Surrey Road Cops explain why enforcement focuses on drivers, not cyclists; LTN myths busted; Geoghegan Hart defends Marcus Rashford after ’embarrassing and vile’ coverage; Another motorway cyclist; 14 everestings in 14 days + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Northumbria Police takes firm zero-tolerance stance on close passes and victim blaming
🎥 This shocking footage shows how cyclists’ lives are being put at risk by dangerous drivers.
It’s been released as part of #RoadSafetyWeek2020 with figures showing an 11% increase in serious injury or fatal collisions involving cyclists 📈
Read our thread to find out more 👇 pic.twitter.com/gRKaOtDLn9
— Northumbria Police (@northumbriapol) November 16, 2020
Last night we reported that Northumbria Police encouraged more people to upload close pass footage and said that action is taken against the driver in almost 80% of cases. The appeal was to mark the start of National Road Safety Week with Chief Inspector Sam Rennison, head of Northumbria Police Force’s Road Safety Department, stating: “As it stands, 77 per cent of the footage submissions we do get result in positive action being taken, whether that be a warning or a prosecution.
“But we still don’t see a large number of submissions from vulnerable road users and this week we want to appeal to cyclists to submit more footage. A minority of motorists are not showing the required amount of respect to other road users and that needs to change.Too many vulnerable road users are seriously injured or killed because they have been knocked down by someone driving in a dangerous manner.”
Unsurprisingly some anti-cycling types thought it a good idea to let their feelings on cyclists be known with the usual opinions on road tax, helmets, cycle lanes and riding two abreast chucked at the Force’s Twitter account. In keeping with their earlier appeal Northumbria Police were decisive in reply…
Do you know the number of cyclists who collided with a vehicle and led to the serious injury or death of the driver? It’s zero.
Don’t use a minority of cyclists behaving inappropriately to excuse the behaviour of drivers seriously injuring and killing cyclists on the road.
— Northumbria Police (@northumbriapol) November 16, 2020
Hi Donna, it’s recommended that a group of cyclists ride two abreast as it’s safer. If there isn’t appropriate space to pass then just remain patient and wait until it is safe to overtake. Those extra few seconds aren’t worth a life.
— Northumbria Police (@northumbriapol) November 16, 2020
It is not a legal requirement to use a cycle lane so, by law, the vehicle would still be at fault.
We would also point out that other vehicles on that road passed in an appropriate distance and gave plenty of space.
— Northumbria Police (@northumbriapol) November 16, 2020
Tao Geoghegan Hart defends Marcus Rashford
This is nothing new, but remains as embarrassing & vile as ever. I am in awe of how @MarcusRashford continues to rise above this treatment. He is an inspiration on many different levels. https://t.co/2dveMT9iCi
— Tao Geoghegan Hart (@taogeoghegan) November 16, 2020
Tao Geoghegan Hart called the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online’s reporting of Marcus Rashford as “embarrassing and vile” after the paper published a story titled ‘What a result! Campaigning footballer Marcus Rashford has bought five luxury homes worth more than £2million’. Geoghegan Hart said: “This is nothing new, but remains as embarrassing and vile as ever. I am in awe of how Marcus Rashford continues to rise above this treatment. He is an inspiration on many different levels.
“After the last three weeks of overwhelmingly positive experiences with the media, this is yet another reminder of my privilege.”
Rashford asked the paper not to describe him as a ‘Campaigning footballer’ in stories unrelated to his campaign to extend free school meals into the school holidays. The 23-year-old has twice forced the government into a U-turn on extending free school meals to children from low-income families during school holidays in England. Some have suggested that Rashford’s investments are being used as a stick to beat the Manchester United and England forward.
Chris Lawless leaves INEOS Grenadiers to join Total Direct Énergie
Chris Lawless‘ three-year stay with INEOS Grenadiers has come to an end with the 25-year-old moving to Total Direct Énergie for next season. Lawless won the Tour de Yorkshire last year but has not won a race in 2020.
Team managerJean-René Bernaudeau was pleased to be able to sign Lawless: “He is a talented rider with a strong character and a great state of mind. He appreciated our offensive speech and wants to be able to express himself in a team that gives him the possibility.”
Lawless is the latest signing to Total Direct Énergie’s ranks after announcing the signing of experienced WorldTour pros Pierre Latour, Alexis Vuillermoz, Victor de La Parte and Alexandre Geniez.
London has highest helmet use in Europe
According to new data from DEKRA Accident Research on helmet use in Europe, London has the highest helmet use in Europe. Cycling Industry News report that the study covered cyclists in Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Ljubljana, London, Paris, Vienna, Warsaw and Zagreb and found that 60.9% of London cyclists wore a helmet.
Interestingly, the second-highest city was Vienna, where only 26.7% of cyclists recorded wore a helmet – a significant decrease from in London. In Amsterdam just 1.1% wore helmets, while in Zagreb and Ljubljana the rate was also below 10%.
Despite their low rate, The Netherlands was not deemed dangerous for cycling by the study.
DEKRA accident researcher Luigi Ancona said: “When you look at the number of accidents as a ratio of distance travelled, the Netherlands is the second safest country after Denmark in which to ride a bicycle.”
Cyclist catches lost dog after chasing it around north London for an hour
A cyclist chased a dog across London for an hour after the pet got spooked by a firework and bolted from her owner. Reuben McCartney managed to safely reunite Kiki with her owner after an hour-long pursuit. The map of his ride above shows how the pooch gave Reuben a good workout from near the Emirates Stadium to King’s Cross and back along the Pentonville Road.
McCartney told LADbible: “As soon as I saw that the dog was running with a lead attached to her dragging along on the floor I knew I had to try and catch her.
“My biggest fear was that she’d get run over as she was crossing busy main roads at speed and on a couple of occasions the traffic had to stop or swerve. I chased her for about an hour. My biggest fear that I wouldn’t be able to catch up and I’d lose her, which I did a couple of times, but managed find her again.”
Owner Christina was delighted to be reunited with Kiki and explained how her dog bolted when spooked by a firework: “Her lead slipped out of my hand, and because she’s a collie, she’s a little fast one.
“I got out onto the main street and everyone was pointing towards the direction that she was running, and she basically kept running in the same direction towards King’s Cross.”
Fife cyclist to attempt virtual Everest on Zwift 14 times in 14 days
The bar for Everesting continues to be raised. This summer with lockdown preventing conventional racing, the battle for fastest Everesting on the road saw Alberto Contador, Lachlan Morton and many professional riders around the world set frightening times for climbing 8,848m on a bike. Now a 34-year-old from Fife is going to complete an Everest every day for two weeks.
Ross Duncan hopes to climb 124,000 metres of ascent on Zwift to raise money for charities CHAS and My Name’5 Doddie Foundation. Duncan told The Courier: “I’m actually really looking forward to it though, as I’ve always enjoyed challenging myself and proving that even things that seem impossible are possible.”
“As an ultra-cyclist I’ve taken on various difficult challenges that have taken me way out of my comfort zone, and there’s no better feeling than completing a challenge that I have set for myself, such as this.”
Another motorway cyclist
RP13, South Mimms A1(m)
This week we are focusing on vulnerable road users.
This cyclist passed us on the roundabout and proceeded onto the entry slip of the motorway.
Advice given and escorted back to the roundabout.
411854 pic.twitter.com/N987aFj36f— BCH Road Policing Unit (@roadpoliceBCH) November 16, 2020
We cover incidents like these surprisingly frequently here at road.cc. Just last week we shared this video of a cyclist riding along the hard shoulder of the M25. During the spring lockdown their were several similar events, including on the M53 in Cheshire – where four cyclists were escorted off the motorway by police.
Harley Davidson's Serial 1 Cycle company unveil first ebike
Harley Davidson’s first venture into the ebike market has been covered over on our sister site ebiketips. If that’s your sort of thing then check out the story with all the details of models, pricing and features here.
More entertaining replies and praise from Jeremy Vine for Northumbria Police
Another police force that gets it. Deaths on the roads are not caused by cyclists, but by drivers. Thank-you @northumbriapol https://t.co/vkR1GuCX1X
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) November 16, 2020
There’s been plenty of praise for Northumbria Police who yesterday encouraged people to send in footage of close passes with the claim that they take action in almost 80% of cases. This morning we shared some of the Force’s firm replies to Tweets citing the usual issues people have with cyclists including not using bike lanes and road tax. The comments have kept coming in and so have Northumbria Police’s replies…Both the original Tweets were deleted.
Asking the public to report crime? We didn’t know we had revolutionised policing.
— Northumbria Police (@northumbriapol) November 17, 2020
Hi Peter, there is no such thing as road tax. Everyone pays for the upkeep of roads, including cyclists.
— Northumbria Police (@northumbriapol) November 17, 2020
Eight common LTN myths busted
Peter Walker of the Guardian has written a piece mythbusting eight of the most common misconceptions about LTNs including that they slow down emergency services and are bad for local businesses. It’s an interesting read considering how fractured the debate has become. Over the weekend Labour MP Rupa Huq even suggested the only way to resolve the debate over LTNs would be to hold a referendum...stop laughing at the back.
On the common accusation that they slow down emergency services Walker wrote: ‘This is a genuine factor that has to be taken into consideration with LTNs. Some councils have, after consulting fire or ambulance services, for example, changed a junction to replace physical barriers with camera-enforced signs. But overall, there has been almost no pushback from emergency services – not least as the most common reason for delayed responses is congestion caused by motor vehicles.’
Surrey Police explain why road safety enforcement focuses on car drivers
We often focus our enforcement efforts against those who do most harm to vulnerable road users.
This chart shows why a lot of that effort is directed at car drivers.
On average 5 people are killed every day in the UK as a result of a collision.
We must all do better.#Fatal5 pic.twitter.com/EqfEGygGQM
— Roads Policing Unit (RPU) – Surrey Police – UK (@SurreyRoadCops) November 16, 2020
Surrey Police, like the Northumbria Police Force we highlighted earlier, have made a commitment to tackling road safety by focusing enforcement efforts on “those who do most harm to vulnerable road users.” The chart above, posted by Surrey Police’s Roads Policing Unit, shows the number of fatalities caused by certain forms of transport.
By far the most common vehicle involved in the death of a vulnerable road user is the car with almost 500 deaths. No other single vehicle recorded more than 100. After 50cc motorcycles and under, bikes were involved in the least amount of vulnerable road user deaths.
The discussion is particularly important considering this week is road safety charity Brake’s ‘Road Safety Week’, which has led several police forces in the UK to reassert their priority for tackling the issue. Last night we reported that Northumbria Police were encouraging people to send in their videos of close passes and said that they take action on the driver in almost 80% of cases.
The chart includes the incidents where no other vehicle is involved and the stats are based on where the person driving or riding a vehicle has caused the death of someone riding a motorcycle, bicycle or is a pedestrian. This also includes where these have been the cause.
— Roads Policing Unit (RPU) – Surrey Police – UK (@SurreyRoadCops) November 17, 2020
The Pub Landlord hearts LTNs
Al Murray doesn’t want LTNs torn out! https://t.co/tiHkV0PQnp
— Low-Traffic Pootler (@SpacePootler) November 17, 2020
More on this in the morning – but to summarise, Al Murray is against the suggestion to “open up” roads in Chiswick that are blocked to rat-running motor traffic: “I don’t want the street I’ve lived in for decades to become a cut through thirty years after that was stopped. Who would?”
Arguably wiser words than Murray’s comedy alter-ego has ever come up with!
17 November 2020, 09:18
17 November 2020, 09:18
17 November 2020, 09:18
17 November 2020, 09:18
17 November 2020, 09:18
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Latest Comments
Most puzzlingly: Firstly for the closing off of parentheses twice, but also, who are these people "in the U"? Is this some kind of slang the kids are using that I'm not down with?
As I recall it made cycling more popular rather than doing for it...honestly, this article is an absolute dumpster fire of factual errors (Orson Welles did not write 1984 and Warner Bros do not organise MTB races) and grammatical and syntactical mistakes ("TV coverage is also, in no short order, what rings in the lion’s share of sponsorship money" - what?). What on earth happened?
@Sriracha It is indeed ridiculous that one can buy these illegal machines just on a promise that one won't use it on public roads; almost as ludicrous as being able to buy a motor car that can do 230mph with a promise that one won't ever do more than 70mph. By all means let's have a crackdown on illegal electric motorcycles, but there should be simultaneous legislation restricting all cars to 70mph maximum with severe confiscate/crush penalties for any vehicle that has been modified to circumvent the restrictor.
Yes, let's send in the army to go after the group that kills 1750 people a year and seriously injures 25,000 more, 85% of whom admit to breaking the law when it suits them. Shocking that these thugs have been allowed to get away with their illegal behaviours for so long and at such devastating cost to their victims and their families.
@Steve K Yep, at the time I had a back wheel conversion ebike, fully legal kit from a reputable UK supplier, all three of my LBSs refused to do a front brake fluid replacement for me; they were very polite and apologetic but they all had a policy of only working on purpose-built ebikes from well-known manufacturers. One explained that there were plenty of falsely-badged dodgy kits around with 750W motors masquerading as 250W and they didn't want to risk any potential legal issues if they were found to have facilitated getting an illegal machine back on the road.
@leedorney Nowt wrong with inner tubes, but if you'd have spent £100 buying tyres to use them tubeless I bet you'd be at least marginally annoyed.
The cheery face of occupation...
Much as you cannot outrun a polar bear, but you might be able to outrun the bloke next to you, it's about persuading the scrote that the bike next to yours is easier to steal, though of course not as nice. And mine will always be grubbier. And it helps with the insurance payout. I like my hip lock DX1000, at the time of purchase it was the only lock that would fit around the rim and tyre, securing the rohloff to the frame and secure object. And it definitely looks the part. Yet to see the LPL attack the locking mech, the key, to my untrained eye looks better than my many kryptonites. As the above has it, these diamond sold secure locks are getting cheaper and that is no bad thing.
It's good to see that there are bike shop owners with principles. I was in a bike shop recently when some of the Deliveroo fraternity brought their bikes in. The staff saw that the bikes were illegal and refused to touch them. Fortunately the riders didn't cause any trouble, although this might have been because there were another 4 guys in the repair shop, with a lot of spanners and wrenches in easy reach! Illegal bike are a real problem, whether they're modified e-bikes or electric motorbikes. The Police and councils to occasionally run operations to try and catch them but they won't chase them. In my area they're being used for drug dealing.
Perhaps the friendly approach might work?
66 thoughts on “Surrey Road Cops explain why enforcement focuses on drivers, not cyclists; LTN myths busted; Geoghegan Hart defends Marcus Rashford after ’embarrassing and vile’ coverage; Another motorway cyclist; 14 everestings in 14 days + more on the live blog”
Can we screenshot this and
Can we screenshot this and send it to the Chief Constables of every other UK Police region?
Chief Inspector Sam Rennison deserves much Kudos.
Thats pretty much keeping cyclists much safer in 3 tweets.
Can you fit this on a t-shirt?
Don’t use a minority of cyclists behaving inappropriately to excuse the behaviour of drivers seriously injuring and killing cyclists on the road.
Tempted to send it to WMP so
Tempted to send it to WMP so they can see what a real police force spends their time doing.
The stupid thing is that WMP
The stupid thing is that WMP is still riding on the coat tails on being innovative like this and yet has pretty much mothballed the whole campaign. The Road Harm Prevention Team used to tweet out regularly and is now a side note on thr WMP Traffic which is mostly stolen cars. Not one mention of Dash cam rates or any specific CP actions. I don’t know whether it is because Steve Hudson passed but since Sept 2019 when they had their twitter taken away, they have been very absent from news and social media.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
Well, whatever they’re doing isn’t working. Wasn’t West Midlands Police the one to say they would absolutely be arresting people on xmas day for having too many visitors over? Can’t be bothered to investigate crimes like burglary, but happy to arrest people having family around for dinner…Says it all.
‘Most cyclists are rude and
‘Most cyclists are rude and inconsiderate.’
Translation I sometimes get held up for a few seconds by slower road users. They should know their place and get out of my way.
If a bicycle and a vehicle collide, whose fault is it?
Seriously ?
I always love the one about
I always love the one about cyclists being rude and inconsiderate. Then you see someone trying to cross the road on foot when it is bombing down with rain, yet no driver is willing to stop for five seconds to let them cross, or a person with limited mobility crossing the road gets hooted for being too slow. Or one I really love is when you are in a line of traffic and a car accelerates to close the gap between them and the car in front so that a car waiting at a give way can’t turn into that gap in front of them. The simple fact is that a lot of people are rude and inconsiderate – their mode of transport doesn’t suddenly change that.
In 35 years of motoring I
In 35 years of motoring I have not come across a single rude or inconsiderate cyclist or group of cyclists on the road. Not a single one. Either that or my memory is failing.
In more than 50 years of being alive I have certainly come across many rude and inconsiderate people, but only one of those happened to be riding a bicycle (on the pavement amongst crowds of pedestrians in Cambridge) at the time.
I suspect that those who come across a lot of inconsiderate cyclists on the road are also those who come across a lot of other idiots on the road when the truth is more about their own lack of ability as drivers.
Mungecrundle wrote:
Reminds me of the Jasper Carrott stand-up about his mother-in-law’s driving (it was the 70’s!) – “she’s never had a single accident – but she’s seen thousands!”
Mungecrundle wrote:
I see that you reference Cambridge, but as someone living in London, we have a few. Usual stuff – riding on the pavement, riding at people crossing the road shouting at them to get out of the way, etc. I’ve interacted with a few over the years. I remember one who had a mud guard completely obscuring his rear light, so I mentioned it to him in case he hadn’t realised. The result was a four letter filled tirade at me. I had the same response with a guy wearing a long coat that was hanging down and blocking his light completely. I’ve also spoken to a few with rear lights that weren’t turned on. Sometimes you can get on your bike and forget, so if I saw one I’d mention it to the rider. A fair percentage would give abusive responses, some would say the battery was flat and the rest would say thanks. These days I say nothing because it isn’t worth the potential abuse, which is a shame.
I always laugh about people
I always laugh about people going on about ‘riding on the pavement’ in London. I’m always baffled as to where. It’s densely populated and the pavements are crowded in many, many places with people and/or street furniture. I’ve lived here for 14 years and literally never seen it. I’ve seen cars and lorries mounting the pavement. I suppose it’s a big enough place with no well-defined boundary, so of course somewhere there may be a problem with it, but my experience is that it’s usually thrown in as a standard cycling insult rather than any ‘problem’ in reality.
I’ve certainly encountered
I’ve certainly encountered rude/inconsiderate cyclists, mostly pavement riders,not always wild teenagers either, but sometimes on the road too. I got close passed by a rider last week going down a sketchy hill that pro riders can easily hit 40+mph on,wasnt much impressed by that I can tell you.
But in the original twitter users case,she is talking rather about the perceived rudeness/inconsiderate behaviour of cyclists not simply getting out of her way quick enough,which for my money places the rudeness/inconsideration squarely on her shoulders instead.
Awavey wrote:
Basically this. Yet how annoyed is she at other drivers when she’s in a line of traffic? No waiting 5 seconds then overtaking in that situation…she has to suck it up. Yet the other drivers are not being inconsiderate for some reason…
She doesn’t like cyclists
She doesn’t like cyclists filtering either. I’m getting the sense of someone stuck in traffic (and of course she is not traffic) and not liking the fact that cyclists can make good progress.
None of these car drivers
None of these car drivers seem to realise that THEY are the problem. Funny that……I wonder why.
More needs to be done to encourage walking, cycling, public transport & motor cycling; and to discourage car driving. Queues of single person cars is insanity…….Yet they keep doing it.
I suspect the same. You drive
I suspect the same. You drive around in an overtly aggresive manner and then complain about the cyclists being rude. I confess that I may have been triggered into swearing at drivers that have pulled out on me, closed passed me etc… I wonder how many tweets the police get from other law breakers in the same vain. eg ” I’ve been supplying steroids to local gym members for several months but I don’t like their increasingly aggressive behaviour”
Well said, exactly..!!
Well said, exactly..!!
squired wrote:
Or you are waiting to cross the road in the rain and the driver doesn’t indicate that they are turning into the side road between you, so you are waiting for no reason, because they don’t indicate for pedestrians
Best Rashford/DM story;
Best Rashford/DM story “Daily Mail reader furious as ‘selfish hypocrite’ Marcus Rashford buys multipack bag of crisps for himself”
Help! A site where I can’t
Help! A site where I can’t tell what’s satire…
…and what’s advertising!
I’m pleased to see Chris
I’m pleased to see Chris Lawless staying at ProConti level of cycling with Total Direct Énergie. It’s a shame we can’t see more fast and furious Criterium racing on TV.
Really lovely that “He
Really lovely that “He appreciated our offensive speech and wants to be able to express himself”. Maybe there’s a swear box at Ineos and it was costing him too much.
Or maybe Jean-René Bernaudeau is way better at English than I ever will be at his first language…
The wage bill for the top 12
The wage bill for the top 12 players at Man U tops £100m. Take those numbers across the premership and then think about all the tax avoidance. Think about all those school dinners.
Rick_Rude wrote:
That’s small potatoes compared to corporate tax avoidance.
Ah, we have a forum tax
Ah, we have a forum tax expert. How are footballers avoiding tax on their salaries, oh enlightened one?
By taking a reduced income
By taking a reduced income and in exchange receiving payments on image rights (tied to club clothing that features their name /clothing) and / or appearance fees that are made to offshore legal entities from which they are the ultimate sole beneficiaries. Or using seperate offshore legal entities to receive payments made for match appearances outside of the UK.
And do you know that Rashford
And do you know that Rashford is doing this? Or are you making him responsible for the actions of all footballers?
Considering they are trying to attack him for buying houses, you’d think they would have gone for the low hanging fruit of tax avoidance if they could.
Rick_Rude wrote:
Please provide the figures – you’ve only given the first bit of the story
Footballers can’t avoid tax
Footballers can’t avoid tax on their salaries, as they are PAYE – Tax on image rights and all the associated personal payments is a different matter.
Well IR35 may have disrupted
Well IR35 may have disrupted this method,as it was designed to do,but in the early noughties it was common for premiership football clubs to hire players as self employed contractors via their own limited companies theyd setup, who then made full use of the tax benefits that provided, paid themselves low salaries but took dividend payments and wrote loads of stuff of as business expenses to reclaim VAT. I think that came to light when everyone’s favourite lawyer was attempting to get one of his clients off a speeding ticket.
So the idea someone being paid more than 10million a year,is still paid through PAYE,feels awfully naive imo.
I presume that if Marcus
I presume that if Marcus Rashford spent £2m on property in the UK then that money would have to come from declared UK earnings? I’m not sure but that would seem like a lot of tax that he paid and that would be a good thing?
Yes, that disappeared when
Yes, that disappeared when Marcus Rashford was about 6. There was also dodgy stuff with EBTs, but I doubt too many places have tried that since Rangers lost their case to HMRC and went bust.
AidanR wrote:
Careful, Ra Peepul will be after you if they find out you’re saying things like that!
Awavey wrote:
It’s not at all naive – footballers and their clubs have been repeatedly caught out using arrangements such as “image” rights on kit and “appearance” fees that are paid to offshore holding companies rather than paid via PAYE in the UK. Some of the clubs were also using loans on works of art as a means of reducing declared income.
In the case of Marcus Rashford (which for clarity is unrelated to the above), it’s a matter of fact that he’s had a director of “brand strategy and communications” working for him for the last 8 months – specifically on his non football intertests. It’s been suggested that he’s focussed on building a valuable personal brand around his political interventions / ethical campaigning.
Of course if the Daily Fail
Of course if the Daily Fail had done some investigative journalism into tax avoidance schemes employed by footballers and campaigned to shut the loopholes being used then that would be legitimate journalism. But, of course, they didn’t.
You can 110% count on the
You can 110% count on the Mail to report tax avoidance brilliantly because the owner (a Frenchman named Penguin Rothermere or Viscount Rotherham or something like that) is an absolute expert on it, with lots of experience.
Its Brexit coverage was also admirably even handed because the owner, being utterly French, happens to own a stately pile in England (even nicer than £2m luxury semi-detached mansion).
The owner also is well informed about how to sort out child poverty and end the pandemic. Just read recent front pages and you’ll see that all you need to do is string up the BBC for misleading Earl Spencer (no, not M&S or Frank of that ilk) more than 20 years ago.
Rick_Rude wrote:
You just KNOW that the Daily Heil and the rest of the billionaire-owned right wing press have been trying desperately for weeks now to get some evidence of financial impropriety by Marcus Rashford. The fact that they can come up with nothing other than a perfectly legitimate property investment speaks volumes.
Man U players are well-paid,
Man U players are well-paid, but it isn’t their job to fund public spending out of their wages (after tax).
Nice attempt to defend a vile
Nice attempt to defend a vile rag against a racially and politically motivated attack on a young man.
(A minority of top level)
(A minority of top level) Footballers get paid a lot of money because they are good at what they do. And lots of people like to watch them do it. They are not responsible for school dinners or deprivation. That’s the govt’s responsibility. What footballers are responsible for is being the public face of a huge global industry that provides millions of jobs.
I for one am delighted that I
I for one am delighted that I can now go home to my suburban terraced house secure in the knowledge that the Daily Mail considers it to be a “Luxury Property”.
Seriously have they nothing better to do than stir up hatred?
-leans into microphone-
“No.”
-leans into microphone-
“No.”
Same treatment Raheem
Same treatment Raheem Sterling got. DM headline could be boiled down to black man who has managed to acheive social mobility gets ideas above his station. Trying to do a favour for their government chums – attack the messenger if you can’t dispute the message.
alexb wrote:
I’m pretty sure it’s their sole purpose in life.
Completely agree. Typical
Completely agree. Typical divisive, latently racist, misinformed, BS article. And sorry, but how does 5 house worth 2 million = luxury property portfolio? (For a footballer)
I’m glad to see that London’s
I’m glad to see that London’s taking a lead with cycle safety. With all those people wearing helmets, it must be one of the safest cities.
hawkinspeter wrote:
“Do you wear a helmet?”
“Do you wear a helmet?” Sometimes. I tend to take mine off when I go for a shower.
Well, according to the
Well, according to the statistics that is just asking for trouble 😉
Do you not know the
Do you not know the statistics for head injuiries caused by people slipping over in the shower. It’s totally reckless.
IanMK wrote:
Please, to reduce strain on the NHS, always wear your shower helmet
Nigel Garrage wrote:
You mad fool! Think of the children!
You’d better not be showering
You’d better not be showering with children….or even thinking of children while in there….!!
Hmm. I find leaving it ON in
Hmm. I find leaving it ON in the shower is the best way to clean it! (Well, initially, then removing it and lathering it all up in a loving way before rinsing it off!)
PP
Allez! Allez! Northumbria
Allez! Allez! Northumbria Police; other forces, please copy.
Frustrating though lack of police interest: action is, can we all stop knocking the police on here?
can we all stop knocking the
can we all stop knocking the police on here?
No! We have heard recently of the really stupid Essex Police criterion for deciding if a close-pass was significant: the cyclist has to brake and wobble after the vehicle passes. I know from personal experience about Lancashire having never prosecuted anyone for non-contact close-passing, and their suite of dodges deployed to avoid doing anything about almost anything: it was only a momentary loss of concentration; needing to have a confirmation video from the offending vehicle; I didn’t see him and I didn’t mean to do it etc. etc. I have my suspicion that Northumbria’s idea of taking action in 80% of cases means a lot of ‘we’ll have a word with the driver’ and so-called ‘warning letters’. However, I could be wrong: I’ll accept the driver going off on the comedy driving course as minor action and points on the licence as real action. All we need now is proof from Northumbria! Police stating ‘we have taken action but we won’t tell you what it was’ counts as negative evidence, because it means they did nothing at all. I’ll stop knocking the police when they actually do something.
pot calling the kettle black
pot calling the kettle black if anyone in a car ever has an issue with cyclists being side by side. Get single file yourself. Dont need cars with seats side by side. Make them longer and in a row.
Is there something causing
Is there something causing the motorway cycling? Are cyclists mistakenly taking the slip road on, or is there some reason they think it’s rational? Avoiding a far longer route on non-motorways? Seeing the shoulder of the motorway as safer or more comfortable than sharing a lane on the other roads? I’m not from the area, but checked it out on the map and see nothing obvious.
This intrigued me, so I had a
This intrigued me, so I had a little google too. It happened on the A1M northbound, just north of the M25 interchange:
https://goo.gl/maps/YVgnxgSgUvkLasKf8
The interchange is where the A1 becomes the A1M. So south of that is permissable for cycling and it even has a really rubbish bike path. The bike path just abruptly ends at the slip road and it’s not clear at all that cycle traffic should go up the slip road (green line), especially as a crash barrier has been installed up the middle of the bike path and the grass verge ends making it look like you’re supposed to cross and continue (red line).
If you were not familiar with the area I can see how it’s happened.
Thanks for that. The tweet
Thanks for that. The tweet from the police, though, says “This cyclist passed us on the roundabout and proceeded onto the entry slip of the motorway”.
He must have got off, and back on, though, unless he came from the A1081 (or, less likely, the M25) right?
Here’s the “pedestrian path”
Here’s the “pedestrian path” at the entrance to the A1(M) northbound slip road from the roundabout. What an awful place to be walking. Good luck scurrying across the slip road!
https://goo.gl/maps/Ytdf9UNhoH2oQm1G6
I think you’re right and
I think you’re right and perhaps he came from the 1081 and took the A1 slip instead of the services turn. Not sure I’d fancy negotiating that roundabout though! Even as a pedestrian – you’d need to be a sprinter to get across those two lanes!
Looks like there’s a cycle route that takes an under pass below the M25 and goes round the back of the motorway services, but doesn’t look like it’s a tarmac surface.
If anyone need inspiration
If anyone needs inspiration for the fight against car domination and the establishment supporting that view, can I recommend “Small Axe; the Mangrove Nine.” Just watched it and as an example of how to stand up to embedded discrimination, you can’t beat it.
Watch, enjoy, absorb, learn.
BBC iplayer.
A pro BBC comment from Burt
A pro BBC comment from Burt there..
ktache wrote:
Yes, but in my defence, I wasn’t entirely sober, and there weren’t any cyclists featured.
(No subject)
😉
brooksby wrote:
Yeah, a bit like that but without the flower or the tie.