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'Road Rage: Cars v Bikes': BBC's Panorama episode receives mixed reception (+ statistics questioned); Newly crowned hill climb champ Illi Gardner smashes Sa Calobra QOM; Cyclists warned of runaway oversized baubles; Close pass flag + more on the live blog

It's a sunny Wednesday and Dan Alexander has just about dried out from yesterday's downpours. In between changing the newspaper in his shoes he'll be updating the live blog.....

SUMMARY

No Live Blog item found.

02 November 2022, 17:39
Until tomorrow...

We'll leave you with a final word from Zlatan Ibrahimovic... (don't think we didn't see that helmet to the Swede's right)... presumably quoting Pantani or Quintana...

02 November 2022, 17:15
What did you make of Panorama 'Road Rage: Cars v Bikes'?

*Spoiler alert if you're waiting for the prime time BBC One viewing* 

That was a joke, by the way, before anyone gets back in the comments to call me a self-important joker for suggesting people might actually be avoiding what happens for the full 'live' experience...

Anyway, not sure any of the above was necessary... onto your comments and reaction before I live blog myself down another midweek avenue of nonsense...

BBC Panorama

eburtthebike: "Well, the Panorama thing was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be, but as others have pointed out, it still had significant flaws. For instance pretending that Rod Liddle was in any way an authoritative source, or that their online survey was the least bit valid.

"Neither did they compare the amounts spent on cycling with the amounts spent on other transport infrastructure to put it into context, or mention the police data which shows that it is overwhelmingly the driver at fault in cyclist/motor vehicle collisions.

"So while it could have been much, much worse, it could have been so much better.   Still, at least it's an improvement from the BBC's normal line for the past forty years of 'two wheels bad, four wheels good' approach. Maybe they'll even actually commission a series about cycling and why it is so good for you, your neighbourhood and the planet.*

"*Just a little joke I thought I'd throw in for my own amusement."

HoarseMann: "Good to see some road.cc NMotD clips highlighting the issue. This is a bit better than some of the other programmes on this topic, but still too much framing the problem as a balanced difference of opinions.

"Letting Rod Liddle mouth off unchallenged is a low point, along with some Highway Code change inaccuracies (cyclists can now ride in the middle of the road) and the London van driver (that cyclist should be in the bus lane so that they're out of the way).

"Illegal driving and the failure of the police to enforce the law is the root cause. Difficulty getting justice was lightly covered, but the lack of enforcement for careless driving around cyclists didn't get a look in."

Anyone else got any thoughts on the programme?

02 November 2022, 16:56
The WorldTour's leaders in subtle and tasteful product placement are at it again

Nothing says cycling like the inside of a 4x4...

(Or on the bonnet)

Filippo Ganna breaks UCI Hour record (credit - Ineos Grenadiers)

 

02 November 2022, 16:29
Brian Cookson: More heads have to roll at British Cycling
Brian Cookson at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle (source Briancookson.org).jpg

Former UCI and British Cycling president Brian Cookson had some strong words for cycling's governing body in the UK, saying he has "no confidence" in chair Frank Slevin and more "heads have to roll" following on from CEO Brain Facer's departure.

> British Cycling CEO Brian Facer leaves post with immediate effect

"The chair [Frank Slevin] needs to take some responsibility for this," Cookson told Cycling Weekly. "I have no confidence in him to continue, I think he should go. Now we have a structure imposed on us by UK Sport and the reality is we have a chairman who has effectively come from outside the sport, presumably appointed for his business expertise.

"The problem as I see it is that we're governed by people who don't really have a background in that sport, pastime, activity and I don't know what they're motivated by.

"Frank Slevin is almost invisible from what I can see. I think he needs to take some responsibility for some of these unfortunate controversies that have happened during his tenure. I do think that it seems inexplicable to me that the chairman and the board were unaware of the implications of the things that have happened and that have been so controversial.

"I think that some heads have to roll."

Facer's departure by "mutual agreement" came just weeks after British Cycling announced a toxically controversial eight-year partnership with petrochemicals giant Shell.

02 November 2022, 15:24
Happy Wednesday...
Panorama trending Twitter

 

02 November 2022, 14:50
Newly crowned hill climb champ Illi Gardner smashes Sa Calobra QOM

What a hero Illi Gardner is. Three days after winning the women's event at the National Hill Climb Championships, the climbing phenom has gone and smashed the QOM up one of the most hotly contested Strava segments in the world — Sa Calobra.

> Most competitive Strava segment in the world? Ed Laverack smashes Sa Calobra KOM

Clocking 29:09 up the iconic Mallorcan climb, Gardner beat previous QOM holder, Swedish pro triathlete Sara Svensk's time by 50 seconds and went almost two minutes faster than Emma Pooley's best.

> Weird and wonderful bikes from the National Hill Climb Championships

Covering the 9.44km, which averages seven per cent, at an average speed of 19.4km/h (12mph), Gardner's power data shows she held 264w, 5.4w/kg based on her Strava weight...

02 November 2022, 14:36
Haters will say it's fake...
02 November 2022, 13:47
Review: Panorama – Road Rage: Cars v Bikes

Right, we'll round up some of your reaction later on, but for now we'll move onto some other things happening in the cycling world today...

That is after we've shared road.cc Simon's review of the episode...

BBC Panorama

> Review: Panorama – Road Rage: Cars v Bikes

02 November 2022, 13:28
'Road rage' on BBC panorama: fuelling the fire or raising awareness? We interview the presenter on the road.cc Podcast
roadcc podcast episode 37

As promised here's our chat with Panorama reporter Richard Bilton about the episode...

> 'Road rage' on BBC panorama: fuelling the fire or raising awareness? We interview the presenter on the road.cc Podcast

02 November 2022, 11:53
BBC broadcasts Rod Liddle clip from Panorama episode during radio news bulletin

If you've been listening to BBC radio this morning you might have noticed the Panorama episode's statistics, questioned by Peter Walker in an earlier live blog post, being read out during news bulletins...

Said 'soundbite' of choice? Yep... it's Rod Liddle's input to the episode...

Others have reported hearing the clip on Radio 2 and 4, we heard it during Lauren Laverne's Radio 6 Music show when a newsreader said:

A survey of motorists suggests there is widespread dislike of cyclists. More than 12,000 drivers were questioned and one-in-three told the BBC's Panorama that cyclists shouldn't be on the road. A quarter admitted deliberately driving too close to them. The government is spending billions of pounds encouraging more people to get on their bikes, the columnist Rod Liddle thinks more regulation of cyclists is needed...

Right... cue the soundbite from the episode (you'll have to read it, which might be a plus if you don't wish to hear this particular voice)... 

Liddle: "Possibly some form of registration or indeed make it the law to use cycle lanes where they have been provided, I think that is one of the things that really gets up the nose of people. And I would enforce speed limits and pick them up for running red lights"...

Panorama's 'polling' has been criticised this morning... check out the earlier blog post for more from the Guardian's Peter Walker on the matter...

So in conclusion, based on these BBC news bulletins... the problem is a quarter of motorists admit deliberately driving too close to cyclists... so let's get Rod Liddle on to tell everyone the people being driven too close to should be registered for the privilege...

Yep, that's this Rod Liddle...

> 'Tempting' – Sunday Times columnist Rod Liddle on stretching piano wire across road to target cyclists 

02 November 2022, 10:22
'Road Rage: Cars v Bikes': BBC's Panorama episode receives mixed reception

So, it's finally here... BBC's Panorama episode titled 'Road Rage: Cars v Bikes' has dropped on iPlayer ahead of its broadcast on BBC One at 8pm tonight and you might even recognise some of the video clips from a certain Near Miss of the Day series...

BBC Panorama

We spoke to the episode's producer, as well as reporter Richard Bilton, to contribute, which is why there are more than a few clips from this website included. Clearly, there are aspects we would rather weren't part of the episode... Rod Liddle's section springs to mind, while the title 'Road Rage: Cars v Bikes' has also landed some criticism.

We'll have a full road.cc piece analysing the episode, as well as a podcast episode with Bilton coming later today. Of course, we'll also keep you updated with all the reaction here on the live blog...

"Good in parts"

The Guardian's Peter Walker suggested the investigation is "good in parts" — Bilton talks to Cycling UK, the London Cycling Campaign and "very effectively shows how commonly dangerous driving affects you when cycling"... BUT raised concerns about the stats used, notably a third of drivers thinking cyclists shouldn't be on the road (figures already reported with clicky headlines by the Daily Mail and Cycling Weekly)... AND questioned the title..."There's this weird compulsion to make everything about cycling into a battle. As others have said, it's less a battle than a massacre."

Keep your eyes peeled for our podcast episode with Richard Bilton which goes live later today... 

02 November 2022, 10:54
"Overall I think it's fairly good in showing the dangers and highlighting how awful it is for people cycling... shame they have to have a shock journalist implying that cyclists need to be 'poked'..."

Road safety campaigner Adam Bronkhorst agrees it is "fairly good" just with a couple of disappointing moments...

02 November 2022, 10:02
The close pass flag
02 November 2022, 08:59
Dangerous drivers, potholes and... oversized baubles?! The latest danger for cyclists on Britain's roads

It's that time of year... Halloween's passed (if that even counts as a notable calendar date) and one of my now-muted group chats has this week begun debating the best Christmas songs... they did festive movie rankings in October!!! Hopefully the World Cup will bring them back to more comfortable discussion...

Anyway, more importantly for us two-wheeled travellers, there has been a warning the Christmas period could bring an extra danger to cyclists using the roads... nope, not darker evenings, drivers taking a chance after the Christmas party, or even icy conditions... nope, today's warning is to look out for runaway oversized baubles... no, really...

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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76 comments

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
3 likes

Awavey wrote:

So who is Number 1...? kiss

You are, Number Six

Avatar
Awavey replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

I'm more like Number 36 or was it 86, or even 8  1

I'd be 42, answer to life universe and everything, but they werent terribly consistent in keeping the numbers pinned to the same characters through the series. Deliberately I'm sure.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
0 likes

Awavey wrote:

I'm more like Number 36 or was it 86, or even 8  1

I'd be 42, answer to life universe and everything, but they werent terribly consistent in keeping the numbers pinned to the same characters through the series. Deliberately I'm sure.

That's Angela Browne playing Number 86. She also appeared in an episode of Danger Man (amongst many other TV appearances).

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
1 like

Magic!  Moore of this!

Avatar
brooksby replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
0 likes

Is that Alan Moore?

(edit) Sorry - didn't read further before posting my comment.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
4 likes

brooksby wrote:

Is that Alan Moore?

(edit) Sorry - didn't read further before posting my comment.

No, it's just a picture of him

Avatar
essexian replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
4 likes

My wife calls me "Number 2."

Not sure why as its both our first marriages?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to essexian | 2 years ago
5 likes

essexian wrote:

My wife calls me "Number 2."

Not sure why as its both our first marriages?

Even stranger is that your wife calls me "Number 3"

Avatar
Daveyraveygravey replied to | 2 years ago
9 likes

Rakia wrote:

I did not watch any TV programs, but I listened to BBC Radio 5 Live this morning at work. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001dnc0 is the source. They had a balanced discussion about people taking responsibility for their own actions on the road. 

They play a clip by a cyclist (2hrs 57through) who states the following and this is very interesting:

"Being a cyclist and a motorist myself, it's about considerate and inconsiderate road users. When I cycle, I take up the amount of space I require, and sometimes drivers drive too close, that is what happens. However, many cyclists are what we, who are cyclists, would tend to call "Cycle Nazis", and they will drive in the middle of the road on their bike, making sure that the traffic has to slow down or do an outrageous manouvre to go around them, because that is what the Highway Code says they are entitled to do.

It's not common sense, and to be honest drivers will get upset and cross at those sort of cyclists. And they should not be cycling, and there are many of them."

When I write my sensible comments two days ago about how people have to use their common sense and awareness, someone replied by writing "fuck off". This is the behaviour of those people. This is about taking responsibility for your own actions, like a grown up person.

So, I think this is what it is boiling down to. Are you a cyclist, or a cycle Nazi?

FUCK OFF! 

With your gross over-simplification, "are you a cyclist or a cycle nazi"?  It isn't one or the other for most people.  Unless you're the typical anti-cycling driving non-thinker.

Are you a troll or a fucking troll? 

"Balanced discussion about people taking responsibility for their actions on the road" - false equivalency?  Drivers kill or seriously injure 67 people a day on our roads, lets start the discussion with that.  What do you think happens when a cyclist and bike hit an object?  Said system weighs less than a hundred kilos,  and is lucky to average 20 mph.  It's the cyclist that hets hurt most, in most situations. However, when a driver and car hit an object, it isn't usually that driver that gets hurt, sat in their 2 tonne plus killing machine, at anything up to 100 mph.

Let's talk about sentencing for those caught breaking the rules of the road.  Cyclists get heavier sentences, and absolutely slaughtered in the media.  Drivers rarely get any sentence, or a joke one if they do, and very little media coverage. 

Shame on you for adding to the divisive part of the debate.  Now fuck off!

Avatar
Clem Fandango replied to Daveyraveygravey | 2 years ago
7 likes

And when you get there fuck off again.

Avatar
BalladOfStruth replied to Daveyraveygravey | 2 years ago
9 likes

What thread was this in?

If I remember correctly, his "sensible comments" were that it was unreasonable for a cyclist to be upset if a HGV pulls off the road, over the pavement, into a cycle lane, across his path, forcing him to take evasive action (all without looking) because "hazards are a fact of life" and in his country "even children" are taught to respect delivery drivers because they need to make thier deliveries (and apparently they can, and should break any and all road laws in order to do so).

When I pointed out that his "sensible comments" were some of the stupidist shit ever written down and asked him to provide road fatality stats for his country to see how "sensible" their "sensible way of doing things" actually are, he mysteriously vanished.

But then again, he's quite obviously a trolling bellend with no idea what he's talking about. Even a child knows this.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to BalladOfStruth | 2 years ago
3 likes

BalladOfStruth wrote:

What thread was this in?

If I remember correctly, his "sensible comments" were that it was unreasonable for a cyclist to be upset if a HGV pulls off the road, over the pavement, into a cycle lane, across his path, forcing him to take evasive action (all without looking) because "hazards are a fact of life" and in his country "even children" are taught to respect delivery drivers because they need to make thier deliveries (and apparently they can, and should break any and all road laws in order to do so).

When I pointed out that his "sensible comments" were some of the stupidist shit ever written down and asked him to provide road fatality stats for his country to see how "sensible" their "sensible way of doing things" actually are, he mysteriously vanished.

But then again, he's quite obviously a trolling bellend with no idea what he's talking about. Even a child knows this.

Was that also the same post that insulted all Londoners as being rude or the one that referred to all Germans as holding clipboards?

Avatar
Hirsute replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
7 likes

Yes and I used your reply as a quote to them in another thread

They are just another troll and possibly a PBU.

Avatar
BalladOfStruth replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
7 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

 

Was that also the same post that insulted all Londoners as being rude or the one that referred to all Germans as holding clipboards?

The "people in Germany holding clipboards" comment was the one I responded to - the rude Londoners was the story about kids wheely-ing in the bike lane.

I took the clipboard comment to be a dig at Health and Safety culture, which is something that really winds me up - as someone who had one Grandad die young from asbestosis from working unprotected with asbestos all his working life, and the other Grandad is essentially immobile due to injuries from no proper lifting-and-handelling, I can say that, objectively, anyone who wants to go back to the "good old days" of people being maimed at work every day, is a fucking moron.

Just look at his comment above, he says cyclists should be "taking responsibility for your own actions, like a grown up person", but says a cyclist who takes the lane to protect themselves from close-passes is a "nazi". How fucking stupid can you get?

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to Daveyraveygravey | 2 years ago
8 likes

I listened to that segment. Martin sounds posh doesn't he. 

Anyway the supposed cyclist gives himself away a few times. 

1: "Sometimes drivers drive too close, that is what happens". Yes having a 2 ton piece of metal going passed at 40mph less then three inches from me should just be accepted and not made a fuss of. 

2: "Cycle nazis drive in the middle of the road on their bike". Oops, seems this regular cyclist thinks it is all driving. 

3: "making sure that the traffic has to slow down or do an outrageous manouvre to go around them, because that is what the Highway Code says they are entitled to do."
Is he really complaining that somebody on the road is following the Highway Code? I suppose it is a rare occurence from Motorists that they hate people that do. And outrageous manouvre is keeping 1.5 metres away, really outrageous. 
 

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