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Talbot Road cycle lane (via Twitter)Live blog: Protected cycle lane or dooring zone? Protest planned against car ban on Cheltenham's Boots Corner, 2019 La Course by Tour de France will consist of just one multi-lap race, road rage cyclist jabs his bike into Mercedes bonnet + more
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Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- Geordiepeddeler 1 hour 21 min ago
Cycling infrastructure does not force drivers to break the law, drivers are the reason they break the law, no one else.
- chrisonabike 1 hour 33 min ago
Ah but taking pictures of things to defy the man (avoid a fine) is righteous. Taking pictures of people to grass on them to the cops (perhaps...
- ktache 3 hours 23 min ago
But getting paid for it is the very definition of professional....
- ktache 3 hours 32 min ago
Never had a Shimano QR fail on me. They just work. And the top end ones look good too....
- Backladder 4 hours 18 min ago
If you're only looking at the guy in front of you then you're going to crash whatever brakes you have, you need to look beyond them to anticipate...
- jaysa 4 hours 43 min ago
As a woman, this works great for me! My chain broke once, and a kind guy stopped with a chain breaker and sorted it all out for me. We stopped at a...
- andystow 5 hours 35 min ago
Same. I also have gone through a bunch of their tyres, and only the extralight disappointed (torn sidewall) but the standards are fantastic....
- chrisonabike 7 hours 32 min ago
Indeed - but it's no more inconsistent than our current road design - very often UK high streets are "for shopping" and also a busy through route....
- mike the bike 9 hours 3 min ago
If you ask the world's leading economic commentators how many people have been rescued from abject poverty by capitalism the average answer would...
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33 comments
There is no such time as 12pm (or 12am for that matter).
As a Cheltenham resident, the changes are good, yes there has been some displacement. But the town centre is a far nicer place. Obviously drivers are going to moan, and if you go on facebook there are plenty. However Cheltenham is a fairly small town and fairly flat. Infact a pretty ideal place, in theory, for cycling and walking about. The town does have a pollution issue, so car use needs to be reduced, and no matter how many carrots you offer the only way to reduce car use is a stick.
If you keep on pandering to drivers then you are never going to get people out of cars. The reports from the council, which match my observations, are town centre footfall up, cycling up and bus usage up.
I’m paraphrasing. If the victim apprehends the infliction of force, then that means the perpetrator is threatening to apply it.
Bedides, the legal definition is arguably even looser than my shorthand.
That cycle lane in Trafford is utterly ridiculous, and if I lived there I would be demanding to see the documents about its design and the safety audit. It isn't just an accident waiting to happen, an accident is guaranteed, if you can call something with such complete lack of attention to safety an accident. Either the parking lane needs to be the width of a car door farther out, or the bollards need to be a continuous fence, preventing passengers opening their door into the cycle lane.
If any cyclist is injured in a collision because a car door was opened into their path, it would appear inevitable that the council which designed and constructed this utterly abysmal death trap would be sued. Perhaps then they'll design it right, but why is it even possible that such a clear and obvious danger could be conceived, designed and constructed without someone noticing that they had screwed it up so comprehensively that a one-eyed ameoba with astigmatism could see it?
The Mercvan man claims to be a professional driver, a chauffer no less, and that he was assaulted. If that standard of driving is acceptable from a professional driver, there is something wrong with the qualification system for being a professional, and I didn't see any actual assault on him, unless pointing your finger in someone's face is an assault. Mind you, I reckon driving your car at a cyclist qualifies as assault.
I hope his employers made him pay for the damage his appalling driving and infantile attitude caused.
Assault is the threat to apply force, so technically waving your finger in someone's face could well be assault, particularly if you were shouting threatening things. The driver batted the guys hand anyway, so he clearly felt threatened...
Mind you, driving aggressively at someone could equally qualify under the strict definition. Good luck with getting anyone to take that case, though.
[/quote]Assault is the threat to apply force....
[/quote]
Common Assault – s39 Criminal Justice Act 1988: reads as follows: An offence of Common Assault is committed when a person either assaults another person or commits a battery. An assault is committed when a person intentionally or recklessly causes another to apprehend the immediate infliction of unlawful force.
No mention of threat. Probably an action more likely to contrave s5 of the Public Order Act versus what seems to be a case of Dangerous Driving.
Mercvan taxi man has been on the radio calling for number plates for bicycles whilst explaining why as a professional driver he was not going to wait in a queue of traffic when he could cut up the inside in the wrong lane, and that was perfectly safe!
Hope the police take into consideration his tailgating of the cyclist, use of the horn, distracted driving, possible forcing of cyclist off the road and parking on a yellow line.
Smashes?
I don't think the Deliveroo drivers/riders will be too bothered about the driving ban in Cheltenham if the ones around here are anything to go by.
One way street? Not if it's quicker for me...
Cycle path? Isn't my motorbike a sort of cycle, it's a bike, isn't it?
Amber light? Foot down.
ASL? Opportunity to gain a couple of meters having fucked up while trying to beat the amber light.
Pedestrian crossing? I've got someones lunch/diner here you selfish bastard!
No left turn? Only applies to you.
Across the pavement? Naturally.
Hey, I've got to earn a living, so I'm fully justified in risking your life.
Curious that its only the edited/shortened clip which supports the "psycho cyclist" narrative which went viral and nothing showing why the cyclist might be so angry...
We all know that people will only put out what suits their own personal agenda, changes will be made in that one day this video will be sufficient while the next they'll be demanding all sorts of supporting evidence. It's the way of the world. Facts, truth and consistency have nothing to do with anything.
Or, I suppose
"He alleged that the cyclist deliberately collided with his vehicle and when he confronted him, pulling up alongside him near a curb, the cyclist abused him and assaulted him."
There are numerous problems with that statement. How likely is it that a cyclist would deliberately collide with a van... and then get upset with the driver about it?
Drive dangerously around a cyclist and attempt to hurt them, then cry assualt when the tables are turned, pathetic, he wasn't so big when he got out of his "£56,000" taxivan thing. I love the way the bystander reacts to the random offer of a handshake, says it all about the driver.
This really is a case of the driver getting what he deserved, hopefully he'll learn from it and drive better in future, one can only hope.
Terrible driving by van driver, bad reaction from cyclist. Who'd want to commute in London every day and start your day stressed up to the eyeballs!
It's more stressful driving than cycling, in my experience. Hence so many drivers trying to get you.
Seriously, I cycle over 20miles a day in London, but I've never got close to getting this stressed! Ok, so the driver was a dick and in the wrong lane, but part of the joy of cycling in a city is you can just continue on you way, leaving idiots like this stuck in traffic (that's why they get wound up).
Likewise. I ride all over town and have very little difficulty with drivers. I tend to choose quieter routes (another advantage of cycling is that these are often quicker anyway) but it's generally not a stressful experience. And I see few of the sort of episodes in the video.
Indeed it's probably better than many smaller places where the roads are narrower, motor traffic perhaps faster, and drivers don't expect / aren't used to / apparently have difficulty seeing cyclists.
Plus as a1white says, you're generally faster than they are!
It's six of one and half a dozen of the other, as the saying goes. Take the main 'A' 'roads into London and you'll get the Audi, BMW and Mercedes drivers passing you four inches from your right elbow, at speeds up to 85 mph. Take the quieter roads, and it's a foregone conclusion that there is no CCTV and less chance of witnesses, so you're going to get bullied and threatened.
That's really not what I meant / my experience.
That's a bit like saying that people shooting at you shouldn't bother you all that much, as long as they keep missing you.
Ah, more video at the link. I like the bit where the driver keeps saying, "It's on camera," as if he thinks that will support his claim that he didn't drive alongside him shouting at him or cut the cyclist up and force him to stop.
Which link? I can't find anything with the full video?
The London Evening Standard link below the clip above:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/moment-cyclist-smashes-56000-merc...
Starts with the extract here but then shows the 60s or so leading up to it.
Just watched that version. Gosh - that escalated quickly, didn't it?!
(So, I think that the Merc driver pulled over in front of, or on top of, the cyclist, for no apparent reason and then decided to try and deny everything. Lots of "It's on camera!" even though the car's camera showed absolutely zip - since it was pointing forward and all the juicy stuff was off at the side (I think). Merc driver was in the wrong lane at the junction/lights, but without actually seeing what was going on 'off camera' I can't really decide on whether or not 'throwing a bike at the car' was or was not an overreaction...
)
Certainly makes more sense from the full length video. Cannot condone the behaviour of the cyclist involved but in my opinion the van driver spent £1500 on a lesson about picking on another road user equally as aggressive as himself.
Certainly makes more sense from the full length video. Cannot condone the behaviour of the cyclist involved but in my opinion the van driver spent £1500 on a lesson about picking on another road user equally as aggressive as himself.
I notice we see none of the video of the run-up to this incident and what might have provoked the response...
no suprise that the video fails to show how the guys bike ended up virtually under the front of the van.
cyclists dont just go attacking people for the hell of it, we know its wrong but sometime when you fear for your life, you get frustrated with people who just doint give a shit
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