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news
Get paid to report drivers parked in the cycle lane? YouTuber Casey Neistat explores NYC 'bike lane bounty'; British Conti team Ribble Weldtite set to fold following sponsorship issues + more on the live blog
New York City segregated cycle lane (CC licensed on Flickr by Dylan Passmore)19 October 2022, 09:02
British Conti team Ribble Weldtite set to fold following sponsorship issues
The steady demise of the British domestic racing scene continues, as UCI continental squad Ribble Weldtite confirmed yesterday that it will be folding at the end of the year.
Founded in 2017, the team – which has produced pros such as EF Education-EasyPost’s James Shaw and former Eolo–Kometa rider John Archibald – registered with the UCI in 2019, a year before bike maintenance manufacturer Weldtite joined as co-sponsor.
However, according to an email sent this week to riders and staff, advising them to seek other opportunities, sponsorship and funding issues have led to the team’s untimely demise, making Ribble Weldtite the third British-based UCI Continental squad to drop out of the sport since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sports director and former individual pursuit world champion Colin Sturgess explained to Cycling Weekly that a funding shortfall of between £50,000 and £80,000 – caused, the email claimed, due to the current economic uncertainty and the impact of Brexit on British manufacturers – has made ensuring the team’s future an impossible task.
Sad times. But a sincere thank you to @RibbleWeldtite Jack & Tom, all the staff, sponsors and last but by no means least, the amazing riders that I’ve been honoured to work with. I hope I’ve taught you swear profusely in many languages ❤️ https://t.co/41ppUfJhqV
— Col Sturgess (@ColinASturgess) October 18, 2022
“A little bit before the Tour of Britain, we all had a message from Tom [Timothy, general manager] which said, ‘Guys, just a heads up that there’s a fairly sizable shortfall in sponsorship for next year so you know, just be mindful that we’ll be looking for replacement sponsors’,” he said.
“We went into the race with that in mind, looking for a result and Jack [Rees, operations director] and Tom were working in the background to try to plug this shortfall if you will.
“Nobody wants to see the guys without a ride, I think most of the lads have managed to secure something but it’s just bloody difficult when there are only two or three conti teams around.”
And then there were three.
Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling will fold at the end of the season, ten years after it began.
That leaves just three British men’s UCI Continental teams. As recently as 2019 there were six. https://t.co/HmmwBgdVta
— The British Continental (@BritishConti) October 18, 2022
The British Continental has reported that several of the team's riders have secured a place on other teams, both home and abroad, for 2023:
While Harry Tanfield is rumoured to be joining a Dutch team.
DS Col Sturgess also has a team sorted for next year.
/3
— The British Continental (@BritishConti) October 18, 2022
Such a shame to hear the news today about @RibbleWeldtite. The team were always very friendly and accommodating to us whenever we wanted to speak to them
Those orange helmets will be sorely missed
— The TT Podcast 🚴 (@ttpdcst) October 18, 2022
19 October 2022, 08:35
Would you like to see this in the UK? YouTuber Casey Neistat on New York's 'bike lane bounty'
We've reported on this before when it started in Austin, Texas, and also found out that one New Yorker claimed he had already made $64,000 by simply reporting badly-parked fellow residents. As Neistat says in the video above, NYC residents can get a 25% share of a $175 fine by reporting drivers who decide it's a great idea to park in the cycle lane.
"The biggest safety issue with bike lanes are cars..." says Neistat, before crashing into a van nonchalantly nestled in a bike lane.
The video ends with... one of New York's finest parked in the bike lane. Who'd have thought it?
Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.
Latest Comments
- Geordiepeddeler 3 hours 45 min ago
Cycling infrastructure does not force drivers to break the law, drivers are the reason they break the law, no one else.
- chrisonabike 3 hours 58 min ago
Ah but taking pictures of things to defy the man (avoid a fine) is righteous. Taking pictures of people to grass on them to the cops (perhaps...
- ktache 5 hours 48 min ago
But getting paid for it is the very definition of professional....
- ktache 5 hours 56 min ago
Never had a Shimano QR fail on me. They just work. And the top end ones look good too....
- Backladder 6 hours 42 min ago
If you're only looking at the guy in front of you then you're going to crash whatever brakes you have, you need to look beyond them to anticipate...
- jaysa 7 hours 8 min ago
As a woman, this works great for me! My chain broke once, and a kind guy stopped with a chain breaker and sorted it all out for me. We stopped at a...
- andystow 7 hours 59 min ago
Same. I also have gone through a bunch of their tyres, and only the extralight disappointed (torn sidewall) but the standards are fantastic....
- chrisonabike 9 hours 57 min ago
Indeed - but it's no more inconsistent than our current road design - very often UK high streets are "for shopping" and also a busy through route....
- mike the bike 11 hours 27 min ago
If you ask the world's leading economic commentators how many people have been rescued from abject poverty by capitalism the average answer would...
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48 comments
That NY ticket idea is great.
Well the walking pseudonym that is Grant Schapps is now home secretary.
A envisage announcements on crack-downs on uninsured and unlicensed scroflaw cyclist.
As far as I can tell, the bike-lane bounty in Austin TX (where I live) is only a recommendation so far, and hasn't been implemented. I need to do some more digging.
On another topic I raised the idea of cars being obligated run front and rear Dashcams, with a requirement for the owners to retain the footage and produce it in the event of an incident. Failure to produce enforced by points and fine at least as large as the maximum for the offence as an incentive to earn a discount by producing even if guilty. Make it a requirement for getting insurance.
Combine that with reporting of infractions, then it becomes trivial to police the streets, with drivers always conscious that they are carrying their own snitch.
I would go further. Every car should have an individual log in so we know who is driving the car at the time. It also should have to record GPS data for all trips. Then, a few times a year the driver should have to upload details of the trips they have taken to a central data base which would pick one randomly to be examed further.
If any drivig offenses were found during this examination, then fines should be forthcoming. Can't pay the fine... don't do the crime. No, not the war on motorist, just a way of making people think before they drive at excessive speeds etc. You would also need laws to make tampering with this data an offence.
It would also be good for matching reported crimes to actual data... so, prove you weren't in the wrong then.... (yes, I know this goes against the normal way courts work but then saving lifes is more important).
I don't agree with keeping GPS data for all trips as that's ripe for abuse by malicious government and/or police. For the purposes of solving crime, maybe require that the last two weeks of data is kept locally that the police could demand if they had reasonable suspicion, but otherwise they can just do fishing expeditions and pin crimes on people that just happened to drive near the scene of a crime.
Not sure we need to go as far as all trips saved and uploaded, why not just a black box that automatically sends an alert to the authorities when speeding, RLJ etc is detected?
It's a bit Orwellian, but essexian is even worse. I couldn't support anything like this. Not because I drive badly or am up to no good, but I would be tracked everywhere, no thanks
Any system would be subject to some abuse but given that the vast majority of motorists seek to abuse the privilege of driving on a daily basis, then the idea that there is an obligation for a privately held record of activity that can be demanded where there is evidence of abuse is potentially more proportionate than installing CCTV everywhere, where people can be monitored regardless and without any knowledge that this is occurring. At least if you don't want to be tracked, you can use other means of transport, which is not necessarily the case with public CCTV systems.
Yes, such a system would be open to abuse. However, watching 2 or 3 episodes of UK Dashcams should remind you just how bad driving has become in the UK.
You are right, it is Orwellian but only a random selected drive would be picked to be examined: the rest would be stored locally so Big Brother would not be able to get hold of it.
There are points to be worked out but if you knew that there was a chance of you being caught if you broke the law, then I would hope it would have a positive impact on poor driving etc.
..... Or, we could always employ more Police so there is one about when you need one?
Digital tachograph like trucks now have.
Thumbprint scan to start the record, and before the car will start.
Automatic data transfer via SMS at the end of each journey.
Data is automatically processed by servers, with the system automatically issuing speeding tickets based on the location of each change in speed ... wouldn't be that difficult, and would be relatively easy to manage.
Logged in driver becomes responsible for all and any offence committed during their log in.
Points and bans automatically logged to the drivers profile, so the car won't start /exceed speed limit etc for that logged in user.
Look how wide those 'Merican segregated bike lanes are!
Have you seen how wide 'Mericans are though?
With apologies to all Americans for engaging in national stereotypes.
Do you mean the residents of the USA? Peruvians (also Ecuador, Brazil etc) have a relatively low rate of obesity - certainly lower then the UK.
Personally I would be in favour of such a scheme and not just for parking in bike lanes. As with others I believe it would need to be run by a private arm's length organization to be properly resourced. However I disagree it would be a get rich quick scheme. As with an army of volunteers out there to spot them behaviours would change and cases to spot would fall. As against the present when there is quite simply no deterrent.
Saw that Casey Neistat video yesterday.
We should definitely implement that scheme here for all parking offences.
Loved the video.
Feels like I could probably afford to retire within a week or two if that was introduced here.
I'm looking out of my window at three vans parked on zebra crossing zigzags.
That would be a nice little earner without even leaving the house.
https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/17214762.jaiden-mangan-three-died...
They never think there will be consequences.
I wouldn't have to travel far. Could take 2 weeks off and spend 6 hours down here for those days and equal my yearly wage.
Just to show how bad it is, just go back in the last few streetviews to see parking on this crossing seems endemic. The cars not on the crossing are on Double Yellows.
ZigZags: I thought that was supposed to earn 3 stars on your licence, but I see it everyday!
I have been researching it.
It's definitely 3 points on your license and, if I've interpreted the T's+C's correctly, an offence that can be uploaded to Operation Snap as a pedestrian.
Next time they try it I'm heading out for a little walk.
I think we may have inadvertently stumbled across the answer to the cost of living crisis.
I can see that leading to people waiting at prime locations for a poor, hard-working motorist to accidentally park in a dangerous spot. It's a war on motorists, I tell you!
You know that's how it would be framed.
In reality it's no different to employing private companies to enforce parking.
I reckon I could make about £100 every time I cycled to work, it would be brilliant.
Personally I would like to see a scheme where if you were to post a video/piece of evidence to a central website, if that resulted in a fine being issued to the driver concerned, you would get a percentage of the money generated.
That way, we would all have a stake in keeping the roads safe and have a way of making some money on the side.
Of course, we could get Lancs Police to staff the scheme..... that would kill it off before it even started. I hate to suggest it, but a private company (or better still a Police owned arms length company) would have an interest to fine as many people as possible to ensure their profits.
As they say, can't pay the fine, don't do the crime.
I agree it would be likely to have more success if run by a private company.
I think a 'broken windows' type approach to traffic offences is long overdue. This could be an easy first step.
Of course, we could get Lancs Police to staff the scheme..... that would kill it off before it even started
An outrageous suggestion, when they're all working their fingers to the bone Fighting the Good Fight against the real cancer destroying our society: people wasting police time by reporting offences with indisputable evidence so that the only way the police can protect respectable hard-working Tory Brexiteer motorists against these blackguards is by wasting valuable photons directing all evidence straight to the bin. Mercedes HD59 FEG had managed 11 months perfectly well without MOT when detected and should soon make the complete year with the assistance of Lancashire Constabulary's Pettyfogging Red Tape Busting Program
Some do get stopped eventually, though it is "Project Edward" at the moment https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/crime/fine-for-driver-stopped-in-west-stow-s...
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Get help.
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Soon.
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Whittingham closed some years ago, of course, but I'm sure that if you got yourself to RPH they would be very pleased to help you deal with your issues.
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