The sequel nobody asked for — bike lane Amazon van is back; Wrong day for white shorts... cyclist rides alligator alley; Shell, domestic racing in crisis etc. etc. — British Cycling members welcome new CEO with extensive to-do list + more on the live blog

This is what Right Said Fred tried to warn us about!

Looks good (obvs. I don't know the local details).

Wonder if it will go like a local no-through-road intervention close to my place?  You need monitoring and quick response to people "granting access".  The one near here - folks first drove over the verge / through vegetation to get round.  After a bit they moved some of the barriers.  When these were reinstated, very quickly a large planter was trashed and a couple of substantial concrete barriers were shifted.  Not sure if it's part of council plan to remove this now (it was Covid-era) but the road is back to being a through-road.

Sometimes where there's a "won't" there's a "will!" and a way.

"Only cyclists may now pass through the gate."

Pedestrians: "You shall not pass "

IanMSpencer wrote:

It's quite clear there has been a steady drift into delivery vehicles parking unlawfully, and both on social media and in interactions it is also clear that these drivers believe they are entitled to do it.

I wonder if, like many things, this could be blamed on the pandemic.  During the lockdowns, delivery drivers became much more important because we needed stuff delivering.  So many came to believe they were providing a Very Important Service so f- off with yer rules'n'regulations.

Could be.  What has happened over the last decade or so is a massive expansion in this market.  Ultimately simple "selection pressures" will cause any and all rules to be tested.  Value of delivery is in large part judged on speed.  If one company can do it quicker / the same volume more cheaply it will get the business.

Without strong negative feedback no change will occur.  That is: swift consequences in a sufficient number of cases.  Consequences which need to also reach the higher ups not just the grunts - and ultimately the shareholders.  Especially when society in general doesn't really see this as an issue.  With some local exceptions there is approximately zero feedback for illegal parking in general, never mind the merely dangerous / antisocial type.

chrisonatrike wrote:

What has happened over the last decade or so is a massive expansion in this market.

Hey: remember when Amazon was an online bookshop? 

Remember Borders...?  Lots of reasons for "change" but - shock! - it turns out that people really like "cheap" and "don't have to go anywhere to get one"...

chrisonatrike wrote:

Remember Borders...?  Lots of reasons for "change" but - shock! - it turns out that people really like "cheap" and "don't have to go anywhere to get one"...

I liked Borders.  I liked a big f-ing huge bookshop that had actual physical copies so you could browse and go, "Wow - never heard of that, it looks interesting, think I'll get that".

Even Waterstones (the last big bricks-and-mortar bookshop) doesn't do that any more 

[/quote]

Hey: remember when Amazon was an online bookshop? 

[/quote]

Jesus, I can remember when Amazon was a river.

mike the bike wrote:

 

Hey: remember when Amazon was an online bookshop? 

[/quote]

Jesus, I can remember when Amazon was a river.

[/quote]

I don't believe Jesus had even heard of the Amazon...

brooksby wrote:

Hey: remember when Amazon was an online bookshop?

Nope, Amazon is a hyper-scaler, public cloud platform to rival Azure, Google etc..

IanMSpencer wrote:

It's quite clear there has been a steady drift into delivery vehicles parking unlawfully, and both on social media and in interactions it is also clear that these drivers believe they are entitled to do it.

The trouble is that as it is habitual, they also do it when urgently picking up their lunchtime pastie, and other drivers are starting to copy.

I gave a white van a hearty slap on my way home on Tuesday (checking the mirror that there was no driver to door me, but I could see there was a passenger to wake up) who was parked on zig-zags to pop into One Stop - clearly a builder, not deliverer. The car behind was parked on double yellows (and highly unlikely to be loading as allowed by the exemption for goods). Caused quite a nuisance and a genuine safety issue for the crossing.

Locally, drivers are now incapable of parking without blocking a pavement or cycle lane, and I am sure if challenged would claim that otherwise they would block the road. Well, perhaps if they don't think it is right to block the road, (typically causing no more nuisance than blocking the pavement and half a lane so traffic still needs to pause), then they need to reassess their parking strategy. Often locally this would involve the tedious effort of using a driveway.

But - they pay pavement tax...

I'd be happier if I knew what his aims or goals were for his tenure, the classic interview questions where do you see yourself in 5 years? What's your view on this hot topic ? How would you improve cycling as a sport ? How are you different than the last ceos Etc etc.

At the moment he's just another in the identikit bland guy in a suit administrators, sporting bodies in the UK excel at giving jobs to.

I'm sure that those answers will come in due course. The appointment was fairly sudden in the public eye, so adjustments to his role are likely to come first, along with working out what type of changes need to be made.

For an 'identikit bland guy in a suit' he was a success with the Rugby League World Cup which was delayed a year after nearly being cancelled completely, rugby league has has had its share of problems administratively so it stands out more when judging this outcome as a success. Having worked in a poorly resourced sport with a huge community participation can only have added to his experience going forward for cycling to benefit from.

Safety wrote:

Re the Amazon parking on Leith Walk. I think it's about time we had a "just a minute" protest such as they have in Canada. https://www.eta.co.uk/2022/05/04/just-a-minute-protest-targets-drivers-b...

The Ethical Choice wrote:

Inspired by the excuse ‘I’ll just be a minute‘ that’s often trotted out by drivers to traffic wardens, a group of cycle campaigners have turned the tables on motorists. When a driver parks in a cycle lane, they block the road for other cars so that bicycles can safely negotiate the obstruction.

I like that, a lot 

But I also liked the other part of that article:

The Ethical Choice wrote:

Catclaw is the size of half a small orange and was designed to be installed in its thousands along kerbs and pavements. When a car or lorry drives over a CatClaw, its weight exposes a sharp steel tube that quickly punctures the tyre. However, it poses no threat to pedestrians – a person standing on top of the device would not be heavy enough to activate it.

Sounds like that would fit right in.  Per graffiti I saw there "What is Leith?  Begbie, don't hurt me..."

Umm, what happens after the catclaw is triggered ?

Hirsute wrote:

Umm, what happens after the catclaw is triggered ?

Welcome to Edinburgh, pal (pic taken on the Hawthorne Path).

Driving is a middle class sport. Only the super rich can afford a mazerati or a ferrari because drivers are all rich white men. 

Also, why does this person think that anyone but a top level pro (who doesn't pay for their bike) NEEDs a top level bike to go racing, the difference between a super cheap bike and a 10 grand superbike is less than 10% of the performance. The difference between a good medium bike and a superbike is going to be way less.

We want you to 100% belive the service is a seamless product of amazon, until we do something criminal then it is 100% not our fault.