Live blog: More than 20,000 miles of GB roads need urgent repair, 2020 Road Worlds set for Netherlands and more
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Tue, Mar 20, 2018 10:19
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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
mdavidford 5 hours ago
Isn't the opposite of someone who's homogenised split personality disorder?
GravelIsNothingNew 7 hours ago
AI is cancel culture Anyone who thinks it’s good has no talent and wants to be homogenised into a world of bland sameness.
Car Delenda Est 7 hours ago
@chrisonabike also a lot easier to wrap up when the 'hurty words' are telling people to burn down hotels hosting asylum seekers and then people go and do exactly that.
Defblade 8 hours ago
"The spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said the force was unable to comment on this recent spate of reported bikejackings because “they are not linked, given they are in different areas”." Because crims on mopeds _definitely_ can't travel to different areas of the city, very easily?
ktache 8 hours ago
@Pub bike I run nokons on the Good Bike, very little compression on the outers, both xtr brake and gears. For the several years I will keep the well lubricated quality nokons inners I will have to adjust to take the little slack out of the rear a few times, just to make the shifts crisp. Ceramic brakes so pad wear is negligible, the rear will need more adjustment over time than the front, presumably as it's a much longer cable run. Nokons cables on the rohloff on the Ultimate Commuter, have had to take some slack out, mainly out of the getting lower gear cable, I'm guessing as I often trying to find the non existent lower gear on the hard climb.
Pub bike 9 hours ago
@imajez Brake adjusters mainly deal with pad wear whilst gear adjusters fine tune shifting during set-up and after fitting a new inner cable. Brake outer housing is spiral-wound and compressible giving compliance at the lever and the false impression that the inner cable somehow stretches whereas the metal strands in gear outer housing are laid axially and as such the outer housing doesn't easily compress over time keeping shifting precise. I find that a previously well-adjusted rear derailleur system that needs adjustment likely needs a new inner cable.
OkCarl 9 hours ago
I ride expensive bikes wearing expensive helmets, my bike equipped with an expensive bike computer, fitness watch and cell phone. I carry my debit card. I worry. You would expect anyone living in Chicago to worry about bike jacking. Yet, for some strange reason. The Chicago land criminal community has not caught on to bike jacking. They like retail break ins and ATM smash ups.
chrisonabike 10 hours ago
@mattw "footpaths" Hmm... true this is an underappreciated resource and indeed in danger. But I think this is very location dependent. If we're taking in urban locations, are you talking alleys - narrow almost always no room for expansion? Or "footways" - also often not ample and we're back to "fighting over scraps" with pedestrians or even forced-conflict with "shared use"? In the countryside - perhaps? If what goes in NL applies more generally (and why wouldn't it - they're humans too) more people may be prepared to travel on bikes there than UK opinion holds. ("people depend on their cars... nobody cycles or walks ... the non-existent footway beside the A-road!"). Although that may depend on "cyclists and walkers get the direct route" which isn't always how we do it...
imajez 10 hours ago
@james-o Cable brakes and gear shifters have have barrel adjusters to deal with the inevitable cable stretch, that most certainly occurs over time.
5 thoughts on “Live blog: More than 20,000 miles of GB roads need urgent repair, 2020 Road Worlds set for Netherlands and more”
It’s rather sad about the fatality involving a self-driving car – RIP and my condolences to the family. I have to say that from what I know about the technology, it’s perhaps not a surprise. The European motorcylist body FEMA has been warning about the risks from cars with semi-autonomous technology for some time. FEMA worked with some university researchers to study the shortcomings of semi-autonomous vehicles, following its initial concerns over the system used in the Tesla models. I’ve given a link to the study here but the basic problem is that the semi autonomous vehicle spot what’s directly in front of them, but not to the side. Now since motorcyclists often don’t ride in the centre of a lane due to issues such as road markings, metal access covers, potholes and asphalt joints, that’s a fairly serious problem. The same problem will hold true for cyclists too and there have been concerns over how semi autonomous vehicles will detect a bicycle also.
The fully autonomous vehicles under test tend to have more technology onboard than the semi autonomous ones, but questions have to be asked about the algorithms used for predicting the behaviour of other road users and also about how these vehicles scan for other road users. Being able to detect just the vehicle ahead is not good enough. They have to be able to scan the road ahead across several lanes at once and there is laser and radar technology that will do this, but whether it has been fitted to the Uber vehicle has yet to be revealed.
Here’s the link to the report.
http://www.fema-online.eu/website/wp-content/uploads/Final%20Report_motorcycle_ADAS_RDW.pdf
Agree about the pedestrian
Agree about the pedestrian fatality. RIP and condolences to the family.
Cant help thinking thought that if it had not been a dirty great SUV that had hit the poor lady but had been a normal sized saloon she might have had a chance of surviving the impact.
Maybe Uber should consider testing this technology in something that would have a slightly less devastating effect when something goes wrong, which by the way it appears to on more than one occaision.
This will be used to justify
This will be used to justify banning cycles from the road, same as jaywalking rules were brought in in the US in the 20s in response to huge numbers of pedestrian fatalities. Note that sheriff’s report mentioning that she wasn’t on a crosswalk? Inherent, endemic victim-blaming is the norm for US police forces when it comes to RTCs.
kil0ran wrote:
Yep, there is the risk that bicycles might only be allowed in dedicated lanes. There is concern that motorcycles will be banned in the future for similar reasons.
Regarding the Ozzy police
Regarding the Ozzy police story – respect to the police for straightforwardly admitting they got it wrong!