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Live blog: The end of cars parked in cycle lanes? Government dismisses mandatory helmet/hi-viz and compulsory cycle insurance suggestions; Cav’s unique Thanksgiving message, South African cyclist survives knife to the head + more
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Thu, Nov 22, 2018 15:12
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-300x225.jpg "“Was one of them bad driving?” Newspaper criticised for publishing “8 dangerous cycling mistakes that put people in hospital”; Punchy finale without fans at wildfire-affected Tour de France + more on the live blog")
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Latest Comments
quiff 20 minutes ago
As I think that poster liked to remind us, explosion in the hi-viz aisle of Decathlon is also a big risk for cyclists.
quiff 29 minutes ago
@IanGlasgow indeed - my point was really just in answer to the reviewer's apparent surprise they didn't add discs - but the Kinetic kits show it actually requires quite a lot of change.
chrisonabike 48 minutes ago
...And another one turning up on a bicycle to another former poster's soirée and then being hurt by his reaction?
chrisonabike 50 minutes ago
8 dangerous mistakes that put riders in A&E - was one going on a ride with former(?) poster wheelywheely... and being run over on the pavement by a mob of cyclists riding furiously through a red light on the wrong side of the road ... and then having wheely's wheelchair fall on you?
Rendel Harris 1 hour ago
@ktache Just came here to say that, heard them too (watching on delay after work). Sounds a sensible approach and hopefully will stop the idiots, though there will doubtless always be some.
Rendel Harris 1 hour ago
@MaxiMinimalist Please don't dirty these pages up with cut and paste from AI, if your comment wasn't worth giving your own thought and effort to why is it worth inflicting it on anyone else? In this case, as MDF notes, it doesn't even answer the question you asked, let alone have anything to do with the article. One wonders if this is why your comments are so often absurdly phrased, tortuous word salads with only tangential relationships to the matter under discussion, do you just ask AI to write them for you? If so, please stop it.
IanGlasgow 2 hours ago
@GravelIsNothingNew Reporting poor driving in Scotland is much more difficult than in England. I've done it three times in more than a decade. It involves making a statement at a police station or arranging for them to visit you at home to take a statement. Then the chances of action being taken are almost nil. Apparently Scots law prevents them acting on an online report and an uploaded video and there appears to be no interest among Holyrood MSPs in changing that.
IanGlasgow 2 hours ago
@chrisonabike Edinburgh and Bristol both strike me as cities where cycling is popular DESPITE the geography and lack of infra. I grew up in Edinburgh, but having lived and worked in York, Cambridge and now Glasgow I'm always surprised how many people cycle despite the hills and lack of adequate infrastructure. My daughter lived in Bristol for a few years and it struck me that cycling there was part of the counter-culture, and - again - popular despite (incredibly steep) hills and an almost total absence of cycling infrastructure. Glasgow has started from a much lower base than York, Edinburgh, Cambridge or Bristol but Glasgow City Council are determined to press ahead with a network and some of the infra they've built is really very good and doing a great job of encouraging cycling. Unfortunately, some is a great deal less good and the scale of the proposed network has been cut considerably.
IanGlasgow 2 hours ago
@quiff For those who want a spec that Brompton don't make - disc, brakes, fatter tyres, bigger wheels (18" is an option), belt drive, Shimano or Rohloff hub gears, etc. - Kinetics offer pretty much anything. But as it involves replacing the rear triangle (and forks for most options) it makes more sense to start with a basic-spec C-line (or the even more basic A-line) as a donor bike.
OldRidgeback 3 hours ago
So the driver who left 1.5cm distance between my bar ends and his car on Saturday afternoon instead of 1.5m wasn't driving dangerously?
15 thoughts on “Live blog: The end of cars parked in cycle lanes? Government dismisses mandatory helmet/hi-viz and compulsory cycle insurance suggestions; Cav’s unique Thanksgiving message, South African cyclist survives knife to the head + more”
Interesting and welcome
Interesting and welcome approach. Typically BikeAbility training is free for kids, wonder how much it would be for adults? Needs to be priced right. Doubt that the DfT will fund it, needs an innovative approach from insurance companies/other providers.
kil0ran wrote:
How would passing a bikeability course reduce the risk ? bear in mind this is talking about people that have already been trained and passed the government approved driving test, so these people should already be aware of the dangers on the roads, and of how to safely pass other road users.
I can see people simply turning up for the course to get a discount and it making not a blind bit of difference to their driving. It’s not about people being unaware of the risks in many cases, it’s people who don’t care. Those who would be interested in taking the course to improve their driving are probably the last people that need to be on it as they already consider others.
StuInNorway wrote:
Might work if the course includes repeatedly scaring them sh:tless by being close passed by an HGV at 40mph.
StuInNorway wrote:
Like people who choose to do a speed advisory course when they’ve been caught speeding? (apparently, people do sometimes still get caught for speeding! Who would have thought?!)
kil0ran wrote:
Not sure they hand out Bikeability badges at the end of it, but my local council (Trafford) offers FREE one-to-one cycle training to adults.
There are also commercial outfits out there that offer Bikebility training to adults, suspect prices vary.
How is that going to work for
How is that going to work for those of us who cycle regularly but didn’t take the Bikeability course? Hoop jumping?
Luca Patrono wrote:
My daughter (just 12) said to me that she’d been offered Bikeability L3 at school, but that she really didn’t want to do it. I said that was fine, that I’d never even done Cycling Proficiency BITD, and that she’d pretty much pick up the skills taught by – you know – just riding.
(That said, I think that some sort of cycle training or cycling experience should definitely be mandatory for anyone planning to get an HGV/PSV licence).
Luca Patrono wrote:
Depends on what your insurance premium is and the discount offered. Might be worth taking it – should be an easy hoop to jump through…
Lets say it costs £50~£100 to take the course, and you get a 5 to 10% discount for passing
£500 insurance premium –
£2000 insurance premium –
So it may pay for itself or at least recover most of the cost at your next insurance renewal. And don’t forget to multiply the discount by the number of years you expect to continue driving 😀
CygnusX1 wrote:
Depends on what your insurance premium is and the discount offered. Might be worth taking it – should be an easy hoop to jump through…
Lets say it costs £50~£100 to take the course, and you get a 5 to 10% discount for passing
£500 insurance premium –
£2000 insurance premium –
So it may pay for itself or at least recover most of the cost at your next insurance renewal. And don’t forget to multiply the discount by the number of years you expect to continue driving 😀 — Luca Patrono
Fully comp for my Passat was £220, it’d need a fair few years to break even even if the insurers offer it. Those that offer discounts for advanced driving, camera fitted etc IME are more expensive at the base price so negates any ‘saving’.
I foresee quite an industry
I foresee quite an industry developing in fake insurance reduction claims either through dodgy training courses, downloadable fake training certificates or people just brazenly claiming to have taken the course.
Now if it was a new classification on the driving licence that required you to pass a cycling test it could be more robust and easier to verify on the roadside.
billymansell wrote:
It’d be in the insurance industries interests to make sure that the training courses are effective. They’re not going to be happy with fake training certificates if the underwriters have to pay out claims with reduced premiums.
Ouch! that photo of the SA
Ouch! that photo of the SA guy looks gruesome. Cue comments about how he should have worn a helmet…
Dooring a cyclist does matter
Dooring a cyclist does matter, so I can’t understand the “Near-dooring of a tandem” story. The tandem riders should be ashamed they didn’t try to educate the offending driver. The driver will just continue their bad behavior until another cyclist(s) gets hurt. They took the time to tell other cyclists with a video as documentation, which amounts to basically preaching to the choir about the drivers poor choices.
Wait, did the government just
Wait, did the government just make a rational decision based on facts and reasoning?
What is happening and can we have some more?
Canyon48 wrote:
All the big name politicians are tied up with Brexit shenanigans, so they can’t impart their usual wisdom over small issues like this.
Don’t worry, normal service will be resumed shortly.