Welcome to Tuesday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Alex Bowden and the rest of the team.
Live blog: Transport for? TfL awards £400K to cycling+walking… £1Bn to new road tunnel; Van Aert wins legal battle against ex-team; 48-year-old Rebellin forced to retire; Things you can’t do with a rim brake; Breitbart writer has a go at cyclists +more
All today’s news from the site and beyond…
Tue, Nov 26, 2019 22:04
SUMMARY
26 November 2019, 22:04
Cars blocking the bike lane?
26 November 2019, 22:04
Dublin driver who deliberately hit cyclist given fine and suspended sentence
Today a driver who had a previous conviction for dangerous driving was given a suspended sentence (and a *very* stern warning from the judge ) for deliberately driving his car into a cyclist before fleeing the scene. https://t.co/C73KHzt3mY
— Dublin Cycling (@dublincycling) November 25, 2019
The Journal reports that Sean Kearns was caught on CCTV driving straight at Marcelo Valencia, and fled the scene. The judge Martin Nolan took into account mitigating factors such as Kearns’ work history, even though he had six previous driving convictions.
He was ordered to pay his victim €10,000 and given a three-year suspended sentence.
26 November 2019, 22:04
Man with unpleasant opinions discusses hatred of cyclists with other people who have unpleasant opinions
My most reassuring take home from my Speed Awareness course was how thoroughly and justifiably hated cyclists are
— James Delingpole QC (@JamesDelingpole) November 23, 2019
The highly predictable right wing columnist James Delingpole shared his experience of going to a speed awareness course yesterday. It didn’t go down very well…
Nice. A group of law breakers sitting around not being able to take responsibility for their actions feel the need to put the blame on to someone else.
I thought motorists normally moan about cyclists slowing down traffic!
Stop behaving like a child and share nicely.— Neil Meadows (@Neilythere74) November 25, 2019
Powerful evidence that the Govt should stop running courses that allow criminals to reinforce each others’ dangerous beliefs, and just fine them heavily. https://t.co/XpSAqm6IFU
— John Stevenson (@johnstevenson_x) November 25, 2019
Better hope you never hit a cyclist then – this tweet would indicate intent.
— oscarfranklin #StopTheCoup (@OscarNMFranklin) November 25, 2019
Was this the @TTCGroupUK running your course James? If so, we would like a word with the trainer. There is a new section on #closepass driving, so if this wasn’t delivered correctly you may have to retake the course. Do you want us to book you in?
— Road Traffic Law Info (@safepasscyclist) November 25, 2019
I used to think there must be something inherently irritating about cyclists but then I saw the stats for dead & injured horses & riders caused by motor vehicles and I realised the problem is, as the police found in your case, self-entitled & pisspoor drivers
— Tom Hoyle (@TomfooleryH) November 25, 2019
In case you haven’t already gathered the kind of views Delingpole holds, he is employed by the far-right website Breitbart News, retweets Toby Young and is a climate change denier. He also described himself as discriminated against because he is a “white, middle-aged, public-school-and-Oxbridge educated middle-class male.”
He is still trying to defend his tweet this morning – which hopefully will count against him in court if his poor driving endangers others again in the future.
26 November 2019, 22:04
Ultimate badge of honour
Ever been pulled over for speeding on a bike?
26 November 2019, 22:04
Interesting stats from Denmark
What happened when the capital region of #Denmark invested in cycle superhighways?
23% increase in the number of cyclists
14% of the new cyclists used to travel by #car
333 fewer sick leave days on a daily basis due to increased health
— ECF (@EuCyclistsFed) November 26, 2019
The Danes have transformed their travel habits in recent years, and the stats in this paper reveal the benefits brought by eight new cycle superhighways in the capital region, which includes Copenhagen.
Key stats include: a 23% increase in the number of cyclists, 400,000km cycled every day on the superhighways and 333 fewer sick leave days daily. Also, 52% of cycle commuters are women.
26 November 2019, 22:04
Our latest comp is a cracker
Some lucky bugger is going to win themselves a whole Canyon AL Disc 7.0… don’t miss out on this one, enter here.
26 November 2019, 22:04
Maybe potholes aren't so bad after all...
A Cambridge engineer nearly missed out on his dream of seeing a special Coldplay gig after a huge pothole punctured his car tyres.https://t.co/bXQZ3T40to
— Cambridgeshire Live (@Cambslive) November 25, 2019
Apologies to anyone who likes Coldplay. Sort of…
26 November 2019, 22:04
Rebellin forced into retirement at 48 as new team fails to materialise
It seemed that nothing would stop the ageless Italian from racing, but unfortunately there may be nowhere back for him after the new Hungarian team he was meant to by riding for in 2020 collapsed before it started.
Marca reports that the 35 prospective members of the Epowers Factory Team received an email last week telling them that sponsors couldn’t be finalised, and they had not met the deadline for obtaining a UCI licence. Rebellin dreamed of riding the Giro once more if the team managed to get a wildcard.
26 November 2019, 22:04
Idea transgender people are going to take over women’s sport is "absolutely ridiculous" says Philippa York
York – who came fourth in the Tour de France as Robert Millar – also says sport should be more welcoming to those who are LGBTQ rather than “pretending to be a homogenous Disney Land”.
26 November 2019, 22:04
Loffi reveal all new Glove 2.0, a liner and a kid's Glove
Smiley happy glove brand Loffi (because someone/something has to be smiley at the moment) have launched an updated version of their Glove, naturally called the Glove 2.0. It has a more reflective striped smiley on the palm, an AX suede pull tab ad extra grippiness, and costs £35. Also new is the Loffi Glove for kids (£18), and a liner (£10) for extra chilly days.
You can check the new Loffi range out here, and read our review of the original Glove here.
26 November 2019, 22:04
Wout van Aert won't have to pay monster fine after winning legal case over breach of contract
The 25-year-old Belgian appeared in court last month accused of breach of contract by the manager of his former team Verandas Willems-Crelan – and Nieuwsblad report that van Aert won’t have to pay the 1.1 million demanded by Nick Nuyens after winning the case.
Nuyens said van Aert was contracted to Verandas Willems-Crelan until the end of 2019 and broke it by joining Jumbo-Visma, but van Aert says he made the move while the team were negotiating a merger with Dutch team Rompoot. Van Aert’s counsel Walter Van Steenbrugge commented: “Wout was of course very relieved. He can now find mental peace and fully concentrate on his sport.”
The Nuyens camp will now have to pick up the legal costs, and say they plan to appeal straight away.
26 November 2019, 22:04
Things you can't do with a rim brake Pt 1…
You couldn’t do that with a rim brake.
26 November 2019, 22:04
Challenging motor vehicle dominance
Challenge the dominance of car traffic in our cities by exposing its intrinsic design flaw.
How you already started doing it?
(via @M_Wrenchgang) pic.twitter.com/FyDvDl5UTG
— Cycling Professor (@fietsprofessor) November 26, 2019
If the aim of this stunt isn’t immediately obvious, it’s to highlight that drivers have to physically get out of their cars to check something they think has fallen in front.
26 November 2019, 22:04
Richard Freeman tribunal - hearing will now reconvene on Thursday
The tribunal was set to carry on tomorrow, but an advisory note from the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service says: “We have been advised that further time is required by the Legally Qualified Chair (LQC) of the tribunal, therefore parties are released until Thursday 28 November at 9.30am. When the hearing reconvenes in public we expect the LQC to give his legal advice before the tribunal retires into camera to make its decision in relation to the legal argument heard on Monday.”
26 November 2019, 22:04
TfL announce £400,000 in grants for cycling and walking schemes... a day after approving controversial £1 billion Silvertown tunnel
Transport for London will free up £400,000 to put towards cycling and walking schemes across 60 community groups in 32 London Boroughs. It will include walks for bereaved and isolated people, led cycle rides and cycle maintenance training for young people, with the winning projects targeting a range of traditionally underrepresented groups such as people with physical disabilities, refugees and asylum seekers, and children with Down’s Syndrome, enabling them to feel confident while walking and cycling in London.
While this is all very positive, it’s also a little unfortunate that it comes a day after TfL have also announced that a £1 billion contract has now been signed to start work on the Silvertown motor tunnel…
We beaver away trying to avoid a wee bit of concrete for foundations and TfL use like a gigaton of the stuff to funnel more deadly toxins into the lungs of children in Tower Hamlets and Newham. Really disappointing. https://t.co/RX5pLe2tDS
— OnePointFiveArchitecture (@1point5arch) November 25, 2019
Environmentalists say the huge twin-bore, four-lane tunnel – essentially an urban motorway – will make air pollution worse and generate even more traffic, and have accused Sadiq Khan of being a hypocrite after recently declaring a climate emergency. Labour councils either side of the tunnel that will link Greenwich and Newham have also opposed it.
I must say that tweeting this on the same day you sign the contract to build the Silvertown Tunnel, which will vastly increase motor traffic in east London, is bold. And massively hypocritical. https://t.co/ajULCuq8re
— Matthew Sparkes (@Sparkes) November 25, 2019
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Jack is group editor across road.cc, off.road.cc and ebiketips, overseeing all three sites in the F-At Digital group to make sure everything’s up to scratch. He’s been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of road.cc including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town, and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master’s degree in print journalism, and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it’s a long story).
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Latest Comments
chrisonabike 7 hours ago
"All that's required is an to roads policing" - that's a big all... Although no doubt the "idiots just keep coming" aspect does apply: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9lel2wz93o "Man charged after car crashes through bowling alley" - luckily they only skittled over skittles.
chrisonabike 7 hours ago
Almost any change to roads and streets is accompanied by a period of heightened danger, and in the UK "look out for cyclists" will need to be learned... practically. And over the time it takes for cyclists to become a regular feature. OTOH once (if...) good designs are in and frequent enough such that drivers encounter them AND the cyclists on them regularly (another big if) I don't think they should be much more difficult than a footway to deal with. These things are all over NL - don't have the collision stats but they should. (NL isn't perfect but collecting info on the safety of designs to feed back into better designs as required is part of the "sustainable safety" philosophy - if they're really a killer I think they'd be altering these.)
wtjs 8 hours ago
I'm in the happy position of agreeing with everybody here! I've never considered a bike with a stand, yet I'm impressed by the ingenuity and adaptability of this axle. I tow a Yak Bob with a Robert Axle, employing my El Cheapo Vitus gravel bike and I just have to be very careful where I stop. Hedges are generally a dead loss, and I seek walls, telegraph poles and signposts and generally lean the widest part of the Bob against it. One very awkward task is removing the two steel pins which lock the trailer arms onto the special mounting slots on the Robert axle, and when you have one out, the sodding weight in the trailer can twist the whole caboodle and bend the Bob fitting before you can get the other out and unhitch. I doubt if a stand would help with that. You can imagine that this combo is a real pain when you have to get it over the bridge at railway stations, and it nearly resulted in Merseyrail nearly parting me and the trailer on the platform from the bike on the train. It's a long story for another time. Another axle example recently featured on here, with a 12mm front axle bearing the Herculean weight limit of a monster American front rack.
HoarseMann 10 hours ago
This has nothing to do with the type of bike - it's the type of behaviour that's the problem. Banning the sale of such bikes will not curtail the behaviour. They'll just find another type of vehicle and continue to drive dangerously as there's such a lack of enforcement. I'd sooner see them ban the bally. But really, all that's required is an improvement to roads policing.
AidanR 10 hours ago
The EAPC Bill is welcome, but full of holes. What's to stop an overpowered but temporarily limited e-bike being sold and subsequently delimited? This is often a trivial process.
Sredlums 11 hours ago
@KiwiMike Yeah, in my over four decades of riding all over Europe I've never 'been for a ride in the countryside'. That must be it. Or, and I know this is a wild concept, you just accept that I just voiced my personal experiences and never missed a kickstand, like I wrote. Anyway, what's the big horror of laying your bike on its side for the very few occasions where there is nothing to lean your bike against?
mdavidford 11 hours ago
They may have looked, but did they see?
jackcycles 12 hours 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 12 hours 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 12 hours 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.
23 thoughts on “Live blog: Transport for? TfL awards £400K to cycling+walking… £1Bn to new road tunnel; Van Aert wins legal battle against ex-team; 48-year-old Rebellin forced to retire; Things you can’t do with a rim brake; Breitbart writer has a go at cyclists +more”
That Dublin sentence just
That Dublin sentence just shows how seriously road safety is treated by the courts – not at all.
hawkinspeter wrote:
This is quite unbelievable. The driver has 6 previous driving convictions, including dangerous driving, and has therfore clearly demonstrated that he has no regard for the law, the leniency he has already been shown by the courts, and that he is a danger to the general public. As I have expressed here before I’m not a believer in throwing everyone in prison but this is exactly what the prison system is for, protecting the general public from people who pose a threat and who have no regard for the law. I’m also surprised that in the original article there is no mention of a driving ban. This is definitely a case that warants a life ban – would you want to see him behind the wheel of a car again?
I’m not sure anyone who works
…
brooksby wrote:
Nor does it count as noteworthy comment (even for a liveblog on a slow day). This is just providing them the clicks / attention / trending effect they need for self-gratification/ broadening their reach to spew more hatred
jfparis wrote:
Happy now?
(I didn’t realise we were supposed to consider whether our comments were worthy of keeping for posterity…).
brooksby wrote:
“He is still trying to defend his tweet this morning – which hopefully will count against him in court if his poor driving endangers others again in the future.”
brooksby wrote:
Oh no!
Your comment was actually very relevant & this was not directed at you (except if you edit the blog). How does the whole thing counts as a story resulting in more promotion for this troll is the real issue
James Delingpole – he seems
James Delingpole – he seems to know what he’s spouting about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=xHse_CmO4gU
(This Week 24th January 2019)
He (Delingpole) also
He (Delingpole) also described himself as discriminated against because he is a “white, middle-aged, public-school-and-Oxbridge educated middle-class male.”
I must say I do feel sorry for the way white, middle-aged, public-school-and-Oxbridge educated middle-class males are discriminated against. They go for low paid, zero hours contract jobs, but are always turned down and made to do those horrible high salary, long lunch break paid for on expenses account, jobs. And on top of that they’re expected to abide by driving laws, which were clearly never intended to apply to them. It’s an outrage!
iandusud wrote:
He should go back and do another seven years at his public school and this time I hope they do a better job of beating that pathetic, whinging, self-pitying attitude out of him.
I sat in on a circuit court
I sat in on a circuit court in Ireland. A Polish immigrant drove an uninsured car to school to pick up his sick kid. Was stopped by Gardai, at court he was banned from driving for a year and ordered to pay €1000. He pleaded hardship, he’d lose his job if he lost his license. Tough said the Judge.
On the same note a tractor driver, in an unlicensed vehicle (farm use only) was found on the roads and was 2x the legal drink drive limit.
He also pleaded hardship, it would certainly hamper his ability to drive on the road, but not private land.
Fined €500 and no ban, but 6 points on his license.
It’s not related to cycling, but you can see it demonstrates the apparent unfairness in sentencing handed out to individuals…
Especially if you’re not an Irish native…
The _Kaner wrote:
First judgement, spot on. There is no excuse for driving an uninsured vehicle.
Second judgement. An outrage. IMO the tractor driver is all the more culpable (drink driving aside) because he knows that his livelyhood depends on having a driving licence and should therefore be all the more aware of the potential consequences of his actions.
Davide Rebellin turned
Davide Rebellin turned professional in 1992!
I wonder are there any other professional endurance althletes who’ve been at the top level of sport for 27 years and I wonder what that would have done to him physiologically. There must surely have been some studies done, I wonder if anyone has been studied at his level/longevity.
As a side note, I guess his case could make the argument for lifetime bans from EPO, possibly anecdotally, as I don’t think he was ever convicted, despite the Italians confirming his A and B samples both proved positive.
peted76 wrote:
I wonder how many pro athletes are still around from the time that drugs in their sport were huge and totally ignored by the sports administrators, in fact encouraged and have never been caught or tangled up, must be rarer than rocking horse poop?
There’s a rugby league player called Gareth Ellis who turned pro in 1998 and will be starting his 21st season at the top level, GB/England international, played in the best league in the world and excelled. He did call it a day at the end of 2018 only to be recalled in 2019 putting his boots on again due to a massive injury crisis at the club. He will be 39 in May.
Given that rugby league is probably the most physically demanding sport on the planet it’s ridiculous that he’s been able to compete at the top level for so long.
Thank you for introduding me
Thank you for introduding me to MonkeyWrenchGang.
I think this was my favorite image/concept from their posts.
ktache wrote:
I think that they actually installed something like this in Edinburgh
What would a single peice of
What would a single peice of cycling infrastructure look like if somebody dared to splurge £1 Billion on it?
ktache wrote:
Reckon this would cost a few bob but would be paid back in under 5 years through less costs to NHS and also through lower costs from KSIs all the whilst improving how people live. Actual cost likely to be less than HS2 + Cross rail, it would mean millions of journeys a day across the captial making zero pollution (barring e-cycle charging) all in a massively safer environment for the users and for pedestrians. Just got to change the use of the existing network to make it happen by stopping up the roads to motor vehicles on certain roads.
Could be done in less than 12 months as you’re not actually building roads/cycle lanes, it would piss a lot of people off, particularly NIMBY types as it would make motoring extremely difficult for some, which is precisely the reversal in fortunes we wish to act out as this is a stick to make the change to a safer, economical and tax payer saving way to get people to move about towns and cities.
ktache wrote:
I always wonder what it would be like if we simply banned cars from parking on the road.
At a stroke we’d free up thousands of miles of road space. I’d make no excuses either. No parking space – no car.
It would require a massive increase in funding for public transport to make up for it, but I really can’t see any down sides.
Verbal anti-cyclist motorists
Verbal anti-cyclist motorists should have their driving license taken away.
£1,000,000,000 for a new road
£1,000,000,000 for a new road that will increase congestion, pollution, climate change, ill health, obesity, and sever communities? What excellent value, and I’d love to see the economic analysis of this project and how the value of drivers’ time is so much more than all of those disbenefits.
£400,000 on cycling will reduce congestion, pollution, climate change, ill health, obesity and bring communities together. Money down the drain.
Can anyone tell me what the remit of TfL is? It would appear to be to destroy the planet and kill people.
burtthebike wrote:
Right in the middle of London? Signing a £1 billion contract means that by the time it’s finished it will have cost c.£5-10 billion and the private motor vehicle will be a relic in museums anyway…
brooksby wrote:
It’s about par for the course really. Ken Livingstone used the bus and tube loads was spent on those, Boris used to cycle to most places, therefore cycle superhighways and quietways were established. Sadiq uses the chauffeur driven BMW to get everywhere you get new tunnels and space for cars.