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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quiff 12 minutes ago
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)).
Mr Blackbird 27 minutes ago
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.
chrisonabike 36 minutes ago
@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...
quiff 47 minutes ago
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"
mitsky 48 minutes ago
@Bungle_52 My note on the description states "CD20 Driving without reasonable consideration for other road users" I've chased the police to explain which specific action this relates to, close passing and cutting me up or driving onto the pavement near pedestrians.
Bungle_52 54 minutes ago
@mitsky Do happen to know what offence the points and fine were for?
mitsky 2 hours ago
@Mr Anderson Agreed. Perfect example is this parent doing an, approximately, 700 METRE school run. I worked t out by finding where the vehicle was parked on the residential road when I first encountered it. Whilst I can't be 100% sure, I am certain the children had no physical disability that would prevent them walking. https://youtu.be/R-dp-G6W8Jk
quiff 2 hours ago
"Old Man Mountain kit is built tough, and comes with a lifetime warranty – which really matters, when it may well be subject to being battered over many tens of thousands of miles of awful terrain, carrying the equivalent weight of a small-ish child." Obviously it depends how the manufacturer applies its warranty, and OMM might be great - but worth noting that "lifetime warranty" is often less generous than it initially sounds - it's the reasonable lifetime of the product, and only warrants against manufacturing defects. So being battered over tens of thousands of miles is not necessarily going to be covered.
mdavidford 2 hours ago
0.8m of cycleway does seem an extremely selective focus. Do we know which side of the junction those 80cm fall on?
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!