“Are they also warning of sneaky motorists with dashcams too?” Cyclists blast taxi driver’s “staggering victim blaming” over phone use; “Focus on dangerous drivers,” says DCS Andy Cox; Pilot kicked off race after barrier chaos + more on the live blog

Another story from yesterday – this time focusing on the “victim-blaming” row currently engulfing Police Scotland after a chief inspector urged pedestrians to wear “reflective or fluorescent” clothing, following the deaths of six people who were hit by other road users while walking in the space of just 13 days – has attracted lots of online debate, with Detective Chief Superintendent and well-known road safety advocate Andy Cox reminding everyone on Twitter that our focus should remain on the actions of “dangerous drivers”:

We rightly never tell a victim of sexual assault what they should, or should not wear, and instead focus entirely on the perpetrator. Road crime should be no different. Let’s focus all our attention on the dangerous drivers, who through their selfish actions cause so much harm.

— Andy Cox (@AndyCoxDCS) February 14, 2023

Cox, the head of crime at Lincolnshire Police and national lead for fatal collision investigations, tweeted under our story this morning: “We rightly never tell a victim of sexual assault what they should, or should not wear, and instead focus entirely on the perpetrator.

“Road crime should be no different. Let’s focus all our attention on the dangerous drivers, who through their selfish actions cause so much harm.”

Cox’s stance has been praised by other Twitter users, who have described the emphasis on hi-vis clothing as the “21st-century version of warning against wearing short skirts while walking down dark lanes after midnight”:

@RSAIreland & @GardaTraffic would do well to heed this and adjust their policies accordingly. Current policy is the 21st century version of warning against wearing short skirts while walking down dark lanes after midnight. Clothing never prevented rape, hi-vis won’t prevent death https://t.co/deSJ3UCsUF

— Mary Caulfield @SusanTheSilent [at] mastodon.ie (@SusanTheSilent) February 14, 2023

> “Drivers have a responsibility to protect vulnerable road users”: Hi-vis police officer close passed by lorry driver

The former lead for Vision Zero at the Met has a been a consistent proponent of amplifying the voices of those affected by road danger and last May spearheaded a campaign to bring road danger reduction to the “forefront of the national conversation and prevent the needless deaths and injury on our roads”.

Incidentally, during that campaign, which saw Cox complete 30 miles of physical activity (such as walking, running, or cycling) per day for a week, the DCS – along with riding companion Jeremy Vine – was close passed by a lorry driver, despite being decked out in hi-visibility clothing clearly emblazoned with ‘Police’ on the back.

After several social media users criticised the cyclists for not riding single file before the close pass – which led Vine to suggest that British motorists have been “dehumanised” – Cox once again took to Twitter to firmly remind everyone that “drivers have a responsibility to protect vulnerable road users. That way everyone gets home safely, alive.”

This just happened.
He did say "sorry I didn't see you."
An apology is always accepted.
But this gent needs a refresher driving course. pic.twitter.com/9WV6H067ob

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) February 14, 2023

And, neatly rounding up today’s focus on victim blaming and the choice of clothing of vulnerable road users, Twitter’s finest have responded to the broadcaster’s near miss with some inevitably depressing comments about, you guessed it, hi-vis…

To be fair. You might be quite hard to see all in black. I do wish hi viz was mandatory as the amount of cyclist who to ‘blend’ with their surroundings is quite high.

— Jo Ryan (@JojoRy77) February 14, 2023

Remember the old cycle safety ad "get yourself seen"

— peter (@lego1604) February 14, 2023

Some things never change…

A classic of the local authority ‘cycling is important, but we removed all the cycle lanes’ genre here, from Cheshire East Council:

The Leader of Cheshire East Council explains how they support cycling infrastructure by removing it. Not clear if the same open and fair approach applies to roads. pic.twitter.com/blILF2HVBk

— Macc Active Traveller (@lkchdschh) February 13, 2023

2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal’s stuttering early season continues, as the Colombian is forced to pull out of this week’s Vuelta a Andalucia thanks to a knee complaint stemming from last month’s Vuelta a San Juan, VeloNews reports.

The 26-year-old Ineos Grenadiers rider is currently building towards a return to the Tour de France this July following his career-threatening training crash last year, but was forced to withdraw from his debut race of the season in Argentina, despite looking strong on the climbs, after sustaining a knee injury.

While Ineos staff insisted that the injury wasn’t serious, Bernal returned to Europe instead of racing his home national championships last week.

“The knee still continues to bother me. We know what knee injuries are like, so we are going to see how things go and make the best decision. But as I’ve said, I’m still thinking about the races in Europe,” Bernal told NoticiasRCN.com at the time.

With the injury showing no signs of abating, Bernal has now withdrawn from the five-day Vuelta a Andalucia – also known as the Ruta del Sol – which starts tomorrow with a mountainous route to Santiago de la Espada.

All being well, Bernal’s European debut for 2023 will instead take place at Paris-Nice next month, where he is likely to encounter Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard in their first pre-Tour clash of the year. No pressure then, Egan.

2021 Paris-Roubaix winner Sonny Colbrelli suffered the political equivalent of a puncture in the Arenberg Forest at the weekend, as he failed to get elected to Lombardy’s regional council at the weekend.

The 32-year-old, who retired from pro cycling last October after being diagnosed with an unstable cardiac arrhythmia, announced in January that he would stand for Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party in the regional elections, which took place in Lombardy and Lazio on 12 and 13 February.

While still a pro, Colbrelli professed his admiration for the controversial, tax-dodging Berlusconi, and in 2014 posted – and swiftly deleted – a Facebook comment suggesting that Mussolini was required to deal with immigration in Italy.

His inaugural candidacy was largely based on developing sport and improving road safety in Italy, especially following the tragic death of fellow pro Davide Rebellin in November.

When it came to the weekend’s final sprint, however, the former European champion was boxed in (I’ve got hundreds of these) and received just 1,387 votes in Brescia, placing him fifth and out of the running for a council seat.

The electoral outlook was even worse for another retired pro cyclist, Claudio Chiappucci, who failed to scale the dizzying heights of his Alpine and Pyrenean exploits and whose vote instead resembled a pan-flat Belgian kermesse (told you).

Chiappucci, a dazzling climber who lit up the EPO-fuelled Tours de France of the early 1990s, managed to collect a measly 121 votes in Monza while standing for Letizia Moratti’s centrists.

Ouch. Claudio must have felt like he was up against Miguel Induráin all over again…

Cycling UK has renewed its call for Scottish bike shops and mechanics to get involved with the charity’s Scotland Cycle Repair Scheme.

Launched in 2020 and funded by the Scottish government, the scheme provides free bike repair and maintenance work up to a value of £50 for standard bikes and up to £100 for non-standard cycles, and aims to get neglected bikes out of garages, sheds, and gardens and back out onto the road for people who need them the most.

To facilitate the scheme, grants are provided to bike shops, mechanics, and any other organisations that repair bikes.

Funding is still available, and Cycling UK has renewed its call for cycle repairers to get involved, ahead of the 24 March deadline for applications.

The charity has worked with hundreds of independent bike shops, mechanics, social enterprises, and more through the scheme, with the grants providing both a guaranteed source of income and a good source of potential new customers.

So, if you’re a bike repairer based in Scotland, get involved! More details can be found on the repair scheme’s website.

I feel like the sign could’ve been more persuading. pic.twitter.com/WmEOTbVue7

— Oskar Scarsbrook (@osk_scars) February 14, 2023

I think the ‘may’ is doing quite a lot of heavy lifting in that sign…

Shouty man at the Social Club doesn't like facial recognition software, all very big brother apparently ... I've told him it's going to be used to catch cyclists running red lights and he's okay with it now... 😂 🤦‍♂️ This is how urban myths start...be in the daily fail tommrrow 😉

— Mark Hodson (@markandcharlie) February 13, 2023