Could cycling number plates break up Britain?; “Some cyclists cycle at 45mph”; If cyclists behaved like motorists; Brompton vs law-breaking drivers; “Why don’t you guys use the bike paths?”; Wright goes close; Jay Vine’s Zwift ad + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
“Why don’t you guys use the cycle paths?” Drivers react to yesterday’s Near Miss of the Day
Yesterday’s edition of Near Miss of the Day – featuring a close pass from a lorry driver despite the presence of double solid white lines and an oncoming motorist – has seemed to annoy a few drivers out there, who have kindly emailed us here at road.cc to express their concerns.
> Near Miss of the Day 815: “Again and again, drivers don’t seem to get the message”
Nicholas wrote in to tell us that the cyclist “is to blame” for the near miss, because he was ignoring the shared use path to his left (which, as one road.cc reader pointed out in the comments, was coming to an end shortly after the close pass, which may provide an explanation – if it were needed – for why the cyclist declined to use it at that point).
> Monday moaning: Why don’t cyclists use cycle lanes?
“The video shows a cycle lane was clear and available, he was not using it,” says Nicholas.
“Therefore the cyclist is to blame. What is the point of a cycle lane if ignored? This video only supports motorists’ view of many cyclists attitude and makes cyclists more susceptible to accidents.”
Adrianjayne also believes that riding on the shared use path would have kept the cyclist safe from “idiot” drivers, explaining to us in this almost completely punctuation-less email: “I’ve just watched the bit on van overtaking cyclist and my first question is why wasn’t the cyclist using the cycle lane these have been put in all over the country at great cost to the public to help with the safety of cyclist and with idiots on the road like the van driver why do cyclists still take more of a risk by not cycling in them.”
Alan agreed too, but was a touch blunter, writing: “Why don’t you guys use the cycle paths?”
“Cyclist reporting a near miss when he was not affected and clearly not using a designated cycle lane,” John informs us, clearly failing to understand that our series focuses on ‘near misses’ and not collisions (and of course, bad driving only really matters when somebody gets hurt…).
“The oncoming car did not flash or sound his horn so he did not complain and as you can see the cyclist was totally unaffected by the overtaking of the truck. Camera steady on the road proof of no effect on the cyclist.”
Despite the arguments of our email correspondents, it is of course not against the law for a cyclist to ignore an available shared use path, or cycle lane for that matter.
It is, however, against the law for a motorist to overtake on double solid white lines towards an oncoming vehicle, a fact which none of our emailers happened to mention…
“Lots of people do it”: Taxi driver offers baffling excuse after being reported for stopping in cycle box
An amazing response here from a taxi driver reported to Liverpool City Council for stopping in the cycle box at a junction:
“Lots of people do it” According to the driver pic.twitter.com/7mDMwbEhW3
— Better Cycling UK (@UKCYCLIST) August 26, 2022
After being presented with photographic evidence of his misdemeanour, the cabbie seems to have channelled the teenage response to his mum finding a packet of cigarettes in his room, telling the city’s taxi licensing and regulatory enforcement officer that “lots of people do it”…
According to the officer, the cyclist’s complaint has been recorded on the driver’s file, “as this builds a picture of how he is conducting himself while he is operating the taxi”.
By the sounds of things, he spends most of his time behind the wheel blaming everyone else…
Nail-biter at the Vuelta: Can the break hang on?
Oi, peloton, have you not read the memo tho? It’s Fred Wright’s day today, right?
— Hola Chennaoui 🇪🇸 🚲 (@SportsOrla) August 26, 2022
Today’s unusual route at the Vuelta – a day for the sprinters, except for a massive Cat One climb in the middle – has provided us with a classic example of the ‘bunch versus break nail-biter’ genre of grand tour stages.
While Mads Pedersen set his Trek-Segafredo team to work on the Puerto de San Glorio, it wasn’t enough to definitely distance all of the big-name fast men such as green jersey Sam Bennett, nor was it enough to keep a dangerous-looking break – including the on-fire Fred Wright – in check.
With 13km left, the break is currently 1.17 ahead of the bunch. It’s coming down to the wire…
Heartbreak for Fred Wright as Jesús Herrada wins stage seven of the Vuelta
😍 Un cúmulo de emociones para @jesushl90
❤️ Pure emotions for Jesús Herrada @TeamCOFIDIS #LaVuelta22 pic.twitter.com/fEPU76L0Os
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 26, 2022
One of the nearly men of the season, Fred Wright, added to his collection of near misses this afternoon with his second third place of the 2022 Vuelta a España in Cistierna, as Cofidis’ Jesús Herrada continued the Spanish revival at their home grand tour with a surprise win from a small group sprint.
Wright, who finished second on this year’s Tour de France stage to Saint-Etienne and has taken silver at the recent Commonwealth Games time trial and seventh at the Tour of Flanders in April, looked to have finally cracked the winning formula after being out-thought by Marc Soler during Wednesday’s stage to Bilbao.
The 23-year-old Londoner was part of a five-rider-strong breakaway which held off a misfiring and miscalculating peloton led for most of the day by Mads Pedersen’s Trek-Segafredo.
Like Wright, former world champion Pedersen was hoping to banish his succession of podium places earlier in the week, but once again fell short both tactically and physically as his team failed first to distance the likes of Sam Bennett (who led the bunch home in green) on the mid-stage Puerto de San Glorio, and then couldn’t live with the pace and commitment of the break – who they had even kept on a short rope for most of the stage – in the closing kilometres.
⏪🚴♂️⚡️ Revive el ÚLTIMO KM donde @jesushl90 – @TeamCOFIDIS consigue la deseada victoria. Disfrútalo con @CarrefourES.
🤪 Relive a furious last KM of Stage 7 with victory going to Jesús Herrada!#LaVuelta22 #CarrefourConLaVuelta pic.twitter.com/Iaxh2aaJDE
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 26, 2022
After a classic ‘will they, won’t they’ battle between the break and its pursuers in the final fifty kilometres, by the final 2,000 metres the jig was up for the peloton.
After an impetuous early move by Alpecin-Deceuninck’s veteran Belgian Jimmy Janssens – which arguably forced the hand of his breakaway companions earlier than they would have hoped – Bahrain-Victorious’ Wright was the first to launch the sprint in earnest, using a slight dip in the road to gain the jump on his rivals.
Fred Wright talked to me pre-Vuelta about wanting that first pro win too much and racing a bit too desperately at the British nationals. He did it again there at #LaVuelta22 in that finale
— Andy McGrath (@Andymcgra) August 26, 2022
For a short period that looked to be enough for the stage win – but, alas, in the last fifty metres Wright paid for his extended and somewhat over-anxious effort, with Herrada (on paper, the least fancied of the group in a sprint) coming around the young British star and holding off the fast-finishing former U23 world champion Samuele Battistella to take an emotional win on home soil.
“Some cyclists cycle at 45mph though”, and other Twitter nonsense
This entire Twitter thread – featuring wise and not so wise takes on cycling, filtering and helmet cams from the likes of Jeremy Vine and GB News’ Paula London – is a bit too much for anyone to properly take in on a Friday afternoon (or ever), but I’ll leave you with this gem from ‘political commentator’ London, whose speed perception seems concerning, to say the least:
Some cyclists cycle at 45 mph though
— Paula London 🇬🇧 (@misspaulalondon) August 26, 2022
https://t.co/ceUKJmis6q pic.twitter.com/ML8gEtVGYJ
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) August 26, 2022
Tell me you know nothing about cycling without saying you know nothing about cycling https://t.co/wZ06q1HRGK
— Chris Gerhard 🇪🇺 (@chrisgerhard) August 26, 2022
I presume she’s mistaking them for motorcyclists https://t.co/6uVEbAWYq7
— Cycling in London (@Cycling_In_LDN) August 26, 2022
Some people can run 100 metres quicker than 10 seconds. https://t.co/X2GPt7DP9D
— Katie (@PlutoPuppy) August 26, 2022
My TT results would be considerably better if this was actually true… https://t.co/5z2CqQD78l
— Alex Ballinger (@alexballi_) August 26, 2022
“Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lanes?”: Vuelta edition
Wait until our Near Miss of the Day pen pals find out about this…
Bloody cyclists! Who do they think they are, riding around in lycra uninsured, not using the cycle path, thinking they’re in the Tour de bloody France, not paying any road tax etc etc. #LaVuelta22 pic.twitter.com/iFfs3x9Rap
— Felix Lowe (@saddleblaze) August 26, 2022
26 August 2022, 08:50
26 August 2022, 08:50
More twists and turns in the Tory leadership race… (kind of)
Rishi Sunak “an avid supporter of cycling” claim his supporters
Just last week they were hailing him as “the most pro-driver chancellor in history”
26 August 2022, 08:50
26 August 2022, 08:50
Ease into the bank holiday weekend with our Season 2 roundup special of the road.cc Podcast… Happy Friday everyone!
Chris Boardman, Highway Code fake news, and no bikes for big people plus insurance chat with Laka – the best bits of Season 2 of the road.cc Podcast
Listen back to some of the highlights of the past few months, and learn from Laka how the bike insurance market is evolving and what current trends are
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Latest Comments
@chrisonabike Or, alternatively, they've had the experience of swallowing a bug at 15.5mph and don't want to repeat it.
@OnYerBike Yeah, the death of the DHB/Aeron/other Wiggle-imprint 'brands' as good-quality kit basically killed Wiggle as a distinct outlet. It just became another generic retailer website once it had no unique products. I miss DHB kit, it was such good value!
Can't say I'm entirely surprised - as far as I can tell, since the takeover, wiggle, CRC and Evans have all been exactly the same website, with exactly the same stock, same prices etc., just different branding. I don't see any point maintaining three separate brands with no attempt whatsoever to actually provide a distinct offering under each.
We keep hearing about how much damage a heavy eapc can do but surely the rider's weight has more influence. The weight of the bike has little additional impact if the rider is 100kg.... A 20kg eapc and a 70kg rider is less!
Another confounding factor is that your average e-bike user is more likely to be a novice rider. There are so many other variables that go along with e-bikes vs standard bikes that it's impossible to draw any conclusions from the correlational (uncontrolled) study.
@chrisonabike No idea - I was just sharing what I saw on local Facebook, posted by a local councillor with info from the local police!
@Bungle_52 yep, it's a balance. Those who already cycle, will. And (in the UK) we are justifiably suspicious about "great new infra" (and even more how drivers will ignore it) / irked by "get off the road" demands. OTOH given that plenty of streets are 30mph, and "20 means 25" and loaded with shopping on my town hack I'm not doing near 20mph either ... I *am* "in the way" (albeit to nobody's great inconvenience). And even on speedier machines I've almost zero desire nowadays to claim my "right to the road" on many A-roads. And "not cycling with motor traffic" / "I want to travel with others side-by-side" are extra blockers to most people taking the bike. So I'll keep saying "look what we could have - to *everyone's* benefit". But until we get there keep using whatever infra works for me!
Accountability is good, but is this it? Or is this really for publicity / PR? All the cycle and scooter hire vehicles I've seen elsewhere have fairly legible ID numbers somewhere on them anyway, albeit not as a "numberplate". Remind us how it works with motor vehicles again? "Sorry, it's a hire / pool vehicle, we've no idea who was in it". Or "it's my vehicle but maybe the plates were cloned? I've no idea who was driving it anyway, wasn't me". Then: follow the money. For many dockless funding models (Forrest included) it's not the riders or the locality providing most of the money, it's the investors. I've no idea if the "exclusivity" here also involves the borough paying a good fraction of their costs. But I suspect they have limited leverage with Forest.
Im pretty sure they meant Byway BS.
@Blackthorne83 He would, but he's eaten his bike
20 thoughts on “Could cycling number plates break up Britain?; “Some cyclists cycle at 45mph”; If cyclists behaved like motorists; Brompton vs law-breaking drivers; “Why don’t you guys use the bike paths?”; Wright goes close; Jay Vine’s Zwift ad + more on the live blog”
I liked the A12 go slow
I liked the A12 go slow article in the local rag yesterday
“The protest dissolved after only three cars turned up, with one car stopped by police for not having an MOT.”
I don’t think anything
I don’t think anything happened with the van driver on the M4 Go-Slow who was drivng along without seatbelt and using his mobile phone.
hirsute wrote:
The comments section about that is funny too…
Describing the protesters “In other words they’re all-purpose nutters, probably from a conspiracy-heavy Facebook group, who really shouldn’t be left alone near sharp objects”
Ian Mitchell
Ian Mitchell
Long way for a shortcut, but he gets my vote.
Grant Scnapps can bring in number plates for bikes but he’s not *my* minister for whatever he fecking does.
If the SNP promises to ignore numberplates on bikes then they can have my tick.
This is my Bannockburn: a strange 12% to die on, but feck it, got to draw a line somewhere.
Glad to here, I take this
Glad to here, I take this means you have no intention of heading back south.
In recent years I have gone from ambivalence (sp!) on this subject to a definte independance voter, even if I don’t neccessarily want the current incarnation of the SNP to be in power afterwards.
I can’t afford to go back
I can’t afford to go back south …
I’ve ot two kids in colledge that get grants (probably wouldn’t down south), prescription charges, outrageous house prices – both to rent or buy; shitty traffic (I mean, rush hour in Glasgow is nothing to the rush hour in Leeds, or Birmingham) … plus there’s those HIghWay Agency police impersonators that does *anyone* have an idea on their actual legal responsibilites (thank feck we don’t have them up here ..)
I don’t feel that independence is such a great idea; there’s too many homefires burning and not enough trees. North Sea gas and oil have pretty much shot their bolt; there’s no manufacturing and the only farming that seems to being done is planting wind turbines …
Bexit has turned in to such a custerfuck; its hard to beleive that Independance would be any easier – it would be the same group of half-fuckwits dealing with it, and they would just want to roll Scotland over and go in dry – not even with spit as lube …
Tell you though mate, number plates for cycles and I’ll be right fecking there 🙂
I liked Alastair Grey’s (?)
I liked Alastair Gray’s (?) quip about independence – can’t recall it exactly but it was something like “the day after independence Holyrood may be full of self-serving crooks – but they’ll be our crooks”.
Given corruption you don’t want the corrupt too far distant from the people they’re profiting from. Mind you I used to live in a scheme not 4 miles from Holyrood and I’ve never yet seen everyone getting on the buses with pitchforks and burning torches…
I’m sure I’ve seen that ‘If
I’m sure I’ve seen that ‘If cyclists behaved like motorists’ on here before?
Makes an excellent point, as we all know, but unfortunately the VAST majority of motorists don’t see it that way… After all, they have only stopped on double yellows / no stopping / in a cycle lane / etc etc etc for perfectly valid reasons whereas any cyclist is clearly just doing it to be difficult and to make a point.
Lacks the essential BOLAS…
Lacks the essential BOLAS…
“at great cost to the public”
“at great cost to the public”…!
On a pre-existing pavement I saw a painted bicycle symbol and an arrow, END and a small give way double dash.
Grant cost, my arse…
ktache wrote:
Think about it – I bet a work gang could get through a brew and several hob-nobs doing that. Pricy nowadays – especially chocolate ones!
Pedantic point warning:
Pedantic point warning:
It is not against the law to cross the double white lines in a number of circumstances, one of those being to pass a cyclist doing less than 10mph (as appears to be the case in the video) – though it has to be safe to do so, and skimming past the cyclist whilst there is oncoming traffic doesn’t quite seem to cut it.
Yep, well spotted. Edited to
Yep, well spotted. Edited to include that it wasn’t safe to do so at the time of the overtake. Not sure the exception for overtaking a slow moving vehicle over double solid white lines includes when a driver is coming the other way!
More daft stuff on twitter
Some cyclists cycle at 45 mph though
I guess cycling mikey is a bit faster than he lets on !
That twitter thing also has some daft tweets about electric motorbikes being ebikes which is why they go so fast and hence support the original claim.
I think the 45 mph poster may be nige’s sister.
Some people show her Dan
Some people show her Dan Bigham hitting 54KMH for an hour, she replies he needs to get faster, some show Sam Bennett hitting 43mph on a Sprint, he is holding back. Someone then states on a 15%downhill maybe which is when she comes out with the Mall. Also she knows because her and her friend was cycling along it at 25mph and was overtaken. She knows the speed because her friend had one of those speed doodads on their bike. That would make her fastest non-athlete woman along there according to Strava.
Then someone else starts stating maybe on a e-bike and when told impossible, starts to show the speed limits of e-motorbikes in which she states, “awaiting for apologies.”Of course her and her supporter doesn’t seem to know the difference between legal e-bike and registered motor vehicle.
TBH, she seems to be Martin73’s ideal cycling trolling woman.
Don’t mention fairings…
Don’t mention fairings… hill assisted here but not unheard of once you turn to the dark side (sound’s pretty rough):
Turned out she is right as
Turned out she is right as proven by an ex-nasa scientist.
Surrey police tweeting a lot
Surrey police tweeting a lot about their ebrompton. Would be good to have an article on it.
https://mobile.twitter.com/SurreyRoadCops/status/1563209552404697094
Despite the driver of this car seeing us and our #VanguardRST bike at the British Motor Show on Sunday, our message clearly didn’t get through – caught using his mobile phone whilst driving in Guildford.
6 points and a £200 fine issued.
From GIFs in the Twitter, the
From GIFs in the Twitter, the rear looks like and exposure, maybe a trace R, with a blue flash as part of the program.
I like that it’s been
I like that it’s been supplied in Brompton Turkish Green, reminds me of old school pandas: