Please be patient as the live blog is sometimes slow to load. Try refreshing the page if it really doesn’t seem likely to appear.
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
All the cycling news from this site and beyond…
Thu, Nov 22, 2018 15:12
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
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.
15 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
mdavidford 2 minutes ago
They may have looked, but did they see?
jackcycles 33 minutes ago
Ds2025: where they are going wrong is that they are crushing the motorbike rather than the person sat on top of it. If they did the latter this issue would be solved in less than 24 hours.
Rod Marton 34 minutes ago
I came this way today with the car boot sale in operation. There was a marshal at the entrance, who stopped a car turning right across the cycleway as I was approaching. So that certainly works. I think it necessary for the marshal to be there, I couldn't say if the driver would have turned if he hadn't been there but you always have to suspect the worst. Unfortunately there is no marshal at the exit, and there was certainly a car stopped across the cycleway as I was approaching it. But he pulled onto the road before I reached it, and the following car stayed off the cycleway as I went through. Ideally there should have been a marshal there too. On the whole, though, it's a really high standard piece of infrastructure. Just a pity it doesn't extend a bit further.
eburtthebike 50 minutes ago
“absolute carnage” So right! Just look at the bodies piled up, blood running in the gutters and injured people limping away. It's a bit of a problem with a road, delaying some people for minutes at a time: it isn't carnage, let alone 'absolute carnage'. Anyone who exaggerates so ridiculously really shouldn't be allowed to comment in public, unless they want to demonstrate their idiocy to all and sundry.
Jakrayan 2 hours ago
I'm criticising them for not riding in secondary position, not primary. At least 60cms (2 feet) from the edge of the road as the HC explicitly recommends. Leaving aside the small minority of riders who find mounting and dismounting a bike difficult - which sounds suspiciously similar to the motorists "but, but what about disabled drivers?" when talking about LTNs - what's wrong with able bodied riders walking the few metres over that narrow, Victorian bridge? Sure, if there's clearly no-one on it I wouldn't condemn anyone for riding it slowly, but if it's not clear forcing pedestrians to stop and squeeze to the side is, frankly, a rather entitled opinion. Plus it's easy to hold a road bike a little ahead of you and hold the saddle - normally no need to hold the bars if it's straight - so you're really not taking up much more room at all. There's a railway underpass near me that links to a shared then segregated path. It's narrow, and the path approaches at an angle so you can't see if it's clear, but many riders still choose to pedal through despite the clear 'no cycling' signage. Why?? Personally I don't go that way, except on foot, preferring the surrounding roads.
bensynnock 2 hours ago
I think you're giving drivers too much credit. Many would not think twice about blocking the road if it makes their life easier, such as when turning right onto a busy road.
bensynnock 2 hours ago
They might have to, but they won't. What they will do is pull out over the cycle path while they wait for a gap in motor traffic.
Safety 3 hours ago
"We have enough regulation." I agree with the exception being legally allowed to sell something which is virtually illegal to use. How many purchasers own a suitably large piece of private land?
Tradescant 6 hours ago
@jackcycles I'm not sure my grandchildren got that memo. Cycling should not be just for hardened road warriors.
DS2025 7 hours ago
Chrisonabike There are a number of police forces in England and Wales that are using portable testing equipment already... How effective it is another matter, I haven't looked into the results of failing (I would hope they just seize and crush the motorbike without any faff but I am sure there are appeal processes, promises not to use them on public roads etc).
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.