Vine’s latest vid makes motorists wheelie angry; ‘Stop built-in car dependency’: Labour Party under fire for calls to clamp down on Just Stop Oil protesters; Wout van Aert banned from Strava; Unusual Zwift setups + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Vine’s latest vid makes motorists wheelie angry
As regular readers of the blog will know, Jeremy Vine’s video updates from his two-wheeled London commute are scientifically proven to have the ability to wind up every anti-cycling, ‘why don’t they pay road tax’ motorist who has the misfortune to type the broadcaster’s name into the Twitter search function and view them.
Yesterday evening’s instalment was slightly different, however, as it didn’t feature a close pass, a speeding motorist, or even a taxi driver throwing a glass bottle at some bloke on a bike.
I got overtaken by someone on one wheel tonight.
I couldn’t complain — turns out he watches @JeremyVineOn5. pic.twitter.com/xkNkmZsWnH— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) April 11, 2022
Instead, Vine devoted 51 seconds of social media coverage to something a bit lighter: a young buck who just loves a wheelie. The trickster – who seems keen to avoid wearing out his front tyre – even knew who the presenter was, well kind of…
“You’re ITV3 right?”
“Yeah, Channel 5…”
Close enough.
Despite this spot of light relief, Vine still managed to be on the receiving end of some classic motoring ire:
Clearly a section 28 RTA offence (dangerous cycling), but apparently that’s OK because he watches you on the telly?
— Yeti (@yetiayrshore) April 11, 2022
If that was a motorcycle I’m sure you’d be reporting it.
— Budgiekiller (@Budgiekiller) April 11, 2022
I’m all for you calling out dangerous car drivers, but isn’t that bad too?
— Martin Holland (@DutchieMartin) April 11, 2022
No helmet.( Apart from the massive one riding the bike)
Dangerous use of the road.
Riding in a manner likely to cause an accident.
Riding without due care and attention.Would you have been as happy if that was a motorcyclist?
— AP10 (@AndyPow58062254) April 12, 2022
All over the road
Crossing onto other aide. Looks like your only viewer won’t be around much longer with behaviour like that— Jimbo James. (@1971JimboJ1) April 11, 2022
Seriously, is riding like that something you approve of?
— Mark Notton (@markn3567) April 11, 2022
Hardly something to be proud of, @theJeremyVine ,this bloke shows an horrendous disregard for the safety of other road users. He doesn’t have to be insured etc yet he could create carnage!
— Cormery (@thepipster64) April 11, 2022
Then you wonder why people get pissed off with cyclists
— PT (@geepee71) April 11, 2022
Yes, because we all just wheelie about everywhere, of course. Let’s put that on the cycling bingo list with road tax, helmets, thinking we own the road…
“If it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid”: Unusual Zwift setups
Talk about multi-functional…
This brilliantly creative solution to one of life’s great problems – where can I train and dry my washing at the same time? – was uploaded to the Zwift Riders Facebook group by US cyclist Devon Cumberland.
Devon’s unusual laptop holder got us thinking: what’s your turbo training setup like?
Has anybody gone for the clothes horse training station themselves? Any kitchen table or work desk Zwifters? Maybe you use the lawnmower in the shed to precariously balance your laptop? (Speaking from experience here…)
Let us know!
‘Stop built-in car dependency... fund active travel’: Labour Party under fire for calls to clamp down on Just Stop Oil protesters
Motorists were already being hammered by prices at the pump, and now millions can’t even access fuel.
The government must immediately impose injunctions to put a stop to this disruption. https://t.co/RH6pL4mhCx
— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) April 11, 2022
Labour has come in for criticism from cyclists after the party called on the government yesterday to crack down on climate change activists who have attempted to disrupt supplies from eleven oil terminals in the Midlands and south-east of England.
The activists from Just Stop Oil, an off-shoot of Extinction Rebellion, are demanding that the government commits to not engaging in new oil and gas extraction in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Over 400 people have taken part in the protests this month, with some chaining themselves to pipes and tankers to disrupt the delivery of fuel to petrol stations. Over 500 protesters have been arrested since the start of April.
A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil has said: “No-one wants to be doing this, but it’s 2022 and right now there is a need to break the law so we are not guilty of greater crime, that of complicity with a great evil.
“We have no choice but to enter into civil resistance until the government announces an end to new oil and gas projects in the UK.”
Yesterday, Labour called for “nationwide injunctions” to block the demonstrations, which the party’s shadow justice secretary Steve Reed says are “causing misery for motorists”.
In a tweet which linked to an article from the Sun, Labour wrote: “Motorists were already being hammered by prices at the pump, and now millions can’t even access fuel.
“The government must immediately impose injunctions to put a stop to this disruption.”
The party’s call to crack down on the protests by making the police’s ability to arrest activists easier was heavily criticised by climate change and active travel campaigners online:
Labour hasn’t taken notice of what the UN Sec General said about the climate emergency then. https://t.co/0VAZMF7eoc pic.twitter.com/xRETJK6Pxe
— Carlton Reid (@carltonreid) April 11, 2022
The only progressive solution is to free people – especially those on low incomes – from having to hand over their money to the car and oil industries just to exist. https://t.co/kxYHwLcFre
— Ian Walker (@ianwalker) April 11, 2022
7,000 deaths so far this year…https://t.co/BIVPMzRWhI
— Neil Shima. 😷 💙🇺🇦 (@StickMan_v7) April 11, 2022
Public transport users – those emitting the least – are the ones being hammered. Where was the anger when all this was going on? pic.twitter.com/WUTfi6Gcc6
— Keith Barrow (@keithbarrow80) April 11, 2022
Stop built in car dependency.
Fund public transport.
Fund active travel.
Make driving a choice not a necessity for most workers.— Ben Collier (@benjyminty) April 11, 2022
Give bicycles a chance
And on an entirely unrelated note…
Give bicycles a chance.
Amsterdam, 1978. Before it decided to change into a people friendly, liveable city. pic.twitter.com/aIC5XhJlIc
— Harman Idema (@HarmaninToronto) April 9, 2022
Spot the difference
And now for some balance, here’s a thread on London parking from Max Sullivan, Labour’s candidate for the Bayswater Ward at the upcoming Westminster City Council elections:
LEFT: Safe parking for 6 bicycles, £72/year. 6 bikes total, £432 combined. If you live long enough to get to the top of the waiting list.
RIGHT: A 4L petrol Porsche that takes up more space, costs £0 to park. And you’ll get your resident’s permit immediately.
Here’s why… 1/5 pic.twitter.com/c4P2xSoQPs
— Max Sullivan (@maxpsullivan) April 11, 2022
Westminster City Council offers a 100% residents parking discount for ‘eco vehicles’, of which, incredibly, this petrol / electric hybrid is classed as one.
2/5 pic.twitter.com/vSBppfF30C
— Max Sullivan (@maxpsullivan) April 11, 2022
I believe this is a total joke considering the quality of our air. Local authorities must take urgent action to refashion our cities for active travel.
A start? Charging the owner of this £123,000, 4L petrol Porsche for the pleasure of taking up so much space on our street.
4/5
— Max Sullivan (@maxpsullivan) April 11, 2022
Oh, and bike hangers can look much better than the black sheds. Here’s the other style used in Westminster. pic.twitter.com/ltq59PUQq5
— Max Sullivan (@maxpsullivan) April 12, 2022
Bike snatched ‘right in front’ of woman just before cycling holiday
A Bristol cyclist had her bike stolen from ‘right in front’ of her just hours before she was set to travel to France for a cycling holiday with her partner and son.
Katharine Barker, her partner Henry and eight-year-old had travelled to Portsmouth on Saturday to board a ferry to Saint-Malo for a long-awaited, covid-postponed bike holiday.
As Katharine waited outside a local shopping centre on Commercial Road with the family’s three bikes, a thief “suddenly” appeared from behind her, grabbed her Canyon bike (fitted with panniers which included her son’s new cycling shoes), and rode off.
“He came from out of nowhere, it all happened in a flash,” Katharine told The News.
“I wasn’t close enough to grab him so I screamed out. But it wasn’t very busy because it was about 5pm and the shops were closing.
“It felt worse because I literally saw it happen in front of me and I couldn’t stop it.”
Katharine says she contacted the police immediately but was told there was little they could do.
She described the thief as a slim, young man in his late teens or early 20s, who was wearing grey trousers and a black cap.
“I don’t think I will get my bike back but it’s important to raise awareness about this to prevent it happening to others,” she added.
“Maybe I was being naive, but I didn’t expect my bike to be taken from right in front of me.”
Her partner Henry told road.cc: “We’re all pretty gutted and it’s put a massive downer on what was meant to be a really enjoyable holiday”.
Anyone with information about the robbery can contact Hampshire Police on 101 quoting 44220139919 or by submitting information via the police’s website.
Four days to Paris-Roubaix: Who says students are lazy?
Thank you to the students from the Lycée Horticole de Raisme, the work going into the cobbles is not easy! 👏🏻
Merci aux élèves du Lycée Horticole de Raisme dont le travail de préparation des secteurs pavés est précieux ! 👏🏻#ParisRoubaix pic.twitter.com/tp5xRAHN9a
— Paris-Roubaix (@Paris_Roubaix) April 12, 2022
Definitely beats eating last night’s pizza and watching Jeremy Kyle anyway [insert your own up-to-date daytime TV reference here]…
And now for the Tories…
It’s 20 degrees, the sun is out, the PM and (bonus) the chancellor have been fined for breaching their own lockdown rules and I am going out for the year’s first ride on my summer bike. So, overall, it’s going OK today.
— Michael Hutchinson (@Doctor_Hutch) April 12, 2022
It’s lashing down where I am, but the sentiment remains.
Surely it’s time for Boris to – as they say – get on his bike now?
Tony Martin auctions off Olympic medal to help children in Ukraine – and the highest bidder immediately returns it to him
A few weeks ago we reported that Tony Martin (Norfolk’s finest, according to Twitter’s UK Cycling Expert) was auctioning the silver medal he won at the 2012 London Olympics to raise money to help children and their families in Ukraine.
Today the 36-year-old retired German pro announced that nutritional supplements brand FitLine was the highest bidder, donating €35,000 to charity Wir Helfen Kindern for the medal – before promptly returning it back to the former Jumbo-Visma rider.
“Even though I was absolutely fine with donating it, this massively generous gesture makes me speechless,” Martin said on Instagram.
“I really want to thank FitLine for the big support of my charity project and also for giving me back the chance to show my Olympic silver medal to my grandchildren one day.”
Last week, Germany’s 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich also raised €40,000 for children in Ukraine by auctioning off his yellow Pinarello from the following year’s controversial ‘Festina Tour’, where he was beaten in dramatic fashion by Marco Pantani.
Prolific bike thief targeted senior doctor as he treated Covid patients
A serial bike thief stole a doctor’s bike as he battled to save the lives of patients in intensive care during the Covid pandemic.
Dr Aiden Turner was working a 14-hour shift at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle in June 2021 when 26-year-old Callum Graylish stole his Specialized bike. Graylish had a number of previous convictions for stealing bikes (out of 95 in total) and would go on to steal two more high value bikes that summer on the grounds of Newcastle University.
In a victim impact statement, Dr Turner said he used the bike to commute to work so lost out financially as a result of the theft.
“On that day I had been due to finish work at 8.30pm but stayed on an extra hour to help out. It had been a hard, busy day and coming out to find my bike had been stolen was very demoralising,” he said.
Graylish was sentenced last week to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of theft and one of possessing the so-called ‘zombie drug’ spice with intent to supply.
Perseverance pays off for Delaplace
Anthony Delaplace takes his first win in 10 years, 8 months, 12 days. La Poly Normande in 2011 and Paris-Camembert today. Delaplace proves that hard work is rewarded sooner or later. 👍 #ParisCamembert pic.twitter.com/HiCVbNvFPV
— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) April 12, 2022
Anthony Delaplace is in his 13th year as a pro rider. He just took his 2nd pro win, 11 years after his 1st. That’s got to feel good.
Watch out for him in 2033.
— Daniel Lloyd (@daniellloyd1) April 12, 2022
Meanwhile in Finland...
This guy transported a 9-metre flagpole by bicycle for 55 kilometers, after their buddy complained that it can’t be done with a car.#MeanwhileInFinland #Finland https://t.co/wOoWozBnOe
— Pekka Tahkola 🇺🇦 (@pekkatahkola) April 11, 2022
File this one away for the next time anyone tries to argue that bikes are no good for transporting things…
Cargo bike hire scheme on its way to Wandsworth
A cargo bike hire scheme is set to launch in the London districts of Tooting, Clapham Junction and Battersea.
The Community Cargo Bikes scheme will be operated by bike provider Peddle My Wheels and supported by Wandsworth Council. For up to £5 an hour, locals will be able to rent the bikes for up to two hours a day.
Residents are asked to register their interest in the scheme at the Peddle My Wheels website.
What’s the hold up?
One from the comments section today:
Back from the shops and I was held up as I could not turn off the main road into the junction due to two chatting drivers, one in a lorry.
Must have been held up for over nine seconds. Will they get a NIP?
For those of you scratching your heads, here’s the original bizarre story of the cyclist handed a notice of intended prosecution for holding up a van driver for nine – yes, nine – seconds while filming a phone-using motorist:
> Police intend to prosecute helmet cam cyclist for holding up van driver – for nine seconds
Having a wheelie good time in the comments
I promise that will the last of the ‘wheelie’ puns…
Turns out most of our readers were shocked and appalled by Jeremy Vine’s video of the trickster cyclist, wheelieing his way around London.
Though they were mostly appalled because they can’t execute a wheelie of that beauty themselves:
I could wheelie like that when I was a teenager.
The fact that I can’t now I’m in my 50s is obviously the fault of modern bikes. Can’t ride ‘em no handed either.
Personally, I think it’s appalling. And that is in no way due to embarrassment that I can’t do a wheely. Not even when cycling on Wheely Down Road in Hampshire. Oh no.
In the first lockdown I tried for a while to learn to wheelie. To my chagrin, I failed. Got quite close eventually, the trick is making yourself lean back, but the mental effort of forcing myself to do that was too much for me.
Others were less than impressed by some drivers’ reaction to the footage online, particularly the predictions that showboating cyclists would wreak ‘carnage’ on the capital:
I wonder how many motorists would be KSI’d by a wheelying cyclist?
But one car might have been scratched, and we all know that’s far more important than the life of a human being.
The carnage bit seems to have been edited out of JV’s video, and it seems to be missing from all the news sites… AP must be shitting themselves that they have missed a story about *carnage* in London…
12 April 2022, 08:21
Just when you thought dropper posts were going to be the only tech breakthrough of the spring classics…
Tyre pressure adjustment on the fly? Team DSM will use innovative €3,000 hubs to change tyre pressure mid-race for Paris-Roubaix
The Scope Atmoz hubs cost €3,304 and allow the rider to adjust tyre pressure while riding via a button on the handlebars
12 April 2022, 08:21
12 April 2022, 08:21
Ouch… Maybe Chris Froome was right after all?
Disc brake injury leaves pro cyclist with 35 stitches
Hugo Hofstetter shared pictures of his damaged helmet and needed hospital treatment on a cut to his right ear
12 April 2022, 08:21
12 April 2022, 08:21
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Latest Comments
That's... not right. The prosecution has to* prove beyond reasonable doubt that the offence was committed, but not that every single detail of statements made by their witnesses is accurate. And HoarseMann is correct that it doesn't mean the same as "with absolute certainty", otherwise it would be "beyond *all* doubt". [* More accurately, should have to. In practice, when it comes to offences against cyclists, the system often does seem to demand that it's proven beyond unreasonable doubt as well, but that's not what the standard is supposed to be, or what's applied to other offences. ]
Completely agree. Neutralising GC half way through a stage is just utterly absurd. What are they thinking? Imagine if Del Toro had not made it back on in time, what would have happened then? He'd have lost the white jersey *because* of ASOs dumb decision to try protect the starting GC standings. Either the GC standings are frozen at the gun (still requiring them to finish) or they should be taken at the end of the stage.
I'm fine with GC being taken far from the line. Those who want to race can, and by God they did, and those who want to kick back and enjoy the last hour of the Tour waving to fans can do that, and by God they earned it.
HoarseMann, Beyond reasonable doubt means precisely that. If a witness statement mentions a distance "he was less than a metre from me" then the prosecution needs to be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the distance was less than a metre. Can't do that, then no conviction. It's a function of us not having a minimum passing distance law in the UK, the highway code gives a guide figure but certain cycling accounts push for this as an absolute figure which it isn't. This mena that the more precise people try to be in statements the less chance they have of a successful prosecution. It's a case of being careful what you wish for.
A while ago I spoke to a team leader for the Met police's unit that deals with dangerous driving reports. They said that the Met police seniors spoke to court/prosecution staff to find out which cases were most successfull, to work out which reports to prioritise/NFA as they are now getting too many to handle in a timely manner. I think this might have been after the 2022 highway code update and the answer was phone use given it is pretty much a slam dunk with good evidence. So I guess Wales police are basically taking this approach to the nth degree.
That last stage was EPIC. But, by neutralising the GC, it almost becomes a classic at the end of a grand tour. I want a bit of jeopardy all the way to the final finish line.
Well, no, because if the times are taken before they get to the climb there isn't going to be the terrain on which to make a 20-30 second difference, so it would be pointless, just as it was when it was a flat stage.
Matches the trend seen in other sports as well (particularly marathon running) where the drop off/wall isn’t there any more. Nutrition would be the legal explanation for it, and it does seem to have ‘flattened’ the risk profile for going for it in endurance sports, people don’t blow up like they used to. The tour is also gradually getting shorter. Pre 2011 it was usually over 3500km in total, and pre 1985 sometimes over 4000km, whereas there’s only been 3 since 2011 over 3500km. (This year was the shortest tour since 1905). So you’ve got athletes better prepared, better fuelled and with less risk of failure from riding hard all day, racing over shorter distances on better bikes (again like how marathon runners now have modern super shoes). When you put it like that it’s not surprising they’re going a lot faster!
Someone needs to tell these police forces that "beyond reasonable doubt" does not mean "with absolute certainty", especially when the penalty is a minor fine or, more likely, an education course.
@OnYerBike Just scrolling past the thumbnail of that video, I assumed they were quoting minutes and seconds, not seconds! Though to be fair, they were using a mains powered angle grinder, I assume a cordless would take a bit longer.
56 thoughts on “Vine’s latest vid makes motorists wheelie angry; ‘Stop built-in car dependency’: Labour Party under fire for calls to clamp down on Just Stop Oil protesters; Wout van Aert banned from Strava; Unusual Zwift setups + more on the live blog”
Quote:
I wonder how many motorists would be KSI’d by a wheelying cyclist?
brooksby wrote:
But one car might have been
But one car might have been scratched, and we all know that’s far more important than the life of a human being.
According to this chart:-
According to this chart:-
https://transport.ec.europa.eu/news/road-safety-european-commission-rewards-effective-initiatives-and-publishes-2020-figures-road-2021-11-18_en
7 motorists were killed in collisions with bicycles in 2019, we should spread this information more widely to make them scared of us!
Got the link?
Got the link?
https://transport.ec.europa
https://transport.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2021-11/collision-matrix-2019.pdf
Backladder wrote:
That chart is surprising – it looks like car occupants themselves are in the most danger when no other vehicle is involved. Maybe time to start promoting car helmets?
As smarter folks have pointed
As smarter folks have pointed out numbers of participants / some kind of rate is also important to understand things. That brings in further nuances of course eg. is it most helpful to compare per trip, per mile, per time spent travelling – and then the different environments make a difference as eg. motorways tend not to have pedestrians.
I recall reading somewhere that – adjusted for rate / numbers in some way motorcyclists were the most vulnerable but also among the most deadly.
hawkinspeter wrote:
But if you consider the number of single-vehicle crashes, including the ones cited in our own forum thread where a vehicle has crashed into a building (or other inanimate object), then sadly perhaps it shouldn’t such a surprise.
And bear in mind that this is across a total population of 440 million+ people so the 4,400 is about 0.001% or 1 in every 100,000.
The overall total of 22,800 deaths is 0.005% or 1 in every 20,000 (if my sketchy maths is correct). If that percentage is applied to a UK population of 60 million then it would result in 3,060 deaths instead of the ca. 1,500 in recent years.
Agreed – so sometimes you
Agreed – so sometimes you have to ask – who’s having the crashes? And how can we stop him?
chrisonatrike wrote:
James Spader
Backladder wrote:
I can’t wrap my head around that document at all. How did 22 car occupants die as a result of collisions with pedestrians?
I can understand the figures relating to Motor Cyclists, Mopeds and Cyclists being killed when they are in a collision with a pedestrian.
But a car occupant dying as a result of a car colliding with a pedestrian….. just struggling to grasp how that can happen.
TriTaxMan wrote:
Drive into a pedestrian on way to driving into a wall? That’s the only sort of scenario I can see working.
That’s my understanding. It’s
That’s my understanding. It’s not the hitting the pedestrian that caused the motorist death, as it were, but more that there was an incident in which the driver died and which also involved a pedestrian.
TriTaxMan wrote:
Probably from head injuries caused by slamming on the brakes.
I bet not a single one of those fatalities involved a car occupant wearing a helmet – they need to take some responsibility for their own safety.
hawkinspeter wrote:
Yeah both of those seem like explanations….. therefore the pedestrian wouldn’t really be responsible for the death of the car occupant…. just a factor in it.
I cannot see any scenario where a motor vehicle collides with a pedestrian or a cyclist that there would be any significant intrusion into the car’s cabin by the pedestrian/cyclist sufficient to cause any injury to the occupants of the car.
Unless the table is trying to allocate blame for the death to one party as opposed to the other.
Using the logic that for example 19 pedestrians where killed after being in a collision with a bicycle that seems to indicating that the cyclist was the cause of the crash. And that 14 cyclists were killed after being in collision with a pedestrian suggests that the pedestrian was the cause of the crash.
I don’t think the table is
I don’t think the table is assigning blame at all.
In a collision between a pedestrian and a cyclist, if the pedestrian dies, then it would be counted in the top row (2nd from left) and if the cyclist dies then it would be counted in the 2nd row (1st column). Presumably if both died then it would be counted in both locations despite being a single incident.
TriTaxMan wrote:
Shock.
TriTaxMan wrote:
There is definitely something to “coding” here because zero pedestrians were killed an accidents not involving other vehicles. Obviously a choice of where to draw the line (e.g. struck by lightning / had heart attack while walking – probably not useful to count that). I would be amazed if no-one had died from tripping over in the street though – which could indeed be linked to road conditions we’d be interested in here e.g. poor lighting, uneven surface, potholes, bad pavement design, lack of gritting…
It is quite possible that in
It is quite possible that in a serious collision (including suicide jumps from bridges) that an occupant could be fatally injured by the impact with a body at high speed, though as others have suggested, it might simply be deaths caused by motorists doing stupid things that happened to catch a pedestrian in their path at the time.
People in North America are
People in North America are regularly killed when their car strikes a moose, or even a deer. And pedestrians are getting larger and larger…
https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/deer-kills-driver-53-kendall-county-coroner
andystow wrote:
Surely they’re only killed once?
Apparently it’s a consequence
Apparently it’s a consequence of The Rapture being possible. #whattheydonttellyou
Or is it to do with Grave
Or is it to do with Grave Robbers from Outer Space?
brooksby wrote:
The carnage bit seems to have been edited out of JV’s video, and it seems to be missing from all the news sites … AP must be shitting themselves that they have missed a story about *carnage* in London …
Love a bit of false
Love a bit of false equivalence in the morning, “Would you have been as happy if that was a motorcyclist?” – No, probably not, because a motorcyclist would be significantly faster and the system weight would be 3-4 times what the cyclist has so any impact would be dramatically more signficant.
Napalm
Napalm
Anyone seen this story in the
Anyone seen this story in the Grianuda:
San Francisco police stop self-driving car – and find nobody inside, video shows
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/11/self-driving-car-police-pull-over-san-francisco
brooksby wrote:
I saw that story but elsewhere (can’t recall where exactly). What’s interesting is that the car considered that the initial pull-over location wasn’t safe and so it stopped and then continued so that it could stop at a safer location. That’s exactly what people should do, but I daresay a lot of people in the U.S. would be scared of getting shot by the police if they tried that.
Posted April 1st. Hmmmm ?
Posted April 1st. Hmmmm ?
Posted April 11th. Hmmm
Posted April 11th. Hmmm 😉
brooksby wrote:
First posted to Instagram on April 2nd. Hmmmm
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/04/cops-take-dim-view-of-autonomous-vehicle-driving-with-no-lights-at-night/
brooksby wrote:
Read your original quote again. Hmmmm.
Bugger bugger bugger
Bugger bugger bugger
I do have tio admit I did
I do have tio admit I did wonder, but it does seem to be real.
Surely the real fool is the one that designed such an autonomous car that can be “waved down” and will “move to a safe location” but forgot to program it to turn the lights on when it is dark. Afterall the lights are to be seen as well as to see with.
The lights were
The lights were malfunctioning , as per the article.
Didn’t read the article much,
Didn’t read the article much, just the reason for the pull. I would have said one up on man over machine with detecting an issue with the car, however the amount of drivers who pull away and forget to turn lights on because the roads are so well lit in a city……. and I admit I was one of those back in the early 90’s.
Personally, I think it’s
Personally, I think it’s appalling. And that is in no way due to embarrassment that I can’t do a wheely. Not even when cycling on Wheely Down Road in Hampshire. Oh no.
In the first lockdown I tried
In the first lockdown I tried for a while to learn to wheelie. To my chagrin, I failed. Got quite close eventually, the trick is making yourself lean back, but the mental effort of forcing myself to do that was too much for me. Anyway, those joyless twitterati shouldn’t watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAckkwE15ZA
The cyclist has a lot of
The cyclist has a lot of control and skill, but still not suitable for the main road. Stick to off road for that.
I could practice my 100m sprints on the town centre pavements but that wouldn’t be a good idea (also I would have to be many years younger and many kg lighter)
It’s clear to see whose
It’s clear to see whose pocket Labour are in.
I remember Ed Miliband, last
I remember Ed Miliband, last year, going on about how covid was the greatest threat to modern life that we’d ever seen (or something like that). I remember wondering if the Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero actually understood anything about climate change. Looks like I have my answer.
btw, not cycling ralated but an interesting article in the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/12/climate-anxiety-therapy-mental-health?msclkid=c19351daba5511ec845b1c0eabcff67f
IanMK wrote:
It’ll be fine – just kick the can down the road and let the next generation deal with it.
hawkinspeter wrote:
They’ll need a Hero…
brooksby wrote:
My life fades, the vision dims.
All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos ruined dreams this wasted land. But most of all, I remember the Road Warrior the man we called Max. To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time when the world was powered by the black fuel and the deserts sprouted great cities of pipe and steel. Gone now swept away. For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel they were nothing. They’d built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered and stopped. Their leaders talked and talked and talked but nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled the cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white-line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways ready to wage war for a tank of juice. And in this maelstrom of decay ordinary men were battered and smashed.
To be fair, Ed Miliband does
To be fair, Ed Miliband does appear to understand global heating. In my view if he ever becomes SoS for Climate Change we will get some ambitious policies.
I could wheelie like that
I could wheelie like that when I was a teenager.
The fact that I can’t now I’m in my 50s is obviously the fault of modern bikes. Can’t ride em no handed either.
IanGlasgow wrote:
You can bet your bottom dollar if it was a police constable that had been mugged the police helicopter would still be circling overhead.
Back from the shops and I was
Back from the shops and I was held up as I could not turn off the main road in to the junction due to 2 chatting drivers, one in a lorry.
Must have been held up for over 9 seconds. Will they get a NIP ?
As a climate activist who has
As a climate activist who has been willing to be arrested 4 times now while trying to change the myopic view of the government and a massive percentage of the UK’s voters, it’s tragic that Starmer and Labour are aligning themselves with big oil.
They are supposed to be an opposition party, not Tory lite.
Well that ship sailed some
Well that ship sailed some time ago… (may have been a ferry).
As we all know what’s most
As we all know what’s most important to the Labour party is not sorting out the climate crisis, “saving the NHS”, sticking it to the Tories or even standing up for whatever “working people” means now but becoming the next government. The same would be true if the parties’ situations were reversed of course. I think the Tories are slightly more consistent in sticking by the people who donate huge sums of money to them though.
Butbutbut… they’ve put the
Butbutbut… they’ve put the flag on the wrong end!!
https://www.kentonline.co.uk
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/gravesend/news/cycle-lane-plans-scrapped-after-backlash-264914/
Note sure if this was flagged before but I do enjoy living in a county that seems so desperate to push back cycling despite the poor roads and endless traffic.
Love the way articles in
Love the way articles in local rags ALWAYS refer to any plan re new cycle lanes or LTNs as being “controversial”.
KSI stats. The number of cars on the roads. Being able to do 60 on a narrow country road. The positioning of rear number plates on new Landies. The amount of road space given over to storage of private belongings. Nothing controversial here, move along.
Driving Mrs S to the eye
Driving Mrs S to the eye hospital in Brum, I was treated to the display of an off-road motorcycle* wheelie-ing its way along the Queensway. I was not impressed, and I want overly impressed by the cyclist who was strsying towards oncoming traffic.
*A rider may have been involved.