Angry people in local newspapers: jewellers “forced” to close…because of cycle lane; Alaphilippe back training (but only on Tacx™ rollers); Jumbo-Visma pro faceplants while passing fan a bottle; Everesting every day for a week? + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Jumbo-Visma pro faceplants while trying to pass Giro d'Italia spectator a bottle
Jumbo-Visma’s Giro d’Italia has gone from bad to worse…
Like a Monday morning. @OutOfCycling @JumboVismaRoad pic.twitter.com/J65NVmAlP1
— Carlo Gironi (@carlogironi) May 11, 2022
First it was Edoardo Affini getting dropped on a climb by a…cat?! Then Tom Dumoulin got pipped for stage two by Simon Yates. On the day up Etna, Dumoulin, Tobias Foss and Sam Oomen all lost significant GC time. And now, Oomen has been brought down by an over-zealous spectator looking for a souvenir.
The Dutch rider was rolling back to the team bus after yesterday’s stage finish in Messina, when a fan stepped out to ask for a bottle. Channelling his inner Pascal Eenkhoorn, Oomen passed it over, only for the fan’s bag to get caught on his bars, and cause a moment made for ‘Out of Context Cycling’…
The fan seemed to take the impact harder than Oomen, cursing his luck…you can almost see the moment he realises he’s going to be plastered all over the internet…’am I the real Opi-Omi?’
That’s Oppi for you
— Michael Scarisbrick (@ScarisbrickMike) May 12, 2022
Anyway, Jumbo-Visma said “at a first glance” their rider seems okay after the fall. Oh, and to top off the team’s misfortune, young sprinter Olav Kooij won an impressive sprint victory on the opening stage of the Tour of Hungary, prompting many to bombard their social media accounts with messages about how they’ve picked the wrong team. Who’d want to be a DS in that team this morning?
Could you Everest every day for a week?
Chris Hall is something of a road.cc legend who almost broke the live blog in November 2020 after he brought a new insane climbing challenge to our attention — trenching. That day, he rode up (and importantly, down too) Box Hill 91 times until he’d climbed (and descended) the depth of the Mariana Trench. That’s a whole 10,994m…although Chris did 11,870m, of course, during a 450km ride…
Then, last spring we reported the shocking story that Chris had called off his England-crossing charity ride from Land’s End in Cornwall (the most westerly point) to Ness Point in Lowestoft (the most easterly) after being pushed off his bike in Andover.
Thankfully, Chris returned later in the year to finish what he started, riding 700km across England in 29 hours…
Now he needs a new challenge and will be trying to complete seven Everestings in seven days. That’s seven consecutive days of climbing 8,848m…just ask Liam how hard it is to do one…
Chris’ latest epic will be raising awareness for mental health and funds for Movember, and gets underway on May 16. So…which hill is going to become etched on his mind forever? Answer? The stunning Llyn Stwlan Dam; with its tight hairpins and 9.7 per cent average gradient, it really is one of the most incredible climbs in the UK. No better place to grind up 61,936m…(that’s 33 reps and 182km each day)…
Chris is inviting anyone who wants to help with a couple of reps to come along for moral support so, if you’re in the area next week, feel free to drop by with some carbohydrates…
That's sorted then...
I concur…that’s why we need people like Chris to do it for us…
Have a laugh, it's almost the weekend
(Disclaimer that this is a joke, I don’t cycle on the pavement unless there’s a mixed use path that makes sense to use)
— Caoimhe 🏳️⚧️🇮🇪🇬🇧💛🤍💜🖤 (@Caoimhe4now) May 11, 2022
National Road Championships routes announced
To conclude the weekend’s racing, we visit the site which featured in the 2021 Tour Series and 2016 Tour of Britain 🇬🇧
🗓️ 26 June
🚴 Road
📌 Castle Douglas
#NationalRoadChampionships pic.twitter.com/hFpwf6llyK— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) May 11, 2022
British Cycling has released the routes of the National Road Championships to be raced between 23-26 June in Dumfries and Galloway. Based out of Castle Douglas the road races look like they’ll be very flat affairs, with just 752m of climbing over 201km for the men, while the women will tackle 496m over 128km.
The 44km men’s TT route has just 86m of elevation, while the women’s single lap has 43m.
Let’s just say anyone wanting a national champ’s jersey this year will need some power…
Bikes carrying Ukrainians to safety
People often escape in the night, using secondary roads, to bypass numerous Russian checkpoints, where one can be arbitrarily detained and disappear without trace. Sometimes they escape on bicycles: here’s @berdynskykh_k photo of bikes left in Zelenodolsk,first 🇺🇦-controlled town pic.twitter.com/q9TXuDDYs3
— Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) May 11, 2022
"UK's most penalised drivers are in Bradford, Liverpool and Leeds, study reveals"...except it's a load of rubbish
We regularly get sent ‘studies’ by a whole host of companies, essentially looking for a shout-out. Sometimes, naming no names *cough* me *cough*, people fall for them and might write a story titled, I don’t know, off the top of my head, ‘Where is Britain’s safest and most dangerous city for cycling?’ only to need to go back in and change pretty much everything to say the ‘study’s’ logic was questionable at best…forgive me, my brain appeared to be in a hangover-induced state of shutdown on Sunday…
Well, today we’ve got another one in our inbox…’UK’s most penalised drivers are in Bradford, Liverpool and Leeds, study reveals’ which we quickly thought might sound better as…’UK’s worst drivers that deserved to be punished are in Bradford, Liverpool and Leeds’.
Anyway, on closer inspection it included gems like: “Of the ten postcode areas with the highest percentage of licence holders with penalty points, eight are based in West Yorkshire, and two other postcode areas are in Merseyside.”
road.cc translation: West Yorkshire Police and Merseyside Police are the two forces within whose areas drivers are most likely to have penalty points, most likely due to a combination of high levels of enforcement of traffic laws by roads policing units, local CPS offices proceeding with prosecution once a case is referred to them, and the specific approach taken to punishment by courts there.
Funny how that’s not as catchy as most penalised drivers…
Another classic: “Drivers who want to avoid getting further penalty points on their licence may want to consider moving to a remote Scottish island though, as six of the ten postcode areas with the lowest penalty point to licence holder ratio are based in quiet island locations north of the English border.”
So yeah, make of all that what you will…
Spare a thought for Diego Rosa
We have movement at long last at the #Giro!
Looks like Diego Rosa drew the short straw on the @EoloKometaTeam Bus this morning#Giro105 pic.twitter.com/pjiDSNBgBd
— GCN Racing (@GcnRacing) May 12, 2022
Diego Rosa isn’t your usual breakaway cannon fodder on a Grand Tour sprint stage. Fine, he rides for EOLO-Kometa these days, but he’s finished second at Il Lombardia, won Milan-Torino, finished eighth at the Critérium du Dauphiné and 10th at Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
Well, today he can forget all that…he’s out alone for however long the peloton at the Giro d’Italia want to make him suffer. The 33-year-old went in the morning break, looked around, and quickly realised he was on his ones.
Might as well slow down to a touring pace and see if the bunch really want it all back together so soon…
Diego Rosa: pic.twitter.com/tWrI2FZZt6
— Thijs Zonneveld (@thijszonneveld) May 12, 2022
When you make it over the only climb of the day
😘#Giro @MarkCavendish @qst_alphavinyl pic.twitter.com/5prw5ph846
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 12, 2022
What’s happened on stage six of the Giro? Absolutely nothing of note…
Sorry to disappoint, we’re still living off yesterday’s bizarre finish line crash. Diego Rosa has three minutes advantage but as sure as the Pope is a Catholic or bears relieve themselves in the woods (depending on if you ask Jens Voigt or not) we’ll get a sprint of some sort in Scalea in roughly two and a half hours’ time…until then you may as well forget the Giro’s even happening…
Sponsor-friendly recovery update
Pro cycling teams love a sponsor shout-out. I mean, fair enough, they fund the bill-paying and chain-lubing…
However, we do love to take the piss out of some of the more bizarre shoehorned sponsor name drops…and boy do we have one for you this afternoon.
World Champion @alafpolak1 has undergone further examinations at the hospital in Herentals, which have revealed that the pneumothorax he suffered as a result of the crash three weeks ago has completely healed, meaning he is able to resume light training on a set of @tacx rollers. pic.twitter.com/YrfyPWFoZl
— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) May 12, 2022
Firstly and foremostly, it’s great that the world champion is back on his (Specialized) bike. See what I did there? I’m sure Patrick Lefevere’s Tour de France plans are extremely grateful…however, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl’s update does suggest a doctor somewhere sat Julian down and prescribed Tacx roller work only…
“I’m sorry, Julian. Your body is not strong enough for Elite or Wahoo just yet. For people with your injuries, I always prescribe Tacx…”
the Doctors specifically said only @tacx rollers and nothing else 🤣
But seriously, super news. 💪💪💪
— Joe (@joehenstridge) May 12, 2022
🚨Your friendly one-day reminder: catch James May talking all things cycling tomorrow🚨
So you know how tomorrow afternoon, around 4pm perhaps, your thoughts will be turning to that first cold beverage of the weekend? Well, I’ve got an idea…
Maybe you should join us for ‘Drink at your desk Friday’ with…James May, where Liam and Dave talked about his lifelong love of cycling, his favourite bikes past and present, and the common mistake many bike riders make that he believes should see transgressors “put in prison.”
We’ve given you a sneak peek below of what to expect…
> James May: “I can’t stand road sectarianism – it’s all b*llocks”
4pm Friday on our YouTube channel for the full interview…cold ones are optional (but hey, it’s the weekend, you deserve it)…
Strangest pro cycling crashes
We should probably make it very clear we have no intention to make light of the dangers pro cyclists risk every time they pin a race number on, but the fact remains there have been more than a few (thankfully serious injury-free) bizarre crashes over the years that would be better suited to You’ve Been Framed than GCN+…
Just the other month, for example, when Julian Alaphilippe was taken down in a fall caused, in part, by the driver of his own team car…
It must have been an awkward dinner table that night…
Sticking with this season, and even more bizarre, was Kevin Geniets getting taken out by a race sponsors’ board at Paris-Nice, as he rode to sign on for the final stage. Geniets wasn’t lucky enough to escape injury-free and abandoned shortly after rejoining his teammates on the startline.
Or how about Eduard Prades celebrating a ‘win’ at the Tour of the Hellas, only for his saddle to come off, throwing him to the ground…smooth…at least he won though? Well, actually, he didn’t realise there was a rider up the road and was sprinting for second…ouch.
It wouldn’t be a bizarre crash round-up without Froome on Ventoux, would it? More bizarre for what followed than the crash itself, but when crowds poured onto the lower slopes after the stage finish was moved from the summit due to high winds, it caused major fan congestion. In the mess, a motorbike couldn’t get through and blocked the thin slither of road without fans. Cue Richie Porte and Froome slamming into the back of it and ending up on the deck.
With the team car far behind…well, the rest is history…
Pick a winner: Arnaud Démare wins stage six of the Giro d'Italia...just
Second angle of the photofinish (NB the officials can zoom in to be sure of the result, this pic just helps show the difference) pic.twitter.com/0E5D4PV0hI
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) May 12, 2022
Channelling my inner Ian Smith for this one…by the barest of margins…Arnaud Démare won the sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia this afternoon, edging out Caleb Ewan by a centimetre/millimetre (or less) after a messy, chaotic final kilometre in Scalea.
The final kilometre was the polar opposite of the first 192, where barely an attack disturbed the peloton’s slow meander along the coast. The 38km/h average speed on a mostly pan-flat stage tells you just how leisurely their progress was.
In the end, the riders did well to avoid a crash. A Cofidis rider swung out in front of Mark Cavendish’s penultimate lead-out man Bert Van Lerberghe, while Fernando Gaviria was again left fuming, this time after narrowly avoiding disaster with DSM’s Cees Bol.
With the road eventually clearing, Cav launched but quickly found Ewan speeding past on his outside shoulder. Ewan powered towards the line and looked to be doing enough for a first win of the race, but was mugged in the bike throw. Démare and Ewan both had no idea who had won, luckily the organisers were on hand to pull up the photo, and soon awarded the Frenchman his second victory of the race.
Angry people in local newspapers: jewellers "forced" to close...because of cycle lane
Let’s finish Thursday with one of our favourite live blog hobbies…enjoying angry people in local newspapers…
Duggan Jewellers is closing down and owner Damian Duggan knows exactly who (or more accurately, what) is to blame…it’s that pesky cycle lane, of course!
Despite 42 years of business he made the interesting claim to Extra.ie that it was a bollard too far for his business, and will decimate his trade…
“I always thought I’d be carried out of here in a wooden box but the day they started putting the bollards down I said ‘that’s it’, and we closed,” he said poetically.
Anyway, let’s get what we’re here for…the Facebook comment gold…
“His customers will travel from far and wide, but also not walk more than 7 foot once parked,” Danny Cole said.
Steve Morrison has spotted a new business opportunity: “Maybe if he sold bejewelled cycling helmets his business would thrive?” Improvise. Adapt. Overcome…
Equally enterprising is Dominic Price: “Clearly there’s a market here for drive through jewellers, why make people get out of their cars at all.”
Tim Commer simply parroted what we’ve been saying for years…”That’s the trouble with cycle lanes, as soon as one appears businesses profits start falling, inflation rises, the pound crashes, global warming skyrockets, war breaks out and it all ends in nuclear armageddon. Science has proven cycle lanes killed off the dinosaurs.” Hear, hear…
David Dassinger’s feeling petty: “I hope somebody opens a bike shop in that space.”
Sometimes social media can be fun…
12 May 2022, 07:59
12 May 2022, 07:59
12 May 2022, 07:59
12 May 2022, 07:59
12 May 2022, 07:59
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Latest Comments
I don't know why the writer inaccurately describes the light output selection on this light. Three different things are conflated without properly first differentiating between them: The light mode (constant vs flash or "pulse"), power output (lumen rating), and the method of choosing these. Exposure combines the first two into three programs where each program has an individual output for the modes. So the copy-pasted text refers only to selecting the programs. Selecting between modes is as simple as in the Knog: "To cycle between the Constant and pulse options in each program press the function button once." Granted this might seem confusing at first but after that it is dead simple. The benefit of Exposure's choice is keeping things simple - once you've turned on the light you click either between constant and flash. In most cases FOR A COMMUTER LIGHT, this is just fine - when you ride a relatively short distance in most likely illuminated surroundings what the actual lumen output is is secondary. Connected to the above, marking as negative that the light puts out "only" 400 lumens in constant mode, is illogical. As the reviewer states, that amount is "a truly useful amount of light". There is ablosutely no challenge for Exposure in getting the light to put out 600 or more lumens in constant. But a) that would be more than "purposeful" and b) drain out the battery in an instant. The light has been designed as an ultra compact commuter light - where does it fail in that? Conversely, if you ride in "unlit rural voids" blame yourself and not the light if you chose this as your illuminating device. Furthermore claiming that the new alum. anti dazzle shield "makes zero difference" and is no upgrade is baffling - which do you think protects the lens better in an impact? Finally, moaning about the cost of the light without even mentioning what obviously plays a major role - the fact that it is manufactured in the UK, is appalling. So yeah if you "value" buying a light by Knog, Cateye and the likes that manufacture their lights in an undemocratic country where the list of ongoing human, labour, international law and environmental violations is nearly endless, and wish to support manufacturing processes where products are shipped across the world to endulge your "needs", then feel free to ignore all the above, and just focus on "user-friendliness".
Once again the CPS and Police are at fault There may be occasions in which the police and the CPS are independent entities, but in most of the cases on here, the CPS is just an excuse deployed by the police to excuse inaction over really blatant offences. What police officers are violently opposed to is people reporting offences, particularly when they send indisputable video, because the reports could take matters out of the hands of the police. They like to prosecute people they don't like, such as cyclists, and to have the option of forgiving people they do like, such as drivers in big cars or people they know. Whataboutery is getting a Bad Press on here, but it's a perfectly reasonable objection when, for instance, video is provided of drivers committing MUST NOT offences such as RLJs and they're forgiven by the police 'because everybody does it', yet a big thing is made of the offence when cyclists are involved. The assertion may not be palatable, but there are a lot of lying, crooked b******s in the Police.
I have both a Scott Spark RC and the Scale Gravel RC and find the Dangerholm builds really interesting by exploring what different directions can be achieved with a mix of imagination, DIY and professional resources. Probably not for the staid British mindset as shown by previous comments.
Once again the CPS and Police are at fault. They don't really worry about the law as they can usually find one to fit around their needs. And once again it's only when they are stood up to that they are forced to run away.
Lol. I’ve been saying the same to my watch. It keeps prompting me I need to do more calories on certain days and I tell it - but I did some gardening in the afternoon which included digging but u don’t let me record that. And then I have another biscuit with my tea.
"~15% of the riding time that I’m forced to use the road(because the infrastructure for cycling is insufficient or nonexistent) " Amsterdam?
Same here. I have a helmet with built in front and rear lights and have a red light clipped onto my bag plus lights attached to my bike front and rear but still have drivers putting me in danger. My commute is about two miles and I normally have around four incidents a week where I have to brake hard or take other evasive action to avoid being hit by distracted drivers. A big percentage of these are drivers coming on to roundabouts when I am already on them.
Glasgow's South City Way sounds great, does it not? As a user from before and after I wholeheartedly welcome the construction of the segregated route, but so much of the detailed construction is poor, if not unsafe. I provide a link to a presentation I made when construction was half complete (a personal view) and the construction errors remain outstanding to this day: crossed by high speed flared road junctions, poor colour differentiation, car door zone risks and so on. And yet cyclists come because they feel safe. It's a complex subject but IMHO the feeling of safety (or lack of) is a critical component. https://drive.proton.me/urls/B67AK44G90#CFueBGjscoWr
I can only conclude that you haven't been into a city in the last few years. Food delivery riders in particular are riding overpowered "eBikes" that are basically mopeds ... powered only via the throttle without pedalling at significantly more than 15mph. Problem is they look like normal bikes/ebikes and not like mopeds so that is what people describe them as. My reading of the article is that it is those vehicles that are being talked about here.
I have the Trace and Tracer, which have essentially the same design, albeit smaller and less powerful. The controls are a little complicated but only because there are loads of options. In reality, once you've chosen your level of brightness, you'll only cycle through 1 or 2 options and it's dead simple. The lights are rock solid, bright, with good runtimes. The only thing I find annoying is charging them - if your fingers are slightly wet or greasy, getting the rubber out of the way of the charging port is a pain in the arse.
52 thoughts on “Angry people in local newspapers: jewellers “forced” to close…because of cycle lane; Alaphilippe back training (but only on Tacx™ rollers); Jumbo-Visma pro faceplants while passing fan a bottle; Everesting every day for a week? + more on the live blog”
Quote:
No. Next? 😉
brooksby wrote:
Would you even want to?
Jack the ultra cyclist on
Jack the ultra cyclist on youtube is doing one a week for a year…..
The final five words of the
The final five words of the sentence were pretty unnecessary in my case.
Quote:
FTFY. Answer still no.
when do you want me to start!
According to Strava, I’ve
According to Strava, I’ve climbed a little more than two Everests so far this year. So I’m thinking no.
On that basis I’ve barely
On that basis I’ve barely done one this year so far,but I dont trust Strava altitude data, some of my rides end up with negative altitudes, it might not be hilly round here close to the coast but I’m not literally riding below sea level, yet.
Typical sensationalised Road
Typical sensationalised Road.cc reporting again.
That’s not a faceplant.
No, if it’s anything then it
No, if it’s anything then it’s more of a knee-plant…
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/18542050/hollyoaks-star-driving-ban-audi-daughter/
brooksby wrote:
to be fair, hardship to others always attracts more empathy for an EH plea.
“to be fair, hardship to
“to be fair, hardship to others always attracts more empathy for an EH plea”
If I’m not mistaken, she lives in a relatively urban area, if she is driving her kids any distance to school then it is because she has chosen to send her kids to a school other than the nearest one which is probably walking distance.
I have a lot more sympathy
I have a lot more sympathy with this ‘exceptional hardship’ claim than most others we see. This statement from the magistrate, however, is clearly rubbish –
Her hardship claim was based
Her hardship claim was based on insisting she needs to drive her daughter to school, part way down the article it turns out 2 out of the 5 days a week she gets transport provided and doesnt drive her.
Plus you dont get banned from driving for just driving without insurance as a rule, unless you’ve already collected a bundle of points, so that the extra 6pts takes you over the points limit under the totting up procedure.
She already had six points,
She already had six points, and this gave her another six.
yes I was just higlighting
yes I was just higlighting she had prior driving convictions to be in this state where a ban was the likely outcome for this “simply missing an email” so the exceptional hardship claim should take account of her priors, and the magistrates should have stressed any loss of freedom she was claiming, were down to her own actions & responsibilities for caring for her daughter.
but there you go another 12pointer driver let loose on the roads with driving treated as a right not a privilege, till the next time they get caught
https://www.liverpoolecho.co
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/speeding-businessman-killed-kind-loving-23918138
“Ben Trigger, 29, from Wigan, was convicted of death by dangerous driving following a trial last month. He had been banned twice previously for drink-driving.”
No-one’s being allowed to
No-one’s being allowed to continue robbing because otherwise their kids will go without are they? Or continue dealing drugs because their customers might suffer withdrawal.
I’m not completely unsympathetic to “hardship”. I’m sure most people are living harder lives than me as I’m quite lazy. However it goes way too far for driving offenses. Given it’s not many who even make it to court I think “otherwise law abiding” / “just the once” is a nonsense even though the courts have to take that as a given.
Most people feel that a) not being able to drive will change your life in lots of ways and b) is thus a major social degradation / cruel and unusual punishment. There is some truth in (b) due to how car-dependent we are. (a) is always true to some extent. These are overstated though. And isn’t forcing a change one of the main points of the sentence part of the legal system? You’re there because your behaviour has caused a societal conflict* / has injured or is endangering others. You can’t go on like before.
You’ve got children? Yes but they didn’t come along *entirely* by accident did they? Yes, given our society we may have to moderate that very slightly for mothers. Thankfully we’re not like the US or Poland (or even Ireland) on abortion though.
* Ignoring debates about who or what the legal system ultimately serves.
I’m sure the sale of an S
I’m sure the sale of an S line Audi A6 would fund quite a lot of taxi journeys!
chrisonatrike wrote:
Well, to be honest, at a time when people are having to choose between heating and eating, I’d be pretty lenient on someone robbing to feed their kids.
But to be clear, I wasn’t saying she shouldn’t have been banned – just that I thought that this was a stronger “exceptional hardship” case than many of the others we see reported. Personally, I would get rid of it altogether.
brooksby wrote:
That sounds to me like she never obtained the insurance fully in the first place
Leaving aside the lack of a
Leaving aside the lack of a ban, the fine/costs seem very low. Total cost £264, compared with the average cost of insurance of a little of £400.
Steve K wrote:
If the penalty for breaking a law is a fine, then that law only exists for the poor
hawkinspeter wrote:
Even more, though – if the penalty for breaking the law is a fine than is cheaper than the cost of following the law, then it’s no penalty at all.
It’s a bit like fining parents for taking kids on holiday during term time, when the fine is less than the saving they made on the holiday.
An IN10 conviction sees your
An IN10 conviction sees your costs go up by about 5x in the first year, last I looked. A totting ban also adds to it, as you have to declare both.
Bez had an interesting bit on
Bez had an interesting bit on the economies of driving without insurance on his excellent Beyond the Kerb.
hawkinspeter wrote:
Just like Covid regulations!
[
[
That sounds to me like she never obtained the insurance fully in the first place
[/quote]
Without any evidence, and as a complete supposition, it is nevertheless possible that the reason she didn’t provide details of her driving licence is that it would have revealed the uncomfortable and expensive presence of 6 points……..
nniff wrote:
Quite possibly. I think it’s a rubbish excuse and I’m surprised that the court went for it. The onus is on the driver to ensure that they’re insured to drive, so trying to blame a missing email is very weak.
hawkinspeter wrote:
the court DIDNT go for it – she got convicted of no insurance.
the EH argument was accepted
Courts have been issued more stringent guidelines on EH validity more recently, as at one point it seemed that around 10-20% were being accepted.
SaferEssexRoads
SaferEssexRoads
“We reply to criticism when we can help fix a situation unfortunately Essex Police must follow the CPS guidelines for what constitutes a close pass to be careless driving which changed recently.”
““Vision Zero” is our campaign and will not influence the CPS decision making, this is done by the results in court. You will have noticed the introduction of letters in a number of other counties as an alternative to a complete NFA as the model has rolled out nationally.”
Mark Hodson
“CPS don’t make #S3RTA1988 decisions, the only time they get involved is if there’s a not guilty plea and the case goes to court. The decision to prosecute a #S3RTA1988 based upon #3rdpartyreporting evidence is entirely down to the force it is reported to”
Road.cc – you did an article on Essex Police earlier in the year. Perhaps you can revisit this and find out about this CPS claim and compare Essex approach with other forces eg Inspector Kevin’s.
Road.cc – you did an article
Road.cc – you did an article on Essex Police earlier in the year. Perhaps you can revisit this and find out about this CPS claim and compare Essex approach with other forces eg Inspector Kevin’s
I resent this! Our Brave Lancashire Boys are much more dismissive of any ‘cyclist safety’ politically correct nonsense than Essex. I recall that Essex was the force who rejected a video-verified close-passing complaint because ‘the cyclist hadn’t swerved or braked’- that’s crass enough, and displays a complete inability to comprehend the experience of being passed 20 cms away at 50 mph by an Audi Psycho-Driver who is way into the distance before you’ve had time to swerve or brake. However, Lancashire is way ahead because they wouldn’t have even considered responding to the complaint. This is Audi Q2 JIB 1555 teaching me a lesson
Thought that was quite
Thought that was quite hilarious myself, being called out on their bs that it was all the fault of the CPS (not that I believed that anyway). Then of course they went silent again.
My understanding is that
My understanding is that while Mark’s comment is technically accurate, it also doesn’t give the full picture. Yes the decision to issue a FPN is carried out by the police officer involved and does not go through the CPS. However, a FPN is meant to be an equal alternative to prosecution through the courts, with the same burdens of evidential standards etc.
Therefore, police forces should only be issuing FPNs in the same circumstances in which the CPS would be willing to take the case to court, and that requires a reasonable prospect of conviction. So although the CPS isn’t directly involved in the decision to issue an FPN, the police officer making that decision would nonetheless have to have regards to the CPS’s guidance and the prospect of a conviction in court. If the CPS wouldn’t be willing to take on a case for whatever reason, then the police officer shouldn’t be issuing an FPN.
That said, the NMotD series does appear to suggest that forces vary widely in their approach to issuing FPNs, which suggests police forces do take different attitudes, regardless of what the CPS does (or doesn’t) advise.
The problem is Essex aren’t
The problem is Essex aren’t even trying, there are multiple examples of quite shocking close passed that they have deemed only warrant a warning letter nothing else.
This was my latest one:
https://youtu.be/F_7Dw–4p9k
they have deemed only warrant
they have deemed only warrant a warning letter nothing else
The next stage of the trick is that they make sure they don’t ‘notice’ previous warning letters, so that the warnings only count in the unlikely event that the same driver offends against the same cyclist more than once. When it’s a bus, the police and the bus company are quite possibly colluding in declaring ‘it was a different driver- case closed’.
There are 2 issues, one with
There are 2 issues, one with the claim that the advice had changed with no explanation and the other with the feed back. I got that the driver was going to receive a letter for “the driver falling below the standard expected of a competent and careful driver” which is exactly the same wording as the CPS for careless driving.
Your last para illustrates the problem and Essex have gone backwards in their standards with no explanation.
And just to add to everything
And just to add to everything being said here, the twitter thread this all come up on was from me highlighting an NFA from Essex police on a vehicle displaying two different licence plates.
Classic Lancs Police !
Classic Lancs Police !
forces vary widely in their
forces vary widely in their approach to issuing FPNs, which suggests police forces do take different attitudes, regardless of what the CPS does (or doesn’t) advise
If you have Bad Cops, you really are on your own and we’re certainly on our own on Lancashire’s roads. They’re quite prepared to wait until you’re killed and then issue the super-insincere ‘our thoughts are with the deceased’s family and friends’. There are no fines, FPNs, licence points, court cases up here- there is no generally no response to reports and in the unlikely event that they agree to take action, the letter is so hedged about with dodges that it’s quite compatible with later deciding to do nothing at all. They won’t tell you what action they took, which means that it was only a warning letter or the joke online driving course. How much worse can it be than this close-pass below while you’re still alive? Yet, Lancashire Constabulary simply refuses to even respond to requests about the actual action taken.
PS I’m not just sitting here engaging in futile moaning on road.cc, which is just a load of us generally agreeing that close-passing and vehicles crashing through red lights are not good. I am writing to my MP currently and have got to email 6 of about 10 in which I tediously provide no end of detail, videos, stills, letters about how Lancashire Constabulary is massively failing to protect cyclists, or enforce VED payments or MOT certificates. I doubt he will be able to do anything because it’s a massive case, and then I’m obliged to put it all on YouTube.
I’ve just realised that Chris
I’ve just realised that Chris is riding up the road to Stwlan Dam – holy fork! I rode up it (JUST) when attempting the TransWales ultra last weekend, but could not even contemplate riding it again, let alone 33 times. That climb is Tough.
Aside – Chris is actually a really really nice guy who deserves every last moment of our support.
For the avoidance of doubt,
For the avoidance of doubt, it would be good to know if there was a particular brand of flooring that Alaphillipe should be putting the Tacx rollers on.
I could probably manage one
I could probably manage one Everest in seven days.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-61411053
Let’s all hire one and pop to Lancs – experience Lancs Police and annoy wtjs with an ebike. Win Win !
Love the use of the word
Love the use of the word ‘insane’ to describe a cycling challenge aiming to raise awareness of mental health. Real classy.
Mad innit
Mad innit
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-61430061
Plans for a major upgrade of junction 10 of the M25 have been approved by the transport secretary.
Other improvements planned as part of the scheme include a new elongated roundabout to increase capacity, new dedicated free-flowing slip roads to reduce queuing, and better routes for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.
Can’t say fairer than that !
Except that:
Except that:
This is govt hypocrisy, as they talk about decarbonising transport and reducing car trips, but do the opposite. We have no time left.
So in fact you can say fairer than that. It’s another National Highways disaster.
Sorry, my last sentence was
Sorry, my last sentence was sarcasm. I can’t see that free-flowing slip roads is compatible with better routes for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.
I should have put ‘trebles all round’ then it would have been more obvious.
If only people didn’t buy
If only people didn’t buy bicycles, they’d have more money for jewellry.
OldRidgeback wrote:
Ironically my jewel-encrusted bicycle business of 42 years just went under as people would rather wear them than have them adorning a bicycle. Madness.