and road conditions. For example, on a rainy morning, traffic tends to move very slowly due to congestion and safety concerns (both for the conditions and school children being dropped off). This is where a 20 limit would be appropriate, but also unnecessary due to self-regulation by responsible road users. Contrast this to when plod might be out, ambushing motorists with their speed guns: on a nice sunny clear day outside of peak times, looking to sneak out on an unsuspecting driver, driving down a nice straight hill, who's erred above the now arbitrary and unnecessary limit. This is why I favour dynamic speed limits, like they have in some parts of Europe.
Mr Blackbird 7 hours ago
Today's TDF Femmes stage was a great watch and good to see Kasia get the win. And almost as impressive was her performance in Tuesday's TT. The GC contest will be pretty exciting.
arowland 8 hours ago
@GMBasix Fine people for _wanting_ to go faster than 20mph of course.
cmedred 9 hours ago
@GMBasix No shite. Moronically contradictory. Should someone so mentally challenged even be allowed to drive?
11 thoughts on “Live blog: Cyclist pops wheelie, falls off, almost gets run over, US study finds local news “subtly, but consistently, blames vulnerable road users for crashes”, Twitter acronym tribute to legendary Liggett TdF commentary, Video: crit carnage + more”
Erm? Where’s the article
Erm? Where’s the article about the US study?
brooksby wrote:
It should be there now, apologies for keeping you hangin!
Jack Sexty wrote:
Erm? Where’s the article about the US study?
— Jack Sexty It should be there now, apologies for keeping you hangin!— brooksby
Got it! Thanks, Jack.
The UK is at least as bad
The UK is at least as bad with regards the media reporting RTCs. Some of us have joked about autonomous vehicles hitting cyclists as the reporting almost never mentions the driver.
The media reporting of
The media reporting of cyclist/driver collisions is at least as biased as that elsewere, and probably more so. Exactly the same removal of the driver, with just a car, as if the things drove without a person controlling them.
Not mentioned in that report, but equally valid, is the helmet, and it is always implied that cyclists contributed to their injuries by not wearing one, or as the recent report of the coroner, overtly blamed for not wearing one. They very rarely mention that the fault was the driver’s or that the collision wouldn’t have happened if the driver had taken proper care. Neither that a helmet would have saved a pedestrian.
And we are all familiar with blaming of the cyclist in collisions with HGVs, when it is always the blind spot that the cyclist recklessly rode into, never the driver’s fault.
Then there is the failure to wear hi-viz, also the cyclists’ fault, not the driver’s for not looking.
burtthebike wrote:
Totally agree, you never see headlines that say something like “cyclist killed by driver of a car without blindspot mirrors” but frequently see headlines stating the lack of safety equipment on the cyclists part.
ClubSmed wrote:
Been watching an American series about air crashes, where they examine the causes in minute detail and issue recommendations to prevent further crashes from the same cause. We need a system like this for road collisions, as the police don’t have the expertise, or resources to do it. Too often, the driver’s explanation is accepted “sun in eyes” “they appeared from nowhere” etc without proper forensic examination of the evidence.
I’m sure the 2014 review is going to cover this.
Also a criminal who uses a
Also a criminal who uses a bike to get to/from a crime is a cyclist. like the cyclist who brandished a zombie knife when “just clipped by an innocent motorist”.
You never hear that Lee Rigby whas murdered by two motorists.
Personally I found the “just clipped” to be extremely dangerous language.
Not reported as “pedestrian
Not reported as “pedestrian collides with bike”?
Alot of the media reports in
Alot of the media reports in the UK and almost always the case in local media thesedays are simply copy & pasted from press releases the police issue,which are themselves sourced from the actual police report of the incidents. which is why they are often filled with statements the police would consider an evidential fact that needed to be noted,rather than a considered representation as news.
Local media then fear changing those statements as they believe doing so could apportion blame to an involved party,this way they can simply say they reported what the police issued,even if it means the language they often resort to, car is alleged to have had cyclist crash into it,makes no sense.
It would be interesting if the researchers in the US had found the same issues in media filtering of police reports
Awavey wrote:
And the rest of their copy is copy/pasted from Twitter, Facebook, and Mumsnet, I’m beginning to think…