The pain doesn’t end at the finish line… Carlos Rodríguez taken out by broadcast crew after Tour de France stage; Cycling UK figure questions Telegraph claim “Britain’s cycling boom went bust”; Vingegaard’s bonkers climbing times + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
REVIEW: Trek Émonda ALR 5 2023
> REVIEW: Trek Émonda ALR 5 2023
The tyres hold it back a bit, but underneath is a comfortable alloy road bike with a great performance…
How many stars did Stu give it?
Jonas Vingegaard's bonkers climbing times
Col de Marie Blanque (7,90km; 8,49%; 671m)
2023 | 20’58min | J.Vingegaard – RECORD
2020 | 22’27min | T.Pogacar, P.Roglic#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/KSDouNDyuI— MF Naichaca (@NaichacaCycling) July 5, 2023
Cycling UK figure questions Telegraph claim that "Britain's bike boom went bust"
Cycling was back in The Telegraph again on Monday in a very on-brand way…
‘So how did Britain’s cycling boom go bust,’ I hear you ask…
Well, according to the national broadsheet, the ‘golden age of cycling’ seen during the pandemic has dropped off a cliff with bike sales down (they’ve fallen to the lowest level in 20 years, to be fair), plus all the supply chain and component shortage issues we’ve heard a thousand times before in the past few years.
Even Roger Geffen, a policy director at charity Cycling UK, admitted to the newspaper’s reporter “we do seem to have lost sight of that silver lining” cycling enjoyed during the pandemic. “Some of the people have carried on – long may that continue – but we did miss an opportunity,” he suggested.
However, has the bike boom gone bust? Sharing the piece on social media, Geffen’s Cycling UK colleague Sarah McMonagle highlighted a different point from the piece… there are still 11% more bikes on the road than there were pre-pandemic…
And as @WeAreCyclingUK‘s Policy Director @RogerGeffen says, cycling’s popularity will only increase given it can help tackle the climate crisis, obesity crisis, mental health crisis & cost of living crisis!
I might be biased but… more people cycling is a no brainer 🧠 2/2
— Sarah McMonagle (@SarahMcMonagle) July 5, 2023
P.S. see evidence of Britain’s bust state of cycling below…
🇳🇱 This Amsterdam street is designed so that users have to cycle on the left.
🇬🇧 Or, it’s actually proof that if you build a well designed, safe cycle network, not just one lane, it works in the UK. (It’s London btw)#Edinburgh can do this too. pic.twitter.com/D83WyrSsiW
— SW20 (@SW20Ed) July 3, 2023
"There are no more borders in the European Union. However, you will always know where the Netherlands begins."
There are no more borders in the European Union.
However, you will always know where the Netherlands begins. pic.twitter.com/ip58D9lgdY
— Harman Idema (@HarmaninToronto) July 5, 2023
"The bike boom is measured by bike use, not bike sales": Your thoughts on The Telegraph declaring "Britain's cycling boom is bust"
Some reaction…
Matthew Acton-Varian: “Of course when people keep up cycling, they are not going to keep the perfectly good machine they are currently using, and go out and unnecessarily buy a new one. In the middle of a financial crisis. So that must be why bike sales have dropped. I can’t imagine the financial crisis, or the fact that more people actually now have a bike they bought only a couple of years ago to ride actually being the reason…”
Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?
cyclisto: “The bike boom is measured by bike use, not bike sales.”
OmarCuoreMatto: “People who went back to cycling in recent years generally bought a bicycle once and are going to stick to it for many years to come. Measuring the success of cycling from the sale figures for new bicycles makes no sense.”
Skills
Nice one @seppkuss @JumboVismaRoad #TourDeFrance2023 @DeRodeLantaarn pic.twitter.com/0i3FCA7esr
— Joris (@jtbroekhoven) July 5, 2023
Less impressed by those grates…
Learner driver who was speeding and on a phone call, jailed for killing 63-year-old man cycling to work
Trip to the Tourmalet
A big ol’ climb today…
Thanks to the good folks over at Strava, that’s what the ascent looks like, what sort of time we can expect, and all the vital stats…
— Strava (@Strava) July 6, 2023
A fun fact for you as well, 75 per cent of the peloton (131 out of 176) are on Strava, here are the best of the bunch to drop a follow and track their progress…
> Tour de France 2023: The best pros to follow on Strava during the world’s biggest bike race
How skinny is that top tube?! Unreleased Factor O2 VAM breaks cover at Tour de France
Antonia Niedermaier cleared of fractures after shocking Giro crash, will return to Germany today
Stage 7 of the #GiroDonne23 is underway. We sadly miss Antonia Niedermaier at the start, but the team is determined to fight for success in the next stages 🙌@PaulienaR is 12th on GC at +7:51
Broadcast starts at 13:00CEST on GCN, RAI & Eurosport. pic.twitter.com/QvxCzh7rKC
— CANYON//SRAM Racing & CANYON//SRAM Generation (@WMNcycling) July 6, 2023
Thankfully the extent of Giro Donne breakthrough stage winner Antonia Niedermaier’s injuries from that terrible crash yesterday is some now-repaired damage to her teeth.
Canyon-SRAM confirmed: “At Cuneo hospital, she’s been cleared of any fractures. She has some damage to her teeth, which has been repaired. “She will return home to Germany tomorrow. We’re sending our best wishes to Antonia, who’s bitterly disappointed to leave the Giro.”
Jayco-AlUla’s Urška Žigart was also involved and “suffered a light concussion and skin abrasions” and has also left the race.
Another day. Another Annemiek van Vleuten Giro stage win
💖🏆 MIEK IT THREE, #MiekItHappen 🏆💖@AvVleuten takes another decisive stage en route to GC success in the 🇮🇹 #GiroDonne23 with victory atop the Madonna della Guardia in Alassio.
🥇 2️⃣6️⃣ // 🙋🏼♀️ 1️⃣2️⃣#RodamosJuntos | @Telefonica pic.twitter.com/S73t5of1e3
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) July 6, 2023
Number three of the week…
Van Vleuten now leads by 3:56 over second-placed Juliette Labous and looks almost certain to win a fourth Giro maglia rosa of her career, what would be an eighth Grand Tour too. Oh, and she’s still got Tour de France Femmes to come before she retires at the end of this season. I guess we should be enjoying every dominant win while we can…
Riders all over the mountain as Jumbo-Visma light up the Tourmalet
🏁50km
Jumbo-Visma are smashing the GC group to pieces on the Tourmalet 🤯https://t.co/sJSAnInehi #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/AG6dasZD0T
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 6, 2023
Now yellow jersey Jai Hindley has been dropped by the pace of Sepp Kuss, towing Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar clear. Wout van Aert in the breakaway is presumably going to be very useful over the other side of the Tourmalet. Before then the breakaway, including Nottingham’s James Shaw, have a whole lot of KOM points and a €5,000 prize to fight for.
AND HE’S GONE…
🇩🇰 Jonas Vingegaard attacks! But this time, @TamauPogi stays in his wheel!
🇩🇰 Jonas Vingegaard attaque ! Cette fois, @TamauPogi reste dans sa roue !#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/8G3QfVXBBl
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2023
Acceleration from the Dane and it’s 1 vs 1…
road.cc is on Threads!
Another social media app! Whether naming it after a terrifying apocalyptic film about the aftermath of a nuclear war is the best idea from Mr Zuckerberg will remain to be seen, but if you’re checking it out you can now follow us in any case (and listen to our latest podcast)…
Mips new Spherical tech looks good... so fancy they've written the description in latin
We’re used to a fair bit of pretentious marketing tosh from cycling brands, but…
In fairness to them we’re guessing this is just a mistake, and we make plenty of them. But hey, nothing says cutting-edge safety tech like an explainer in an ancient language hardly anyone understands any more…
😲
Tour de France over already? Think again! Tadej Pogačar roars back into contention with memorable stage win
INCREDIBLE SCENES 😲
Tadej Pogacar 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐒 his way past his Jonas Vingegaard!!! 🤯#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/cKmYPIFJrp
— Eurosport (@eurosport) July 6, 2023
A stage win AND 28 seconds back on GC, we leave the Pyrenees with Pogačar 25 seconds behind new yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard. But today was about more than just seconds, a leader’s jersey and a stage, it was proof that the Tour de France, which many believed was already decided after yesterday’s dominance, still has plenty of life in it yet.
Sealed with a bow…
A battle for the ages 🤩🙌
What a response by Tadej Pogačar 🏆🇸🇮🤍
Jonas Vingegaard goes into yellow 💛🇩🇰#TDF2023 #ITVCycling pic.twitter.com/eh5nXduZeM
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 6, 2023
Jai Hindley’s day in yellow was just that, he drops to third on GC, 1:34 behind Vingegaard. Shout-out to Brit James Shaw who took fifth from the breakaway. A huge step up from the British domestic scene two years ago…
The pain doesn't end at the finish line... Carlos Rodríguez taken out by broadcast crew after Tour de France stage
After four-and-a-half hours of brutal Pyrenean Tour de France action, ascents of an HC and first-category mountain and battling to stay alongside Tadej Pogačar, David Gaudu, Mattias Skjelmose, Simon Yates and the rest of the best riders dropped by Jonas Vingegaard’s dominant attack, you probably just want to get back on the bus, have a shower, lie down and eat some proper food.
Quite far from the top of your list of ‘things you’d love to do’, I’d imagine, would be… getting knocked over by a backstepping sound guy…
Buen susto de Carlos Rodríguez @INEOSGrenadiers al terminar la etapa #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/veUWmxalJL
— Robert Marcé ⛰🚵🏻 (@robert_marce) July 5, 2023
Too cynical to suggest Netflix creating their own drama for season two of Unchained? There’s a whole overspilling car park’s worth of broadcasters at the Tour so perhaps unfair to blame the docuseries makers just yet. Surprising the guy didn’t hear Rodríguez coming… sorry, there was absolutely no need for that atrocious brand of ‘comedy’ this early in the day…
Moving swiftly on…
Great piss-boiling work from Adam here…
Why doesn’t he have a bell?
— Adam Guest (@adamguest) July 5, 2023
I mean I know there’s marginal gains and all that jazz but safety first. Something like this would have saved him a nasty fall here pic.twitter.com/a8wVXxBLln
— Adam Guest (@adamguest) July 5, 2023
6 July 2023, 08:05
6 July 2023, 08:05
6 July 2023, 08:05
6 July 2023, 08:05
As strong a language warning as we can offer for this one...
Driver caught using mobile phone launches foul-mouthed tirade at CyclingMikey — and accuses him of supporting Chelsea
“If you’re going to be useful, come inside the car and f****** w*** me off or something”
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Latest Comments
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...
@bikercub https://road.cc/content/review/igpsport-igs800-314291 https://road.cc/content/review/igpsport-sr30-smart-radar-taillight-314105 Not too difficult to find using a popular internet search engine.
79 thoughts on “The pain doesn’t end at the finish line… Carlos Rodríguez taken out by broadcast crew after Tour de France stage; Cycling UK figure questions Telegraph claim “Britain’s cycling boom went bust”; Vingegaard’s bonkers climbing times + more on the live blog”
Came across this absurd
Came across this absurd clickbait
https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/should-cyclists-essex-made-use-8574450
Have insurance, number plates and indicators.
Indicators….
Tell me you are a moron without stating it.
They also included the claim that Italy are doing this. How does any of this relate to journalism?
Comments are as ill informed as the “article”, so don’t bother reading it.
Could it be Nigel?
Could it be Nigel?
Well as we all know manual
Well as we all know manual Indicators are also known as Arms and perfectly legal to use in cars, horses, bicycles etc.
It would be nice is the motoristas also used thier indicators when turning, overtaking, entering and exiting roundabouts. So many just don;t bother on roundabouts, it is one of the biggest bugbears I have when driving let alone cycling.
It would be great if the
It would be great if the drivers in Essex abided by those 3 things.
I’ve never cycled anywhere with such a high percentage of twats in cars as in Essex.
Suffolk is getting there but
Suffolk is getting there but then we are next door !
I dunno, I really notice it
I dunno, I really notice it whenever I venture from the flatlands to Rutland around Oakham. Lots of people in a hurry on a Sunday close passing in Range Rovers and Audis, they can’t all be brain surgeons on their way to perform a life saving operation – can they??
My experience of cycling in Essex is around Great Dunmow and Saffron Walden which you always get the impression would rather be in Cambridgeshire anyway!
Rutland has the worst road
Rutland has the worst road death rate of any county in England.
Don’t try Birmingham then! My
Don’t try Birmingham then! My son who happily cycled round Liverpool and took rocket firing scallies in his stride refuses to cycle now his work has taken him to Birmingham outside a handful of routes.
Comments are as ill informed
Comments are as ill informed as the “article”
Worth reading, just to experience what passes for thinking in that lump of scrap above the neck in the other 95%
Yes, depressing.
Yes, depressing.
Also 83% voted in favour at the point I voted.
Halo II headband is working well though.
Halo II headband is working
Halo II headband is working well though
Yes- hang the expense!. Thanks to the recommendations, I’m getting one when I decide on the colour, and the Lawrence of Arabia neck protector too
Currently 78% of the people
Currently 78% of the people who have voted are morons
Looking at Vingegaard’s time,
Looking at Vingegaard’s time, I do question whether he is clean.
AidanR wrote:
could probably ask that question about most of the gc contenders.
Yeah, true. But Vingegaard’s
Yeah, true. But Vingegaard’s going up the same climb more quickly than two other top GC contenders by a considerable margin.
AidanR wrote:
Early days of the Tour, so all still fresh, perhaps Pog was having an off day? He is certainly having a better day in Stage #6 and did a decent time I would say. Doping – who knows, all is possible and they probably are but no positive tests so I’m going to naively go with no.
AidanR wrote:
Now I’m wondering if Pog is clean.
Fair!
Fair!
People who went back to
People who went back to cycling in recent years generally bought a bicycle once and are going to stick to it for many years to come. Measuring the success of cycling from the sale figures for new bicycles makes no sense.
Exactly – it’s that moto
Exactly – it’s that moto-centric view where the press seems obsessed with reporting new car sales figures.
Proving thereby that the
Proving thereby that the transport of people is far from being the actual object of the car industry. (And before some wise guy thinks he’s come up with a great put-down, it isn’t the aim of the bike industry either.)
A much needed mass-cycling
A much needed mass-cycling-video to combat my already stressful day – thank you.
Although I didn’t see Steve K waving – did they miss you again?!
HoldingOn wrote:
Yes, they bloody did. I think I just go through too early.
or too fast – you’ve slipped
or too fast – you’ve slipped through between camera frames….
The bike boom is measured by
The bike boom is measured by bike use, not bike sales. I commute on cycle more now, but I don’t intend to replace my 10+year old bike indefinitely as it still looks super cool to me, is full of memories and I am too lazy to start searching for optimal seating on a new bicycle, changing stems and playing with seatpost height. And with the current greedflated prices I am happy I don’t feel like needing to replace.
My primitive consumerism insticts can be perfectly satisfied with simpler things, like that cheap Decathlon rubber mount bell that I finally managed to mount elegantly in my drop bars, but still wouldn’t have prevented this poor guy from his fall. He should just have been a little more careful, but after a pro race he must had been kind of zombie.
New bikes are more likely to
New bikes are more likely to be stolen because the Police do not do anything about people that steal bikes, so there is an incentive to use a bike that isn’t or doesn’t look brand new. If the Telegraph wants cyclists to buy new bikes it should call out the lack of Police attention to bike theft.
Yes, Torygraph, of course
Yes, Torygraph, of course when people keep up cycling, they are not going to keep the perfectly good machine they are currently using, and go out and unneccessarily buy a new one. In the middle of a financial crisis. So that must be why bike sales have dropped. I can’t imagine the financial crisis, or the fact that more people actually now have a bike they bought only a couple of years ago to ride actually being the reason…
Of course, some might have
Of course, some might have bought bikes in order to reduce their carbon footprint and do something, however small, to avert climate disaster. The Torygraph, of course, are more worried that cyclists are not consuming enough.
Either way, they were
Either way, they were probably purchased at the beginning of the pandemic.
I will admit I have more than one bike (one winter/commuter, one summer/racer, one MTB and one track bike) but not everyone wants or needs that. But I have not bought a new bike (to me at least, all mine are secondhand) in 3 years. Not going to get a new one until one breaks. But I still do nearly 5000 miles a year.
Absolutely, I consider my
Absolutely, I consider my bike, bought in 2018 as a very new bike, my other one, a mountain bike somewhat townified was bought in 1998 and still functions very adequately.
Quick google search finds the
Quick google search finds the followign:
“The number of new passenger cars being bought and sold in the UK slumped to record lows in 2022. However, April 2023 did see a ninth consecutive month of growth for the UK new car market.
There were 1.61 million new cars registered for the whole of 2022 – around 700,000 registrations below pre-Covid levels. This means sales were down 2.0% on pandemic-affected 2021 levels.
New passenger car sales were already down by 28.7% on pre-pandemic levels in 2021 and have failed to bounce back due to the ongoing impact of the global semiconductor shortage and the war in Ukraine affecting supply chains.”
Not just cycle purchases that have droped off.
There will be new cars bought
There will be new cars bought as 92% are bought on a finance deal. At the end of the deal or a breakpoint, you buy it or get a new one and continue paying.
Judging by the replacement of vehicles round my way (every 2 or 3 years) people are just continuing the finance deals to get a new vehicle.
Rising interest rates
Rising interest rates presumably are having severe consequences in the lease market.
No doubt only a very small %
No doubt only a very small %, but some people are in car poverty as they are locked in.
You can give it back after 50% is paid but as anyone with a repayment mortage will know, it takes a very long time to get to that point (last 5 or 6 years out of 25 ?)
Hirsute wrote:
— Hirsute‘Poverty’ really is not the appropriate word for idiots on a reasonable wage(s) who choose to sign up to a lease agreement without thinking about the consequences because having a shiny 72-plate car on the driveway/pavement matters so much to them. We’re not talking about 20 year-olds with an old Corsa who is on mimum wage and struggling to find the money for insurance, repairs etc so they can get to work.
It’s the same as the people who love spending money they don’t have, they put their lifestyle-created debt on a 0% credit card transfer then moan when the card company starts nagging them to start paying off the interest. What did they expect?
It’s been obvious that the car lease market has been a ticking time-bomb for years. I think it’s extraordinarily stupid that people choose to get a brand new car every 3 years when they know they don’t have the cash to buy it outright/pay it off.
I think it is just the term
I think it is just the term used.
But agree with your comments.
Quote:
He’s lucky his bike didn’t break into three pieces…
RE: you will always know
RE: you will always know where the Netherlands begins.
Just for context as there may be some people saying “look – Dutch rubbish! Narrow cycle lanes, not paths, and dashed so “optional”, on a 60km/h road!
First – as ever BicycleDutch has a good article explaining this kind of thing. This doesn’t seem to be a “no overtaking bikes” area but cars would only be expected to enter the lanes if necessary. So for a careful overtake of a cycle or to avoid a vehicle coming the other way. Unlike our “means nothing” advisory lanes in the UK I think most people actually follow the rules in NL.
Second – something like this could be a good “upgrade” for some of our “but no money or space for cycle infra” country roads. Unfortunately in the UK that would need a) a huge reduction in traffic volume (and speed) and b) a couple of generations of reprogramming of our driving culture.
Unlike our “means nothing”
Unlike our “means nothing” advisory lanes in the UK I think most people actually follow the rules in NL
Just like our ‘means nothing’ warning letters and Highway Code ‘advisory 1.5m clearance’:
https://upride.cc/incident/md72dfu_alanhowardtrafic_closepass/
Good upride, can’t decide if
Good upride, can’t decide if it’s just good old MGIF (ignoring “slow” and the blind corner up ahead) or a particularly dozy “follow my leader” of the van in front.
Everyone’s a winner – they didn’t hit you (nothing to see here say polis), Alan Howard “the partner of choice for people whose staf don’t drive ‘professionally’ ” have got some advertising and you have a “story”.
Alan Howard “the partner of
Alan Howard “the partner of choice for people whose staff don’t drive ‘professionally'”
In the first series of The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, there was a condemnation of people and things the Earth could well do without, such as a profusion of shoe shops all controlled by the same company- hair and beauty professionals belong on the list
Essential service, innit? It
Essential service, innit? It’s a wonder they didn’t just stick a blue light on top…
Presumably got several hundred kilos of conditioner and nail varnish in the back of that van.
Snark aside in this day and age it’s a wonder people with livery vehicles don’t give their staff (or themselves) the talk about not driving so badly. Or is it we all know that our culture doesn’t actually care about this…?
it’s a wonder people with
it’s a wonder people with livery vehicles don’t give their staff (or themselves) the talk about not driving so badly
It’s not a wonder in Lancashire! There are no consequences to any offences against cyclists here. You’ll remember this one, where I’m still battling against the unholy alliance of Lancashire Constabulary and the Information Commissioner
https://upride.cc/incident/4148vz_travellerschoicecoach_closepass/
We could make a start by
We could make a start by reducing the national maximum limit to 50mph and enforcing it properly with a much more general use of average speed cameras.
A reduction for less than motorway standard duel carriageways to 60mph is also in order.
On hols we were on 2, 2 or 3
On hols we were on 2, 2 or 3 lane dual carriageways with a 40 limit due to the barrier upgrades. We compared this to drving the last couple miles home, 60, single carriageway, no barriers.
I do think 60 is too high for single carriageway given the power and weight of modern vehicles.
Won’t you think of the
Won’t you think of the drivers (and their passengers)? We should look at stopping any overtaking – ideally via physical barriers – to keep people safe.
Shocking addition for the car
Shocking addition for the car crashes into building forum thread from Wimbledon where inevitably eventually there would be an incident where a driver managed to seriously injure 8 adults and children while hitting a school, that admittedly wasn’t bedecked in hi-viz.
Perhaps the major news outlets should be apprised of the forum thread here.
No arrests yet. Presumably these things just happen.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-66120180
Another fucking wankpanzer.
Another fucking wankpanzer.
2.5 T of metal that poses a great deal of risk to any vulnerable user
I was luck to be only clipped by a wing mirror of one of those in a narrow lane when on a walk.
If you look at the streetview
If you look at the streetview and the angle of the car, there are barriers metal barriers outside the gates, metal gates and new fences. It piled through those like they were not there looking at the force of the impact on the building itself.
It could have missed the metal barriers if the vehicle came out of the Golf Centre opposite the school but then that raised questions on how fast it could accelerate to make the damage.
I’m sure Kim Briggs will be
I’m sure Kim Briggs will be behind a campaign to remove such completely unnecessary vehicles from the roads regardless of the cause of the incident.
IanMSpencer wrote:
The driver, a woman in her 40s, arrested for causing death by dangerous driving after a pupil has now died. Just horrific. I can’t imagine what scene must have greeted the emergency services
It seems to me that the only
It seems to me that the only likely scenario is an accelerator instead of a brake mix up, given that it is apparently a narrow road with parked cars, but we will have to see.
Three factors will have excacerbated the incident:
1. A heavy off road vehicle being used in an urban environment.
2. A very powerful engine, providing acceleration and speed way beyond the needs of a vehicle in the UK.
3. In the event of an uncontrolled acceleration, with all the safety gear now available, a top of the line, all gizmos car has no detection system to stop uncontrolled acceleration through multiple objects. I thought a modern car would have collision avoidance as standard (Perhaps overridden by kickdown acceleration?).
At Longbridge island on the M40 yesterday I watched another Defender “nip up” the Warwick exit, cross solid hatched area to undertake the lorry setting off from the traffic lights to head down the M40, cross the M40 exit, swtich lanes to the A429, switch to lane 4 for the next traffic lights then swing across all 4 lanes to exit on the A429. The driver was treating what is basically a light goods vehicle like a BMW M3. An anecdote to show that drivers of these extremely heavy vehicles have no perception of the risks they impose on other drivers, regardless of the dangerous driving.
It is time to have a serious conversation about type approval for use on UK roads.
IanMSpencer wrote:
There are lots of possible scenarios, I don’t consider confusing the pedals to be any more likely than intentionally using her vehicle as a weapon.
It could be lots of scenarios
It could be lots of scenarios. I strongly suspect that even the police don’t know what happened, so any speculation on this website is, at best, pointless, and at worst, distasteful.
Condolences to the family of the poor 8 year old who was tragically killed here.
the little onion wrote:
The Sun had an article about it this morning which includes the following
So apparently the road layout is so confusing that no blame can be assigned to all those drivers in their three tonne wankpanzers…
I can’t help feeling this
I can’t help feeling this advert, the use of the Defender as the courtesy car at Wimbledon and the accident will have serious reputational repercussions.
I could be wrong but almost a
I could be wrong but almost a century after this propaganda campaign shifting the blame to the victims (end of article) was wildly successful I think people are completely habituated to this. Same opinion as RoadPeace really – it’s dreadful for relatives but we’ve made driving “safe” so the proportion of those close to tragedy is very small.
People will shake their heads on hearing the news but that will last 5 minutes tops and will change nothing. Following social practices the legal system will be looking to class this as one of “terrorist” / “wrong’un”, careless (not very culpable at all) and then we’re down to “medical” and “tragic accident”. Won’t you think of how it’s affected the poor driver?
Humans times vehicles is a problem even with roller skates and cycles; much more so when those vehicles are well over 10 times their weight and rapidly get up to 30mph on their way much faster. Without a completely different approach – one involving different civil engineering and a fair bit of a culture change – this is inevitable. But allowing the market to put even bigger and less safe vehicles (even for the operators) into public spaces is just
the result of corruptionstupid.IanMSpencer wrote:
In this post-truth, post-shame world?
Not so sure.
Do they not know or do they
Do they not know or do they not care? Our justice system kind of suggests they shouldn’t really care. Hit and kill a cyclist because you don’t have a licence and were doing 58 in a 40, 7 months in jail.
Theres a reason people don’t give a shit about driving safely and its largely due to a complete lack of consequences when you actually hurt someone.
1 person dead === 7 months in prison. Let that sink in. A life for 7 months.
A Landrover *does* have such
A Landrover *does* have such an emergency stop system, but it can be overridden.
If it is anything like my 2018 Skoda Superb, it should also have a logging function to let the police find out what was happening with the vehicle.
PRSboy wrote:
The driver, a woman in her 40s, arrested for causing death by dangerous driving after a pupil has now died. Just horrific. I can’t imagine what scene must have greeted the emergency services
— IanMSpencer
The cynic in me wonders whose child goes to that school, that the police have dived in with ‘death by dangerous driving’ rather than the more common ‘careless’ or ‘NFA – honest mistake, could happen to anyone’…
brooksby wrote:
People who pay £16695 a year.
Over the limit or failed drug
Over the limit or failed drug test would do it.
The driver who slowly drove
The driver who slowly drove into the gates at Downing Street whilst appearing to slow to avoid pedestrians was charged with Dangerous Driving. I was happy as it seemed to set a standard on what is dangerous and what is careless so was looking forward to seeing lots more of the latter charges.
PRSboy wrote:
— PRSboyThe BBC article says:
“Sixteen people were treated at the scene and 10 were taken to hospital
There is no news yet on the extent of their injuries, but local MP Stephen Hammond has told the BBC he understands some are in a critical condition”
My sympathies are with the family of the 8 year old child who was killed and those injured in this incident.
Stop de kindermoord.
Perhaps one day the tide will turn…
Classic disembodied car
Classic disembodied car reporting from the BBC, they mention the brand and model of the car that drove itself into the school before they mention that the driver exists.
Patrick9-32 wrote:
“I don’t know what happened – I was just a passenger”???
That sounds like the excuse
That sounds like the excuse we will get for people travelling in self-driving cars.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/products/canyon-e-bikes-will-be-able-to-talk-to-cars-by-the-end-of-2026
Car infotainment system: “Approaching cyclist. Slow down and prepare to move wide upon overtake.”
“Wider.”
“Wider you petrol guzzling pinhead, give more room!”
Wishful thinking.
Re the MIPS latin – that’s
Re the MIPS latin – that’s “Lorem ipsum”. Mostly gibberish latin used in publishing for placeholder text. So common that desktop publishing tools often have a facility to generate and insert it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum
Every now and again, a judge
Every now and again, a judge gets it:
A judge has warned about the dangers of driving at “excessive and unreasonable” speed after concluding that a hospital doctor who was in collision with a 12-year-old girl on a pedestrian crossing was going too fast despite being under a 30mph limit.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/bmw-lawyers-buckinghamshire-oxfordshire-milton-keynes-b2369965.html
Thinking about this.
Thinking about this.
This was a civil case for damages. I suspect that given the defence postion was that they were blameless, they received no punishment for their driving from the police.
Re the Torygraph article on
Re the Torygraph article on the decline in cycling, I’d hazard a guess that the unbelievably poor standards of driving since we came out of the pandemic must have a part to play.
Got close passed by a police car yesterday, which was a first. The driver was rather sheepish when I challenged him at the traffic lights a mere 400 metres down the road.
Judge rules doctor was
Deleted
Just noticed IanMSpencer posted the same story 2 hours ago.
Threads ?…everyone from
Threads ?…everyone from GenX going
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/jan/08/how-we-made-threads
Awavey wrote:
Yep – very much my reaction.
Threads … one of the best
Threads … one of the best films to come out of 1984.
Scared the crap out of many.
Not sure about the cycling
Not sure about the cycling boom going ‘bust’. But looks like the Telegraph is going bust;
The future ownership of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph has once again been thrust into the spotlight, after it emerged that the newspaper group’s parent company faces the threat of being put into administration by lenders.
Lloyds Banking Group has threatened to put Press Acquisitions, the company controlled by the Barclay family that owns the newspapers’ parent company, Telegraph Media Group (TMG), into administration after a breakdown in talks over loans the business has racked up over the years.
If the two sides do not come back to the negotiation table to hammer out a new deal over about £65m in loans, then Lloyds is prepared to call in a restructuring advisory group and appoint insolvency practitioners “within days”, according to the Times.