Santander Cycles are here to stay; Ostrich lead-outs? That’ll never take off; All I want for Christmas is a safe place to cycle; E-scooter drink driving; Are potholes getting worse?; Vandalised LTN repaired; Tom Pidcock reaction + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Vandalised LTN repaired
Good to see this hole in the ground repaired so quickly 🙂 pic.twitter.com/rTcFVIAPyr
— Highbury Cyclist (@HighburyCyclist) December 12, 2020
A Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) road closure needed to be repaired after vandals targeted it with spray paint and ripped out the bollard stopping cars from cutting down the road. The bollard on Elmore Street in Islington has been replaced but according to one social media user, it is a regular problem. Nearby Cleaveland Road has also had the bollards, that stop car drivers rat running through the residential area, removed by angry vandals.
The damage is similar to this LTN in Hackney pictured below, which was graffitied within 24 hours of its installation. At the time, Councillor Jon Burke labelled the offenders as “degenerates”. He said: “In the 24 hours since this new filter was delivered, anti-LTN fanatics who absolutely cannot accept sharing the roads with all those who both use and pay for them, have stolen the bollard, defaced the signs, and snapped the trees. Degenerates, plain and simple.”
Are potholes getting worse? 'Significant increase' in complaints this year
The Times reports the RAC’s annual Report on Motoring found that the quality of UK’s roads has deteriorated over the past year, according to the replies of more than 3,000 motorists. The study noted a “significant increase” in the number of complaints about the condition of council-maintained roads, with rural areas being a particular concern. A Freedom of Information request last year found that one cyclist a week is killed or seriously injured due to potholes.
The motoring organisation said it was likely that councils struggled to “keep up maintenance programmes as the pandemic took hold.” Of the 3,068 drivers who contributed to the report, 52 per cent said local roads had deteriorated, with 59 per cent saying rural roads were particularly bad. A Department for Transport spokesperseon said: “We’ve committed £2.5 billion for local road repairs as part of the biggest pothole programme ever announced.”
Pidcock reaction
So I arguably did one of my biggest results of my like today with my bloody helmet strap flapping like a chopper 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
— Tom Pidcock (@Tompid) December 13, 2020
Tom Pidcock claimed the biggest win of his cyclo-cross career yesterday, beating world champion Mathieu van der Poel impressively, to win the Superprestige Gavere. It was Pidcock’s first international win at elite level and the 21-year-old certainly had us excited with his performance…
Pidcock schooling MVDP. This is pure class.
— Simon Warren (@100Climbs) December 13, 2020
Pidcock houdt stand in het slot en wint de Superprestige in Gavere pic.twitter.com/0BNg3T7umO
— Sporza 🚴🔥 (@sporza_koers) December 13, 2020
More encouraging scenes from a busy school run in the bike lane
I vaguely remember someone saying that the Shannon bridge cycle lane would never be used 🤔 pic.twitter.com/tomeEyu7tt
— rachel enright (@enrightrachel) December 8, 2020
E-scooter rider arrested for drink driving
Isle of Wight Police issued this warning to anyone thinking of using an e-scooter while celebrating the festive season. Covered by the 1988 Road Traffic Act, e-scooter riders face the same treatment as car drivers and consequently one rider found themselves arrested on suspicion of drink driving. The force stressed that the use of e-scooters whilst intoxicated will not be tolerated.
Beryl launched a trial of e-scooters in Newport, the principal town on the island, with a fleet of 25 available for use which have been capped at a top speed of 12.5mph. Isle of Wight County Press says that more than 700 journeys over more than 4,000km were travelled within a week of their launch.
When they were first made available, Beryl emphasised the need to follow road laws when using their e-scooters and said they were working with Hampshire Police to promote safe use. Many replies on the Isle of Wight Police Facebook post made accusations about improper use.
David Roberts wrote: “If the rules are the same as a car then get them off the pavements and going up the road the wrong way. Need to abide by the highway code from what I have seen this is not happening an accident waiting to happen, it is not fair on the driver this happens too.”
All I want for Christmas is...a safe place to cycle!
Love this new sign on LTN planters in Hackney.
So many people out cycling, walking, skateboarding pic.twitter.com/g8LW9EYHaj— Jim de Maarne (@saintjimjim) December 13, 2020
Time for something a bit more positive after that LTN vandalism story earlier… Open to Santa’s sleigh and his reindeer, this Hackney LTN has got into the Christmas spirit with some festive decorations. The sign says, ‘All I want for Christmas is a safe place to cycle’…
The #TulseHillLTN elves 🧚♂️have been busy today decorating our neighbourhood with all of the Twelve Days of Christmas, including this magnificent partridge! 🍐Why not have a walk, scoot or cycle around our five planter locations (see the map) and try to find all 12? pic.twitter.com/uAVD3RqKAR
— Safer Streets for Tulse Hill (@TulseHillLTN) December 13, 2020
Ostrich lead-outs? That'll never take off
[Cape Point National Park][RSA] Credits go to Daniel’s ass from r/CyclistsWithCameras
At least here in the UK all we have to worry about is the occasional squirrel or stray deer…This video from South Africa shows a group of cyclists being given a race by an Ostrich. Some quick research on Google found that Ostriches are the world’s fastest running bird and have a top speed of 70km/h, but have been clocked as fast as 96km/h… Sam Bennett. One speedy Ostrich. 200m sprint. Who wins?
It turns out this isn’t the first Ostrich-related incident we’ve seen… In 2016 we shared this video of an Ostrich chasing after a pair of slightly concerned and very confused cyclists…
Tour de Pologne organisers contemplate scrapping dangerous sprint finish
The race organisers of the Tour de Pologne are contemplating removing the dangerous downhill sprint finish from next year’s edition, Cyclingnews reports. The sprint finish in Katowice has been a regular fixture at the race but organisers accpeted they must consider whether it remains on the parcours next year. Many pro riders and fans blamed the downhill finish for exacerbating the horrendous crash on the opening stage of the 2020 race, which left Fabio Jakobsen in a coma in hospital.
Race director Czesław Lang told Cyclingnews: “The UCI has ruled on this, it was the rider’s fault. We are contemplating different scenarios, we are talking to the local officials.” A representative of the Katowice press office confirmed that they are considering hosting the finish in a different location or re-routing the current finish.
Business is booming for VeloSkin
Cycling chamois cream company VeloSkin has become the best-selling product of its type on Amazon, with the Halifax Courier reporting that Andrew Banks and Chris Iredale have now bought out the company’s other partners. The company has also renewed its deal to supply UK UCI Continental team Ribble Weldtite for 2021.
Banks said: “These sponsorship commitments represent a significant step up from us as a company and signify the confidence that Chris and I have in buying out the business.
“We’re absolutely delighted that VeloSkin continues on its impressive growth trajectory and we thank Chris, Tanya and Paul for all their hard work on the brand. When the opportunity arose to buy out our other partners, we felt it was too good a chance to miss.”
Free bike marking in the capital
To help keep your bike safe this Christmas period, we are holding free bike marking events every day for the rest of this week!
Event details below ⬇️ #StaySafeStayFestive pic.twitter.com/gK5wPFuE0z
— City of London Police (@CityPolice) December 14, 2020
Santander cycles are here to stay
On Friday, we reported that the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was considering scrapping Santander Cycles, in a cost-saving measure to help Transport for London. However, today, London’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner Will Norman told Forbes that this is not going to happen.
“We’ve got absolutely no intention at all to scrap the hire bike scheme,” Norman said.“It’s been shown that it’s more popular than ever. In fact, we’re investing in modernising and expanding it.
“Many people enjoyed making the most of the quieter streets during lockdown, and this change in habit has had lasting effects, with walking and cycling journeys continuing to be higher year-on-year.”
There are more than 12,000 Santander bikes in the capital which can be accessed from 781 docking stations. It was claimed that removal of the cycle hire scheme, Woolwich Ferry and River Services would save TfL £63m, while also sacrificing £15m in revenue. These cost-cutting measures were suggested at the end of a year in which TfL has received two Covid bail-outs from the Government, together worth £3.4bn, after revenue and passenger numbers collapsed due to the pandemic.
A cycle lane to nowhere
Followed this cycle lane at Coalville to basically nowhere. 🤷🏼♂️ pic.twitter.com/BuCGKES5gB
— A National Forest Cyclist🚴🏿🇪🇺🏴 (@blakeyberry1962) December 12, 2020
Not the worst cycle lane we’ve seen but still spectacularly bad…
Cyclist blames cycle path for injury
This is what happens cycling to work(helmet on which prob saved my life)-section where cyclepath disappears (Forsyth Rd, Jesmond). Segregated space for cycling is essential. Please support the Council in achieving this @NewcastleCC @NewcastleHosps @NewcastleLibDem @arleneainsley pic.twitter.com/xgLJSORagr
— Julie whittaker (@JuliewhittHall) December 1, 2020
A cyclist who works at the Royal Victoria Infirmary has blamed a Newcastle cycle path for a crash, which left her with a black eye and concussion symptoms. Julie Whittaker was cycling to work when she fell on the Forsyth Road cycle lane, which she said ‘disappears’.
“Many people like me are desperate to choose active travel but they are apprehensive because of safety, and this is with good reason. The main, outstanding issue is road safety, and this is a big one in my opinion.” she told Jesmond Local.
In response to the incident, Ed Smith, a spokesperson for cycling and pedestrian safety campaign SPACEforJesmond, said that the west side of Forsyth Road is “not ideal for cycling because of high levels of motor traffic, particularly at peak times. A protected cycleway on this road would bring this route up to a standard for all ages and abilities to cycle on.”
14 December 2020, 09:08
14 December 2020, 09:08
14 December 2020, 09:08
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Laudable effort. Will a full review of the bike be following?
By their very nature the dockless bike schemes will result in bikes being parked in stupid places. The user has little incentive to find the correct place to park it. More so if they are tourists with a cruise liner to catch and only 3 hours to explore. So, if the operation can't be made to fit within the councils required operating method, then it should be removed. I'm pretty sure another operator will come in and propose a system acceptable to the council if they believe they can make money. I strongly suspect that the current operators can only make money by tacitly allowing bikes to be left where the tourist money wants to leave them, so time to rethink the financial model me thinks!
@bikercub "If they are good enough to be supporting the Groupama-FDJ United World TourCycling team, we should be looking at them as a contender." No, that only means that they paid enough to become a sponsor. Let's put the "pros use better stuff" myth to sleep, finally. And by the way, the trickiest part of a GPS computer is not data collection - that can be done by absolutely all of them. The hard part is the general user interface and turn-by-turn navigation, none of which really matters for a pro cyclist - and that brings us back to why any GPS computer could be good enough for just about any pro cyclist.
@mdavidford Absolutely, I am assuming that the OP means those lanes where it's so tight it's actually impossible for a cyclist to get through if there is a large vehicle, obviously if they can squeeze by each other nobody needs to go back.
You are quite correct about uniform signage. However this seems to be a fairly atypical set up. Having experience and knowledge of it would in theory make mistakes less likely. Part of my job involved writing operating and maintenance procedures for food manufacturing machinery. I quickly learnt that people need to be given direct, simple, non-conflicting, non-ambiguous instructions. If it is possible to make mistakes, then they will be made. The best of of avoiding a mistake is to design flaws out of the system.
I do not in anyway support the Daily Telegraph's continually mad anti-cycling journalism but, it must be said, that this particular section of cycle lane on King Street in Hammersmith has been an absolute disaster ever since it re-opened. It certainly wasn't perfect for cyclists before but ever since they remodelled the cycle lane to run as a two way lane on one side of the road it has become much much more dangerous and confusing for pedestrians, drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists alike. I'm not saying that all cycling infrastructure is badly designed but, on my 12 mile commute from home in South London to work at the West end of King Street, this cycleway is where I feel most unsafe. It's not an inditement on active travel but it should be a lesson in planning because it's been closed on 5 or 6 occasions since to be remodelled to correct issues that should've been obvious before it opened. I have been using this road to get to work since long before the re-modelling and it has definitely, in my opinion, worsened not just the safety of cyclists but also the relationship between drivers and cyclists in this area.
In principle, it shouldn't matter if you're familiar with a particular junction - that's precisely why we have (relatively) uniform signage across the country (I had this from a driver recently - Him: sorry, I don't know the area. Me: but a no entry sign is the same everywhere...). But in practice in a busy environment like this, simply adding another sign saying look out for cyclists is limited help. I don't love cycling on contraflows / a two way cyclelane on a one way street for that reason. In fact there's a crossing I don't love as a pedestrian which is look right (bikes) look left (bikes) look right (cars), island, catch breath, look left (cars), look left (bikes). (Yes, you could wait for a green man, but then it's still look everywhere (Deliveroo)).
I'm not familiar with Jeremy Vine's favourite cycle lane. However I do have sympathy with drivers if they have to deal with "Look both ways for cyclists" as well as "One Way" and "No Entry" signs. Especially if the driver is not familiar with the junction.
@mitsky Alas for a second there I was awarding the motorist in the window there points for wearing hi-vis in their car, then I realised they were also wearing a motoring helmet...
While I understand it in context, I quite liked this to conclude a bike light review: "it’s a reliable set for the price, so long as you aren’t looking to ride in the dark"
7 thoughts on “Santander Cycles are here to stay; Ostrich lead-outs? That’ll never take off; All I want for Christmas is a safe place to cycle; E-scooter drink driving; Are potholes getting worse?; Vandalised LTN repaired; Tom Pidcock reaction + more on the live blog”
While I’m not the greatest
While I’m not the greatest fan of cctv everywhere, maybe a few discrete motion activated cameras on the most frequently vandalised LTNs might help catch the degenerates? It’s probably just one or two people, so catch them and the problem disappears.
I think local authorities do
I think local authorities do that when an offense becomes persistent. I.e. if there is repeated contravention of a road offence (overweight vehicles etc). Then a camera will be placed to gather evidence / data. . There are simply not enough resources to place cameras all around the boroughs. Plus of course it would get a bit ‘big brother’.
Regardless of whether the
Regardless of whether the user is inebriated, can someone confirm that electric scooters – the ones not branded as being part of a rental scheme – are definitely illegal.
You’d never know it, given the numbers of them out and about on the roads…
It’s really time the UCI did
It’s really time the UCI did something about these idiots in daft get-ups running alongside riders.
Is she blaming the cycle path
Is she blaming the cycle path? Or is she suggesting the lack of a cycle path on a key section of the road led to a collision with a vehicle?
I was wondering the same. The
I was wondering the same. The headline here is from the original article but as mentioned, the tweet and responses seem to be that there wasn’t one so probably needs changing here to stop the anti cycling slant it appears to put on her. She will get enough pelters from the Anti Helmet brigade anyway.
As an aside, still haven’t worked out what she was on about. She was going to work but the cycle path disappeared. Yet a quick streetview seems to indicate that there is no lane on that side road mentioned (Forsyth) but one starts on the main road junction which is seperate initiallty but goes into a shared path. In a later tweet she mentions
So from the above I’m assuming that there is not a cycle path and she was coming towards one but had to cycle on the grass part and slipped in the wet. (ie coming towards the camera on the left side pavement.
Bl00dy cycle paths!
Bl00dy cycle paths!