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 19 minutes ago
Anyone thinking Burnham might rein in the political demonisation of cycling / e-bikes a bit might need to think again... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmze4zk4d789o
kingleo 27 minutes ago
At last, they are being honest, their car parking space on public roads takes priority over everything.
stulemanski 27 minutes ago
@Mmitb Yes, it's really easy to avoid with minimal inconvenience. But I think the cycling infrastructure activists are upset that the pedestrians have been given something and they've not.
Hollis Jones 43 minutes ago
@Rendel Harris no mention of lumens either (which I found in the specs). Clearly 200 isn’t nearly enough to light up dark paths, but as you say - you wouldn’t expect it to, so giving it a low score for this is very odd. Maybe drop a star for the low battery life, but that’s about it.
jaymack 50 minutes ago
@Zermattjohn - there is a way, you prosecute them for money laundering. They have to do something with the cash, it's often passed through the accounts of loved ones, those loved ones are often disinclined to take the fall for them. It's a ruse used many years ago that even got a mention in the cycling press, Cycling Weekly if I recall. While I was rather proud of that I suspect one of his forum's members will be along soon admonish me for feeling chuffed when I was obviously just doing my job and 'doing my job' is the very least that's to be expected.
wtjs 1 hour ago
@Rendel Harris This study was thoroughly debunked in later analysis... This is less significant than the fact that the notion of most drivers appreciating anything about a cyclist beyond hyper-junk press spinal reflex level hatred is obvious bollocks
chrisonabike 1 hour ago
@AidanR the whole body dummy refused to continue after the first test?
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@fwhite181 The only test I'm aware of that allegedly demonstrated drivers passed closer to cyclists with helmets is Ian Walker's 2006 study which found that on average drivers passed cyclists with helmets 3.3 inches closer than those without, a statistically negligible distance given that the average pass in the study was 4.5 feet. This study was thoroughly debunked in later analysis which demonstrated that Walker had not incorporated such variables as rider distance from the kerb, size of passing vehicle, overall road width etc.
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!