Regent’s Park driver speeds into cyclists following altercation with another motorist; Pozzato snaps seat post avoiding truck; New bike lane too narrow to use; Velomobile stopped by police; Cafe stops back on the menu; Time Matters + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
New bike lane too narrow to use
Barlow Moor Road resurfacing in progress. Let me present:
An advisory cycle lane that I wouldn’t even use with two wheels. pic.twitter.com/qwVB5iv44i
— Harrie Larrington-Spencer (@tricyclemayor) April 11, 2021
As Sean pointed out, it’s never a good start when you can’t fit the bike symbol in the cycle lane…
When you can’t actually fit a bike symbol in the lane without doing this it’s probably a sign that it’s not quite wide enough. And potentially gives people an excuse to appeal parking fines pic.twitter.com/V6VN6342Es
— Sean Whyment (@OreganoUK) April 11, 2021
These new lines painted on the Barlow Moor Road in Manchester don’t leave much room for cycling, especially if you’re riding a cargo bike…Lots of disappointed local riders took to Twitter, with Rob Rocklad asking why they even bothered to paint the lines?
There is no reason for an advisory lane not to be the recommended 2m wide.
— Paul Luton (@luton_paul) April 11, 2021
— AggieCycles (@AggieCycles) April 11, 2021
It’s not the first time cycle lanes in the city have got attention for all the wrong reasons. Remember when the council used a segregated cycle lane on the Stretford Road as somewhere to collect fallen leaves? Unbe-leaf-able…
A timely thought considering this morning's blog posts
Not that you’d know it … but the owner of each of these vehicles has equal rights to space on the road. pic.twitter.com/2wVil0bpDU
— Simon MacMichael (@simonmacmichael) April 11, 2021
Former pro Filippo Pozzato snaps seat post avoiding truck
Fortunately, ex-pro Filipppo Pozzato came away from a crash in Venice with just cuts and bruises. The 2006 Milan San-Remo winner says he had to veer off the road to avoid a collision with a truck and that while he was largely unscathed, his bike wasn’t so lucky.
Writing on Instagram, Pozzato said: “Unfortunately today while I was on my bike in the Venetian streets, to avoid a truck that invaded my lane during the descent, I went off the road and fell to the ground. Fortunately, I don’t have any serious injuries except a few bumps and scratches. I thank everyone who wrote to me and worried about me.
“However, I would like to renew to everyone the invitation to be more attentive and concentrated while driving because it really is a moment to endanger your own life and that of others.”
Velomobile rider stopped by police
CyclingMikey saw this one coming…As if by magic, one day after Mikey said it was guaranteed to happen KarlOnSea was stopped by an officer who claimed to be “concerned for your safety” and worried about the visibility of the orange velomobile…
Been pulled over by the police yet? Be prepared to video it for our entertainment. It’s guaranteed that this will happen to you.
— Vaccinated CyclingMikey is so happy. 🇪🇺🇳🇱🇿🇼 (@MikeyCycling) April 10, 2021
Your wish is my command. Police pulled alongside me today and told me I had to ride on the footway, or they’d book me when the came last again. I asked if he was instructing me to commit an offence under the 1835 Highways Act as ammended by the 1888 Local Gov’t Act.
1/
— KarlOnSea (@KarlOnSea) April 11, 2021
Reaction to Cav's first win in three years
If it couldn’t be us, I’m very happy it was @MarkCavendish 💪
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) April 12, 2021
Mark Cavendish beat Andre Greipel in a sprint this morning and it was just like being taken back to 2015 all over again…Plenty of love for Cav about this lunchtime, here’s the best of the reaction to his win, including some nice words from Greipel’s teammate Alex Dowsett, and the full story if you want to read more…
I just let out the biggest scream in years!!!!!
Cavendish on a flyer. WOW. #TourofTurkey
— Colin Lynch (@FormerTTchamp) April 12, 2021
Riders from other teams queuing up to congratulate Cav. Not a dry eye in the house.
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) April 12, 2021
https://t.co/yhDgY8yeYH pic.twitter.com/JTiDyzVifi
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) April 12, 2021
Time Matters: an award-winning film from Kinesis about ultra-cyclist Richard Curtis's life-changing brain injury
Kinesis UK has shared this award-winning film project about the life-changing brain injury suffered by ultra-cyclist Richard Curtis in 2018. At the time he was in the shape of his life having represented Great Britain at the Gran Fondo World Championships. The film covers Richard’s experience and “serves as a sombre reminder that life is precious, and simple pleasures like riding your bike should not be taken for granted.” Time Matters won an Award of Excellence at the Best Shorts film festival and has been nominated for several others.
Northern Ireland tops the UK's thrill-seeking charts
The good people at Leisure Lakes Bikes were keen to find out which part of the UK is the most adventurous and collated more than 8,500 Google searches to reach a verdict. Their data suggests that of the ‘adventure sports’, mountain biking is number one in the UK, with around 1,500 average searches per month. Interestingly, ‘e-bike off road’ was also one of the fastest-growing adventure sport searches and was up 235 per cent compared to in 2016.
In the regional breakdown Northern Ireland took the title for the UK’s keenest adventurers with 9,209 adventure sport searches per 100,000 people, while Wales and the South West of England rounded out the podium.
Regent's Park driver speeds into cyclists following altercation with another motorist
Video footage. Of the driver in Regents Park using their car as a weapon. @MPSRoyal_Parks @justinmckie @theJeremyVine pic.twitter.com/pNbCrbokQE
— RegentsParkCyclists (@RPcyclists) April 11, 2021
This shocking video shows the moment a group of cyclists were driven at by a motorist following an altercation in Regent’s Park yesterday morning. One of the riders was particularly lucky to avoid serious injury and carried his wrecked bike off the road. The person filming the group ride turned around after hearing an altercation behind, apparently between two drivers. One of the motorists then sped off, mounting the pavement, hitting the cyclist and driving off through a red light…
Yesterday’s incident has understandably led to increased calls for traffic to be restricted from the park. However, unlike Richmond Park, the roads in Regent’s Park are not the responsibility of The Royal Parks, so the Crown Estate Paving Commission is a better destination for any complaints. In a 2019 article on this site, Laura Laker described the group as “an unelected and effectively unaccountable Georgian quango.”
Ffs. This is outrageous. I really do hope the police go the extra mile to track this person down. Substantial damage and expense inflicted, whilst in a park. Not to mention very frightening.
— Rory McCarron (@CyclingLawLDN) April 11, 2021
This is a shocking development. We have been campaigning to have this parks roads closed to through-traffic to keep things like this from happening. We call on @theroyalparks , @TfL and the Crown Estate Paving Commission to collaborate and end this dangerous state of affairs. https://t.co/SXUdrkI89Y
— London Cycling Campaign (@London_Cycling) April 11, 2021
Nuts. Close the gates now. Why are drivers allowed bypass the A41 through a park?
— Michael (@baoigheallain) April 11, 2021
Pros congratulate Cav on his win
💙💙💙 pic.twitter.com/Nv9OVsnOtO
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) April 12, 2021
Some day for Mark Cavendish taking that vintage sprint win at the Tour of Turkey…
Cav is back! I’ve seen him training like an overexcited junior since December, racing like a hyper motivated neo pro since March. Every race so far chasing that well deserved victory like a hungry wolf! So happy for you mate, enjoy this one, more to come! pic.twitter.com/g4lcQ21azt
— Iljo Keisse (@IljoKeisse) April 12, 2021
So happy to see this🙌 @MarkCavendish
— Michał Kwiatkowski (@kwiato) April 12, 2021
Local cyclist takes a tape measure to narrow Manchester cycle lane
Just had a mooch down Barlow Moore road looking at new surfacing. Seems to vary between 80-90cm. My fairly slim road bike doesn’t fit in here that well. Why has this happened?
Any thoughts Chorlton Councillors?@hacking4chorltz @mattstrong @evefrancisholt pic.twitter.com/Fg5Hk7QBM4
— Rick Box (@Boxrick) April 12, 2021
Some strong detective work from Rick this afternoon to go out and measure the width of the Barlow Moore cycle lane we featured earlier in today’s live blog. He found it ranged from 80 to 90cm and was just wide enough to fit his road bike…
All you need to know https://t.co/2prfJE8FKp pic.twitter.com/mb4sOrWfbs
— Sam 🚴🌱🍻Ⓥ (@MCRCycleSam) April 12, 2021
Fabio Jakobsen: "It's special to be back and to see Mark win here"
No words needed 🤗 pic.twitter.com/hr0T6ggFqa
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) April 12, 2021
Fabio Jakobsen made his return to the peloton on yesterday’s opening stage of the Tour or Turkey and was delighted to see his teammate, Mark Cavendish, back winning again on stage two today. In a finish line interview Jakobsen told Wielerflits “it’s special to be back and to see Mark win here”.
“Mark has fought for this for a long time and he is very motivated,” Jakobsen continued. “I couldn’t help much myself in the sprint preparation, but I did as much as I could. Mark deserves this and is a great champion. I try to come back step by step. I want to finish a race first and build up my form.
“I think the top form from before my fall is still there, but that takes time. In the meantime, I can help guys like Cav and other teammates, and that motivates me too. It is good to be a cyclist again. Another stage win would be nice. It doesn’t matter which of the team wins. But for me it is important to finish this race.”
12 April 2021, 08:04
12 April 2021, 08:04
12 April 2021, 08:04
12 April 2021, 08:04
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Latest Comments
I'll counter that by saying the Bryton 750se I have drives me nuts at times. Inconsistantly picks up on routes created on Komoot and the app re-syncs every few seconds when trying to set up the device and sends me back to the home screen. The most infuriating one is that I turned live track on. Once. It now won't turn off and repeatedly flags up the live track is starting, and then disconnecting every few seconds whilst riding. I haven't timed it but it wouldn't suprise me if 10-20% of the time the the screen is covered with an error message. That's been about 6 weeks now. Other than that it's great :/
RE: Police launch road safety operation... by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge Meanwhile in Glasgow, Police Scotland are riding their motorbikes over the pedestrian and cyclists only bridge. https://x.com/FietserGlasgow/status/2065106152917012523?s=20
@Paul J Van Schip certainly seems a bit of a dick, but he's a European and multiple World Champion on the track, pretty sure you don't get there without having some talent in your legs.
Poor Vincent cannot get over the simple fact that given the choice people prefer dedicated cycling spaces, rather than pretending to be cars like vehicular cyclists.
What is the point of the fancy air sensor if it can't account for changing weather conditions?? If all you care about is a delayed approximation of aerodynamic watts in steady conditions, you don't need any special sensors for that. Just your speed on a decently flat course is enough to approximate rolling resistance and drivetrain losses. And the rest must be aero. If you assume a less aero body position at the same watts, your speed will drop while rolling resistance also drops, which means approximated aero watts goes up. And that's enough to demonstrate what you've shown in your testing protocol ("I sat upright and the number went up a little while later").
Your correction is accurate - it's almost always been "the (lack of) thought that (doesn't) count". "Massive" - less than a billion a year spent on active travel (trying to catch up / building a network across the entire country) Not massive - 6 billion every year (2026-2030) spent on road *maintenance* of existing "already built, goes everywhere, very convenient" road network for inactive travel Ultimately the reason "cycle infra" is *needed* is those unbelievably colossal amounts spent every year (and for more than a century now) on making mass motoring not just viable but apparently the "best choice" for most journeys. As the Dutch and others have shown, the majority of people *are* prepared to cycle and even mix with very light, slow local motor traffic *if* cycling is also made safe and convenient for the whole of their journey (including secure parking at both ends). (The history of the financial drivers of the current situation are a complex topic but note that while people complain about "crumbling roads" and underfunded motor infra - with some reason - by us continuing the fuel duty escalator freeze (for example) we're actually helping motorists pay *even less* for that activity / subsidising more of the cost of driving than ever.)
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
43 thoughts on “Regent’s Park driver speeds into cyclists following altercation with another motorist; Pozzato snaps seat post avoiding truck; New bike lane too narrow to use; Velomobile stopped by police; Cafe stops back on the menu; Time Matters + more on the live blog”
If my memory serves me right,
If my memory serves me right, there was some research years ago (was it on the Warrington Cycle Campaign site?) that showed drivers will drive to the line and not the cyclist – so a narrow lane really is more dangerous than no lane at all.
panda wrote:
Exactly
Paint ≠ Infra!
Worse than that, advisory
Worse than that, advisory cycle lanes actrually increase the risk of an accident by over 30%
https://findingspress.org/article/18226-cycling-injury-risk-in-london-impacts-of-road-characteristics-and-infrastructure
And this recent research
And this recent research
“advisory lanes (which motor vehicles are legally permitted to enter) increased injury odds by over 30%.”
https://findingspress.org/article/18226-cycling-injury-risk-in-london-impacts-of-road-characteristics-and-infrastructure
Looks like copies of LTN 1/20
Looks like copies of LTN 1/20 have yet to reach Manchester…..
Not to excuse what theyve
Not to excuse what theyve done the road looks plenty wide enough for a better solution, but from Google maps that cycle lane has been there since at least 2012 at that width, again doesnt excuse what theyve done,but might explain that theyve resurfaced it but just repainted lines in the same place
That is acknowledged by Cycle
That is acknowledged by Cycle Infrastructure Design.
Some people don’t know how
Some people don’t know how lucky they are. Not only is my local infra narrower than the width of my bars, but you are expected to go up onto the pavement at the crossings.
As well as cycle at 90 deg !
As well as cycle at 90 deg !
I’ve got a sneaky suspicion
I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that Chris Boardman didn’t sign off on that bit of cycle “infrastructure”. I wonder what his opinion of that is?
Difficult to follow what
Difficult to follow what happened in regents park. The bloke with the broken bike was near the middle of the road.
Did the driver actually mount the pavement?
Why are motorised vehicles allowed anyway?
Yeah I watched it several
Yeah I watched it several times yesterday,think theres a longer version of the clip too out there but I’m still none the wiser how it all started and then ended up like it did. Hopefully they can find some CCTV of the car at least.
hirsute wrote:
Because there is a zoo, A college, A Mosque, A Church, A school, A Rotary Club and some posh residential areas and probably a lot more stuff (and im not even counting all the places of interest inside the park itself…) all within the same vicinity of the park.
It isnt as simple as closing all the gates to stop all vehicles from entering.
It could easily be made not a
It could easily be made not a through route with some bollards.
then that would require some
then that would require some form of manned or unmanned gate keeping or a carpark built away from the park within short walkable distance to the zoo.
Either way, that all costs money…lots of money. Lots of people park in the outer ring to visit the park, the zoo or any of the surrounding area. Imagine if you were disabled but couldnt visit the park or the zoo because you couldnt park close by.
Shuttle bus, golf cart, road
Shuttle bus, golf cart, road train pick up spots could be created.
Still money.
Still money.
As are all the externalities
As are all the externalities of that traffic
Police really need to track
Police really need to track down that regents park driver so they can issue him a warning letter
makadu wrote:
If only the other cyclists had thought to take his reg.
Warning letter? There need to
Warning letter? They need to be prosecuted and given a ban.
Makadu is making a sarcastic
Makadu is making a sarcastic reference to the pathetically light treatment that car drivers get when they’ve damaged (and even killed) cyclists.
Am I the only one who thought
Am I the only one who thought KarlonSea was
a) A bit bolshy
b) Could do with a recumbent like flag on the back.
The copper was at pains to be precise that he wasn’t nicking him – just advising him about his visibility. Some poeple may think thats overstepping the mark and bossing the public around – not sure thats worth kicking off over as Karl did. The sarky remark about the colour pushed it over the edge for me.
Whilst I understand why Karl didnt like it I can also see why the copper thought it was reasonable to mention it to him.
I half agree. The policeman
I half agree. The policeman seemed polite and reasonable and was mainly concerned about safety, but obviously the onus is on traffic to look where it’s going and a bright orange velomobile is easy to spot.
I think Karl should have been a bit friendlier and he might have been able to get his point across – that officer wasn’t his enemy.
I’d have more faith in the
I’d have more faith in the concerned about your safety line,if the police lifted more than a darn finger most of the time we report actual law breaking stuff to them that distinctly concerns our safety.
It was all a bit cringey, the
It was all a bit cringey, the impression I got was karlonsea trying to make something out of nothing for YT views.
The copper was being a dick.
The copper was being a dick. Obviously he’s pulled over a vehicle because he’s got no idea what it is, and there’s no registration tag, and instead of having the balls to admit he was wrong to pull over a cyclist for no reason chose to make up a cock and bull story about visibility, as if nobody can see a bright orange canoe on wheels proceeding down the road.
Its a simple concept, to drive on the road you must look at the road therefore you should be able to see what is on the road. If you can’t then it’s not the fault of what you failed to see. This shifting of responsibility from drivers to the vulnerable road users has to stop. Pisses me off even more when cyclists buy into that crap.
Somewhat ironic that the
Somewhat ironic that the officer was concerned about the visibility of a bright orange velomobile whose rider was committing no offence, yet was uable to spot an electric scooter whose rider definitely was.
It pisses me off when people
It pisses me off when people think being vunerable road users absolves them of all responsibility to make other road users aware of their existence, or allows them to defy the laws of physics, and in this particular case I dont think he’s trying enough to do that, YMMV of course.
I personally kit myself and my bike out for the roads and traffic that exist today – as me being in the right if I get hit by a motorist wont be much consolation to my friends and family, or me if I survive.
If I was him I’d have a nice eye level flappy flag, and I’ve exercised my personal judgement accordingly – end of story.
Secret_squirrel wrote:
Trouble is, I can’t make other people aware of my existence, being physically there is all I can do. I’m not wearing a f*cking invisibility cloak FFS.
His vehicle is orange, and he left his cloaking device behind. What more is there except lights at night?
Secret_squirrel wrote:
Velomobile in front of car is easy to see. Velomobile easy to see for drivers pulling out of side roads.
There is potentially an issue when the velomobile is beside a car, presumbaly the user is smart enough not to put themself in that position. Drivers on the other hand….. Howevr a little flag is not going to help much when you are beside a car, afr to easy to miss sucha small object.
These things are much more commonplace in europe I have seen them on significant length audax events, they don’t get hit by cars because they are not difficult to see.
In the UK the attitude of the police seems to be to tolerate poor driving, and expect vulnerable road users to compensate.
Right, so a bright orange
Right, so a bright orange velomobile that is 8 feet long and 3 feet wide isn’t visible enough, but a little flag on the end of a stick will make all the difference
A little flappy flag at eye level, eye level for whom? The man driving his midlife crisis sports car, or the HGV driver that requires you to have a ten foot pole to put that flag at eye level? Never mind asking if those drivers can see the lane markings painted on the road, and potholes and manhole covers and avoid running over them, why they can’t see another vehicle in front of them…
Philh68 wrote:
This! What’s wrong with “interesting vehicle sir, care to talk me through it?”
It wasn’t about concern, it was about “oh shit, he is entitled to do that but I haven’t got the interpersonal skills to back out gracefully”
No no no, you are responsible for whether other road users have got their eyes open or not…..
Philh68 wrote:
Amazing he got stopped at all really, since the police officer presumably couldn’t see him
wycombewheeler wrote:
— wycombewheelerLike all the drivers complaining about the invisible cyclists; that they saw last night.
Philh68 wrote:
— Philh68This; a thousand times this.
The police officer seemed
The police officer seemed reasonably polite in that bit of video. According to the original tweet, before the video started, the officer also told Karl to cycle on the footway (which would have been illegal) and threatened to book him if he came past again (despite no offence being committed).
Even if we just consider what we have on video:
1) He was still pulled over by the police whilst breaking no laws. No-one wants to be stopped by the police, it’s unsurprising that Karl would be a bit annoyed and/or defensive.
2) The officer claimed to be concerned about Karl’s safety. It is a pretty sorry state of affairs if you think a careful and competent motorist would not spot that thing – it’s not exactly small and it is bright orange.
3) I don’t want to accuse this individual officer of hypocrisy, but as a cyclist it’s frustrating to see that concern for safety is expressed by giving the cyclist words of advice, when we’ve seen time and time again police forces around the country ignoring dangerous and illegal driving by motorists.
I can see both sides really.
I can see both sides really. But it brings to mind one time in Southwark when there was a focus on cyclists (perhaps a ‘charm offensive’) for about a week or so and the police were having polite words with cyclists while they waited at red lights. One evening, I stopped at a junction alongside another cyclist who the police officer decided to speak with. The first thing he advised was that he ought to have lights on his bike… he did, and they were switched on, as were mine. While the officer continued onto other safety concerns, a huge lorry pulled into the ASL at the red light behind us. I pointed this out to the officer and he said that today they were speaking with cyclists as there had been a few cyclists killed/injured on the roads lately.
Yes. People are much easier
Yes. People are much easier to stop and speak to when they are on bikes. If you stop a huge lorry, you have to consider where to put it while you talk to the driver.
That isn’t how policing decisions ought to be made, but I guess convenience is often the overriding factor.
OnYerBike wrote:
Paticularly when that advice is that he shouldn’t ride it on the road. Where does he suggest he should ride it?
How is it any different from
How is it any different from a recumbent?
I wonder what crippled biker would make of it?
I was concerned for the
I was concerned for the safety of the police officer – who chose to crouch down (thereby making himself less visible) in live traffic, to patronise a road user about being unsafe, instead of moving to the pavement, to do so.
belugabob wrote:
He was wearing dark blue too (under the hiviz of course, just like Karlonsea was under the orange shell. Probably)
Neither of them wearing lids.
Asking for it I’d say…..