Surrey traffic cops tell driver spouting Highway Code whataboutery to return licence; Chad Tavernia racks up more saddleless miles; Southeastern angered by “reckless” rider crossing; Road safety main concern for female cyclists + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Road safety the biggest barrier to women's cycling
A study by cycling insurance providers Laka found that 42 per cent of women do not feel comfortable riding a bike on UK roads. Almost half of women (45 per cent) added that well-lit cycle lanes would encourage them to use their bikes more.
Laka surveyed more than 2,000 female cyclists, male riders and non-cyclists from across the UK about issues around cycling, including areas concerning alternative sustainable transport such as cargo bikes and e-bikes.
The results showed that 48 per cent of women surveyed own a bike, however 42 per cent do not feel confident riding on UK roads. Despite this, 36 per cent still said they are more likely to change their primary modes of transport post Covid and said that well-lit cycle lanes (45 per cent), increased infrastructure (27 per cent) and government grants (21 per cent) would encourage them to cycle more often.
When looking at motivation for picking one mode of transport over another, ease of travel (43 per cent), time taken to travel (42 per cent), cost (42 per cent) and safety (42 per cent) were the main factors. Only 14 per cent said they would consider the impact on the environment when choosing how to travel.
“Whilst Covid has made many of us more introspective about our role in the environment and our lives in general,” Tobias Taupitz, CEO of Laka said. “These will only be adopted in volume when women’s concerns about safety and facilities are properly addressed, as well as perceived barriers in terms of time and cost.”
Take your litter home
Sorry for the moan, but don’t throw your f**king gel wrappers in a random hedge in bike races. Lad today did it in Ryedale GP. Asked him why and he genuinely couldn’t see anything wrong with it… Seems common sense isn’t very common nowadays
— Cameron Jeffers (@Cameron_Jeffers) August 22, 2021
Southeastern angered by "reckless" cyclist and jogger crossing tracks in front of oncoming train
Network Rail released this clip of a man riding a bike and woman jogging both ignoring a red light to nip across the tracks ahead of an oncoming train, saving themselves at most ten seconds.
I’ll leave it up to you to decide if this belongs in the ‘idiot who just so happens to be on a bike’ genre…but ‘cyclist’ makes for a far less clunky headline. The CCTV footage is from the end of July in Canterbury and shows the pair jumping across the tracks as soon as one train has passed, narrowly ahead of a second’s arrival moments later.
Southeastern’s Head of Drivers Jim Maxwell slammed their actions as “reckless” and said: “Incidents like this can have a profound effect on our drivers’ mental health and wellbeing, and I fully support our colleagues at Network Rail and the British Transport Police in trying to identify and pursue the culprits.
“Our drivers are critical workers delivering a very important service, and don’t deserve the extra stress that these types of incidents cause.”
Network Rail’s Head of Route Quality Health Safety & Environment added: “It’s really important to remember that when one train passes, another one may be coming the other way. In this case the jogger and cyclist had a red light to warn them, and they still walked out in front of a train.
“This adult pair’s behaviour, apparently putting their desire not to interrupt their exercise to cross the railway safely, nearly cost them their lives and is a clear example of how you put your life at risk as soon as you ignore the red light warning at level crossings.”
Network Rail occasionally highlight particularly bad incidents to try and educate the public. Back in March, the rail provider slammed a group of “senselessly idiotic” mountain bikers who dipped across the tracks while the light was red, eight seconds before a train passed.
Forest of Dean MTB downhill trails reopen
Good news for Forest of Dean mountain bikers…Countdown and Launchpad’s £77,000 refurb has now been completed and both the downhill trails are open again. Our friends over at off-road.cc are almost certainly more qualified for this one, so check out their story for all the details.
Surrey traffic cops tell driver spouting Highway Code whataboutery to return licence
Question of the day:
If you were stopped by Police and asked 10 random questions about the Highway Code, do you think you’d get 8 or more right?
— Roads Policing Unit (RPU) – Surrey Police – UK (@SurreyRoadCops) August 22, 2021
Yesterday, the famous Surrey Roads Policing Unit asked a question along the lines of something I’m sure many of us have at one point or another wondered, especially given the context of the recent uproar at the proposed Highway Code changes. ‘If you were stopped by police and asked ten random questions about the Highway Code, do you think you’d get eight or more right?’
32 per cent said no, 62 per cent backed themselves…six claimed not to know what the Highway Code is. The main story however was one reply which caught the attention of everyone’s favourite traffic cops…
This cyclist needs to learn the highway code. Rule 66 should not be riding two abreast on busy/narrow roads. Shocking behaviour by the cyclist, the van had clearly left enough space and was going to pass wide and slowly. pic.twitter.com/3LsJoSDKHE
— Anon (@Simon47724687) August 22, 2021
Living up to their online reputation, Surrey Police replied telling the driver to return his licence…
If you think that type of behaviour by the driver is acceptable then you need to return your licence to the DVLA immediately as you’re not of sound mind to drive.
The driver should be charged with assault
A road user owns the lane they are in.
A motorist has no priority. pic.twitter.com/UdA2mkXVfe— Roads Policing Unit (RPU) – Surrey Police – UK (@SurreyRoadCops) August 22, 2021
It’s the latest act of the Surrey traffic cops sticking up for cyclists on Twitter and challenging trolls. In 2017, they told another motorist to feel free to return his licence, saying he was “too childish to drive” in response to an especially eloquent “F*** the cyclists” tweet.
More recently they slid into the DMs of one angry cyclist-basher to educate them on why you might ride in the middle of the lane.
More BMX success for Bethany Shriever as Olympic champ adds world championship to glittering palmares
GOLD for @bethanyshriever ! 🇬🇧
Olympic Champion and UCI BMX World Champion in the same year 🔥#Papendal2021 pic.twitter.com/lTycrHakeD
— UCI BMX Supercross (@UCI_BMX_SX) August 22, 2021
Team GB’s BMX racing Olympic gold medallist Bethany Shriever added a world championship rainbow jersey to her growing honours list. The rider who worked as a teacher to fund her training in the run up to Tokyo beat home favourites Judy Baauw and Laura Smulers in front of a Dutch crowd in Papendal, the Netherlands yesterday afternoon. Defending champ Alise Willoughby crashed out at the opening turn.
“I’ve been riding consistently and I just wanted to go out there and have a good time, like I did in Tokyo,” Shriever told the BBC. “I went in gate eight, I was relaxed and happy. I had an alright start and just managed to dig in and take the win. Another gold medal — I can’t believe it.”
Tell me you've never used a bike rack without telling me you've never used a bike rack
Are these just intended as an art installation, @MiddlebrookRLP? As cycle parking they are practically useless. Far too close together and far too close to the wall. pic.twitter.com/7pXw40jMCc
— Bicycle-Riding Motorist (@MrHappyCyclist) August 23, 2021
Oh dear…
Saddleless hero Chad Tavernia racks up more miles without his seatpost
Could you ride 100 miles out the saddle? Chad Tavernia can, and he’s doing it again to prove it. Chad’s lined up a December date on Zwift to silence the noise once and for all. He was out yesterday on a comparatively short 39.62km spin without his seatpost, but all while still maintaining a 31.1km/h average speed.
In the comments he was asked if no saddle training is part of his regular training programme. Chad replied: “Yea. Obviously riding with no saddle at all is not easy. So therefore I feel it is good training. Forces you to adapt to the situation.”
Ethan Hayter's stellar run continues with victory in Norway
I’m pretty sure the Cycling world should be talking about Ethan Hayter more than it is. That is all.
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) August 20, 2021
Ethan Hayter followed up his Olympic silver medal in the Madison with two stages and the GC at the Tour of Norway. It takes his road race wins tally to six for the season. Add to that one youth classification, an overall win and an Olympic silver medal and you’ve got quite the season for most, let alone a prospect who only turned 22 last week. One to keep a close eye on…
Peak cycling out of context
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) August 23, 2021
Ineos Grenadiers' Cameron Wurf shatters course record at Ironman Copenhagen
Congratulations @cameronwurf on a tremendous Ironman performance 🏊🚴🏃
He wins Ironman Copenhagen in a new course record, 7:46:05 ⏱️🔥
📽️ @IRONMANtri pic.twitter.com/4z9DvOZ0gE
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) August 22, 2021
Obviously unsatisfied by the simplicity of racing your bicycle for a few hours, Ineos Grenadiers pro Cameron Wurf has been racing (and winning) an Ironman Traithlon. That includes: 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles on the bike topped off with a marathon run…Wurf clocked 7:46:05, just shy of a normal 9-5 office shift.
“I haven’t been in this much pain for a while, but the Danish crowd was amazing, it feels like the world is back to normality after the pandemic,” a shattered Wurf said afterwards.
Pacenti partners with Cornish UCI Continental team Saint Piran
Pacenti has agreed a five-year deal to supply wheels to Saint Piran. The Devon-based wheel brand joked they’d have to avoid mentioning the cream teas but are happy to be supplying the UCI Continental team from Cornwall with their hoops for the foreseeable. The Tour of Britain is the next big goal on the team’s radar and will give Pacenti the opportunity to see its wheels being raced against the big boys.
The team’s star rider Steve Lampier took the brand’s Picco wheels for a spin at the Tour Series recently and said: “I ran 60psi last night and they felt amazing, really great wheels.”
“Until recently I would have said that we weren’t ready to support a team like Saint Piran. We wouldn’t want to let a team down, as we love cycling and cycle sport too much to allow ourselves to fail,” Luke Humphreys, the brand’s CEO explained in a refreshingly honest manner.
“Fortunately, Saint Piran use disc brake bikes, a basket in which we put our development eggs three or four years ago. We are delighted to build wheels for riders to race at such a high level. The feedback received from them so far gives credibility to our years of dedication and hard work.
“We have always worked on the key principles of building wheels that perform and are durable. We build wheels for riders because we are riders as well and we know what a good wheel feels and looks like. To attract a team like Saint Piran is the ultimate validation of the quality and performance of our product.”
Steve Lampier’s not the only one. Our tester Stu loved them too…check out his 9/10 review for the Pacenti Picco 46mm Disc Clincher Wheels here…
When you open your mouth about cycling
What it’s like in this sector sometimes. pic.twitter.com/NGeLusero4
— London Cycling Campaign (@London_Cycling) August 23, 2021
23 August 2021, 08:07
23 August 2021, 08:07
23 August 2021, 08:07
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Latest Comments
With so many people using and looking at mobie phones whilst driving and other distractions, may I suggest you always wear Hi viz and stay at home.
The design of the "car" has played a role in this. SUVs and what the Americans call "trucks" are exempt from the pedestrian safety regulations which apply to passenger cars. Had the victim been hit by a car designed in the past twenty years he would have been "scooped" onto the bonnet and either over the roof or off to one side. Still a serious injury risk and potentially fatal but they have the benefit of those passive safety systems to improve their chances. With vehicles with such a high bonnet line as this Volvo has what tends to happen is the person bounces off the bonnet and falls on the road in front of the vehicle where they're then run over. This has happened time and time again and is becoming more of an issue as the numbers of vehicles exempt from the safety standards grows.
@Accessibility for all Reducing the speeds wouldn't have helped in this case as the driver was reported doing 65 in a 40 zone on the approach to the junction, his driving described by the witnesses as erratic and evidently had no intention to stop to give way even though he had been warned by the passenger who apparently shouted "bike" three times just before the collision. He would have likely flown through that junction even if it was traffic light controlled with a red light for him at the time. In my own experience the entire area i.e. east of Lymm towards Warburton and along Dunham Road all the way up to Altrincham and past into Hale Barns, all those wealthy, posh settlements around Manchester Airport are best avoided by road cyclists. A disproportionally high number of psycho drivers must for some reason live in that area because every single time I went there on my road bike in the past, I either got harassed myself or witnessed proper dickhead driving - speeding, close passes, overtaking into oncoming traffic or round a blind bend, accelerating towards pedestrians already crossing the road, you name it. I gave up road cycling in that area years ago and only use the local TPT these days.
In respect of the murder charge: based on him hitting Mr Mullins and making no attempt to help him (this killing him), how would the case compare to a hit and run driver who seriously injures or kills a cyclist, knowingly, and flees the scene without helping? Would this make the cut for a murder charge? Or is there something very different going on here that I’m missing? Genuinely curious because I don’t recall there being a murder charge before for this kind of thing unless it was premeditated. In fact, in my experience most cases like this seem to go the opposite way - where the driver can merely say the sun was in their eyes and get away with a slap on the hands.
@Rendel Harris...and there was me dishing out the praise!
@polainm He must also be an already hardened criminal. It wasn't mentioned during the court proceedings to avoid influencing the jurors and ensuring he had a fair trial, but he had been released from prison shortly before this incident and was couch surfing at his cousin's house days before. Just look at his face, he's only 35, but looks older than his victim who was 56. Must have spent half his adult life in prison.
@jaymack They did offer him manslaughter though but he declined to plead guilty. Without wanting to seem curmudgeonly, yes great that they preferred the most serious charges but hard to see how they could have done differently considering that Richardson got out of the car, saw Mr Mullins was stuck underneath and then got back in and carried on. That clearly moved it above anything that falls under death by dangerous driving.
@thrawed Agree - the UK winters are utterly grim; grey, wet & windy. Not the type of weather you really want to go out and ride. Everything get covered in filth, and takes time to clean it after a ride. Oh for colder, drier & crisper days which can be enjoyable to be out in.
@ymm In my view, lax sentencing of dangerous drivers, especially where cyclists are involved, makes the judge, jury and CPS complicit in UK driver culture. This driver is a sociopath.
@Mr Blackbird i reckon the libido is a bit overrated. I'd let that go rather than a limb or a nice bike.
16 thoughts on “Surrey traffic cops tell driver spouting Highway Code whataboutery to return licence; Chad Tavernia racks up more saddleless miles; Southeastern angered by “reckless” rider crossing; Road safety main concern for female cyclists + more on the live blog”
Well, if women (or others)
Well, if women (or others) are worried about cycling on the road, they can just wear a helmet can’t they?
hawkinspeter wrote:
The agitation and nervousness comes from not paying any tax, I think you’ll find.
Captain Badger wrote:
I think that’s just the insecurity from not having a nice big yellow number plate to identify themselves.
Why does the level crossing
Why does the level crossing have pedestrian gates like that? Shouldn’t the barrier cover both the road and the pavement?
More educating from Surrey
More educating from Surrey Roads Police:
https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/motorists-confusion-after-police-release-21373543
My first reaction (after laughing) was; how do drivers not know the basics? However, the bigger question might be; what are the government doing about getting this info out there?
Too many of those about who
Too many of those about who carry on in L3 of a 4 lane section
Not sure why they bothered with the troll in twitter item.
IanMK wrote:
my first reaction, was wondering why the driver thinks the cyclists in another country need to know the highway code at all.
second reaction has amazement at the skills of the cyclist getting unclipped when being knocked off and just walking off the bike.
Different story to the
Different story to the twitter item.
How does twitterer ‘Anon’
How does twitterer ‘Anon’ know what that van (driver) was intending/going to do?
As I’ve said before, if only
As I’ve said before, if only Surrey Police took action when provided with examples of bad driving. I wish Road CC would take note.
Apparently in one survey 98%
Apparently in one survey 98% of American drvers said they were above average. (But only 65% of Swedish drivers)
Quote:
I know the word’s been somewhat devalued, but I think that might be stretching it to breaking point.
Road safety the biggest
Road safety the biggest barrier to
women’scycling.It just happens that, generally speaking, women are put off more by the lack of road safety than men.
I have to be honest, the
I have to be honest, the discussion in the comments in relation to the near miss at the level crossing is not a good look.
Really, the argument that the three seconds between their crossing and the train passing through means that they didn’t nearly die is taken from the same book as the driver who close passes but claims it’s ok because they didn’t actually hit you.
Three seconds might seem like a long time to you when crossing the road in front of a train (it’s really not) but it seems a fuck of a lot quicker sat in the cab. Trains cannot deviate; trains take a lot longer to slow down than any motor vehicle; trains rely on the signals and drivers have to trust that people at level crossings observe and obey the indications.
The railway is a dangerous place.
When I cycle to and from work, the behaviour of other road users worries me. When I’m at work, the behaviour of people around the railway truly frightens me.
Cyclists, we’re not always right and on this one, definitely not.
I
On the Rule 66, Surrey Police
On the Rule 66, Surrey Police item: the UK’s Highway Code doesn’t apply in whatever country that is. Those are clearly not UK roads. I’m going to take a wild guess and say possibly Malaysia. Whether this also means Surrey Police shouldn’t be commenting on it, I’ll leave for further discussion.
Bmblbzzz wrote:
Singapore 2018. The driver got 7 weeks jail, a $500 fine and two years loss of licence. He appealed but lost.
Rider was fined $2,800 for causing mischief by smashing his mirror and causing obstruction by riding in the middle of the lane rather than the leftmost side.