Latest Telegraph column claims AI traffic lights prioritising “small, angry minority” over drivers will make “entitled cyclists even more insufferable”; Tadej Pogačar doesn’t want five Tours de France, but five monuments (+ Vuelta) + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
“Disappointed” cyclists forced to lock bikes on outdoor railings as Belfast’s new Grand Central Station opens with no cycle parking provisions
Cyclists in Belfast have been left “disappointed” and “dismayed” at the lack of any cycle parking provisions at the recently opened Grand Central Station, with many cyclists having to lock their bikes to metal railings outside the city’s new transport hub.
“This suggests that active travel is not a central part of this new transport hub,” said Belfast Cycling Campaign, as Translink confirms that it’s “sourcing” temporary cycle parking to install.
Kerbside wayfinding signage for cyclists: "Cool idea" or "an accident waiting to happen"?
Here’s an interesting infrastructure titbit from Vaughan, Ontario in Canada, featuring direction and wayfinding signage on the kerbs. While some seemed to absolutely love it social media, there were a few naysayers who raised issue with the placement and raised safety concerns.
“I’m a cyclist, and not only do I not have problems reading street signs, but the last thing anyone on a bike should be doing is staring downwards at the kerb as they come to an intersection/crosswalk. That seems like an accident waiting to happen,” wrote Davey Crockpot.
Curbside cyclist-oriented wayfinding (Vaughan Metropolitan Centre). pic.twitter.com/ohjXxxoBIP
— Jason Thorne (@JasonThorne_RPP) September 10, 2024
Are these a neat, clutter-free solution or could this cause confusion and ultimately, accidents? What do you think about these signs and would you like to see them in the UK? Let us know in the comments…
Best cycling computers 2024 — track rides, pore over your data and find new routes with a quality bike GPS unit
Cycling computers, particularly those that have GPS technology, have helped to open up a wide range of possibilities and change with regards to recording, planning and comparing bike rides. The best cycling computers can really enhance your riding experience, which is why a good one is nowadays considered essential by any cyclist who isn’t just using their bike to nip to the shops.
Here are the top bike computers currently recommended by road.cc reviewers…
Visma-Lease a Bike’s heartfelt message to Edoardo Affini after Italian won the European time trial championships
Edoardo Affini, the 28-year-old formidable and punchy Visma-Lease a Bike rider has served as a loyal domestique within an all-conquering team, often even overshadowed in his domestique duties by last year’s Vuelta winner Sepp Kuss — but the Tour of Britain and Tour of Norway stage winner is finally getting his flowers.
The Italian pipped time trial maestro Stefan Küng in yesterday’s European time trial championships by nine seconds in a stellar ride to claim a prestigious title, and a touching message from his team caught the eye of cycling fans yesterday.
Visma-Lease a Bike wrote on Twitter: “POV: You are an ever-loyal teammate who always puts others first. For years, you have dedicated yourself to time trials. You came close often, but it’s always just short. Until that one moment on that one day: today. Shortly after an intense Vuelta a España, which you describe as your toughest grand tour ever, you crowned yourself European Time Trial Champion.
“If anyone deserves this title, it’s you, Edo. You fought for it today with every fiber of your being. And we grant you this title with all the love in the world. Proud of you!”
🇪🇺 #EuroRoad24
𝐏𝐎𝐕: You are an ever-loyal teammate who always puts others first. For years, you have dedicated yourself to time trials. You came close often, but it’s always just short. Until that one moment on that one day: today. Shortly after an intense Vuelta a España,… pic.twitter.com/WUZ69Pgu9W
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) September 11, 2024
Affini, who looked stunned when Küng crossed the finish line, all but confirming his victory, said: “I don’t know what to say. It is an amazing feeling. It has been a really long time without a victory. I won my last race when I was in my first year as a professional. I think I have always been there, always doing my job.
“Today I just started without any pressure. The last three weeks has been a really hard Vuelta for me. I think it has been the hardest grand tour that I did so far, working for the team and giving a try also in the two TTs of the Vuelta.”
In the women’s competition, world champion Lotte Kopecky delivered another strong blow to the rest of the competition, finishing a whopping 43 seconds ahead of triple world TT champion Ellen van Dijk, just ahead of the UCI World Championships in Zürich where she’ll be hoping to defend her rainbow jersey.
After becoming the European champion, Kopecky said: “I am really happy with it. It is the first European jersey in a road discipline and to win it in our own country, Belgium, is really nice.
“It was nice that there were two intermediate points, so you could really know how you are compared to your opponents. At the first one we were pretty much close to each other, but the second one I gained a lot of time on Elle. From that moment on I knew that I was doing really well.”
Tadej Pogačar’s goals are not to win five Tour de France, but to complete cycling palmarès by winning “all five monuments and three Grand Tours”
Lionel Messi, Novak Djokovic, Eddy Merckx… Tadej Pogačar?
The 25-year-old Slovenian is in the midst of another incredible, jaw-dropping cycling season, becoming the first man to do the Giro-Tour double since Pantani in 1998 and winning the Liège-Bastogne-Liège for a second time, and the season could only get more stunning if he wins the rainbow bands in Zurich.
But what lies next for someone touted to be the successor to the ‘Cannibal’, the greatest of all-time Eddy Merckx?
In an interview with the American media CNN, Pogačar — who goes racing tomorrow in the GP Québec, making a return to the pro peloton since winning his third yellow jersey at the Tour de France — has claimed that he has no plans to try and emulate the likes of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, by winning five maillot jaunes.
He said: “I don’t like to talk about what can be in the future, what records can be broken,” says Pogačar. “But three now, three Tours de France and maybe 10 more years of my career if I’m well. So the odds are pretty good still to have five Tours de France, but that’s not the goal I want.”
Instead, his goal is to win all the five monuments, and all the three Grand Tours — basically winning every major race possible as a pro cyclist, something only Eddy Merckx has achieved in cycling history.
“I cannot compare myself to Eddy Merckx because that was not in my time,” Pogačar said. “It’s kind of flattering, but also at the same time, it can be annoying because you just want to be you; you want to do your own thing, do your own racing and go for your own history, not somebody else’s.”
And in that regard, Pogačar has his work cut out… or does he? He’s already won two of the three Grand Tours, so in a scenario where he decides to perhaps skip the Tour for a Giro-Vuelta programme, who’s to say he can’t take the red jersey on the killer Spanish climbs?
That leaves the monuments, of the five, he’s already won three, leaving ‘hell of the north’ Paris-Roubaix and the Milan-Sanremo unconquered for the Slovenian — and he’s already come close to winning the latter on two occasions. Can the likes of Evenepoel, Vingegaard, and Van der Poel stop Pogačar, or is it just a matter of few years before he completes the cycling palmarès?
Off-duty police officer filmed “dangerously” overtaking Irish cyclist, before flashing badge and “threatening” them, escapes prosecution but docked pay for “abuse of authority”
A police officer in Ireland escaped prosecution after he allegedly committed a “dangerous” overtake on a cyclist while off duty, before flashing his badge and speaking to the cyclist in what was described as a “discourteous and threatening manner”.
However, the officer was later given a temporary reduction in their pay after being found to have breached the Garda Síochána’s disciplinary rules for “discourtesy, abuse of authority, and discreditable conduct”.
“Banning bikes won’t help anyone”: Lime Bikes responds to London council leader trying to get rid of “annoying” hire bikes causing and “nuisance” from his borough
The Brent Council is trying to get rid of Lime Bikes from its borough, with its council leader Muhammed Butt coming on to BBC Radio 4 Today to raise his issues with the popular hire bike scheme and how they are causing a “nuisance” in his borough.
“It’s not just some of our residents, quite a few of our residents,” Butt said. “The nuisance they’re causing now in relation to just being dumped on the streets, parks, rivers and canals, outside the high streets… they’re just sort of being left there with no care and attention. Lime do need to take some responsibility because it’s their users who are causing that nuisance.”
Radio 4 presenter Amol Rajan asked: “When you say they’re causing nuisance, is it that people are getting an eyesore or are they getting in people’s ways, or are they causing physical damage or promoting crime?”
Butt replied saying: “We had a 77-year-old woman who was knocked over by a Lime bike [ridden] by a 12 or 13-year-old kid, who had managed to hack the bike and was just riding down the street. Lime have no idea who are using their bikes once they are hacked because they’re so easy to hack. Anyone can go on to Tiktok and take a look at how to hack those Lime bikes and start using them.
“It’s their bikes, they need to start taking some accountability for making sure that their assets are kept safe and secure, and they shouldn’t be to the detriment to our residents Brent, people trying to work or go to school, walking down the street, going to our shops, going to our parks and that’s what’s happening at the moment.”
“The nuisance they’re causing… They’re just being left with no care and attention.”
Brent council leader Muhammed Butt tells #R4Today why Lime bikes may be banned from the borough over safety concerns.
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) September 12, 2024
Now, BBC has received a response from Lime Bikes, the hire-bike company saying in a statement: “We are proud to have worked with our partner councils over the last six years to build a safe and reliable shared e-bike service across London. Local residents in Brent and across the capital use our bikes for essential journeys every day, with 11.5 million commuting trips already taken this year.
“We can enforce mandatory parking rules in Brent, but first we need the council to build a functional network of parking locations. We can provide data and funding to support this process. We want to work with them on this. Banning bikes won’t help anyone.”
Butt’s comments were not received very kindly on social media, with several Brent residents posting videos of a myriad of other things lying on the pavement…
The next video on my way to work this morning in Brent NW10. #Brent pic.twitter.com/EKTsqMZUkH
— DJ Johnny London (@DJJohnn85206525) September 12, 2024
1. Yesterday morning on Church road, Brent, NW10. And the council leader Muhammed Butt is complaining about bikes. Broken, dirty pavements, broken roads. There are more important things to worry about Mr Butt. pic.twitter.com/2yeFsZ5H14
— DJ Johnny London (@DJJohnn85206525) September 12, 2024
Over half of Londoners think councils prefer improving roads for drivers over safety of cyclists and pedestrians, as majority call for more Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and 20mph limits, new study finds
A new road safety survey has found that 70 per cent of Londoners believe more Low Traffic Neighbourhoods or liveable streets schemes should be introduced in the capital, while 60 per cent think that all roads throughout the city should have a 20mph speed limit.
Meanwhile, over half of the London residents surveyed agreed that local councils prefer improving infrastructure for motorists over increasing safety for cyclists, pedestrians, and other road users, while 88 per cent feel that cycle lanes should be compulsory when one is available.
"Sometimes you come across a driver who sees the future!": CyclingMikey's encounter with "awesome TfL bus driver"
Sometimes you come across a driver who sees the future! Awesome @TfL bus driving here. pic.twitter.com/i3Ib1AQ3on
— CyclingMikey the Unspeakable (@MikeyCycling) September 12, 2024
Oh no, somebody told the Telegraph: Latest Telegraph column claims AI-traffic lights to prioritise cyclists over drivers will make “entitled cyclists even more insufferable”
I’m not really one to take joy in saying ‘Told you so,’ but hey, told you so…
Last week, we reported on our blog about the new smart, AI-powered sensors being tested in a set of traffic lights in Solihull meant to prioritise cyclists over drivers, with Ryan specifically asking y’all “don’t tell the Telegraph”. But as fate would have it, someone did tell the Telegraph, and here we are, with another comment/infernal diatribe about the “small, angry minority”, otherwise known as cyclists.
Let’s not beat around the bush, as the writer gets straight into his angst and desperations about the ‘war on motorists’ straight away, lamenting that his brand new car “slams on the brakes when it spots a 30mph sign” on roads — I mean, as one would expect the driver to do so, anyway? “It’s obvious that drivers are given a hard time, even by their own cars,” Clive Aslet, author of the piece, writes.
“Solihull’s innovation is bound to cause upset among the many motorists who already think that Lycra-wearing speed merchants rule the roost,” he adds. “They’re not gracious about their favoured status, either. Expect a torrent of foul-mouthed abuse if you innocently chance to get in their way.
“Don’t think I’m anti-bicycle. I used to ride one myself and loved it. The hobby only abruptly ceased when the last of my vehicles was stolen from outside my house, despite the fact that it had only cost me £10.
“I only occasionally return to the joy of the activity, so rich in memories of childhood, when cautiously pedalling a TfL hireling to St Bartholomew’s the Great – God, I hope, will protect me from the manifest dangers of crossing London by this means, most of which come from two-wheeled, fast-moving urban warriors in helmets who have little patience with a Womble like me.”
I see, getting a few boxes ticked there right out the gate.
But then Aslet harkens back to his chief bother, the final straw in the “war on motorists”, the implementation of the AI-traffic lights. The sensors, developed by VivaCity, have been installed by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and Solihull Council at a toucan crossing near Blythe Valley, and they are able to detect cyclists 20 to 30 metres away, with the early detection enabling the traffic signals to go green quicker, “giving cyclists a smoother, uninterrupted journey on their bikes”.
Aslet, a writer on British architecture and life and a Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge, says that he’s fine with “civic acts” such as reducing traffic and carbon emissions as long as they benefit a wider community. But by his own admission, “cycling is by necessity a niche mode of transportation.”
“The vast majority of people intending to travel outside of highly urbanised areas rely on their cars. Privileging a small minority of hobbyists at the expense of everyone else seems to be a prime example of the finger-wagging war on motorists waged across Britain by council and transport officials,” he adds.
But it seems that the memo from TfWM about the traffic lights being a part of a trial to accurately detect the sort of user approaching the crossing at varying speeds, and a part of a broader effort to promote active travel by offering them priority over motorists, seems to have been lost by the writer, who instead paints a picture as the AI will make the traffic lights transform into evil, death machines, stomping and crushing every car that comes by and banishing their users to a dystopian wasteland.
> Greater Manchester to roll out ‘smart’ junctions prioritising cyclists and pedestrians
He ends the column with a subtle call to arms: “The unfairness of preferring one group over another is riling. More transparency, please, or feelings will over-boil.”
So if I get it right, he’s agitated about the “unfairness of preferring one group over another” and asking for “more transparency”… Seems like we’re in agreement then!
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Latest Comments
I'll counter that by saying the Bryton 750se I have drives me nuts at times. Inconsistantly picks up on routes created on Komoot and the app re-syncs every few seconds when trying to set up the device and sends me back to the home screen. The most infuriating one is that I turned live track on. Once. It now won't turn off and repeatedly flags up the live track is starting, and then disconnecting every few seconds whilst riding. I haven't timed it but it wouldn't suprise me if 10-20% of the time the the screen is covered with an error message. That's been about 6 weeks now. Other than that it's great :/
RE: Police launch road safety operation... by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge Meanwhile in Glasgow, Police Scotland are riding their motorbikes over the pedestrian and cyclists only bridge. https://x.com/FietserGlasgow/status/2065106152917012523?s=20
@Paul J Van Schip certainly seems a bit of a dick, but he's a European and multiple World Champion on the track, pretty sure you don't get there without having some talent in your legs.
Poor Vincent cannot get over the simple fact that given the choice people prefer dedicated cycling spaces, rather than pretending to be cars like vehicular cyclists.
What is the point of the fancy air sensor if it can't account for changing weather conditions?? If all you care about is a delayed approximation of aerodynamic watts in steady conditions, you don't need any special sensors for that. Just your speed on a decently flat course is enough to approximate rolling resistance and drivetrain losses. And the rest must be aero. If you assume a less aero body position at the same watts, your speed will drop while rolling resistance also drops, which means approximated aero watts goes up. And that's enough to demonstrate what you've shown in your testing protocol ("I sat upright and the number went up a little while later").
Your correction is accurate - it's almost always been "the (lack of) thought that (doesn't) count". "Massive" - less than a billion a year spent on active travel (trying to catch up / building a network across the entire country) Not massive - 6 billion every year (2026-2030) spent on road *maintenance* of existing "already built, goes everywhere, very convenient" road network for inactive travel Ultimately the reason "cycle infra" is *needed* is those unbelievably colossal amounts spent every year (and for more than a century now) on making mass motoring not just viable but apparently the "best choice" for most journeys. As the Dutch and others have shown, the majority of people *are* prepared to cycle and even mix with very light, slow local motor traffic *if* cycling is also made safe and convenient for the whole of their journey (including secure parking at both ends). (The history of the financial drivers of the current situation are a complex topic but note that while people complain about "crumbling roads" and underfunded motor infra - with some reason - by us continuing the fuel duty escalator freeze (for example) we're actually helping motorists pay *even less* for that activity / subsidising more of the cost of driving than ever.)
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
45 thoughts on “Latest Telegraph column claims AI traffic lights prioritising “small, angry minority” over drivers will make “entitled cyclists even more insufferable”; Tadej Pogačar doesn’t want five Tours de France, but five monuments (+ Vuelta) + more on the live blog”
I assume AI also featured
I assume AI also featured fairly heavily in Chris Aslet von piffle Biscuit-barrel’s journalism. “Alexa, do me 500 words on cyclists and traffic lights, torygraph-style, whilst I polish off this port what-what”..
thax1 wrote:
Extremely unlikely: AI would have made a lot more sense.
A small minority of angry
A small minority of angry Telegraph journalists fomenting discontent.
there, i fixed it for you.
Exactly this. A small
Exactly this. A small minority. Why everyone feeds these minorities on both sides that fuel all the anger, I’ll never know. I’d say I have incidents with less than 5% of the cars I interact with. The other 95% are just fine. Its not about bikers or drivers, its about c**ts. C**ts are everywhere; on bikes, in cars, driving busses, walking in the street. Don’t be a c**t.
alexuk wrote:
Except that given driving is
Ah – another “if only there weren’t c**ts, we’d have no problems”. With transport in the UK I don’t think that’s true in most senses *. And how do you propose reducing the numbers of c**ts in the world?
Given that driving is the norm (dominant transport mode most places in the UK) and only around 1-2% of journeys are cycled across the UK on average, that’s tens of c**ts equipped with insulating, extremely powerful exoskeletons which take up tons of space and cause a lot of pollution, for each c**t with much lower- threat, extremely space-efficient, barely polluting quiet cycle…
Plus the authorities which aren’t actually *against* the cycles (because of those problematic c**ts) certainly aren’t in favour of adversely affecting motorists’ comfort, just because a few are driven by c**ts.
* There are lots of problems intrinsic to mass motoring, even with perfect drivers. But we have humans and even “careful, competent” humans occasionally make terrible errors. Magnify that with a large fraction of the population, no “continuing training” or health checks, 20mph+ speeds and a ton of so of metal…
‘And how do you propose
‘And how do you propose reducing the numbers of c**ts in the world?’
I think I’ve seen Mitsky comment a number of times on ways not to reduce but stop them reproducing.
That Torygraph piece made me
That Torygraph piece made me laugh out loud – see they do have a use, they brightened up my morning. Anyway, in amongst the bingo card of anti-cycling tropes, I note a new fashion critique to sit alongside the old favourite “lycra”: “urban warriors in helmets”. I must admit to being totally confused now. Don’t the “war on motorists” lot usually advocate for mandatory use of plastic hats? But now wearing a helmet is the mark of an angry anti-drivist?
I also loved this bit: “The vast majority of people intending to travel outside of highly urbanised areas rely on their cars.”
Yes, that’s kind of the point isn’t it. Cars are woefully inefficient in urban areas so other solutions are needed so that the emergency services & disabled drivers that correspondents like this are usually so concerned about, can get about. You don’t tend to get traffic lights for cyclists (AI or otherwise) on motorways, dual carriageways, winding country lanes etc do you?
Exactly. I don’t know
Exactly. I don’t know precisely where they’ve been installed, but apparently it’s at a (singular) toucan crossing on the A34 Stratford Road near Blythe Valley, which looks something like this: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Mo7k5vwWhQ7rKoPq6 . Doesn’t look much like a war on motorists to me. Affording the occasional cyclist a nicely timed crossing doesn’t seem much of an impingement on the motoring facilities on display.
So the Council’s trialling a
So the Council’s trialling a camera based system, rather than a beg button or loop in the path?
A war on motorists might be motorists needing to use a beg button at each junction, that waits for a gap in pedestrians/cyclists before turning green?
The only one I can think it
The only one I can think it will be is the one on the path out of Blythe valley towards Tesco. It’s on a section of 40mph road straight off a 50mph motorway exit roundabout and on a slight curve. All the sensor will be doing is picking up someone on a bike before they have to stop at the crossing and press the button.
The benefits are that the cyclists may maintain momentum so wins and as they clear the crossing more quickly, the time at red on the carriageway could be less. Win, Win!
But hey, let’s not spoil the story with the facts!
I was thinking the same as I
I was thinking the same as I read it. Just back from a 45mile country ride and I think I went through 2 sets of lights. The first a narrow railway arch on the London to Birmingham line so probably pre 1850 and pre car. The second a crossing in my home town presumably put in because drivers can’t be expected to not run over people crossing a road. However, I’m not expecting any AI help although an ASL would be nice.
Also: referring to cycling as
Also: referring to cycling as a “hobby” rather than just a normal means of getting from A to B.
Motornormativity at its best.
Motornormativity at its best. We all know the only way you get from A to B is in a car. All other journeys are far less valuable.
In a day that a number of
On a day that a number of other cycling publications….and the BBC…report on Lael Wilcox breaking the world record for the fastest woman to cycle round the world, RoadCC lead with another Telegraph baiting story…well done.
https://www.laelwilcox.net
https://www.laelwilcox.net/around-the-world
Nothing new with road.cc,
Nothing new with road.cc, they seem to dislike reporting on female cycling. They do once in a while but few and far between.
Not sure it’s anything to do
Not sure it’s anything to do with it being about women, I just don’t think they wanted to start the day off on a feel good story…doesn’t generate the clicks does it…they’d rather get their audience riled up in that tabloid fashion that they’re so good at.
I wonder if the same idiots
I wonder if the same idiots who vandalised ULEZ cameras will go after the AI traffic lights/cyclist sensors…
FFS don’t give them any ideas
FFS don’t give them any ideas! I wouldn’t think they’d be reading road.cc, but then the Torygraph picked up this story after it was on here yesterday, so who knows? Maybe Nigel is still here, but staying quiet and reporting back to his Big Oil Overlords
Ohh look how entitled
Ohh look how entitled cyclists are – we are giving them priority over cars in 1/1000000 cases!
Entitled – “believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.” Isn’t a perfect example expecting all junctions to default to green lights for drivers, requiring all other user types to stop?
Although we could go about an
Although we could go about an argument about the technical merits of AI-managed traffic management, why would we? Aslet doesn’t seem to.
Insread he aims his [stifled giggle] professorial assessment [/stifled giggle] at exercising thinly veiled jealousy, using unhelpful, pejorative terms such as “hobbyist”, and “urban warriors in helmets”.
It’s poor writing at best, absent of any journalistic merit and, as many of us can attest to shouted repetition of media tropes on the street, stokes real hositility and increased risk on the roads.
We shouldn’t have to put up with this sort of shabby pagefiller.
Agreed, but then again that’s
Agreed, but then again that’s why I don’t read the Telegraph.
It’s disappointing to have to put up with a reheated version of the shabby pagefiller on a cycling website.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
As I wouldn’t read The Telegraph, Mail, Standard or various other anti-cycling rightwing gammon mouthpieces to please a dying grandmother, I find it useful to find out from road.cc what the opposition to cycling are saying and how they might be influencing public opinion without having to a) wade through their sewers to find it and b) go to their websites and thereby help their advertising revenue. It’s not really disappointing to find that a cycling website reports on anti-cycling propaganda.
Aslet’s piece is nothing but
Aslet’s piece is nothing but a pisspoor job application to the next lunatic owner of the Telegraph.
The thing is, cycling is sort
The thing is, cycling is sort of my hobby. I do it for exercise and for fun. It is a leisure activity, as well as being a handy way to get around.
Now of course I’ll be riding along and perhaps there’s a motorist behind me thinking that I’m not on a serious journey from A to B and in fact am just doing a circular route for pleasure. But then, what exactly are they doing driving around the New Forest on a Sunday afternoon?
The House of Lords will
The House of Lords will shortly start its debate on cycling.
Currently (at 12.37pm) on the preceding item on the agenda (Pat Finucane – statement & questions).
View it live at parliamentlive.tv
Or don’t. It’s up to you.
More information at https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2024/september/cycling-road-safety–in-the-spotlight-in-lords-debates/
bingo cards ready…
I have been listening while I
I have been listening while I work away, gawd they rattle on pointlessly with thier own axe to grind rather than debating or discussing a specific policy. They don’t know if they are talking enforcemnet of existing legislation, safety outside parliement, hire bikes and thier parking, insurance, disability rights, e bike fire safety, and now gender differences. Now on to cycling proficiency or lack if in schools.
Amazed nobody has mentioned a helmet yet
Just gone through the Hansard
Just gone through the Hansard report and yep helmets got mentioned ! As you rightly say there was a lot of axe grinding but also there was a couple of lords in the cycling corner and at the end I think it was the Secretary of State for transport ( my eyes were starting to glaze over at this point) but the government stance basically will stay the same!
To be honest it was like reading the comments in the telegraph with a splattering of guardian.If I was doing the usual cycling bingo I would have easily got a full house!
Wankers!!!
Wankers!!!
https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/footage-shows-shocking-moment-cyclist-9547582
So much for having a registration plate when the police still can’t find the perpetrator.
Video evidence of a
Video evidence of a deliberate assault.
Even if the police do locate them they will face a slap on the wrist.
This is why I advocate for loss of taste buds and libido for both the driver and the passenger.
Only when criminals face real consequences for their crimes will they think twice.
Didn’t stop pickpockets at
Didn’t stop pickpockets at the hanging of other pickpockets.
And the comments are
And the comments are typically depressing!!
A bike rack has now been
A bike rack has now been installedin Belfast Grand Central Station. It is a basic Sheffield Stand, but I believe this may only be a temporary measure.
Beatnik69 wrote:
Just one?? 🙂
brooksby wrote:
Yes, but that is infinitely better than none, on a purely numerical basis.
Beatnik69 wrote:
Until they can replace it with something with a bold and exciting new design that’s much less usable?
Telegraph column claims AI
Telegraph column claims AI traffic lights prioritising “small, angry minority”
Unlike Telegraph readers, who are a very small, very angry minority, and gullible to boot.
Clive Aslet “The unfairness of preferring one group over another is riling.”
Like doing everything for motorists for the past seventy years? Of course, that was fair. Get that forest out of your eye Clive, before complaining about the mote in ours. Clive Aslet, in the top three for the annual Mr Motonormativity Award, 2024.
Man left begging for help on
Man left begging for help on roadside after hit and run has leg amputated
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/man-left-begging-help-roadside-29912432
“No comment” – I wonder if
“No comment” – I wonder if our erstwhile ‘friend’ Mr Loophole was advising her?
Though at least Plod seem to have taken this one seriously, fair play to them. And yes the sentence is too light, and she’ll probably be out in a little over a year, but that’s not the fault of the police.
“88% feel that cycle lanes
“88% feel that cycle lanes should be compulsory if available”
What type of “cycle lane”?
One that is just paint that offers no protection, or is actually worse than having no cycle lane?
One that is full of tyre damaging debris? (Or unusable for other reasons?)
Would that 88% feel it OK for THEM to be made to pay such damage if they insist on cyclists using crap infrastructure?
I must admit that I look for
I must admit that I look for reasons not to use a lot of cycle ‘infrastructure’, especially shared paths, and I usually find one.
There’s one on the A28
There’s one on the A28 between Sturry and Canterbury that I sometimes use when the wind is blowing from the East so I ride a loop that means I have a tailwind home.
I say ‘use’, more like I cycle near it, usually on the white line itself, as drains and overgrown vegetation reduce it’s effective width to little over a foot in places (30cms if you prefer). Yet I still had a passenger in a car yell at me to move over the other day. I did feel a little smug when I rode past them in the queue for the lights a short way up the road though!
bensynnock wrote:
You need to look?!
Dear Lime Bikes,
Dear Lime Bikes,
No one is talking about ‘banning bikes’, just Lime Bikes.
Yours