Local activist slams “selfish” parents for allowing their children to cycle on the pavement, and says riding on the road is “safer” for primary school pupils; Remco Evenepoel: “I’m not a robot”; Matt Page calls off NC500 attempt + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Matt Page calls off NC500 record attempt, after 21 hours in the saddle
He gave it a right good go, but unfortunately early this morning endurance cyclist (and road.cc contributor) Matt Page was forced to pull the plug on his attempt to break Mark Beaumont’s daunting North Coast 500 record.
The 38-year-old’s live tracker came to a halt at 3.50am, 21 hours and five minutes into the epic ride, just north of the east coast village of Berriedale.
A post on Matt’s Instagram account simply said he “could no longer carry on”. We’ll make sure to keep you updated when we get more info.
“I’m not a robot”: Remco Evenepoel says Giro d’Italia abandon in pink jersey was “one of the hardest setbacks” of his career
During a brutal Giro d’Italia beset by apocalyptic weather conditions, race-ending crashes, and the resurgence of Covid-19 in the peloton, perhaps one of the more surprising – and depressing – themes to emerge from the often inane and always incoherent analysis found on social media and ex-rider punditry is that the modern peloton has ‘gone soft’, and that it’s the inherent personality flaws of the class of 2023 which has made the grim slog fest that is this year’s Giro apparently devoid of drama.
Such accusations, as baseless as they are, were inevitably thrown at world champion Remco Evenepoel, who was forced to abandon this year’s Giro while in the pink jersey, and just hours after winning his second time trial stage of the race in Cesena (and, it must be said, looking like he’d aged 15 years in the process).
The 23-year-old has now hit back at his critics, who questioned his decision to leave the race while still in stage-winning form, with a lengthy Instagram post in which he described quitting the Giro as one of the hardest setbacks of his career, and underlined for all the armchair critics that, despite his generational talent on the bike, he’s “not a robot”.
Evenepoel on his way to winning the second time trial of the Giro, on stage nine to Cesena (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Announcing that he returned to training yesterday after his bout with Covid, Evenepoel wrote that abandoning the Giro was “definitely one of the hardest setbacks in my still very short career. Leaving the race with a Covid-19 infection was a very brutal end of what could have been a beautiful story.
“Six months of full preparation for only this race. Sacrifices, long days in the rain, long periods away from home. Everything was going according to plan but that is how sport goes. Ups and downs are part of our job and I can accept that without any problem at all.”
Zac Williams/SWpix.com
He continued: “What is hard to accept is all the fake and negative comments I got after having to leave the race. I am not the type of person that is going to hide or is afraid of losing. So, this is for those thinking that. The last days were emotionally very hard because of these comments. But I will take those moments with me on the bike, preparing for my next goals and races.
“So, I just want to ask everyone to remember I am not a robot, but also a normal human being, husband, son, teammate etc. with normal feelings.
“I am really looking forward to setting some new goals and feel ready to make it a beautiful second part of this until now beautiful season.”
Fair play Remco.
Well, there’s… errr… one way to get around poor bike parking facilities
Smart to carry your own rack so you always have one right? pic.twitter.com/Cij3tlckKM
— Beff Jezos (@humansonbikes) May 23, 2023
Will Cav wave farewell to the Giro with one final flourish today?
After yesterday’s festival of climbing in the Garda mountains, stage 17 of the Giro is – the peloton will be relieved to hear – practically downhill and flat all the way from Pergine Valsugana to the finish in Caorle.
Which means only one thing: Everyone’s on board the Mark Cavendish hype train.
And, when I say everyone, I mostly mean the Giro’s official Twitter account:
Mark Cavendish checking stage profile#Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/0tH5hCGqTB
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 24, 2023
HYPE#Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/4vcwpDNGLy
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 24, 2023
What do you reckon? Is today the day the soon-to-be-retiring Manx Missile finally gets his stage win – which would, incidentally, be his 17th at the Corsa Rosa – potentially capping one of the great Giro sprinting careers in the finest way possible?
Well, Cav’s won over half of the sprint stages he’s ever contested at the Italian grand tour, so you can never rule him out.
And he’s been busy fiddling with his saddle already in the neutralised zone, so you know he’s up for it…
Giro d’Italia stage start or Sunday picnic scene?
You know you’re in the third week of a grand tour when…
🤩🤩🤩#Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/dgbpyI8YOT
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 24, 2023
That relaxed start (which is being reflected somewhat in the racing at the moment) also gifted us some nice Cav bonus content:
🤗#Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/W4T5uDWCdw
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 24, 2023
Cheers, Giro Twitter Admin!
Private Eye does active travel… and it’s pretty scathing
Having finished the latest edition of Private Eye this morning, road.cc reader Richard got in touch to express his surprise at the content of the magazine’s Rotten Borough’s column, which he says “heavily featured anti-cycling and anti-LTN rhetoric, and used most of the bingo card words”, arguing that Private Eye had “gone petrolhead”.
So, what was it about Rotten Borough’s active travel analysis which prompted Richard to “not quite believe what I was reading”?
Well, in its review of the recent local elections, the column noted the Brighton Green Party’s “obsession with cycling” and claimed that, in Bath, the “unpopular Upper Bristol Road cycle lane has narrowed a main arterial route into the city, making it harder for cars to move over to make way for emergency vehicles”.
It then pointed out that Bath and Nort East Somerset Council “didn’t consult the ambulance service about cycle lanes, low-traffic neighbourhoods, floating bus stops or ‘modal filters’ that were being installed.”
> Pedestrian safety fears raised over floating bus stops on new cycle lane in Bath
“Perhaps the council was in a bit of a hurry to trouser juicy ‘active travel’ funds from Whitehall in time to get the work finished before the May elections,” it added.
“The restrictions on the Upper Bristol Road have now created gridlock during rush hour with nowhere for cards to pull over to let emergency vehicles pass. Residents can no longer park their cars anywhere near their homes or take in groceries and deliveries. Meanwhile, the spanking new cycle lane remains woefully underused, possible because there are two other parallel cycle lanes barely 150 metres to the north and south of the new one.”
Continuing the theme, the column also claimed that the “disastrous imposition of low traffic neighbourhoods” in the Jesmond area of Newcastle have resulted in “longer journey times, gridlocked traffic, discriminations against the poor, the elderly, and the disabled, more rather than less pollution…”
Hmm… What do you make of Private Eye’s latest, rather scathing, take on local active travel policies across the UK?
Wednesday lunchtime vibes
🤣 Mood of the day, featuring @ChampionThomas8 #Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/QygtdJJTwc
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 24, 2023
Thomas Champion there, speaking for all of us on a Wednesday afternoon, willing the weekend into existence…
"Thought I'd sort it out before a cyclist went through it!": Public-spirited local fills in pothole... council arrives an hour later to fix it
> Public-spirited local fills in pothole… council arrives an hour later to fix it
POLL: Will Geraint Thomas win the Giro d’Italia?
It’s pretty chilled at the Giro at the minute, so I thought I may as well spend the downtime getting your thoughts on the big question of the week…
With three crucial days in the mountains to come, will Geraint Thomas hang on to the maglia rosa all the way to Rome, to add to that lovely yellow jumper he won back in 2018?
And even more importantly, who’s already pre-ordered The Giro According to G for Christmas?
It’s going to cost HOW much!? Everything we know about the unreleased and eagerly anticipated wireless Campagnolo Super Record groupset
> Leak all but confirms wireless Campagnolo Super Record groupset is coming with prices quoted
Former Discovery Channel and Garmin pro Tom Danielson gets back on turbo trainer just two weeks after undergoing finger amputation due to cancer
Retired American pro Tom Danielson is back putting in some hard efforts on the turbo trainer, just weeks after the amputation of one of his fingers.
The 45-year-old, who raced for Discovery Channel and Garmin during his 13-year pro career, has been diagnosed with cancer, with doctors deciding to remove the middle finger on his left hand after a tumour was discovered to be cancerous, VeloNews reports.
Out of surgery! Everything went well.
Gave the middle finger to cancer!
Let’s f*cking do this!
•this is me writing this too!!!!! I feel pretty jacked up but grateful. pic.twitter.com/df3NBr8751
— tom danielson (@tomdanielson) May 9, 2023
As part of the operation, doctors also reconstructed Danielson’s left hand, binding the tendons and bones from other fingers together to allow him to adapt post-recovery.
“I had a tumour removed off my finger, which ended up being a rare kind of cancer that comes from the sweat gland in the finger. It is aggressive in that it keeps coming back if you don’t get rid of all of it, and it can spread to the lungs,” Danielson said in a recent podcast documenting his fight with cancer.
“It was a bit of a wakeup call for me.”
Danielson, who won 11 pro races during his career, including a stage win at the 2006 Vuelta a España, while also serving two bans for doping offences, has documented his progress on social media and through his podcast, The Process.
Riding his bike, albeit on the turbo trainer, has been a fundamental part of Danielson’s recovery, and yesterday the former pro posted a clip of him standing on the pedals:
Two weeks from my amputation and adding with some one-handed standing efforts into my workouts.
I’m really starting to get my energy back which really helps overcome the pain of my hand.
Nothing pretty here with my cycling, but the progress I am feeling is beautiful to me. pic.twitter.com/OzZFOYYgxo
— tom danielson (@tomdanielson) May 23, 2023
“I’m really starting to get my energy back which really helps overcome the pain of my hand,” he tweeted. “Nothing pretty here with my cycling, but the progress I am feeling is beautiful to me.
“I’m really happy about everything. I feel like this is a big step in the right direction. I still have to get scans and checked out. I am feeling really good, really strong. I have to stay on top of it.”
“I just felt like I fell off a cliff”: Matt Page explains decision to abandon North Coast 500 record attempt
Matt Page, who this morning pulled the plug on his attempt to beat Mark Beaumont’s NC500 record, has explained the reasons behind his decision, citing safety concerns after a sudden drop in temperature and strong crosswinds, factors which he says contributed to him feeling “like I fell of a cliff”.
Despite being nine miles ahead of Beaumont’s record 16 hours into his attempt, the 38-year-old endurance cyclist stepped off the bike just before 4am this morning.
“I don’t know what happened or what went wrong. I think it all stemmed from getting very, very cold. The temperature plunged and I had a really strong crosswind. That was the start of things,” a clearly drained Page said in a video posted to social media this afternoon.
“I just felt like I fell off a cliff soon after that. I wasn’t able to pedal, I wasn’t able to ride in a straight line. For safety more than anything I just had to stop.
“I’m gutted because before that everything was going well, I was feeling good, I didn’t feel like I was pushing it too hard. It’s just one of those things.
“Mark’s record [28 hours, 35 minutes] is one hell of a record. Good luck to anyone trying to beat. I’m not sure this is the right time to ask me, but I don’t think I’ll have another go at it.”
Alberto Dainese wins first ever Giro stage in super tight sprint ahead of Jonathan Milan and Michael Matthews, as frustrated Mark Cavendish foiled in final kilometres
While all the build-up to today’s penultimate sprint stage of the Giro may have been about Mark Cavendish and his farewell tour of Italy’s bunch kicks (at least on this live blog), it was a sprinter at the other end of his career, Alberto Dainese, who took his second stage win at the Giro by outgunning Jonathan Milan and Michael Matthews, just, in a thrilling dragstrip finale in Caorle.
🔥 DAINO!
Yes, you made it! #Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/T8zsfbg6L0
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 24, 2023
After his DSM team bossed the crucial final turn, the 25-year-old Italian leapt onto the fast-moving Jayco-AlUla train as it teed up Michael Matthews.
Despite taking a thrilling comeback win on the draggy stage three, Matthews’ participations in flat and fast bunch sprints are few and far between these days, and the Australian even attempted to sneak into today’s early breakaway, only to be foiled by a vigilant Bahrain-Victorious team, keeping a vice-like grip on the points jersey for Jonathan Milan.
But the man they call Bling proved there are still a few pure sprinting diamonds left in his legs, bursting off his lead-out on the long finishing straight.
However, Matthews’ hopes for a stage win – one he told Bahrain-Victorious he had no chance of taking, according to GCN’s moto-riding Adam Blythe – were ultimately dashed in the dying metres by a pincer movement consisting of the fast-finishing Milan and Dainese.
In the battle of the Italians, Dainese had just enough speed to deservedly take his career tally of Giro stage wins to two, a day after struggling through the mountains ahead of the broomwagon.
😱🍿 What a sprint!
Watch the last kilometre of stage 1️⃣7️⃣ of the Giro d’Italia! 🔻
.
😱🍿 Che volata!
Guarda l’ultimo km della tappa 1️⃣7️⃣ del Giro d’Italia! 🔻@Expo2030Roma #Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/Uk7o9UWoN5— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 24, 2023
Meanwhile, the rider with 16 stages at the Cora Rosa under his belt, Mark Cavendish was left angry and frustrated after being caught out of position in the final two kilometres, and left unable to take part in the sprint.
Moved up by Astana teammate Luis León Sánchez with two kilometres to go, the British champion then almost immediately found himself on the wrong end of a sudden rush to the front, and with an increasingly fast and strung-out line of 30 riders now ahead of him saw his chances swiftly evaporate.
It may be his final Giro, but Cavendish still managed to showcase some of the volatile emotions synonymous with his heyday, as he argued with a Green Project-Bardiani rider after the finish line.
The fight’s still there, no doubt. The positioning and lead out just needs worked on. But there’s always Rome, eh?
It’s G for the Giro, according to road.cc’s readers anyway
Things might not quite be going to plan for Cav during his farewell Giro, but – according to you lot, anyway – Geraint Thomas should have what it takes to see off João Almeida and Primož Roglič in the mountains, and carry the pink jersey all the way to Rome:
Fun Fact: If he does manage to win the whole thing, the Welshman – who turns 37 tomorrow – will become the oldest ever winner of the Giro d’Italia, breaking three-time winner Fiorenzo Magni’s 68-year-old record. The Lion of Flanders was a sprightly 34 years and 180 days when he took his final Giro in 1955.
Come on Geraint, do it for all the Cat 3-racing dads out there…
“They are oblivious of what they are teaching their children”: Local activist slams “selfish” parents for allowing their children to cycle on the pavement, and says riding on the road is “safer” for primary school pupils
An older people’s campaigner has called on his local council to clamp down on young people riding their bikes on the pavement, and has criticised parents for teaching their primary school-aged children to cycle on footpaths, potentially endangering pedestrians.
Chris Pickett, a former Older People’s Champion in Melksham, says that Wiltshire Council should make it clear that pavements are “primarily for pedestrians” – and despite what he views as the Highway Code’s “strong bias towards cyclists”, pedestrians and motorists “have a right to safe passage”.
“I am sure many of our older generation who wish to walk safely around our towns for exercise, shopping, social contact etc, will have similar complaints that the pavements are being made more and more unsafe, due to the increase in cyclist riding (often too fast) along what is a narrow pedestrian footway, in very close proximity to traffic that travels at 30mph – which we all know can kill should we step into the road,” the 75-year-old told the Wiltshire Times.
“This complaint is levelled at both adults and children, for which parental guidance must be improved.”
The campaigner’s criticism comes after he saw a man, aged between 18 and 20, doing wheelies along a pavement in the centre of Melksham on Saturday.
“I guess he thought he was clever but it was downright stupidity,” he said. “Anyone could have walked out of the shops and he would have ploughed straight into them.”
The 75-year-old also criticised the number of children riding their bikes home from the local primary school on what he claims is a “particularly narrow” footpath – and says that children should be taught by their parents from a young age to ride safely on the road.
“Some parents are either on a bike themselves or walking some distance behind. In both cases oblivious of what they are teaching their children,” Mr Pickett said.
“I make an apology to a mother who, though riding on the road, felt that her son was safer on the pavement, but was unable to see that had she taught the child to ride on the road alongside her he would be both safe, as would the pedestrians.”
He continued: “My reason is to enlist the support of Wiltshire Council, and its elected members, to instigate a method that will make it clear to all, that the pavements in our towns are primarily for pedestrians and only when legally designated, can they be use as a ‘dual footpath’ for cyclist and pedestrians.
“We currently have a new Highway Code which has been written with a strong bias towards cyclists. This I have no problem with, provided the pedestrian (and motorists) have a right to a safe passage and not to be at risk of being either, involved in an accident or personally injured by selfish cyclists.”
Of course, despite Mr Pickett’s claims that the Highway Code is biased towards cyclists, pedestrians are, in fact, placed at the top of the hierarchy of vulnerable road users.
> Over half of UK drivers still confused by Highway Code change, shows survey
And the Melksham campaigner certainly isn’t the first person to make an appearance on the live blog because they’re unhappy with schoolchildren cycling on the pavement.
Last October, we featured a video of a motorist parking his car by mounting the pavement on the wrong side of the road on a School Street in Lewisham – before immediately chastising a young cyclist and his father for riding their bikes on the same footpath.
And it’s not just children riding on footpaths that people get angry about – it’s when the kids ride on the roads too.
A month after our irony-deficient driver in Lewisham made the live blog, a clip of a motorist failing to stop to let a five-year-old cyclist past, before narrowly passing the youngster, went viral, causing an almighty stir online and even ending up on Jeremy Vine’s Channel 5 show and the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid’s Twitter feed.
And earlier this month, another driver was criticised online for scolding a group of schoolchildren for riding their bikes “in the middle” of an empty residential street.
A clip of the incident, filmed by Limerick-based cyclist Aidan Hogan, showed a group of young cyclists riding home from school when a motorist exits her car after appearing to park it on the street. The driver then gesticulates towards the children and calls out: “The middle of the road, in the middle of the road”.
Just goes to show, you can’t please everybody…
24 May 2023, 09:10
24 May 2023, 09:10
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
52 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
@mitsky Just checking the figures and apparently the 2026 average cost is £58,000 per year per prisoner; worth noting that is only the direct cost, you then have to factor in ten years of lost tax income from the prisoner, ten years that the prisoner is making no contribution to society as a worker or as a consumer, plus the fact that if they were the primary breadwinner very likely the costs will include benefits for their family as well. None of which should be a reason for keeping violent recidivists out of prison of course, nor drug/drink drivers who kill, but it is a factor worth considering for lower-level offences.
@Surreyrider I ride in Surrey a fair bit and absolutely many do look like that but the point is they all *think* they're driving perfectly reasonably (as one discovers when remonstrating with someone who's skimmed one by 30cm, "I gave you masses of room") so deterrent penalties have little effect. That's why we need to strike at the root cause and actually train drivers properly and test them stringently (and more than once over the course of a potential 70+ years of driving, it's absolutely absurd that competence and knowledge in what for most people is the activity in their life that will run the biggest risk of killing people you never have to have your qualifications renewed).
@mitsky Imprisonment currently costs over £50k p.a. per prisoner and obviously that will rise over the course of a ten-year stretch with inflation. Regarding culpability and mitigating sentences etc, of course I'm not against condign punishment for drivers who kill (and cyclists on the tiny, tiny handful of occasions when this happens), including prison as appropriate; I was objecting to the ridiculous and oft-repeated demand of MM that drivers who kill cyclists must get ten years, "no excuses, no exceptions".
Hey, but their wool blend cycling adjacent t-shirts are/were fantastic.
@Surreyrider Still the boss. Ride one, you'll see why
@Smoggysteve "Most would happily ride on the roads and be treated with respect by drivers". But people aren't - and as far as I can see they won't be. Not until there is a lot less driving and it's slower around cyclists, and far more people driving have "skin in the game" eg. they sometimes cycle and their friends and family do also. That's what leads to the model - which is perhaps most advanced in NL - where cycling, walking and driving are all seen as separate normal transport modes. Their needs, vulnerabilities and any dangers to others are considered. And *that* leads to "mix / share when possible, separate when necessary". But "possible" is "where your 10-year old would be safe to cycle unsupervised" - so very few motor vehicles, going slow! And AFAICS everybody - even "existing cyclists" - is happy with the result. (I dunno about a few pro cyclists - but don't they tend to have training camps in different counties anyway?)
@quiff as an Edinburgh resident I can confidently say he's speaking without moving his lips in one sense: - while as I noted in a separate comment there *is* now some real separated cycle infra, all the examples i can think of have *at least as much space* for pedestrians. The rest of the "cycle infra" is essentially similar to the situation in the rest of the UK: eg. bus lanes*, cycle lanes and shared use paths (eg. "build" infra by sticking up a sign). Edinburgh is one of the places with a moderately extensive network of former railways which have been converted to "shared use" paths (completely motor traffic few). However though shared they are not narrow by UK standards. And this is all effectively a "free extra" for all non- motorised users, not like the "sign a cycle path" where pedestrians do lose space. I think this all comes from the "popular understanding" of cycling in which ultimately cyclists are the "other". They don't fit "motor vehicle" or "pedestrian" (including wheelchairs on the very rare occasions people think about that). Thus "cyclists are cheating" in multiple ways! They shouldn't get their own space as "there aren't enough" of them. And "they can just use the road / path". But being able to *choose* "on the road" or "on the footway" (shared use path) is clearly unfair - nobody else gets to do that! BUT of course even if they did pick just one of road OR pedestrian space it's still not fair anyway because they're "too slow" for the road (don't pay "road tax" etc...) and "far too fast" for pedestrians... * Though some existing cyclists may appreciate them when there are few buses, buses and bikes are a very poor mix for several reasons.
Whilst a shame for any employees, their bib shorts had the worst chamois pad I’d ever encountered, utter waste of my money. Even though they were Strava challenge discount purchases, still a waste of money.
Thanks, just going to have to suck it up. Got next week off and will take the easy, if expensive option...
@ktache Just go for the TNT Sports only package, £30.99 for a month. Alternatively have you considered experimenting with a VPN for a few pounds, allowing you to sign up for a free stream abroad, e.g. SBS Australia which streams the Tour live? If I didn't have a kind mate's login that's what I'd do!
52 thoughts on “Local activist slams “selfish” parents for allowing their children to cycle on the pavement, and says riding on the road is “safer” for primary school pupils; Remco Evenepoel: “I’m not a robot”; Matt Page calls off NC500 attempt + more on the live blog”
I started reading this
I started reading this thinking I would post some kind of smartarse comment on the logical fallacies in this clown’s argument, but there are so many of them I don’t have the energy.
Yup, sometimes life’s too
Yup, sometimes life’s too short.
57 old farts
57 old farts
Thank god that children are
Thank god that children are impervious to being hit by motorists travelling at 30mph.
I would never condone an
I would never condone an adult cycling dangerously on a pavement/shared path and of course parents should be teaching kids to respect pedestrians.
Yet I’ve seen 3 collisions (at relatively slow speed) between adult cyclists and (adult) pedestrians.
In all 3 collisions, the cyclist came off worse and the pedestrians were almost if not completely unhurt.
IMO the problem inconsiderate
IMO the problem inconsiderate pavement cycling causes is not actual physical harm, but the perception that harm may be caused. So, particularly older people become afraid to use pavements and stay inside. Though even a slow speed impact causing a fall can have serious consequences for older people.
The problem I see in UK is that some of those with higher kinetic energy bully other people off roads / footpaths. some car drivers expect priority over cyclists on roads; some cyclists expect priority over pedestrians on footpaths. Both represent bullying behaviour. We all need to slow down and give space to more vernerable users of the highway, not expect them to move out of the way because “our journey is more important”.
The real problem is cars, the
The real problem is cars, the problem is always cars.
If there weren’t millions of parked cars lining every residential street there would be plenty of room for cycle lanes and footpaths everywhere
If drivers were severely and instantly punished and banned from driving for threatening and dangerous behaviour those people cycling on the pavement would feel more comfortable cycling on the road than on the pavements as it is easier to get where you are going without having to avoid pedestrians and the problem would immediately go away. Drivers are making all other transport types fight over scraps.
In any 15 minutes of cycling on the roads here in the UK it is normal to have at least one driver do something to you that would result in them failing a driving test. The standard for holding a driving license should be that any time you would fail under test conditions you revoke your license until you can prove you are safe to drive.
@Patrick9-32
@Patrick9-32
I cannot agree more with You.
I’ve also considered the same point (immediate disqualification for anything that would fail a driving test and compulsory points and fine for something that would be a minor fault).
I’d agree that cycling on the
I’d agree that cycling on the pavement is generally much more unsafe for cyclists than it for pedestrians and I’d also say it generally puts cyclists in much more danger from motorists – you would only need to clip a pedestrian with your handle bar and you could find yourself face down in the road, in the path of a motorist who was previously completely unaware of your existance. I would say that child are perhaps the exception to that, because in my experience, motorists typically have very little regard for child cyclists (especially during “rush hour”).
Teaching children from a
Teaching children from a young age one thing that is true in this country:
Cyclists aren’t welcome anywhere because everyone thinks they own the space they use and shouldn’t have to share (and, in some cases will use deadly force to illustrate this)
The law should be changed to
The law should be changed to make every footpath wider than 2 meters into a shared path, with cyclists expected to ride on the road side and slow enough to brake in half a second, parents with children should be able to ignore the two meter clause.
And the many already existing shared paths thinner than two meters that have building entrances opening directly onto them should be removed
Car Delenda Est wrote:
You do realise you are suggesting a change in the law to make a large number of roads defacto motorways?
A better change, in my opinion – would be to give every road that doesn’t have an LTN 1/20 cycle route a 20mph limit and require technology in new vehicles which can successfully enforce this.
jh2727 wrote:
You do realise you are suggesting a change in the law to make a large number of roads defacto motorways?— Car Delenda Est
If that happened, how would we tell the difference?
Getting better! 20’s plenty – but with plenty of vehicles there will still be few who’d let their kids ride there. Where there is much traffic – the case on more roads than there should be in the UK – we need a) an adequate space for pedestrians which is clearly marked and distinct from b) an excellent cycle path with space for side-by-side cycling (e.g. with your child – or your partner) AND space to overtake them and c) traffic calming / speed-reducing measures on the road as well.
Ridiculous? Impossible? Entitlement? Quite right … except it’s the only thing that’s been shown to “work” e.g. get more children cycling and walking. Pointing to children’s safety and ability to travel independently is about the only argument for “active travel” which is likely to get substantial public agreement.
I don’t understand why it’s
I don’t understand why it’s safe for the children to cycle on the road and yet too dangerous for adult pedestrians to walk on the road. What’s the difference?
I think he’s suggesting that
I think he’s suggesting that pedestrians may be forced into the road and into the path of a vehicle by inconsiderate pavement cycling. You know, like in the Auriol Gray case. Oh, hang on…
I would love to have
I would love to have pavements to walk on, but sadly around here they are taken up with parked cars.
Now if Mr Pickett has raised this as an issue, I would have supported him: I am bored stupid of my MIL having to take her mobility chair onto the road to get around personal property left in a public place. If you don’t have a private parking space, should you be allowed to own a car?*
*and yes, I have space for four cars on my drive and no, I did not pave over any of my garden.
essexian wrote:
Thats just semantics really, because ether the person before you paved over the garden, or when the house was built space was alloted to driveway that COULD have been garden.
(I am assuming your house is not on stilts and that the 4 spaces are not below your house, so maybe I am wrong)
Pedestrians didn’t seem to
Pedestrians didn’t seem to have a problem walking on the roads to avoid each other during Covid.
There wasn’t much traffic
There wasn’t much traffic then, was there?
Very true.
Very true.
NotNigel wrote:
they are also quite content to walk in cycle lanes. Of course the pedestrians that are happy o walk in this placs may not be the same people who are terrified of speeding 7 year olds, so ..
“despite what he views as the
“despite what he views as the Highway Code’s “strong bias towards cyclists”, pedestrians and motorists “have a right to safe passage”.”
And so do cyclists!!
With regards to asking the council to clamp down on young people cycling in the pavement , how would he suggest they stop something that is perfectly legal? Local councils cannot change the law.
He’s an idiot. This is just
He’s an idiot. This is just one of many reasons. Yet another example of “common sense” violating the Trade Descriptions Act.
It’s not legal. It’s not a
It’s not legal. It’s not a chargeable offence for a minor. That’s not the same thing though the outcome is the same.
See also Police Chiefs recommendation on not charging anyone unless it’s particularly egregious.
Age of criminal
Age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10 years old (12 in Scotland). So you can’t be punished for any crime if you’re under that age.
Fixed Penalty Notices can only be issued to people aged 16 or over, so if you’re under 16 it’s unlikely (but not impossible) that you would be punished for cycling on the pavement.
Tom_77 wrote:
Thats what I just said but I said it shorter.
So what’s the scrap value of
So what’s the scrap value of a stolen Sheffield stand? And what yard would accept one without showing proof of ownership?
Presumably much less than a
Presumably much less than a stolen e-bike, which it comes with…
Still, I get it, sometimes you have to take a stand.
I doubt Mr Pickett has
I doubt Mr Pickett has actually ridden a bike on any road in the UK in the last 20 years, if he had, he would change his views very quickly.
God forbid an old person
God forbid an old person should have to walk in close proximity to traffic travelling at 30mph. Far better a young schoolchild should ride their bike on a road with the 30mph traffic.
I don’t disagree with Mr Pickett that some cyclists do ride too fast and foolishly in pedestrianised areas, but the big issue here is that parents feel it is not safe for their children to ride on the road. This is where Mr Pickett should direct his efforts for improved safety.
A significant safety issue in my town centre are the old codgers who insist on piloting their electric wheelchairs at jogging speed down busy pavements.
“An eco-ambassador embarking
“An eco-ambassador embarking on a 2,000-mile bike ride to help fund his planet-saving dream is heading back to Colchester after reaching his halfway point.”
https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/23538897.colchester-fundraiser-reaches-scotland-500-mile-bike-journey/
I apologise profusely, but
I apologise profusely, but that headline and that picture, I couldn’t resist.
Private Eye: I have written
Private Eye: I have written them a brief letter pointing out that they appear to have accidentally employed a certain Jeremy Clarkson.
That would explain why none of the segments I’ve lifted from here have appeared in PE.
Well I’m happy that they’re
Well I’m happy that they’re biting all political sides equally, I guess. Job of the cynic, after all.
I suspect the journo might have latched on to a story – and a chance to poke those in power – and not taken it much further than the press releases here. I’d hope for better (and more careful reporting) – but they’re still hacks!
It wasn’t just one story, it
It wasn’t just one story, it was three, all trashing Active Travel and LTNs and using the standard petrolhead bingo card of congestion, emergency vehicles obstructed and they’re unpopular: could easily have been the DM.
I expect much better from PE, they’re not exactly the right wing establishment mouthpiece like the rest, so it’s a bit of a surprise to find them acting exactly like reactionary stick-in-the-muds.
Here it is:
eburtthebike wrote:
The trouble with Private Eye, and I speak as an avid reader and subscriber of forty years, is that they are politically radical but socially conservative, as befits a publication founded and still largely run by Oxbridge public schoolboys. They’re generally on the side of the angels but when something threatens their “right” to drive their agreeable motorcars wherever they please they do tend to revert to type, sadly. When I first started reading in the 80s Auberon Waugh used regularly to use his column to complain about how unreasonable the drink driving laws were and how much they inconvenienced him…
I’ve been a long time reader
I’ve been a long time reader and crossword completer of Private Eye – generally it’s editorial line is fairly pragmatic and principled, taking well-aimed barbs at the venal, stupid, and all too often, both. And it’s happy to take aim at the unions and the left, and not just the left as well as the easier targets of big business and the political right. Their long-standing pursuit of the Post Office/Fujitsu scandal, the MMR vaccine controversy, Lockerbie prosecution – to name but a small handful – is noteworthy and creditable.
But specialist individual columns – MD, In The City, Signal Failures – are written by individual columists. That Rotten Boroughs seems to have fallen under the purview of a columnist of the more swivel-eyed variety is disappointing. The ghost of Booker – whose natural home was a field filled with incontinent male cows – lives on…
But, I digress, (cont. p94)
Argos74 wrote:
In that case it really was not creditable at all, MD (the Eye’s medical correspondent) admitted in 2010 of the Eye’s coverage:
M.D. writes: Private Eye got it wrong in its coverage of MMR. It gave undue prominence to unproven theories based on a small number of uncontrolled observations, and paid far less attention to the weight of evidence from large comparative studies that failed to find any association between MMR and autism. While the Eye cited potential conflicts of interest in many of the key supporters of MMR, it failed to point out any unethical or prejudicial behaviour by Andrew Wakefield.
The 1998 Lancet paper that started the scare has now been removed from the medical literature on ethical grounds; and Wakefield, its leading author, may soon be removed from the medical register. Clearly what precious research money there is should now be used to test more credible hypotheses for the causes of autism.
…
The Eye was right to keep asking questions on behalf of parents. There have been plenty of medical scandals exposed by investigative journalism, and plenty more to expose. This could have been one, but it wasn’t. By the time of the second Cochrane review, the Eye should have conceded the argument.
There was nothing creditable about the Eye’s campaign against MMR and they admitted it (I speak, by the way, of a great fan of PE and an avid reader for forty years).
While private eye is a fun
While private eye is a fun read they have a long history of getting things spectacularly wrong at times. A good example is their promotion of “Dr” Andrew Wakefield’s nonsense about the MMR vaccine.
‘It then pointed out that
‘It then pointed out that Bath and Nort East Somerset Council “didn’t consult the ambulance service about cycle lanes, low-traffic neighbourhoods, floating bus stops or ‘modal filters’ that were being installed.”
That can’t be true. A statutory consultation – which this would have required, has to include the emergency services.
“Perhaps the council was in a bit of a hurry to trouser juicy ‘active travel’ funds from Whitehall in time to get the work finished before the May elections,” it added.
that’s so moronic – the council doesn’t make a profit from infrastructure schemes. It recieves funding and then spends the funding. It can ‘cream’ some off in kick backs or corruption. Which is another thing entirely.
On the poll, we need another
On the poll, we need another option. Almeida is looking useful.
Kids should be okay cycle on
Kids should be okay cycle on the footpath. No way I would want my kids cycling on the road. I like my kids.
However – pulling wheelies, weaving recklessly between pedestrians and otherwise causing a nuisance – no. That is a problem.
A couple of times now, I have watched a young adult cycle in front of me, without his hands touching the handlebars. The first time, he was drinking and eating chips. He bounces up onto the footpath and back down. I don’t think he realises just how dangerous it is. I very much doubt his parents have taught him to do that.
Yes – sadly there are
Yes – sadly there are dickheads everywhere. Which should have absolutely no significance for the rules applying to non-dickheads.
just be thankful that
just be thankful that reckless idiot is on a bicycle and not driving a car
Thank you – I corrected my
Thank you – I corrected my spelling mistake
HoldingOn wrote:
There are broadly two types of child cyclists I see on the roads near where I live – there are those that ride cautiously, with both hands on the handlebars, in a straight line, and there are those like the one you describe, pulling wheelies etc..
The first group get 0 respect from 90% of motorists and suffer a lot more close passes than I do when I ride to work along the same route at the same time of day. The second set are given a wide berth from 90% of motorists. If he’s riding with no hands, drinking, eating chips, hoping up and down the pavement – how is this dangerous, if you are driving safely (assuming he has the skills to ride without his hands on the handlebars and to hop up and down pavements)?
jh2727 wrote:
I watched him bounce up on a footpath with a pedestrian a couple of feet from him – if his wheel had taken a funny bounce on the kerb, he could have ploughed into the pedestrian.
If a car stops suddenly in front of him – how would he reach his brakes in time to stop?
If ..
If ..
Biggest word in the English language.
If it was as dangerous as you say then any one of those things you say that *could* have happened… *would* have happened.
Quote:
amazing, clearly admits that proximity to traffic doing 30mph can kill, but he wants to put primary age children ito that position?
How fast are these primary children going that they are endangering old curmudgeons like Chris Pickett? Can we loo forard to a golden generatio of Olympians in 20 years time?
The simple solution to Mr.
The simple solution to Mr. Pickett’s concern, and that of those riding on the pavements because they don’t think the road safe, is to slow the motor traffic down to a safe speed for everyone. But then it would be unfair to inconvenience drivers by requiring they drive at a safe speed.
Anyone can be taught to ride
Anyone can be taught to ride safely on the road, it’s the being safe on the roads that’s impossible as that’s generally down to the impatient and distracted motorists.
“From Mastodon: it is unfair
“From Mastodon: it is unfair to compare a modern pickup truck to a tank because the M1 Abrams battle tank has better forward visibility and is less likely to run over our kids than a street legal consumer truck.”
NB the pictures show an average height 5 year old and 3 year old and their distance away not their height
https://twitter.com/oom_rl/status/1661252115694772225