Why’s there a bike in the road? If cyclists acted like drivers; Egan Bernal targets second yellow jersey; That awful emoji jacket is back; No space for cycle lanes?; Black Friday with a difference; Sea-inspired frame colours + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
What if the shoe was on the other foot? If cyclists acted like drivers
‘Getting a sandwich, be right back!’
If cyclists would act like car drivers
(by @PhilmerPhiI) pic.twitter.com/K1wmKAFGYU— MonkeyWrenchGang (@M_WrenchGang) November 22, 2021
It’s a bit of silliness that we wouldn’t recommend making a part of your morning commute but this vid, originally from Minneapolis cycling aficionado Philip Schwartz, does make a decent point about how some motorists treat active travel space…as a car park.
Gary James reckoned all that’s missing are the “blinky orange lights of absolution”, then it would be fine.
And while some people, seemingly missing the irony of the vehicle parked in the left of the picture, took issue with Schwartz’s stunt, most of the replies were fairly positive…
Petekfil commented: “Before you criticise, he could be rushing to a sick relative, just trying to do a day’s work, collecting an anvil he can’t carry. Why don’t cars use car lanes designed for them? Oh, and I saw a car break a red light this morning.”
“Just go around!”
— Coney Love (@coneylove) November 23, 2021
Now, I wonder what happens after the video cuts off…that BMW driver seemed pretty keen to keep things moving…
Not another Black Friday big discount post
Black Friday is coming up but this isn’t another mega low price announcement, instead of using the day as an opportunity to sell outdated stock and drive sales in the run up to Christmas, Raleigh has revealed its donating 100% of profits made on Black Friday to its charity partner World Bicycle Relief.
Offering no discounts or sales gimmicks, it will instead donate all of its profits made this Friday to the international non-profit organisation that specialises in large-scale, comprehensive bicycle distribution programmes to aid poverty relief in developing countries around the world.
“Viewing transportation on quality bicycles as a legitimate economic empowerment tool, all proceeds with go towards the production and distribution of specially designed Buffalo Bikes to those in developing countries – helping to provide better and safer access to education, work and healthcare,” says Raleigh.
New Menstrual Cycle Coaching support for women from Whoop
Whoop last week announced the establishment of its inaugural Women’s Performance Collective (WPC) that commits to pursuing research and product development initiatives that specifically benefit women, and now it’s rolling out its new coaching feature to help users with natural cycles integrate their cycles into their training plan and sleeping habits.
The menstrual cycle causes dramatic hormonal shifts throughout the month, producing different physiological responses. “In some phases you may be more able to take on strain, can work out harder and experience higher gains, while in other phases you may need more sleep,” Whoop points out.
The fitness and health tracking brand says its Menstrual Cycle Coaching will provide more accurate Strain and Sleep coaching recommendations and Weekly Performance Assessment’s informed by their menstrual cycle for users who menstruate and are not on hormonal birth control. “These insights will allow members to plan their training, adapt their sleep, and improve their overall performance.”
Pogačar vs Roglič vs Bernal? 2019 Tour de France champion targets second yellow jersey in 2022
Egan Bernal will head to the Tour de France with the objective of claiming a second yellow jersey as his main goal for 2022. Speaking to Colombian website Revista Mundo Ciclístico, the 2019 Tour winner confirmed he’d be back at the Grand Tour he won aged 22. Tadej Pogačar’s success has since somewhat eclipsed Bernal’s achievement, but the Ineos Grenadiers climber says he is determined to return in top shape.
“The answer is yes,” Bernal told Revista Mundo Ciclístico. “We are going to focus all our preparation and efforts thinking about competing in the Tour de France this year. It is time to return to the path that we found in 2019 and from which we have separated a little.
> Giro chainsaw massacre: Egan Bernal chased up Passo Giau by superfan lumberjacks
“I think I have fully recovered, but nevertheless we have been monitoring the physiotherapy sessions, strengthening with gym work, hoping to start the cycling year and continue without anything that could affect performance on the bike.”
Bernal’s preparation for 2022 has already begun and will continue at his team’s December training camp in Spain. The 24-year-old’s off-season began with him downplaying rumours of a rift with the team. When quizzed on the whispers linking him to a move to join Chris Froome, Bernal replied: “There is no problem. I never spoke to Israel Start-Up Nation.”
One thing none of us want for Christmas...that awful emoji jacket is back
This emoji jacket lets cyclists communicate with drivers and hopefully saves lives pic.twitter.com/RmfCQEnr8q
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 22, 2021
Oh brilliant, that Ford emoji jacket is doing the rounds again. It was actually first launched as part of the car brand’s heavily criticised Share the Road campaign in 2020. At the time, the dismal press release said: “Our roads are busier than ever with drivers, motorcyclists, cyclists, and pedestrians all vying for space.
“It’s no wonder that tempers are lost, and conflicts arise as our ability to communicate is locked behind windscreens and inside helmets – resulting in more than 2,000 cyclists being killed on roads in Europe each year.”
But yeah, put a sad face on your back and that’ll keep you safe…
No space for cycle lanes?
China has a 50-lane motorway, no really. https://t.co/SMmz0zddzy
— Sean O’Conor (@SeanWoking) November 23, 2021
Maybe one more lane will fix it?
Oh I do like to be beside the Moana sea/ocean/lake-side... New bike colourway incoming!
Chapter2 is adding a new Blue + Cyan colourway inspired by the colours of Moana (sea, ocean, or large lake in Maori) to its TOA race model; the deep navy blue is subtly offset by the fading cyan colour on the rear of the seat tube and forks.
Designed in New Zealand, the front triangle of the TOA’s Kamm-Tail aero chassis is moulded using a one-piece Latex Mandel which Chapter2 says has increased the headtube stiffness by 34% over its TERE model. All the cables and hoses are tucked away for a clean finish and the aero benefits.
Chapter2 also gives the option to have its aero MANA Bar fitted which is practical too thanks to the brand’s Quick-Fit spacers that permit easy adjustment of the bar height and quick disassembly for travelling.
Up to 32mm of tyre clearance, vibration dampening seatstays and seatpost should also help when taking the TOA on rougher roads.
Chapter2 says it expects to start shipping this new colourway at the end of December. Tempted?
The Bicycle Film Festival launches Friday
The London Cycling Campaign’s cycling film festival launches this Friday until the 5th of December, with tickets still available. It’s running virtually and will include an international selection of short films, including how cycling has combated knife crime in London, the rapidly growing racing scene in Rwanda, a portrait of Bike Rides for Black lives and much more.
Tickets and more information can be accessed here…
Get your diary out...Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert will meet five times over the festive season
🇳🇱 Mathieu van der Poel and 🇧🇪 Wout van Aert will meet each other in 5 cyclocross races before the National Championships.
26-12 🇧🇪 UCI World Cup Dendermonde
29-12 🇧🇪 Superprestige Diegem
30-12 🇧🇪 X2O Trofee Loenhout
02-01 🇳🇱 UCI World Cup Hulst
05-01 🇧🇪 X2O Trofee Herentals pic.twitter.com/U8pTkEBaw7— Cyclocross24.com (@cyclocross24) November 24, 2021
Liam has already said “MvdP vs WVA is looking like the best bit of Xmas for me”…
The pair will renew their acquaintance on the mud at the World Cup event in Dendermonde on Boxing Day. Fair play to them. Slogging it out all year to stay in top shape. At least they’ll get Christmas off? Nah, just water for these lads…
Get your Festive 500 x Christmas recovery ride in early and settle down for some Turkey leftovers and the two best in the world slogging it out…
Hitting the shops for Black Friday? Cycle home, TfL urges Londoners
Transport for London has urged shoppers to pick greener transport options on their way home from the Black Friday sales. They’ve even got a discount of their own to mark the day… CYCLEBF21 will get you 25 per cent off an annual membership online or via the Santander Cycles app.
Alex Williams, TfL’s Director of City Planning said: “We’ve seen an increase in the number of personal deliveries across the capital which is affecting air quality in the capital and the health of many Londoners.
“Black Friday weekend is one of the busiest shopping events of the year and is highly anticipated for London’s shoppers and retailers. We’re encouraging Londoners to choose greener ways of getting their deliveries such as using click and collect or getting to the shops by public transport, helping to reduce the congestion on the capital’s roads and improving air quality.”
Local paper bingo
You can tell I’m back from holiday…we’ve got a local paper letter about those pesky cyclists breaking the rules of the road for your afternoon live blog entertainment.
Today’s comes from the York Press. A.P.Cox wrote in to take issue with the news outlet’s feature on the most dangerous roads for cyclists in the area. Hardly a bucket list travel guide, I know, but whatever…
The letter in full is here…but a couple of personal highlights…”What it did not say is why these roads are dangerous for those on bicycles. Could it be that the cause is cyclists weaving in and out of traffic to get to the front of the queue when they are unable to get onto the footpath because of pedestrians getting in their way?
“Or perhaps cyclists ignoring red lights and cycling through lines of traffic going in the opposite direction? Another survey should be done listing the most dangerous footpaths for pedestrians caused by cyclists riding on footpaths to avoid red traffic lights.”
What a brilliant piece of entertainment that was…
The comments weren’t too bad either if you want some more bingo and a local winning ‘Guess The Author Before You See The Name’.
"Annoying, isn't it?": Reaction to one fed up Minneapolis cyclist's novel point-making performance
Annoying, isn’t it? https://t.co/TuuIRQM9TH
— El Guapo (@patrickdtribe) November 23, 2021
Some reaction to that clever video from the States. As we said earlier, we definitely won’t be trying this one any time soon, but it makes a decent point. What would the reaction be if I just decided to leave my bike here? You can get round, right?
And while we all mainly enjoyed adding “blinky orange lights of absolution” to our vocabulary, most of the reaction has been a little less facetious.
Eric wrote: “Seriously. Bike lanes aren’t short-term parking spots. The amount of times I’ve risked being hit because I was forced to swerve into traffic…”
Just go around 👍
— Aidan Hogan (@sarsfieldsride) November 22, 2021
Not everyone got it though…
— CryptoOutdoorsman (@BGrinny911) November 23, 2021
Guess they’ll be more than happy for you to tow their vehicle away if it’s in a bike lane then…
It's socks over/under leg warmers time of year...but have you considered which is "cutest"?
socks over vs under leg warmers is shit cycling banter honestly. depends on the whole get up. do what looks cutest for u x
— honor elliott (@honorelliott_) November 24, 2021
On those rarest dry days it’s (old) white socks over my leg warmers. All other occasions it’s black socks under for me. Don’t all crucify me at once…sometimes I’ve just got to try and look ‘pro’ for motivation. Still, I look forward to the list of comments saying pros don’t wear socks over leg warmers…
What looks cutest for you?
Tom Zoom-en goes racing...but not on a bike
Four-time Paris-Roubaix winner and three-time Flanders champ Tom Boonen is back racing competitively again…just not on a bike. The 40-year-old won the CN prototype class at the Benelux-focused GT & Prototype Challenge race series and told Sport/Voetbalmagazine, “it was great! Even better than any victory as a pro rider.”
It’s a nice problem to have when you’ve racked up so many Monuments that they start to lose their excitement…”Winning at Paris-Roubaix for the third or fourth time didn’t even give me the same ‘kick’ as my first victories as a rookie racing driver. The pleasure of winning is certainly not proportional to the importance of the race. You get used to it. That’s why those first steps are the most fun – also in my second career.”
He did find comparison in the emotion of racing cars to a bunch sprint but still said it’s a unique experience for him…”A bunch sprint, that’s an explosion of hormones. After a chaotic final in which you find your way, shoot forward like a bolt, and then put your hands in the air. Bam! In my car there is less chaos, I have more control. You stay hyper-focussed and never go over the limit, even in a direct duel with another car. Once you cross the finish line, the joy is immense.”
Remember to lock that bike up, G!
Today’s café stop. Coffee for me, cake for the boys 😇 #athlete #regime @WoutPoels @LukeRowe1990 @MichaelValgren pic.twitter.com/KIsbK7Tu3I
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) November 24, 2021
Let’s hope there were no sneaky 15-year-olds around after a Pinarello Dogma F…
24 November 2021, 09:00
24 November 2021, 09:00
24 November 2021, 09:00
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Latest Comments
Would he have performed better on his normal bike?
the National Bus and Rail Union told the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) the following month, saying the requirements (making the cyclist scum wear helmets and HiViz) would, “make the roads a safer place, as it would make potential hazards easier to spot.” Nothing to do with driver behaviour then? Stagecoach is even putting intimidating threats against cyclists on the side of the buses now! ttps://upride.cc/incident/px60beo_stagecoach41-closepass/
.......the government was focused on the “enormity of the e-scooter problem” Just wait until they find out how absolutely effing gigantic the car problem is. The whole thing is just motornormativity at government level, and while Ciarán Cannon talks sense, Seán Canney is fecking eejit.
40% of fatal road incidents (70 deaths p.a.) in Ireland involve excess alcohol. Pass a law mandating compulsory alcohol interlocks for all motor vehicles and see what that does for road safety first.
@mitsky I didn't say it was applicable in this case or that I thought it should be, I was simply answering your question as to whether anyone had ever shot someone and been charged with anything other than murder or attempted murder, to which the answer is yes.
@perce The new troll, my friend, is solely piss and wind, the new troll is solely piss and wind.
Very correct price for a basic, no-frills frameset. Older and wiser -after a warranty case on a '100 year' Ti frameset that lasted 5 years before a drive side chain stay weld said sayonara- I'll never again purchase a really high cost Ti frame. If the replacement -3999 Euro at retail but I paid 800, which is what it took for them to +- honour the warranty- fails, I'm done. Firstly because they do fail. Titanium is very finicky where welding conditions are concerned and good luck with that warranty, better read the wording very carefully. Secondly, often the price is justified with 'it's a frame for life'. Errrr....yes, unless you decide you want something different after 5 years, it breaks or technology evolves to a point where your frameset becomes aa anachronism and after 10 years you can start hunting for spares(UDH and disc brakes, anyone?). Third: I'm getting a bit tired reading about these so-called 'magical' properties of Ti. The only magical thing about it is the corrosion resistance. All that absorbing of vibrations etc is mainly function of frame design/geometry. If you want vibration damping: larger tires, lower pressure, done.
True,but I can't count thé number of times I've seen him on TV as an invited expert for comments since
"...there was enough suspicion to warrant an out-of-hours knock on the door for the Tour’s then-top two." A generic statement that sounds like a cover-your-arse mumbling. Can they be more specific? Nope. Good to see Vaughters join Lefevere to add up some controversy to the very politically correct pro peloton. In the late 1990s and early noughties, when cycling was becoming a global phenomenom, officials, race organisers and team managers turned a blind eye on doping. Nobody wanted to slay the goose with golden eggs.
Am I missing something. Pogacar would be firm favourite no matter what you did unless you made it a very flat edition which no one would want. Outside of Pogacar its all up for grabs. You can't build a good multi-week race with Pogacar in the form he is in. Take Pogacar out and this would be fine.
67 thoughts on “Why’s there a bike in the road? If cyclists acted like drivers; Egan Bernal targets second yellow jersey; That awful emoji jacket is back; No space for cycle lanes?; Black Friday with a difference; Sea-inspired frame colours + more on the live blog”
re What if the shoe was on
re What if the shoe was on the other foot? If cyclists acted like drivers
If nothing else I have learned that hazards/indicators are aka “Blinky orange lights of absolution”
So using that…..
Captain Badger wrote:
my view is that anyone who puts their hazards on when they park, know they shouldn’t be parked where they are.
xcept the morons who always put them on when they park, even if they are parked in the middle of a line of other cars, so it looks like theh are indicating to pull out.
wycombewheeler wrote:
Quite. You put your BOLAs on when the location of your car is causing a hazard to other road users
So wtf did you put it there???……
(see, I’ve even got an acronym for them now….)
Captain Badger wrote:
You have to remember it is motor vehicles god given right to be on the road and to park wherever they choose.
My other half had a run in with a white van man over the weekend, they were parked half on the road half on the pavement over double yellows. Where they had parked meant that the pavement was almost completely blocked. There was a pensioner/disabled man in a mobility scooter stuck waiting to get past the parked van on the pavement but there was not enough room to do so.
My other half asked the van driver to move to let the mobility scooter past only to be met with a barrage of abuse, and to be told that if people like you would let us get on with our job we wouldn’t be parked on the pavement for so long.
It was reported to the police and we got told that it was a civil matter and that there was nothing they could do.
The worst part of it is, that not even 72 hours prior to that there was a 91 year old pedestrian killed on the same stretch of road… and white van man was told of this and his face was one of DILLIGAF?
TriTaxMan wrote:
Plod needs a brush-up on his law. Parking on yellow lines is de-criminalised, so it is dealt with under civil enforcement. Driving on the footway, while a criminal offence is allegedly only enforceable if the police see the offence happening because apparently they cannot issue a NIP or enforce on the basis of witnesses. Parking on the footway is unlawful (civil), but causing an obstruction is a criminal matter.
If they don’t want to deal with the matter, it’s more accurate to say that they could deal with it but, as the likelihood is that a delivery driver will have moved on by the time they get there, it is not a good use of resources to address a fleeting matter that will self-remedy presently if you wouldn’t mind allowing the good burgher continue with his trade.
All of these things are a poort state of affairs, and photo/video evidence of double yellow parking, driving on the footway and footway parking should all be actionable, imho. Any whinnying that it penalises the trade of the delivery drivers overlooks the matter that any trade that depends on committing offences to be carried out cannot justifiably be protected.
TriTaxMan wrote:
This is one of those events where a little communication and emotional intelligence really bears fruit.
Rather than shouting “Get out of the way, it’s my pavement! Or I’ll call the police!”, I’d always open the conversation (in a polite tone) with “Excuse me, will you be long as my elderly grandfather can’t get past, and he’s dying for a wee?”. You’ll then find that the van driver either affirms that he’ll be pulling out in the next minute or two, or will smile and move his van to let the gentleman through.
It’s all about using a bit of tact on all sides. Read the fable of the North Wind and the Sun – it’s a favourite of mine.
Garage at Large wrote:
Just for one day…do fuck off. Honestly, you must have better things to do? The Guardian website has loads of things you can comment on?
Baby steps, Eddy…
Baby steps, Eddy…
… the Nigelov Garagsky bot has just confirmed that its learning source is made-up fiction anthropomorphising wind and hot air. One day, it may become sentient.
They had to remove comments
They had to remove comments on articles because of this ppl like Nige.
Garage at Large wrote:
Comprehension really isn’t your strong suit is it Colin, making stuff up, slightly better. Now go back to playing with Beachballs like a good Sealion you Tw*t.
Colin ?!
Colin ?!
Hope you are not using sexist language there.
xcleigh1247 wrote:
I think that it’s Cecil the Sealion who balances multicoloured balls on his nose…
Garage at Large wrote:
is how you interpret
TTM’s partner was, it appears, public-spiritedly intervening on behalf of a disabled elderly stranger and there is no indication that s/he was rude in any way – that’s a mound of bullshit entirely provided by your own brain. To be fair, you do seem to have a substantial surplus of said substance, but I think we all wish you’d find another outlet for it.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Thanks Rendel, my partner was not rude in the slightest, in fact he was incredibly patient with the van driver before he made the decision to escalate it. But Nigel really can’t help himself he has to jump to conclusions at every chance.
TriTaxMan wrote:
Where the flag button for the forum to alert mods to continuous baiting ?
hirsute wrote:
He can bait all he want’s as far as I am concerned but he won’t be on the receiving end of polite replies when he does.
TriTaxMan wrote:
I guessed as much. Only in Nigeworld is trying to help a disabled person in the face of selfishness and aggression from drivers a discourteous act. Chapeau to your partner for doing the right thing.
Garage at Large wrote:
Nigel you really need to crawl back under your bridge.
As I said my partner asked the van driver if they would move their van off the pavement to allow the elderly gentleman past. And the contacting the police was only ever mentioned after the initial barrage of abuse that my partner received.
And trust me my partner has more emotional intelligence in their little finger than you have in your entire overly self important body you reprehensible troll. I mean if you actually had any
emotionalintelligence you would have managed to read my initial statement correctly in the first place.There We Are Then.
There We Are Then.
What is this indicating to
What is this indicating to pull out that you talk of?
That’s a new one.
I always thought those orange pieces of plastic on the corner of cars was for decoration. I feel so stupid now.
Owd Big ‘Ead wrote:
Just because it doesn’t often happen. If I’m cycling past a line of 20 parked cars, and the offside BOLA on the 10th one is flashing, I am going to ride expecting them to pull out on me.
Very frustrating to reach the car and find out both lights are flashng, and it is apparently parked.
wycombewheeler wrote:
I agree on the misleading impact of using hazards mid-row. But if I’m cycling past a line of 20 parked cars, I am going to ride expecting any of them to pull out on me.
What used to really annoy me
What used to really annoy me was when I cycled in London and some vehicle, often a lorry, would be parked with the BOLAs on and you would move to overtake, but then they would pullout right in front of you, still with all the lights going.
I could see very clearly they were a hazard without the lights!
What I wanted to know idls that they were planning to rejoin the traffic
Seventyone wrote:
Yay! The movement is growing.
Remember people, you saw it here first!
Captain Badger wrote:
Intermittently.
wycombewheeler wrote:
Wooohooooo!! It’s becoming a thing!
Captain Badger wrote:
Cake!
Owd Big ‘Ead wrote:
Motorists don’t like it if you bring the fact that their orange lights are not working, to their attention. I know this from experience…
There isn’t a 50 lane
There isn’t a 50 lane motorway in China. It’s actually 4 lanes, but expands out to 25 lanes at a toll booth (although the cars appear to mot be sticking to the offical lanes so it appears wider).
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/china-50-lane-highway-traffic-jam/
Oh yeah. People get killed by
Oh yeah. People get killed by drivers cos cyclists don’t communicate emojis to incompetent psychos in hermatically isolated steel boxes
FFS
Captain Badger wrote:
Oh yeah. People get killed by drivers cos cyclists don’t communicate emojis to incompetent psychos in hermatically isolated steel boxes
FFS
Sad face
GMBasix wrote:
I wish I could like that more than once
ROFLYSST
Can it form an icon thats
Can it form an icon thats flipping the motorists the bird?
Secret_squirrel wrote:
That would definitely be a life saver on its own….
Breaking news: FURY over
Breaking news: FURY over £1million cycle superhighway WIDER than an A road
“Martin Hiscock, who regularly cycles along the road to visit his father, admitted they were too wide. The 41-year-old, from Christchurch, said: ‘I don’t know why there needs to be two on both sides of the road.'”
Except it’s not wider than
Except it’s not wider than the A-road. There’s a lane the width of a single lane, on both sides of the road, plus a footway. So, at most, its the same width as the A-road?
I wonder why he bolded part
I wonder why he bolded part of the persons name for? Is it because the person is a cyclist and Boo is trying to call him a name in a not so subtle way?
It’s because Nige is
It’s because Nige is unfailingly polite and courteous.
According to the top-selling
According to the top-selling newspaper report, “The controversial new road layout means that cyclists and walkers enjoy a combined 33ft of room while the carriageway for cars, lorries and emergency vehicles has been narrowed to 10ft 6in per lane”.
So it would appear they have taken non-car infrastructure vs the road as their baseline.
Would you usually include the
Would you usually include the adjacent but separated footway when you’re measuring width put aside for separated cycling infrastructure?
brooksby wrote:
The reporting is being carried out with an anti-cycle spin on it.
If you look at google street maps, and go back before the images showing the works being carried out to install the cycle lanes you can see that the vast majority of the space for the cycle lanes was claimed from existing green space at the side of the road. A small amount of space has been claimed from the road but no more than a couple of feet.
Where was all of the FURY when there was all of the green space at the side of the road that was preventing ambulances from passing the rows of cars? Surprising isn’t it how it only becomes FURY when the empty space is being used for cycling
The before Google maps image
The before Google maps image
And during the road works
And during the road works
TriTaxMan wrote:
Not even that – even the Mail article says the road was narrowed by “around a foot”. I guess “Fury as road narrowed by a foot” didn’t have the same impact.
So the “fury” isn’t really
So the “fury” isn’t really about the road being narrowed, but about ANY SPACE AT ALL being given to cycling?
Who wants to bet that Nigel
Who wants to bet that Nigel is a supporter of the ABD?
So they think the solution to
So they think the tradegy could have been prevented by having more parking spaces. I would have thought the solution would have been NOT to give psychopaths driving licenses.
I wonder if there’s been some
I wonder if there’s been some element of Someone buying a property with no associated/labelled parking space, then discovering there’s nowhere to store their car…
Rendel Harris wrote:
Is that a genuine screenshot of the ABD? That is absolutely disgusting!
Unbelievably foul, isn’t it?
Unbelievably foul, isn’t it? I saw someone had put a screenshot on Twitter and like you I thought someone’s mocked that up, nobody could really be that crass, but went to their account and there it is. Still up despite near-universal ridicule…though Twitter obviously has its Nigels:
Empty the jails. Simply give
Empty the jails. Simply give all the murderers a parking spot and life will be grand.
Rua_taniwha wrote:
Lateral thinking! Sadly (in both senses) in the UK cars take up a lot more space than prisoners. So it’ll deffo be an upgrade for them. Not sure we should reward death by careless driving with a free parking space though…
Rendel Harris wrote:
Wrong, their Tweet is ridiculous and in very poor judgement. On that basis I’m surprised you’re not a supporter.
I won’t be commenting on the ongoing investigation for obvious reasons, but what I would say is that there is generally a financial incentive for both councils and housing developers to underestimate car parking requirements in new housing developments.
I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be a statutory requirement for each new build to have at least 2 private car parking spaces off the road, rather than the current “flexible” model where everyone is incentivised to underestimate parking needs, with the end result that people dump their cars on the public highway and often rudely encroaching people’s driveways.
In our house we only have one car which is kept on the driveway, with space for another, but at the other end of the street is a block of flats, and cars spill out onto the road due to lack of provision, making the place look less tidy than it should.
Garage at Large wrote:
One presumes you mean “very poorly judged” – even trolls should try to use correct English where possible.
Their tweet is foul but no worse than your own victim-blaming, pro-car (“humanity’s greatest achievement” as you have said) and anti-cyclist garbage, you’re a match made in hell.
Garage at Large wrote:
Excellent!
We can now add town planning and transport strategy as 2 more things you know next to nothing about.
Funnily enough I observed a
Funnily enough I observed a similar fact – that cars are all over the bloody pavement / roads – and drew exactly the opposite conclusion e.g. that we have too much space dedicated to the motor vehicle. Which is mostly sat idle – occasionally producing fumes while doing so.
I suspect that if your road was reduced to one lane only to facilitate this extra parking (particularly it being a cul-de-sac) you might find this actually did not enhance anyone’s convenience. You might even have had an untidy jam on the street.
Another odd thing is that in other places where they have re-allocated a little of the car space to more efficient modes of transport some of this “traffic” miraculously … vanishes. Maybe all those journeys (TM) didn’t need to be made in cars? Maybe some of them didn’t need to be made at all? Maybe if people weren’t driving their cars so often there would be fewer people who have to park them badly on pavements, in cycle lanes, outside schools, on double yellows…
No point me popping up here anyway so I should leave this for Nasal Forage.
You’ve misunderstood my post.
You’ve misunderstood my post. I don’t mean “cut out a lane of the road to facilitate extra car parking”, I mean dedicate more of the housing development at conception to car parking by having fewer residences in the first place.
As an aside, when I lived in Taiwan land prices were so high, and people lived in blocks of flats with underground car parking. It was amazing how they often did it – they’d slot their car in a machine and it would stack the cars vertically like this. This would also have the advantage of instantly writing off 4x4s!
Garage at Large]
Climate change?
If you keep designing for a future where the private motor car is the primary mode of travel, then that is what you will get. We need to design away from using two tonnes of metal to transport 80kg of human.
This probably takes more than just buiulidng the roads as normal and then limiting parking though. It needs these new develpments built from concept with segregated active travel corridors, which are safe, direct and convenient, while the roads are less so. Such that th car is only used when essential, because the rest of the time it’s easier, quicker and more pleasant to walk or cycle
wycombewheeler wrote:
Exactly this. Each and every new development should have a requirement to have some form of dedicated cycling infrastructure and connections to existing cycling infrastructure.
Even so, most new housing developments already have 2 parking bays per property, but the problem is an ever growing number of households have at least 3 if not more cars. I know lots of people who live in newer developments and every single time I go to visit them its like playing dodgems, with the houses with 2 cars on the drive and another 1 or more parked on the street…. oh yes with possibly another car in the garage too.
TriTaxMan wrote:
Because adult working offspring cannot afford to leave the family home.
The cost of accomodation is a massive problem, despite governments of both colours routinely pledging to increase house building, demand has continued to grow faster than supply.
Such that I begin to wonder if there is a conspiracy to protect the interests of property owners by driving up prices. (not people who own their own homes, they do not benefit) but people and organisations owning large numbers of rental properties.
It is notable that while every other business was forced to take a massive drp in income, landlords were completely insulated against any financial harm.
wycombewheeler wrote:
Isn’t the Govt now recommending that all new houses/developments are built with e-car charging points? Which is great for that small percentage of the population who buy newbuild houses, but not so great for everyone else. And still encourages dependency on the big metal boxes (whether battery powered or dead dinosaur powered).
I’d rather they specified
I’d rather they specified secure bike parking
brooksby wrote:
Exactly. To be honest I think we’re locked in to replacing most cars with electric cars. I suspect we’ve screwed the pooch in the UK by baking in dependency on private motor transport and the expectation of it being available / desirable. It actually isn’t the case – people forced to do so can adapt in amazing ways – but I don’t think any government / power structure can run with a policy that seems to go against the expectation of “next year better than the last”.
There We Are Then.
There We Are Then.
This used to be my cycle
This used to be my cycle commute to work at my old job. Think I still have 3rd on the strava sector for it. It’s a road that had a 40 limit, now reduced to 30, but you can only get near that at quiet time. It’s normally nose to tail traffic, and has been forever. I had probably the scariest ever close passes on it at 6 in the morning, in the dark, and it desperately needed a cycle lane. What they’ve put in is amazing. It is still not used enough, but hopefully that will change. The main problem is what they did further down the road, which is an absolute joke. Painted an advisory lane on a road where traffic ignores it, so they queue in it, making it unuseable when busy. At least they resurfaced it, so it’s not like a pump track where the buses and lorries had pushed the tarmac up into ridges near the curb
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Emoji jacket – I particularly
Emoji jacket – I particularly enjoyed the demonstration where a cyclist, approaching a hazardous patch of tarmac, takes one hand off the bars to activate his hazard emoji. However, I do sometimes wish I could have a message board in the rear windscreen of my car like police cars have. It would be pre-loaded with messages like “I’m not moving until you put your phone down” and “I’m driving at the speed limit, deal with it”.
In other news – Couple killed may have been part of parking row