Live blog: Highways England ‘Get on your bike’ tweet backfires, drivers ignorant of mobile phone penalties, Toronto police overkill, Sagan spotted on new Venge? + more
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Mon, Jun 25, 2018 14:20
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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
Rendel Harris 2 minutes ago
I don't understand how the authorities can say they accept the substance was ingested inadvertently when at the same time banning her for not being able to say from whence the substance came? One would have thought to prove the first proposition one would need proof of the second. Not in any way suggesting she is guilty of deliberate doping, but it doesn't seem logical.
mitsky 39 minutes ago
This ruling needs to be challenged and overturned. "Cyclist who reported bad driving told to pay £1,200 over bad riding ... police said the video also captured him "riding without due care and attention" as he approached a parked car and an oncoming vehicle. A force spokesperson said the distance he gave was "significantly less than the car he reported earlier had given him"." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cd9w2l2wqvdo
Xenophon2 1 hour ago
It's extremely unfortunate in this case but the problem is, if the rules are any different, they'll immediately be exploited. Professional athletes go to incredible lengths with their nutrition and supplement purchases, to the extent that they only source from providers that do their own checking + that they keep sealed samples of the batches they purchase. For someone who doesn't have an entire team behind him/her that's just not feasible. I personally know someone who got 'caught' and fined + suspended, also with a dose that was 'sub physiologic concentration' but nothing to be done. No idea about the source. 6 months later it turned out that the 'bio' farmer where he purchased meat got caught for having administered hormonal substances to his cattle. But nothing to be done, he had to prove that the stuff that he had ordered at the time was contaminated. All costs for analysis of course to be borne by him. Where I am even recreational riders like myself -could never have made a living out of riding, never came even close to being good enough- are subject to tests and after a completely non-competitive gravel event that to me was strictly for fun even I got selected for testing. Strange feeling, having to pee in a cup with a guy watching. Anyway, it was negative.
Rendel Harris 1 hour ago
@OnYerBike That is absolutely insane. How can you be fined for close passing a car coming the other way when you're on your side of the white line? When there is no mandatory or suggested rule regarding how closely a cyclist can pass a car? Cars pass each other like that all the time, if they didn't the roads would literally grind to a halt. If the cyclist is close passing the oncoming car whilst on their own side of the road, why isn't the car driver being fined for close passing the cyclist? The cyclist should appeal as the magistrates are clearly wrong in their interpretation of the law.
Losd 3 hours ago
Yet another example of the cure being worse than the ailment. I hate the idea of letting actual cheaters off the hook, but it needs to be fair. If any doubt, it CANNOT be to the detriment of the athlete. This is people's lifes.
cmedred 10 hours ago
C'mon now. He came close to possibly scratching the parked Beamer.
cmedred 10 hours ago
You've obviously never ridden in the U.S. where a whole lot of people lack the bike-handling skill and judgement to ride 15 mph on anything other than a long straightaway. And where most of them ride on multi-use trails, often full of pedestrians, because they are afraid to use roadside bike lanes due to their beginnerish riding skills. There seem to be a whole lot of adults in this country who gained little or no biking experience as children.
momove 10 hours ago
Good on you West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Magistrates Court, fighting the good fight and clearly doing the right thing to keep the streets safe.
cmedred 10 hours ago
Oh if only. U.S. already has a 20 mph limit for Class 1s and 2s. The latter have a throttle. Most of them get ridden on what we across the pond call "multi-use trails.'' Most of these trails are paved, and attract many ebikes because many ebike riders in the country have minimal bike-handling skills and are thus afraid to use roadside bike paths. The lack of skill is what makes 20 mph too fast. I often now find myself heading off the trail to avoid some throttle-brained idiot who overcooked a corner and is coming head-on in the wrong lane. Maybe no one at Trek rides bikes in the U.S.
OnYerBike 11 hours ago
Cyclist fined for causing oncoming driver absolutely no inconvenience whatsoever: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cd9w2l2wqvdo
20 thoughts on “Live blog: Highways England ‘Get on your bike’ tweet backfires, drivers ignorant of mobile phone penalties, Toronto police overkill, Sagan spotted on new Venge? + more”
Toronto cyclist was a bit of
Toronto cyclist was a bit of a dick, wasn’t he? Why couldn’t he be polite: “I think you’re wrong officer” rather than immediately going on the offensive? Politeness costs nothing.
FrankH wrote:
Yes, he was impolite but you must know that’s besides the point? Whether he was polite, or rude, you have five police officers misunderstanding the law at his expense. This isn’t an uncommon situation, and in many “developed” countries we are seeing cyclists treated as second-class citizens for no reason other than ignorance. It’s common from motorists to hear “get in the cycle lane” and cyclists battle punishment passes on a daily basis for merely minding their own business. When police officers are propogating this attitude it’s scary and alarming.
I have bigger concerns with the officers’ ignorance rather than the cyclists’ attitude.
FrankH wrote:
Absolutely right. What a world we live in.
simonmb wrote:
,
Yeah. Fuck you, you polite, little, diseased scrotum.
Ush wrote:
— UshCongratulations! You are the winner.
Only the fifth comment and you managed to drag the discussion into the gutter. Give yourself a pat on the back.
Simon E wrote:
Congratulations, you are officially a thick-as-fuck cunt. Give yourself a kick up the arse, Ms. Manners.
I think the cop was being a
I think the cop was being a bit of a dick. To detain him (i.e hold him under threat of assault and imprisonment) for no reason.
I supect the real crime he was stopped for was “cycling whilst black”.
Deeferdonk wrote:
Police officer was no WASP either. Stop playing the victimization card all the time as it may lose its purchase.
On a lighter note, it was
On a lighter note, it was good to see the support that the Toronto cyclist had. Big thumbs up to the members of the public that ensure that they were not merely passive bystanders. I think that probably had a big outcome on the result of this, which would otherwise plausibly have resulted in this man being beaten up and framed.
$127,000 salary for being a
$127,000 salary for being a traffic cop? Good gig when you can get it. You’d think there’d be a requirement to know the law for that sort of money…
jestriding wrote:
I can’t think of any other jobs where you can get away without even knowing the basics of your own job, let alone wasting time and resources on doing the wrong thing. Excepting politicians, of course.
I wonder if HE are ever going
I wonder if HE are ever going to learn? I mean, they’ve just had a new cycling strategy, including making sure that they consult, and that all new infrastructure is actually fit for purpose, but they still don’t consult and their infrastructure is a joke.
Obviously the police officer
Obviously the police officer hadn’t done his cycling rules homework but the cyclist got a chip on his shoulder and was pretty much begging for a confrontation in order to prove that he was the victim of police brutality (which, unfortunately, happens all too often but *not* in this case).
Boss Hogg wrote:
Because when you’re harrassed for no good reason, assaulted with the cop driving within 18″ and on top of that cops ignore you when people on bikes are mown down THAT is the result, you’ve had enough and it’s time to stand up for what is right.
Or maybe you think allowing those who supposed to keep the peace keep on doing the same old shit time after time with a pass through go and collect £200?
Get lost snowflake.
LA cyclist need to give out
LA cyclist need to give out some free ‘I parked in the cycle lane’ bumper stickers… er wait, what are the guns laws like in CA?
The cyclist was a complete
The cyclist was a complete dick, he was loving the whole process playing it up for his you tube audience thinking about all the likes and views he was going to get, he even made sure to get his own face included in the video on a few occasions for his big 15 minutes.
MaxiW wrote:
One comment, eh? Well, hello there, officer!
MaxiW wrote:
No he wasn’t. He would have been perfectly happy to go about his business if it wasn’t for the dickhead of a cop trying to unlawfully detain him. He had every right to call out the cop’s bullshit and if he wants to post it on YouTube, then why not? It’s about time incompetent police were named and shamed so they can go learn the actual rules that they are supposed to be enforcing. They have literally one job to do.
Love how all the police cars
Love how all the police cars end up parking in the cycle lane to “clear the road”, thus forcing the other cyclists that come along into the road.
Should have given themselves tickets for blocking the bike lane!
That Highways England ‘Get on
That Highways England ‘Get on your bike’ tweet is appalling – does nobody there look or even think before they send off their soshul meeja stuff?