Driving without insurance? Probably don’t go down a cycle lane in front of police…; Trainline adds bicycle bookings to app; Canadian cyclist clears cycle lanes with homemade cargo bike snowplow; G’s presents; Larry’s late gifts + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Larry Warbasse cracks Christmas
I’m pretty sure that the allotted budget for Christmas gifts is inversely proportional to the amount of days left until Xmas… the bigger the crisis, the nicer the present 😂
— Larry Warbasse (@larrywarbasse) December 22, 2022
Geraint's giving out Christmas presents
Back home in Cardiff I’ve got a spare pair of Tour numbers hanging about, so let’s do another Christmas giveaway 🎁
Just RT to enter and send me a pic of your Christmas tree, I’m feeling festive 🤣🎄 #12daysofGmas pic.twitter.com/G5p7GNWF3E
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) December 22, 2022
Unfortunately you’re too late if a set of Tour numbers was on your Christmas list (I mean, why wouldn’t it be?)… they’ve gone to a great cause and will be used to raise funds for the Velindre Cancer Centre…
Well I think we have a winner… no not mine 🤣🎄 @Velindre do incredible work for cancer patients in Wales. Merry Christmas guys 👍 https://t.co/VMtPQijT37 pic.twitter.com/fx4Gp0SAZg
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) December 22, 2022
Canadian cyclist clears cycle lanes with homemade cargo bike snowplow
As our US-based readers face weather that puts last week’s very British snow-related meltdown into perspective, here’s some ingenious cargo bike versatility from a cyclist up in Canada…
Credit where it’s due a cargo bike snowplow is almost certainly a better choice of ride than 25mm summer tyres for your ride into town… I mean, I can only imagine that’s the case… who would be silly enough to ride across snow and ice on 25mm rubber? Yeah, how stupid…
Giro d'Italia's monstrous TT
Giro stage 20. I’m sure Roglic is looking forward to this. pic.twitter.com/6KTz0BJMD5
— Send Riders to the Right Races (@SendRaces) December 23, 2022
Trainline adds bicycle bookings to app
A Christmas gift from the Trainline as discovered by road.cc contributor Laura…
Xmas has come early for people carrying bikes on trains… somehow you can now book a bike space with @trainline via the app. The hours I’ve wasted to call centres, no joke the last one took 45 minutes, one bike space… so this is disproportionately exciting pic.twitter.com/b3JBrB25ax
— Laura Laker (@laura_laker) December 23, 2022
Whilst booking directly with rail operators adding one of the limited few bike spaces has long been an option… it seems booking through Trainline for those sweet sweet savings has until now meant ringing up to add your bike spot to the booking. No more!
I noticed the wee little bike sign next to trains in the website, too. A good start. Next: actual space on the train.
— thenewlove (@thenewlove) December 23, 2022
— SHallam @shallam1@toot.wales (@Shallam1) December 23, 2022
Floating bus stops
Brings new meaning to the term “floating bus stop”, I suppose pic.twitter.com/TT3vGm7Nl3
— Danny Williams (@citycyclists) December 23, 2022
Geraint Thomas' Geraint Thomas curse strikes again
And now I’m getting random trees in my DM’s. https://t.co/7pFWylDfex
— Geraint Thomas (@geraintthomas) December 23, 2022
Yesterday it was the Giro d’Italia account dropping him a follow, today it’s many enthusiastic ‘fans’ after a Christmas giveaway…
Wout van Aert to prioritise winning Flanders or Roubaix, Worlds and Tour stage wins over the green jersey
[A.S.O. / Pauline Ballet]
Speaking to Sporza at Jumbo Visma’s 2023 team presentation, Wout van Aert said he’s after more big wins next year, and isn’t too bothered about giving the three-week-long battle for the green jersey at the Tour de France a miss… or at least be a tad more conservative in when he burns his matches…
“Green was a great adventure, but stage victories are more memorable and the World Championships (two weeks after the Tour) is the higher goal,” he explained. “That’s why I don’t want to focus on the points for green from the start. That can become a goal during the Tour, but I will choose my days much more and in the final week you still have many opportunities. You can then make choices and it is much more sensible that way.
“I want to win the Ronde and/or Roubaix. So that goal has not changed. They are high, but also logical ambitions. And I am extra motivated after what happened this year.”
Who's doing the Festive 500?
Apologies all, just been finishing up something special for Boxing Day…
Anyone doing the Festive 500 this year?
If you are... here are some of our last-minute top tips...
Driving without insurance? Probably don't go down a cycle lane in front of police...
In fairness, that headline could probably include insured drivers as well…
When you drive down a cycle path in front of a marked traffic car 🤦♂️
…WITHOUT INSURANCE🤦♂️🤦♂️
… having had had the same car seized for no insurance less than a month ago 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Reported & seized again🚓
Disqualification now likely!#Team2East
Inc 1172 • @SWPCardiff
^5825 pic.twitter.com/apaWCYumPm— South Wales Police Roads Policing Unit (@SWP_Roads) December 22, 2022
Anyway, they really don’t come easier for South Wales Police than this…
Appreciate where you’re coming from. We can only continue to target out patrols to intercept these drivers (including those who are disqualified) and put them before the courts! If someone continually drives whilst disqualified, they may end up with a custodial sentence.
— South Wales Police Roads Policing Unit (@SWP_Roads) December 23, 2022
Cardiff Council – “Use the Cycleways or we’ll fine you”
The Cycleways – … https://t.co/DJE0TjOwME
— G (@gomedia91) December 22, 2022
Anyway, plenty more from this genre…
> Jeremy Vine films motorist driving down Hyde Park cycle path
> London cyclist films bike lane motorist driving straight at oncoming riders
> Cyclist despairs as Amazon van driver takes cycle lane shortcut before parking on pavement
Cycling home for Christmas
Merry Christmas to all of you from everyone at road.cc!!! Have a great weekend…
23 December 2022, 09:03
23 December 2022, 09:03
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As a fellow Dylanologist, Ryan, I thought I'd try at least a verse: In a little hilltop village, we bargained for warm clothes We wanted cooler weather, God gave us a lethal dose A breakaway of innocents, they got struck down with scorn "Come in," they said, "we'll give ya, shelter from the storm."
I agree it's not a good look and cyclists should be giving way but I think I would be very nervous about an inattentive lime bike rider smacking me up the arse. Funnily enough this, of course, is exactly what drivers say when not giving way to pedestrians when turning into junctions. I wonder if I head to our high street to film drivers not giving way to pedestrians crossing a side road (I know exactly which junction I'm going to film) and I stuck that on social media what the reaction would be? That's motornormativity for you.
Not condoning the cyclists who failed to stop when it is obvious they should slow on approach to the bus stop and the crossing but... This entire fiasco was created because cyclists were less safe having to deal with impatient/dangerous drivers when manoeuvring around buses when they were at stops. And at no point are pedestrians/politicians complaining at comparable levels about the same situation at crossings when faced with drivers who don't stop. Almost everyone waits patiently untill it is safe to cross. Because that is what motor-normativity has done to us.
In theory them being "abandoned" is in part a benefit. The firm doesn't have to truck so many of them around since many will be collected by users. (Eg. finding one and going to it, rather than the docking station). How helpful to the users that is may be moot because of most dockless bike hire business models. In practice I think the docking model is less bad. However if cycling is actually facilitated eventually most people have their own bike *. And tying any hire in with public transport hubs (like NL's OV Fiets) then makes the most sense. Overall I keep thinking about NotJustBikes comment that most public bike hire schemes are an attempt to make up for a failure to provide (good enough) street-level public transport. * I think that's the case even now in the UK? Certainly I notice far more bikes stored locally (balconies, corridors...) than would appear to be regularly (or ever) used.
For those interested in the "how we could do this (better)" there's the Bicycle Dutch article and video as OnYerBike notes, and also: Bicycle Dutch also has "Riding around the bus stop" specifically on that topic in NL. For the UK context (including the accessibility issue): Ranty Highwayman has written several times on this ("Floating Bus Stops: Redux" and "Floating Bus Stops") - along other things pointing out that we have *effectively* had some of these for a long time without anyone shouting about them! Robert Weetman also has an article on this (mainly looking at the less polished Copenhagen design): "Copenhagen bus stops"
Whilst I appreciate the idea behind Lime bikes/scooters and their ilk, the problem lies in that they can just be abandoned anywhere. If they required returning to a dedicated docking station before the ride was considered finished then that would cut down on this nonsense. Or even go a step further, it wont release your phone until its placed back in the docking station.
The Restore of lobby groups... TBF they pulled off a coup some time back with drumming up opposition around bus stop bypasses, but they have a ... particular view on this which speaks more to "concerns" (and not of everyone) than facts and stats. While the language is extreme, at this point (see campaign above) people are concerned so carefully "addressing concerns" (rather than dismissing) is important. But doing that the popular way and just blocking measures which are statistically safe won't move us forward. Particularly while effectively ignoring the motoring elephants in the town - for which buses and bikes are part of the solution.
@ROOTminus1 I would argue that yes you can. You can unless you are paying zero attention to anything but the person ahead of you. For almost the entire video even if the persons bum you've decided to sit on is blocking your direct view ahead, you can see it on the other side of the lane. You should always be checking your surroundings on any mode of transport for hazards.
@mctrials23 Can you see the lines when it's that busy though? That's what the flashing beacons at a zebra crossing are for, as would a rumble-strip texture approximately 4m either side of the crossing give adequate alternative indication that there is a potential hazard ahead, with suitable braking distances. I'm not saying everyone on 2 wheels is a saint and innocent in that clip, far from it, but the design of the infra does encourage problematic behaviour. Just as most road infra fails to protect cyclists from drivers by not setting the expectation of the presence of cyclists, this fails to protect pedestrians by funnelling them to a crossing with the bare minimum of encouragement for cyclists to be prepared for pedestrians at that point. Most importantly though, none of this discussion excuses the choice of inflammatory language by Baroness Ludford.
Shocked not shocked about the first part (although it may be that in places the (by)law is such that they don't have to...) I believe some LAs have said that they can't stop the firms (Oxford IIRC), so the second is hopeful. Of course as others note "if only this happened with cars" - quite right. But that doesn't mean we should therefore tolerate other commercial interests grabbing public space for private profit.
30 thoughts on “Driving without insurance? Probably don’t go down a cycle lane in front of police…; Trainline adds bicycle bookings to app; Canadian cyclist clears cycle lanes with homemade cargo bike snowplow; G’s presents; Larry’s late gifts + more on the live blog”
Quiet here today!
Quiet here today!
How about I kick off a discussion?
Cycle helmets, road tax insurance…
Or failing that, can I say Happy non-sectarian winter holiday to one and all, thanks for the lively discussions once again, see you all back here on the 3rd January?
Bah humbug! and other festive
Bah humbug! and other festive non-denominational, non-confrontational season’s greetings.
That’s me making a late bid for being nice so that Father Christmas brings me the present I want; an election.
I’m of an age (61) where I
I’m of an age (61) where I would love an election again.
Its been years. My wife is frustrated at the lack of a decent poll.
Have a nice time everyone. Christmas day looks a good one for knocking a dent in the Rapha 500.
essexian wrote:
On first sight I thought you’d written erection 🙂
Well, you know, auto-correct.
Well, you know, auto-correct…
mark1a wrote:
One of the greats who departed this year, Barry Cryer: “I got my liquid Viagra mixed up with the Tippex, I woke up with a massive correction…”
OldRidgeback wrote:
Indeed, and given the etymology of “poll” …
We are so woke and keen on
We are so woke and keen on cancel culture here that you’ll get banned just for posting that highly inappropriate and discriminatory picture!
Sorry, been sitting at an
Sorry, been sitting at an established red for ages….
Anyway. Happy winter holiday one & all. You lefty, tree hugging, wokerati, lycra clad, tax dodging, pedestrian killing, cyber bullies. 🙂 Hope you all have a good Christmas & New Year.
And let’s be careful out there
*starts humming the theme from Hill Street Blues*
Please accept with no
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practises of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practise religious or secular traditions at all.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2017, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society are equally of merit.
This wish is made without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. This greeting is subject to amendment, clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not wishing to share in the holiday spirit.
And a Happy Winterval to you
And a Happy Winterval to you all.
ktache wrote:
Nice local one, love it
Merry yuletide everyone, even the PBUs… I’m ready for the spirit of Christmas to envelop me… by which I mean increasingly dubious concoctions of sugar and alcohol
its still the 23rd, so its
its still the 23rd, so its Happy Festivus (a holiday for the rest of us), as is traditional let us begin with the airing of grievances…
Not he article, more the
Not he article, more the picture.
Look at the happy Santa’s riding their bmxs.
And that happy lady has managed to find a bobble hat large enough to fit over her helmet.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/23/reasons-to-be-cheerful-boris-johnson-donald-trump-vladimir-putin
If the car driving down the
If the car driving down the cycle path was seized a month ago for no insurance, and it still doesn’t have insurance, how did the driver get it back?
If the car driving down the
If the car driving down the cycle path was seized a month ago for no insurance, and it still doesn’t have insurance, how did the driver get it back?
For the same reason that we don’t believe that a driving ban will be applied, or that if it is then driving while disqualified will result in a ‘custodial sentence’. The ‘legal process’ simply can’t be bothered, and has no appetite for removing the basic human right to drive what you like, where you like, when you like and collide with whichever cyclist you like- all with no regard for nanny-state over-regulation like driving licences, MOTs, insurance or VED
eburtthebike wrote:
I’d assume that the driver insured the car, got it back from the police, and then the insurance was cancelled – either by the driver or the insurance company.
eburtthebike wrote:
You can acquire car insurance for periods as short as a single hour, day, week etc. Seems stupid that the police would let it go on such a policy, but I guess if the requirement for return is simply to show that the car is insured and so legal to drive away they have to?
Probably the driver they
Probably the driver they stopped, isnt the registered car owner, and the owner is insured, so just reclaims the car.
Happy Pagan Tree Ritual
Happy Pagan Tree Ritual Worship Season
I’m hoping my next door
I’m hoping my next door neighbour will be a bit more considerate this Christmas. Two o’clock this morning banging on the walls. God only knows what he was doing. I’d have been pretty miffed if he woke me up – luckily I was up anyway playing my saxophone. No self awareness some people.
My neighbours had a cement
My neighbours had a cement mixer in the garden all through Christmas night last year, I was livid. If they’d turned it on I’d have been even crosser.
Just for Info, Canada isn’t
Just for Info, Canada isn’t in the US
Watson_robert wrote:
Yet. They tried several times.
Durin the war of 1812 forces
Durin the war of 1812 forces moved both ways across the border.
Watson_robert wrote:
To be fair, the writer doesn’t say or imply this, the article says our US-based readers are facing some really heavy snow this week, here’s how “a cyclist up in Canada” deals with it.
Cycling uninsured down a
Cycling uninsured down a cycle lane – reminds me of a time I was marshalling a led ride in central London. It was a Sunday and there were families and children and all sorts on the ride. A taxi driver took exception to this and drove right at a section of the ride. We all scattered and a few fell off their bikes. What the idiot hadn’t noticed was that there were also 2 police cyclists with us. The smartly blocked the cab and yanked him out. He was missing various ‘documents’ so back up was called and his cab was confiscated.
Interesting bit on parking in
Interesting bit on parking in the US.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/26/us-cities-parking-lots-climate-walkability
Well I suppose they have a
Well I suppose they have a lot of cars per household, so it makes sense to have 27 car park spaces per household.