Panorama viewers blast “idiot bingo” LTN episode; Tao Geoghegan Hart slams “f***ing dangerous” Tour of the Alps finish; French police v Bikes: Officer reverses into bikes – but were they “asking for it”?; Vingegaard’s creepy AI vid + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
National Day of Action on Close Passing declared – as police forces across England run close pass operations
Here at road.cc HQ this morning, the bunting’s out, the balloons are up, and the bouncy castle’s on its way…
That’s because – though I’m sure you’ve had the date heavily circled in your calendar for months – today has been declared by the National Roads Policing Operations and Intelligence unit as England’s National Day of Action on Close Passing.
It’s #OperationClosePass Day in England. Is your police force taking part?
We are appealing to all drivers to follow the guidance in the Highway Code and give plenty of space when overtaking people cycling: https://t.co/s01uSrAzEw pic.twitter.com/JwhvC0pMH4
— Cycling UK (@WeAreCyclingUK) April 18, 2023
Hip hip, hooray! Now blow out the candles on those prosecution figures…
This most special of days means police forces across England will be sending out plain clothes officers on their bikes to run close pass operations, and to remind motorists to leave plenty of space when overtaking cyclists.
Obviously, as we’ve noted over the past few days on road.cc, the police’s rather mixed handling of close passes on cyclists has come under growing scrutiny.
Last week, we reported that West Midlands Police, the godfathers of close pass operations, had prosecuted just one driver from 286 close pass submissions in 2022, a startlingly low figure that attracted much ridicule on our Thursday live blog.
However, yesterday on the blog, Hampshire Police’s stats made for much more promising reading – of the 1,068 incidents reported, 40 percent (423) resulted in ‘PENTIP’, the police’s penalty notice platform used to record and process fixed penalty notices, while 38 percent (403) received a warning letter.
As those mixed results suggest, it is not yet clear how many forces are taking part in the big day today, though Surrey Police have confirmed their participation:
It’s #OperationClosePass & we’re out with CROs & #VanguardRST educating drivers about the importance of overtaking other road users safely.
Make sure to leave at least 1.5m when passing. Something only 72.9% of people answered correctly in yesterdays poll!#2WheelOperation pic.twitter.com/aNSQn2ZrPU
— Surrey RoadSafe (@SurreyRS) April 18, 2023
As well as the results of an ever-reliable Twitter poll on safe passing distances:
What is the minimum recommended passing distance when overtaking a cyclist, at 30mph?
— Surrey RoadSafe (@SurreyRS) April 17, 2023
Today’s National Day of Action forms part of a wider two-week campaign by the police to make the roads safer for “two wheelers” (including people on motorbikes too), though I’m not sure whether they’re bothered about people on trikes…
Responding to the campaign, Keir Gallagher, campaigns manager at Cycling UK, said: “Close passes are not only really intimidating, but also dangerous for people cycling. Police attribute passing too close as a factor in a staggering 25 percent of serious collisions between cyclists and large vehicles.
“Cycling UK appeals to all drivers to follow the guidance in the Highway Code and give plenty of space when overtaking cyclists, just as you would if it were your friend or loved one out riding their bike.
“We hope to see as many forces as possible out on the roads today helping to keep cyclists safe”.
NPCC roads policing lead Jo Shiner added: “Police officers will use whatever options are appropriate – whether education or enforcement – to promote safety for riders of any two-wheeled machine. We urge every road user to be observant and courteous in sharing the road space with those who face a higher risk of injury.”
Cycling UK has also kindly asked if any road.cc readers spot their local force out and about on their bikes today, they could let us know by getting in touch on the blog or tweeting using the snappy hashtag #operationclosepass.
Now, where did I leave that cake?
Now, where did I leave that cake?
… And it’s not going brilliantly so far
Maybe this mornings extremely close pass got the wrong end of the stick with #OperationClosePass day, thinking the closer the better.
A report will be sent to WYP tonight, thanks to both my cameras 👍 https://t.co/ljL3FzAcaw— Shez (@Sh3zz4) April 18, 2023
Perhaps the motorist thought today was actually a National Day of Close Passing? Oh wait, is that not every other day?
French police vs Bikes: Officer reverses into row of bikes – but were the bikes “asking for it”?
Obviously, there’s a lot going on over in France at the moment, but that won’t come as any consolation for the poor cyclists who returned to their bikes in Strasbourg this morning, only to find them in a crumpled, broken mess.
And it certainly won’t make them feel any better that such blatant disregard for their mode of transport was carried out by one of the city’s police officers – hardly the most popular people in France right now – who was captured on video reversing his van, with a sickening clang of metal, into a row of parked bikes last night… only to immediately accelerate off down a side street.
CRS vs BIKE
Voilà ce qui arrive quand on ne regarde pas dans le rétroviseur en faisant une marche arrière ! 😅#STRASBOURG pic.twitter.com/FLRUdK0cPL
— Gaspard Glanz (@GaspardGlanz) April 17, 2023
The police hit-and-run on the bikes has been widely criticised over on French Twitter, with one user even claiming that the dodgy manoeuvre was an act of “revenge” following the recent weeks of protests against Emmanuel Macron’s highly inflammatory pension reforms.
“The key to getting your licence is to observe how the cops do it and do the opposite,” another tweeted.
However, one Twitter user – I really, really hope sarcastically – responded to the video by throwing in a few anti-cycling bingo greatest hits, this time focused on the prior actions of the stationary, inanimate bikes.
“Yeah, but we don’t have the context,” they wrote. “The video begins just a few seconds before the incident, coincidentally. If it is, the bikes may have asked for it a bit too.”
Another joined in on the fun, posting: “No, but wait we don’t have the context. We don’t know what happened before!”
I sincerely hope those are jokes. Like I’m almost 100 percent sure they are, but these days you never know…
This one, from Jean Christophe, is definitely a joke, anyway, straight from the live blog hall of fame: “The bikes didn’t have their helmets and yellow jackets, it’s their fault.”
Classic.
Un parc à #vélos a involontairement été percuté à hauteur du N°43 avenue de Colmar à #strasbourg par un fourgon de police qui intervenait sur l’encadrement d’une #manifestation
Nous invitons les propriétaires des vélos détériorés à se manifester à l’hôtel de police de Strasbourg pic.twitter.com/xp6f8yDyF5
— Police Nationale 67 (@PoliceNat67) April 18, 2023
In any case, Strasbourg’s police have since confirmed that the bikes were “involuntarily hit” by the driver of a police van who was supervising last night’s pension protest in the northeastern city.
“We invite the owners of damaged bikes to come forward to the Strasbourg police station,” the police said.
I’m sure that’ll be a fun visit…
Jonas Cringegaard: Is this the weirdest contract extension announcement video you’ve ever seen?
Apologies in advance for the inevitable nightmares this dystopian slice of cycling team PR will lead to, but here is how Jumbo-Visma – or should that be Jumbo-Dismal? – announced this morning that their Tour de France hero Jonas Vingegaard has signed a new contract extension, keeping him at the Dutch team until 2027…
Warning: The following clip contains super cringey AI-generated graphics. Viewer discretion is advised:
A little boy can dream. Because dreams are forever. 🌟
What a touch of AI can do. 🥹#Jonas2027 #rideyourdreams 💭 pic.twitter.com/620MJXa1Wa
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) April 18, 2023
I have so many questions.
Which Jumbo-Visma staff member is obsessed with AI?
Why does it have the feel of a binned Pixar pitch?
And why, dear God why, is creepy baby Jonas speaking with an American accent?
It appears I’m not alone in being completely creeped out by perhaps the strangest cycling team video ever made:
This is just flat out weird.
— Guy Brown (@BrownGuidofcb) April 18, 2023
Since when does Jonas have an American accent? And, please, AI may be beneficial for a lot of things – but I agree with those who say: This is CREEPY!! Sorry, @JumboVismaRoad , this announcement could have been great – but it´s the opposite!
— Cycling_Eve (@CyclingEve) April 18, 2023
Just because you can make things with AI, doesn’t mean you should make things with AI.
Pure nightmare fuel.
P.s. great work keeping Jonas!— Love Not Money (@Love_Not_Money) April 18, 2023
Though I suppose it could have been worse. Creepy AI Jonas could have been playing the piano alongside Alexis Sánchez…
Move over Park Pizza Cutter, there’s a new Christmas gift king in town
Ce découpe-pizza maison à base de disque Shimano DuraAce et moyeu imprimé en 3d m’éclate toujours autant 😁 #cyclingtwitter pic.twitter.com/Jm4LmOSEmZ
— Marc (@marcrp) April 17, 2023
Can’t wait for the Di2 version to come out, though I’m not sure Auntie Karen’s budget will stretch to anything more cutting-edge (see what I did there?) than Park’s tried and trusted model…
Ban on disposal of bike tyres in landfill moves closer
The banning of bike tyre and inner tube disposal in landfill looks to be a step closer.
Last month, the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) hosted a representation from the National Bicycle Tyre Recycling Scheme and heard that national coverage of collection points for used tyres and inner tubes is now in place, putting a potential end to the 9,300-plus tonnes which go to landfill each year.
Read more here:
Road bike category introduced by British time trial governing body to “get more people time trialling”
What do you think? Is the new road bike category more likely to convince you to head down to the local club 10?
Or is the misery, pain, and torture of time trialling just not worth it, even if CTT decides to one day include a ‘lazy person with the hairiest legs’ category?
In any case, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with my old, trusty Spinaci bars anymore…
Some, ahem, interesting cycling infra choices
Looks like Leith Walk’s infamous unicycle lane now has a Manchester-based contender for most pointless piece of cycling infrastructure:
Oh god it gets worse pic.twitter.com/g7qTAWfK4a
— Harry Gray (@HarryHamishGray) April 18, 2023
Maurice Garin, eat your heart out
I like to think that this cunning runner, who was disqualified from last week’s Manchester to Liverpool ultra-running race for covering 2.5 miles of the 50 mile route in a car (yep, that’ll definitely get you DQ’d), is actually an aficionado of Tour de France history and was simply channelling the 1904 edition of the race, and the infamous train-jumping actions of Maurice Garin and Hippolyte Aucouturier.
Great news for me 🥉 but really bad news for sportsmanship 😕
The below happened because a fellow competitor cheated.
She travelled in a car for around 2.5 miles of the M2L 50 mile event last week.
After an investigation, she has now been DQ’d, and rightly so. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/H1qkIOvXml— Mel Sykes (@nuddypants) April 17, 2023
Then again, maybe not…
Tao Geoghegan Hart says twisty Tour of the Alps finish was a “bit too much” and “on the limit”
Following his expletive-laden tirade in the immediate aftermath of his second straight Tour of the Alps stage win in Ritten this afternoon, race leader Tao Geoghegan Hart offered a more measured, if still rather cutting, assessment of the twisting, complicated finale in the post-stage presser.
“I really like this race and the organisers, but I wasn’t a fan of that finish. If it’d been wet on that concrete last 300 metres, I don’t know, for me it was a bit too much,” the 2020 Giro d’Italia winner, who has taken four of his eight pro wins at the Tour of the Alps, said.
“If the winner of the race pedals for maybe 80 metres in the last 300 metres, I’m not sure if that’s typical for a bike race. To see Felix Gall crash on that corner, just to try to make a normal sprint, it was a bit on the limit. For me it wasn’t really a correct last 500 metres.
“This shouldn’t be the story of a great stage but it’s important not to pass over these things. We’ve got a new CPA president in [former pro] Adam Hansen and he’s doing some great things to create dialogue in a good way. It’s important we all go in the right way together.
“To be clear, I wasn’t angry with Jack Haig, I don’t want to see any colleague crash, because a lot of guys are preparing for the big goals.
“This is a nice race. We could have finished on the lovely main road, it’s a beautiful day. I understand the desire to do something different but it needs to be done the right way. And, for me today was a little bit too much.”
> “Another day in the death race”: Soudal-Quick Step pro rages at Paris-Nice dangers
While Geoghegan Hart has certainly cemented his position as one of the current peloton’s most outspoken advocates, he isn’t the first pro to raise concerns about race safety this year.
At Paris-Nice last month, Soudal-Quick Step’s Florian Sénéchal publicly criticised several safety decisions made by the race organisers, including the position of street furniture in the final kilometre of a sprint stage, as well as speed bumps on a fast, technical descent.
When a member of the pubic somehow managed to drive their car onto the race route during the final stage around Nice, Sénéchal later posted an image of the terrifying incident with the caption ‘Another day in the death race’.
And in February, British sprinter Dan McLay accused race organisers at the Clásica de Almería of “playing with our health” and said it was a “f****** disgrace” that motorists had been using a roundabout at the same time the peloton passed.
“You risk your Giro for what?”: Fuming Tao Geoghegan Hart wins second consecutive Tour of the Alps stage – and immediately blasts “f***ing dangerous” finish
🥇🥇 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀, 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀!
Tao Geoghegan Hart conquers the sprint to claim victory once again in Stage 2 of Tour of the Alps !@taogeoghegan | #TouroftheAlps pic.twitter.com/CBZpwm0AP3
— Eurosport (@eurosport) April 18, 2023
A flying Tao Geoghegan Hart outsprinted Jack Haig to take his second stage win in a row at the Tour of the Alps this afternoon – but the Londoner wasn’t in a mood to celebrate, as he crossed the line shaking his head at what he believed was a “dangerous” finish in Ritten.
After strong work from Ineos teammate Pavel Sivakov, who kept the race under control after breakaway survivor Simon Carr was reeled in on the climb, a select group of favourites entered the grounds of the speed skating arena in Ritten, where AG2R’s Felix Gall crashed on a tricky bends, narrowly avoiding race leader Geoghegan Hart.
The 2020 Giro d’Italia winner, sensing the danger of the constantly turning finale, then took control through the remaining corners, with clearly enough left in the tank to comfortably see off Bahrain Victorious’ Haig for back-to-stage wins.
However, rather than bask in the glow of his current imperious form, the typically forthright 28-year-old crossed the line visibly angry and immediately began venting his frustrations about the finish, which he colourfully described to Hugh Carthy as “so f***ing dangerous”.
Kort na de finish was Tao Geoghegan Hart vooral boos vanwege de, in zijn ogen, gevaarlijke finale op de piste in Collalbo 😡#TotA #TouroftheAlps pic.twitter.com/G9hFHyequD
— WielerFlits.nl (@WielerFlits) April 18, 2023
“You risk your Giro for what? Felix Gall just crashed,” Geoghegan Hart could also be heard telling Sivakov, obviously worried that his current legs – which look as sharp as they have been since his Giro win – could be cruelly taken away from him by a potentially hazardous final kilometre, just weeks before he aims to regain the maglia rosa.
Little chance then of the Londoner heeding commentator Adam Blythe’s advice to “just be happy” with the win…
“You’re either on the side of Hopkins, Fox, and the Tax Payers’ Alliance OR people who would like to breathe clean air and not have their children killed by SUVs”: Viewers blast “idiot bingo” on BBC Panorama LTN episode
The reviews are in for last night’s episode of Panorama, where the BBC continued their recent theme of exploring ‘road rage’, ‘killer roads’, and ‘road wars’ by turning their attention to the ongoing debate over Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, which – as the Beeb’s climate editor Justin Rowlatt noted during the programme – have been “under near constant assault” in recent months.
In the likely event that you didn’t have the time, or willpower, to sit down for half an hour of LTNs, with a healthy smattering of traffic filters, Rob kindly summarised it for everyone on Twitter:
So there you have it.
LTNs, you’re either on the side of Hopkins, Fox & the Tax Payers Alliance OR people who would like to breathe clean air & not have their children killed by people who insist on travelling 12 minutes through a city in an SUV.
You decide.
— rob (@robpatrick) April 17, 2023
Like Rob, others weren’t impressed with some of the, ahem, interesting characters featured on the anti-LTN side, with one user describing the inclusion of views expressed by Katie Hopkins, Lozza Fox, and co as “idiot bingo”:
Taxpayers Alliance.. Katie Hopkins… Lawrence Fox.. It’s idiot bingo this evening.. #Panorama
— mistress purdee (@Purdee) April 17, 2023
Blimey #Panorama is just amplifying mad conspiracy theories (in the name of balance?).
Laurence Fox, Katie Hopkins and the Tax Payers Alliance amongst other loons.— Jen🌻 (@Jennyflower) April 17, 2023
Taxpayers Alliance and Katie Hopkins being shown as credible sources? Orly? This is not what I would expect from serious journalism. #Panorama
— Paul Treloar (@PaulieTandoori) April 17, 2023
HOw dArE thEy poTRay the NutTErs aS nUtTers on tHe tELevISioN#Panorama pic.twitter.com/UqtGskrGhK
— Simon (mzdt@toot.wales) 🪗 (@mzdt) April 17, 2023
With respect #Panorama, the taxpayers alliance is one of those far-right Tufton St think-tanks whose funding at least in part to come from the fossil fuel industry.
I think we should take their views on cutting fossil fuel pollution with a pinch of salt— Paul Murphy 💚 (@pablonmurph) April 17, 2023
Some also criticised a segment of the episode which claimed that, under Oxford’s proposed traffic calming filters, which would only allow exempt motorists to drive through the city centre on a specified number of days, a 12-minute journey through the city would now take 20 minutes:
A journey that now takes 12 minutes would take 25 minutes.
What the fuck are you doing driving 12 minutes through the middle of a city 🙄
Drivers are babies.
— Other Me (@othermeuk) April 17, 2023
Even the 12 minute journey zig-zagged all over the place. That journey would have been quicker and more direct on foot or by bicycle.
— Yoav Tzabar (@ytzabar) April 17, 2023
Transporting fridges, mostly.
— Noel Skum (@DanNethercott) April 17, 2023
However, others – such as Oxford-based courier service Pedal and Post – reckoned Panorama’s take on the LTN debate was “pretty balanced”:
Certainly interesting #Panorama episode on #ltns and transport policies
Were passionate to make our streets safer, cleaner, healthier and greener and we’re excited to continue to expand in Oxford
Thank you to all who spoke to @BBCJustinR and was pretty balanced show pic.twitter.com/AtcrIcxNis
— Pedal & Post Oxford (@PedalandPost) April 18, 2023
Though it’s probably best to steer clear of the anti-LTN side on Twitter (let’s just say that Godwin’s Law has been thoroughly exhausted).
Did you tune in last night? If so, what did you make of the BBC’s latest attempt at analysing the case for active travel?
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Latest Comments
The covid / post-covid boom is driven primarily by failures of capitalist strategy, causing over supply and price gouging. What we are seeing now is the correction. Most so-called ‘Western brands’ bikes are made in Eastern countries anyway - who have long been the leading manufacturers of carbon bikes. Now these makers are becoming brands / sellers too and Western brands have been put on notice. Inflation is driven by greed, not need.
@Benthic A125 motorbike can be ridden by a 17 year old can do about 75MPH; a legal e-bike that a 17-year-old cannot use can do about 15MPH.
The latest moral panic. "From August, the legal age to ride an e-scooter in Ireland will rise from 16 to 18" But, in Ireland you can still drive a: - moped from the age of 16 - 125 cc motorbike from the age of 17 - 3.5 tonne car from the age of 17 So that makes complete sense.
@mitsky I am seeing those Amazon ones in Manchester pretty much every day.
Quite. There's also a demand side story to accompany your eloquently written post, in that domestic demand has dampened from the captive COVID market of a few years back, and less international demand due to tariff-led policies and anti-dumping laws. On Chinese competition, I don't think it's necessarily Western profit-seeking behaviour which has caused increased Chinese supply and competitiveness as much as higher Chinese investment leading to higher quality output, innovation, and economies of scale. I don't know about Chinese frames as I haven't bought one and haven't seen one, but for wheels I don't see any inherent quality advantage for Western brands. Indeed, innovation seems to be coming from Chinese brands along with lower prices, just like we're seeing with electric cars. So higher quality and lower prices.
They should concentrate on the road users who do most of the killing and injuring: car drivers.
I've used the "why aren't you on the motorway?" one before, except here it would be "highway" or "Interstate." The other one I like is: "Get on the sidewalk!" (pavement) "On the side what?" "On the sidewalk!" "So it's not called a side-bicycle then?" Also one I've used a couple of times: "You're not a car!" "Neither are you!"
I've used Challenge, Vittoria, Veloflex and Continental tyres. What stands out for me regarding Challenge is how robust their supple tyres are. Usually there is a tradeoff there, but Challenge somehow manages to keep both.
Well, many of them are more correctly "emit elsewhere". However as we do successfully move away from "coal, oil, and latterly gas and wood" the fraction that is actually emitted does go down. So overall, welcome. (It's complicated... the renewables business is just business like any other so we aren't keen to discuss all the resources being used / new places that get trashed. Example being how much steel (mostly still "dirty") and concrete we need for the new infra. And of course where humans can, they will, as much as they can afford, so Jevons Paradox applies).
RE: Royal Mail 4-wheeled "bikes" - hadn't they been trying to ditch the bikes for ages (like society overall)? When they did they dumped them in favour of vans plus those trolleys. Overall if this means it ends up more "micro-van" rather than "walking plus full size vans" I guess a degree of pedalling is an improvement? When Royal Mail and parking came up before someone said they can ditch their vehicles where they want (if they have to/within reason... but nobody's going to do anything about it). The real issue is all the other commercial deliverers do that anyway. Plus most of the rest of the population...
47 thoughts on “Panorama viewers blast “idiot bingo” LTN episode; Tao Geoghegan Hart slams “f***ing dangerous” Tour of the Alps finish; French police v Bikes: Officer reverses into bikes – but were they “asking for it”?; Vingegaard’s creepy AI vid + more on the live blog”
Remember drivers, a safe pass
Remember drivers, a safe pass is for life, not just for Operation Close Pass Day.
Not many heed that in Surrey
Not many heed that in Surrey and not many get prosecuted/punished/educated for their dangerous driving (despite Road CC’s misplaced love for Surrey Road Cops).
I was just making a light
I was just making a light hearted joke at calling today “operation Close Pass Day”. (by comparing it to buying animals as Christmas presents [a dog is for life, not just for Christmas] etc) It feels almost patronising that the safety of myself and all other vulnerable road users is only important for one day of the year. Raising awareness and educating people is absolutely necessary but having a specific day for it when it should be a permanent year-round thought process is a bit naff.
Don’t forget drive to work
Don’t forget drive to work day (every day except August 4th) also!
In the “leave a car’s width”
In the “leave a car’s width” pictures I’ve often thought that 1.5m / 5ft is not the width of any car I’ve encountered – just semantics? What does Google say?
Mini cooper – 5.6ft / 173cm
New mini (2023) apparently same as old (!)
New mini clubman (2023) 5.9ft / 180 cm
BMW 1 series – 5.9ft / 179 cm
Range Rover Velar – 6.3 ft / 193cm
I’m not sure if that includes
wingdoor mirrors.chrisonatrike wrote:
Usually not. There was a thread a while ago where our resident contrarian Martin was explaining to us that a taxi driver in a Mercedes C Class skipping a queue for the lights by driving in the opposite lane (directly at an oncoming cyclist) was a perfectly safe and reasonable thing to do.
I tried to work out exactly how little space he’d given her by measuring our car (same model) and comparing it to the video. I discovered that the stated width of 1830mm does not include the wing mirrors (at nearly 300mm each). Not sure why – maybe because they’re adjustable?
People are mostly interested
People are mostly interested in the space inside their vehicles. Clearly people assume the spaces they might need to fit the car in are big enough. I imagine this lack of concern is a species of “if they’re selling it, it must be fine / work…”. Or at least, lack of space to store a vehicle in e.g. your garage doesn’t seem to prompt choice of different vehicle. We just know that we can store them for free / very cheap somewhere.
My wife drives a mini coupe
My wife drives a mini coupe which is near enough 1.5m width. She loves the car but had to get used to not being seen by other drivers
I’m not on Twitter but I have
I’m not on Twitter but I have checked to see what “TVP Roads Policing” are doing / saying on Facebook. Unfortunately, they don’t appear to have got the memo. No point in having a campaign where you’re just preaching to the converted.
Humberside Police have not
Humberside Police have not got the memo either
I’m not on Twitter but I have
I’m not on Twitter but I have checked to see what “TVP Roads Policing” are doing / saying on Facebook. Unfortunately, they don’t appear to have got the memo
No mention, unsurprisingly, of Operation Close Pass on the OpSnap Lancs page, or Lancashire Constabulary Twitter page. So I went laboriously back on the Twitter page to see if there was any mention of cyclists or cycling, and I gave up after 6 months at 18th October 22 because there was none- except for the theft of bikes from 2 children in Darwen. There was a statement on 31st October that OpSnap was ‘back up and running’ and requesting ‘dashcam video’ which is how they always refer to any video, and on December 9th a little drawing of how police HQ would look after the £75 million is spent to ‘take it into the 21st Century’. There are repeated exhortations to report offences, and recommendations to use the ‘New Street Safe Tool’ where you can stick a digital pin in a map to indicate places where you feel unsafe. Clearly, this doesn’t apply to cyclists feeling unsafe, because they ignore all reports of close passing – I’m trying to give you a little variety by delving into the archives for older cases.
Edit: I thought I’d better check Lancs Road Police on Twitter for the same 6 months, for completeness. As expected, no mention whatsoever of cyclists or offences against cyclists, but a very large fraction of motoring offences which they did record were about drivers of BMWs, Audis, Mercedes’ and Range Rovers, frequently for drug driving, carrying large bags of cash, etc.
That Surrey graphic is far
That Surrey graphic is far better than the West Mids mat because it shows 1.5m from the cyclist, not 1.5m from the cyclist’s centre-line. That’s always annoyed me, but it was better than nothing. Despite West Mids Police’s good intentions, it does reveal an element of a lack of understanding
I had to point this out to
I had to point this out to TVP a couple of years ago. Perhaps foolishly some keen recruit sent me a copy of “the letter” which had the standard 1.5m from the center of the frame. I did advise him that this wasn’t what the HC said and he did promise to speak to his bosses about it. I don’t suppose anything happened but as you say the Surrey graphic is encouraging.
for me though, even if you
for me though, even if you take the 1.5m from the bike to the car door, so Im giving away about 30cms (to make the maths easier). So its roughly a 1.2m/4ft pass instead, actually Id still be pretty comfortable with that, so the mat has never bothered me in that way.
as those are probably the ones I consider really good passes, because the majority are more like sitting at only 1m away from the bike, and the ones that bug me as close passes are in the 0.1-0.75m bracket away. the ones who are only giving enough space to not hit you.
if we could just get everyone to give a minimum 1.2m (from the bike) as a start, Id call that a win.
I can’t help but feel that
I can’t help but feel that complaining about whether the 1.5m is measured from the centre line or the bars is a bit like complaining that the cherry on the top of your cake is glace rather than a lovely fresh one whilst ignore the fact that the cake is literal human faeces!
As Awavey says below, if I could get 1.2m minimum every time I’d definitely take that!
nniff wrote:
to be honest I’d be happy with either. 1.5m from the wheel line means if the cyclist falls over sideways, they (probably) won’t be under the wheels of passing cars.
I’m generally comfortable when cars pass me at 1m, but all too often it’s within arms length which (as I am not an Orang Utan) is significantly less than 1m.
I think you’re definitely
I think you’re definitely under the following vehicle, maybe the passing vehicle too, even at 1.5m (H/T NSRAPT for the photo)
interesting, I didn’t think I
interesting, I didn’t think I was as tall sat on the bike as standing, I will have to reassess.
Of course you are then only looking for the vehicle to deviate by about 200-300mm, rather than come to a dead stop, so evasion becomes possible.
stonojnr wrote:
Well that’s rather worrying…
Does having a week long “two
Does having a week long “two wheel campaign” count as taking part ? Apparently it’s the NPCCs campaign this week, maybe opclosepass day is part of that, though NPCC dont seem to be publicising it themselves
The blurb sure reads like it’s more focussed on motorcyclists though and educating all road users to “best protect themselves from the threats on the roads”
Also they say “the focus of these campaigns are not prosecutions, Our priority is the safety of Suffolk/Norfolk road users. We look to achieve this through educating drivers and riders and providing them with the skills and knowledge they need to be safe”
Hmm, I’d sure like to “educate” the driver who tried to take my knee cap off at the weekend with a close pass.
Actually Suffolk police did
Actually Suffolk police did run a close pass op today in Ipswich, not sure why they blanked the riders face who was involved though
Undercover officer !
Undercover officer !
Hirsute wrote:
Perhaps because it’s the Roads and Armed Policing unit – not sure if that’s a really toxic combination or a good idea.
Awavey did explain that one –
Awavey did explain that one – can’t remember exactly but guessing combination of rural area covered and number of officers.
Cost saving/efficiency being
Cost saving/efficiency being it’s prime purpose, hence the combined Norfolk/Suffolk setup anyway. But it basically means you don’t have to have a set of armed police response vehicles where the weapons lockers are kept left around the two counties waiting to be called into action. They instead are in the road policing cars, who are spread round the counties doing road policing work but would automatically respond to an incident that required armed officers response.
I thought other “rural” police forces had similar setups thesedays.
Lol volunteer for close pass
Lol volunteer for close pass ops in Ipswich and get put in the witness protection programme ?
Maybe it was, but why take the photo?, normally they rope in their colleagues from the fire service to assist them, as they literally don’t have enough police officers in the unit to carry out those ops regularly, certainly why they didn’t have more than one close pass op running yesterday.
Awavey wrote:
I thought normally it was the other way round, get put in the witness protection programme and get moved to Ipswich* where no one will find you by accident.
*other backwater locations are available.
A gap of 1.5 m needs to be
A gap of 1.5 m needs to be from the end of the handlebar to the end of the wing mirror; nothing less.
The way car sizes are going
The way car sizes are going the wing mirror length will be irrelevant as they’ll be above cyclists head height.
Arms race alert!
Arms race alert!
Also – Jeremy Vine!
Also – Jeremy Vine!
That opens up a whole new
That opens up a whole new debate on helmet use.
DOOR mirror!
DOOR mirror!
swldxer wrote:
SIDE VIEW mirror!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side-view_mirror
Ah… we’ve missed you (or at
Ah… we’ve missed you (or at least Dave has).
swldxer wrote:
WING mirror!
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/wing-mirror
swldxer wrote:
Welcome Back! I thought you’d logged off permanently.
Jonas Cringegaard: Is this
Jonas Cringegaard: Is this the weirdest contract extension announcement video you’ve ever seen?
Yes.
I thought AI was supposed to be making our lives better, not creepier.
The move to introduce a Road
The move to introduce a Road Bike category for TTs is a brilliant move from CTT. My local club recently announced the same move for our own club league, so that riders who are normally disadvantaged by not having a dedicated TT rig can race and enter competitively.
There are a lot of race organisers struggling to obtain enough entries for time trials, and in order for the discipline to survive, we must be flexible and adaptable to the world around us.
I do not own a TT bike but have entered races previously using and aero road bike with tri bars. I am probably a little slower than if I were to use a full TT bike, but I am reasonably competitive against riders who have the gear. My setup would of course exclude me from the road bike category, however I have a personal goal of breaking 25 minutes on my local course which may only be possible in my current TT setup. If I want to switch up and see where I stand on a fair footing competitively, I can just ride without the skis so any talk of anyone in my position being disadvantaged is moot.
Why weren’t the drivers
Why weren’t the drivers polled given the appropriate 0.25 meter choice?
Quote:
How’s that work? The large vehicle has to be pretty damn close before it collides with the cyclist, 100% of the time.
Sriracha wrote:
25% of the time it is a close overtake gone wrong, therefore 75% of the time it is not a planned overtake, it is something else, such as failing to give way at a junction (inc failing to look properly at a junction) hitting a cyclist when overtaking another road user on the wrong side of the road etc etc. Left turning vehicles crushing cyclists, this may or may not involve an overtake prior, but at the collision we are talking about a driver failing to see a cyclist, and not seeing them but giving insifficient space.
Which is interesting because we all experience uncomfortably close overtakes, and so percieve this to be the main danger. However we less often experience near misses of drivers pulling out at junctions withour giving way.
I didn’t watch the BBC
I didn’t watch the BBC programme. But, seriously was Hopkins asked her opinion? One would like to think people would see the lunacy of her like. But then one thinks of Rees Mogg, Farage, Ann Widdecombe, Bill Cash et al and plenty of people took them seriously.
And Truss.
And Truss.
eburtthebike wrote:
Is she allowed out in public? She and Kwarteng seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth…
brooksby wrote:
Unfortunately there’s some right-wingers that seem to still think that she’s relevant and/or knowledgable
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/12/liz-truss-speech-sketch-heritage-foundation
Margaret Thatcher Freedom Lecture? What will they think of next?
I’m waiting for that AI Jonas
I’m waiting for that AI Jonas Cringegaard to explain that there has been a leak in the lab and the facility will now be sealed, sorry for any inconvenience as you are turned into a mutant zombie…