“We’re not different tribes”: Chris Boardman vows to end cycling “culture war”; “Use designated cycle ditch so superior road users are not delayed”: Police parody page takes on bike lanes; Greggs x cycling; If Carlsberg did cycling + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
“Use designated cycle ditch so superior road users are not delayed”: Police parody page takes on bike lanes… and some drivers miss the point
I thought I’d kick off Tuesday with something a bit light-hearted and jovial… Or not.
Over the weekend, the satirical police force of Bullshire reminded cyclists that “it is mandatory for them to use the designated cycle ditches” around the fictional town.
With a tone strikingly similar to the real-life Met Officer who, when dealing with a cyclist who had just avoided a collision with a red-light jumping taxi driver, pointed out the apparent law-breaking tendencies of cyclists, Bullshire Police’s Chief Constable Sir Mason Lodge said that his officers “will be taking robust action against any cyclist caught flouting the law” by not riding in the new bike ditches.
He continued: “The law is there for a very good reason. Under no circumstances should car drivers and other superior road users’ progress be impeded by cyclists.”
This isn’t the first time Bullshire Police have tackled pressing road safety issues. Back in 2017, they took on the Highway Code:
Cyclists: Are you aware of Rule 1 of the #Bullshire Highway Code for Cyclists? pic.twitter.com/mzLXQZQNzv
— Bullshire Police (@BullshirePolice) July 26, 2017
While this weekend’s parody post had a little something for everyone – Cyclists wear ridiculous clothing! Motorists think they’re above the law just because they drive cars! – some Facebook-using drivers (says it all really) took it all a bit too seriously.
“Oh if only, this would be a dream come true,” wrote one, while another described Bullshire’s cycle ditches as “where they deserve to be”.
Some didn’t even bother with the point of the post, and just used it as yet another stick with which to beat people riding bikes.
“If cyclists had a form of ID/reg plate and compulsory insurance their behaviour would improve immensely,” said one user, frantically scribbling on her anti-cycling bingo card as she pressed ‘send’.
Though top points go to the Facebooker who used a post from a parody page to wish violence upon vulnerable road users, writing: “Get run over by a heavy vehicle, that’ll show them.”
Delightful.
Over on reddit (it’s been a productive morning), cyclists agreed that Bullshire County Council’s active travel plan actually represented an upgrade on some real-life examples of cycling infrastructure.
“Unrealistic,” said one user. “There are no potholes or fallen trees in the bike lane.”
“And no parked cars too,” wrote another.
“And no smashed bottles.”
“Or road construction signs.”
We could go on…
If Carlsberg did cycling nations…
Home sweet home. pic.twitter.com/KoP3u0a3dr
— Mikkel Condé v2.0 (@mrconde) July 25, 2022
“Why don’t cyclists use the bike lane?”, part 967
Speaking of cycle lanes, here’s a classic of the genre:
“Why don’t cyclists use the amazing new £2million bike lane?!” /via @NoContextBrits pic.twitter.com/67DvXr8jHc
— Wandering Woodsman 🚴🔥🌍 (@philsturgeon) July 25, 2022
“Why don’t cyclists use the bike lane?”, parts 968 and 699
I sense a pattern emerging on the live blog this morning…
The resurfacing of #LimeStreet is now complete – and doesn’t it look fantastic. Thank you for your patience.
The road is open from 6am tomorrow.
Enjoy your new cycle lane! 🚲 pic.twitter.com/O6IdI355cy
— Joanne Anderson (@MayorLpool) July 22, 2022
On Friday, Liverpool’s mayor Joanne Anderson announced that work was set to be completed on the much-anticipated cycle lane on Lime Street.
However, this was the sight which greeted commuters this morning:
I see the new cycle infrastructure on Lime Street is being well used. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/L0P52xZ51x
— Marianne (@marianneheaslip) July 26, 2022
While most of the cars appear to belong to contractors finishing up work on the bike lane and installing traffic lights further on up the road, it’s still not the best look…
They’ll only be a minute.
— Wes (@Frailerpark) July 26, 2022
Meanwhile, in London:
Lots of glass on #C9 at #HammersmithBroadway just now. Plse sweep @LBHF pic.twitter.com/suQsxsZxlg
— Ruth Mayorcas (@RuthMayorcas) July 26, 2022
Perhaps those Bullshire bike ditches weren’t the worst idea after all…
Two stars of the Tour de France… and Tadej Pogačar
Always knew @TamauPogi was a big fan 🤣 Loving the gilet’s journey at #TDFF If you’re at the finish today and want to take it onwards let me know 👌 #wheresGsgilet #Glayrelay pic.twitter.com/URHEHQxTHj
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) July 26, 2022
With cycling’s most famous body warmer now making its way along the Tour de France Femmes route, it was able to take time out of its busy schedule before yesterday’s stage to pose for a photo with BikeExchange-Jayco’s Urška Žigart and her fiancé, who you may recognise from the last three weeks.
2022 Tour runner-up Tadej Pogačar is following Žigart during the first few stages of the relaunched women’s race, before he’s dragged away by the prospect of post-Tour appearance fees and sponsor obligations. But he says he’ll be back to watch the final two decisive stages in the Vosges in person.
“I’m super proud and happy that she’s at the biggest race of women’s cycling,” the two-time Tour winner said of his fiancée before the start of yesterday’s stage.
“I hope Urška can win,” he told Cycling Weekly. “I hope she can shine on Saturday or Sunday. They are two good stages for her and I can’t wait to see her race and support her.
“I love to watch women’s cycling. It’s more complicated than men’s cycling and more interesting. There’s more attacking, you never know what’s going to happen and I think it makes it really, really fun to watch.”
The case for wall-to-wall coverage
It’s all kicking off on stage three of the Tour de France Femmes, with attacks from Ellen van Dijk and Marianne Vos (who else?) splitting the peloton on the way to Épernay.
It’s just a pity we can’t see it yet…
If ever there was a good argument for full coverage, this is it: pic.twitter.com/Lhb3N1Kll4
— Claus Jensen (@cj_42_) July 26, 2022
I appreciate we are spoiled with men’s grand tour and classics coverage from km0 but I am tearing my hair out not being able to watch this stage of the #TDFF is sounds SO GOOD 😅 Counting down the minutes until I can #WatchTheFemmes
— Katy M – Tour mode 🇫🇷💛 (@writebikerepeat) July 26, 2022
Unlike the wall-to-wall, from the gun coverage of the men’s race, the women’s Tour is limited to two and a half hours of live TV every day – which, to be fair, is a significant improvement on previous televisual attitudes towards the women’s side of the sport (looking at you, last year’s Giro Donne).
So, for the first hour or so of every stage, we’ll just have to revert to the old-school method of constantly refreshing the live ticker.
Not long to wait now, though…
Start 'em young
‘Yeah, can I get a sausage roll, a steak bake… and a pair of cycling shorts, please’: Greggs selling bike shorts as part of new Primark clothing range
Are you sick of being decked out head-to-toe in Rapha and Le Col while out on the club run?
Does your cycling style revolve around a love for flaky bakery goods and early nineties pro racing chic?
Do you want a pair of cycling shorts that don’t actually offer the basic functions of cycling shorts?
Well, you’re in luck – because Greggs, after presumably realising that selling vegan sausage rolls on every street in the UK wasn’t enough to achieve world domination, have launched their second fashion collection in collaboration with Primark.
The funky range includes bucket hats, crocs, vest tops (for all your festival-going needs), and of course, the rather cool ‘bike’ shorts.
As someone who owns cycling clothing from Italian football club Atalanta BC and pioneering German electronic band Kraftwerk, I have to say, I’m pretty tempted…
From disaster to Danish delight: Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig storms to biggest win of her career on stage three of the Tour de France Femmes
🏆 @CUttrupLudwig 🇩🇰 wins stage 3!@CUttrupLudwig remporte l’étape 3 !#TDFF #WatchTheFemmes pic.twitter.com/CHaDHMa7Jq
— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 26, 2022
Yesterday was, in Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig’s own words, “a shit day”.
Her FDJ Suez Futuroscope team suffered a disastrous stage two of the Tour Femmes into Provins – co-leader Marta Cavalli was forced to abandon after a sickening crash, while Uttrup Ludwig herself lost a minute and a half to her main rivals for GC after another spill.
But today, on the uphill finish into Épernay, the popular Danish champion banished yesterday’s woes and continued her country’s sensational month on the roads of France, storming past yellow jersey Marianne Vos to take the biggest win of her career.
Pre-race favourite Annemiek van Vleuten, who is aiming to win a historic Giro-Tour double, suffered again today, however, ceding 20 seconds to the select group of GC contenders in the finale, after already losing contact a few kilometres earlier.
“I’m sorry… It feels like such a good comeback, after – it was a fucking shit day yesterday,” an emotional Uttrup Ludwig said at the finish.
“Losing Marta, and crashing, and having to come back. But I just love how the team kept the fighting spirit, and we knew that today was a super good day, and if I had the legs I could try to go for the win.
“And to actually do it, and be a Tour de France stage winner, and in this jersey – it doesn’t get better.”
🥹#TDFF pic.twitter.com/roNnhgb4SB
— FDJ – SUEZ – Futuroscope (@FDJ_SUEZ_Fut) July 26, 2022
Uttrup Ludwig’s redemptive triumph – by far the most important win of her career and one which has been a long time coming for the consistent Dane – came after another intriguing, tactically fluid stage.
While the bunch split to pieces on several occasions on the lumpy course around the Champagne area of France, the race-defining move went with around 16 kilometres to go as SD Worx’s Ashleigh Moolman Pasio accelerated on the savage 12 percent slopes of the Côte de Mutigny.
As Uttrup Ludwig, Kasia Niewiadoma, Kristen Faulkner and yellow jersey Marianne Vos struggled on the steep gradient, Moolman Pasio dragged clear a group containing Van Vleuten, her teammate Demi Vollering, Liane Lippert, Silvia Persico (sitting second on GC), Mavi Garcia, and Elisa Longo Borghini.
However, as the leading group crested the top of the climb Vollering, who had just hit the front to up the pace, slid out on a right-hand corner, with Lippert following.
Vollering’s crash ultimately killed off the group’s momentum – with Moolman Pasio ordered not to work by SD Worx DS Danny Stam (an exchange we were able to hear thanks to the Tour Femme’s excellent team radio snippets), Vos, Uttrup Ludwig and co. were able to regain contact.
On the final punchy climb of Mont Bernon with four kilometres to go, it was Van Vleuten’s turn to struggle. As Longo Borghini took the bonus seconds at the top of the hill, the Dutch Movistar rider – who has appeared lethargic throughout the race so far after her dominant performance at the Giro – was distanced, and looked noticeably ragged, fighting with her bike as she tried to change gear over the crest.
While Van Vleuten was able to catch the leaders on the descent into town, she suffered again on the drag to the line, eventually ceding 20 seconds to Uttrup Ludwig and 18 to the likes of Longo Borghini and Niewiadoma.
🏁 🇩🇰@CUttrupLudwig wins a tough sprint between favorites in @villeepernay.
⏪ Relive the last kilometre of the 3rd stage.🏁 🇩🇰@CUttrupLudwig remporte un sprint entre favorites à @villeepernay.
⏪ Revivez le dernier kilomètre de la 3ème étape du #TDFF.#WatchTheFemmes pic.twitter.com/Gp0AzAzA0V— Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (@LeTourFemmes) July 26, 2022
There was no such suffering for the Danish champion, however. As Niewiadoma started the sprint with 250 metres to go, Uttrup Ludwig was caught out of position, at least ten bike lengths behind the Polish Canyon-Sram rider, who had Vos lurking dangerously on her wheel.
But the charismatic Dane – perhaps fuelled by yesterday’s setbacks – put in the sprint of her life, scything through the select group before exploding past the yellow jersey to take a hard-fought, emotional, and fully deserved win on the biggest stage of them all.
A happy dead fish, for sure.
Tour de France stage or night at the SU?
Boy does this take me back to my student days…#TDFF pic.twitter.com/ZaoRvMkR5C
— Will Newton (@InsidePeloton96) July 26, 2022
“I was at breaking point”: Laura Kenny reveals she almost quit cycling following ectopic pregnancy
Dame Laura Kenny, Britain’s most successful female Olympian, has revealed that she considering walking away from cycling at the beginning of the year.
In April, Kenny announced that she suffered a miscarriage in November 2021 and had one of her fallopian tubes removed due to an ectopic pregnancy two months later, during what the five-time Olympic gold medallist described as the “hardest few months I’ve ever had to go through”.
> Laura Kenny reveals miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy
“I felt like nothing was going our way at all,” she told the Guardian, as she prepares for the Commonwealth Games, which begin on Friday.
“January was a tipping point, I was at breaking point. Without [husband and fellow Olympic champion] Jason, I think I’d have just canned everything and just gone, ‘You know what, I can’t even cope with doing any of this’.
“But I grabbed for my safety blanket and decided I needed to ride my bike again. That’s what I’ve done for the last 13 years. It feels like a safe place.
“It put lots of things into perspective. It really did make me think, ‘Why am I doing this?’ It’s because I enjoy it, that’s why, and it made me realise that more than ever.”
Kenny, who returned to racing at the National Madison and Omnium Championships in April, is targeting the upcoming Commie Games, where she will take part in the team pursuit, scratch and points races, with a relaxed mindset.
“I don’t know whether it is because I never really thought the Commonwealth Games was going to be a target, because we were planning on having another little one by now.
“I feel more relaxed than ever … I’m so excited just to get out in front of a home crowd again.”
Heading for the ditch
Following this morning’s news about Bullshire’s designated cycle ditch, road.cc reader Mungecrundle pointed out in the comments that, while the fictional town’s novel plan for segregated cycling infrastructure does have its merits, there may be a few teething problems…
“We’re not different tribes”: Chris Boardman vows to end cycling “culture war”
Bringing an end to the so-called ‘culture war’ between cyclists and motorists is key to securing a long-term shift in travelling habits in the UK.
That’s the view of Chris Boardman, the former Olympic champion and Hour Record holder who now heads up Active Travel England, the governmental body tasked with implementing the Gear Change strategy and delivering a new “golden age of walking and cycling”.
Boardman told parliamentary publication The House this week that he is frustrated with the seemingly constant ‘culture war’ refrain that he feels surrounds cycling in the UK.
“I’m trying to stop it being a culture war,” he says. “It’s packaged as a war but it’s two percent of people against 98 percent of road users. It’s not really much of a war, is it?
“We’re not different tribes. I want to see normal people in normal clothes, doing normal things – just doing it less with cars.”
Boardman believes that raising the standards of active travel infrastructure in the country – and likewise, challenging any failures – is needed to “genuinely create behaviour change”.
He continued: “We won’t build anything that isn’t usable for a competent 12-year-old, and to give their parents the confidence to let them use it. If you don’t meet that standard [as a council], then you don’t get funded.
“That encourages councils who aren’t doing much, as local residents tend to go ‘where is ours?’ And then it becomes positive political pressure for change.”
> Chris Boardman heads newly-launched government body Active Travel England
However, Boardman is well aware that there has been a small but vocal opposition to recent active travel schemes, including the implementation of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.
“There’s no such thing as a low-traffic neighbourhood, because it’s not a neighbourhood if it’s full of traffic running through it,” he points out.
“Saying ‘LTNs: are they good or bad?’ is like saying ‘roads: are they good or bad?’ If we had one bad road, should we stop doing all roads?
“The overwhelming and consistent evidence is that the vast majority of people support [the concept of LTNs]. We’re just ignoring the silent majority.”
While Boardman recognises that the rapid growth in cycling during the Covid pandemic – “People went out on bikes, and they did it in their droves. And they liked it” – is beginning to wane as road users return to old habits, he insists that a two-wheeled revolution is still occurring “in patches”.
The three-time Tour de France stage winner reckons his greatest triumph would be to be out of a job in ten years’ time.
“Success would be that there is no Active Travel England. You make this into genuine culture change,” he says.
26 July 2022, 08:50
26 July 2022, 08:50
Speaking of Danes winning at the Tour de France…
Cervelo launches new S5, Vingegaard’s Tour de France-winning aero road bike
Jumbo-Visma's Tour de France weapon of choice is lighter and more aero than previously, says Cervelo
26 July 2022, 08:50
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A couple of days ago I experienced a very clear cut case where I was riding in a narrow section of side road between parked cars and a car turned into the side road straddling the white line at the junction and entered the narrow section I was already in not leaving me any room to pass. I was forced to stop and yet the driver took umbrage. I'm sure most readers on here have experienced this situation many times if not experienced it as a daily occurrence and had to take evasive action in order to avoid collisions. I reported the incident to the police with very clear video evidence. It is a clear breach of Highway Code rules 213 and 183. In light of the WYP prosecution one would expect that the police should also prosecute my case quite vigorously as this case was much more serious. However I don't expect they will take this up so this will be an interesting if predictable test.
You say that ITV 'lost' the broadcasting rights, I thought ITV declined to put a bid in as they were looking to cut costs.
There you go again
Marginal margins.
The covid / post-covid boom is driven primarily by failures of capitalist strategy, causing over supply and price gouging. What we are seeing now is the correction. Most so-called ‘Western brands’ bikes are made in Eastern countries anyway - who have long been the leading manufacturers of carbon bikes. Now these makers are becoming brands / sellers too and Western brands have been put on notice. Inflation is driven by greed, not need.
@Benthic A125 motorbike can be ridden by a 17 year old can do about 75MPH; a legal e-bike that a 17-year-old cannot use can do about 15MPH.
The latest moral panic. "From August, the legal age to ride an e-scooter in Ireland will rise from 16 to 18" But, in Ireland you can still drive a: - moped from the age of 16 - 125 cc motorbike from the age of 17 - 3.5 tonne car from the age of 17 So that makes complete sense.
@mitsky I am seeing those Amazon ones in Manchester pretty much every day.
Quite. There's also a demand side story to accompany your eloquently written post, in that domestic demand has dampened from the captive COVID market of a few years back, and less international demand due to tariff-led policies and anti-dumping laws. On Chinese competition, I don't think it's necessarily Western profit-seeking behaviour which has caused increased Chinese supply and competitiveness as much as higher Chinese investment leading to higher quality output, innovation, and economies of scale. I don't know about Chinese frames as I haven't bought one and haven't seen one, but for wheels I don't see any inherent quality advantage for Western brands. Indeed, innovation seems to be coming from Chinese brands along with lower prices, just like we're seeing with electric cars. So higher quality and lower prices.
They should concentrate on the road users who do most of the killing and injuring: car drivers.
49 thoughts on ““We’re not different tribes”: Chris Boardman vows to end cycling “culture war”; “Use designated cycle ditch so superior road users are not delayed”: Police parody page takes on bike lanes; Greggs x cycling; If Carlsberg did cycling + more on the live blog”
Bullshire seems to be a poor
Bullshire seems to be a poor rip-off of Scarfolk though I like the cycling ditch idea.
Is Scarfolk the one with the
Is Scarfolk the one with the cult which worships electricity pylons?
brooksby wrote:
You may be thinking of Welcome to Night Vale which is a surreal horror parody podcast (they tour as well). Scarfolk is more 70s UK and largely just graphic designs (though I bought a book and a surprsingly good map).
Got it – Scarfolk’s the one
Got it – Scarfolk’s the one with the ‘beware of scary children’ poster, isn’t it.
brooksby wrote:
Yep
I remember that campaign.
I remember that campaign. Wasn’t this the poster where they used the eyes from an actor playing a psychopath (Tony Blair) but turned upside-down in an attempt to make Mrs. Thatcher seem unhinged?
Liz Truss? Maggie V2.
Liz Truss? Maggie V2.
eburtthebike wrote:
worryingly,,Maggie withiut the principles. Or understanding of economics. Or love of Europe. Or essentially anything
She is very much the 99th generation photocopy.
RE: If Carlsberg did cycling
RE: If Carlsberg did cycling nations…
Denmark may make good beer but they are on another level when it comes to making claims about their cycling infrastructure. Yes the infra is by all accounts good (I’ve not been yet). “Best in the world” is pretty hyperbolic and indeed incorrect. It’s maybe useful – as others have said – in that it’s kind of a halfway house between where we are int the UK and what the best actually is. More below:
https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/11/27/is-copenhagen-a-city-of-cyclists/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjzzV2Akyds
https://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.com/2018/10/a-scandinavian-safari-part-6-copenhagen.html
https://robertweetman.wordpress.com/2017/11/04/amsterdam-vs-copenhagen-part-1/
Hi Chris. Admittedly I haven
Hi Chris. Admittedly I haven’t seen a Carlsberg ad. since fleeing to the other side of the World, but I fear you’ve missed the reference and/or taken it rather more seriously than intended 🙂
(Along with Stella Artois, we always thought the Carlberg adverts were amongst the most entertaining, even if we only occasionally consumed the product).
I appreciated their ads (not
Just having a dig at the high opinion that some Copenhagen folks have of themselves. (They’re still doing a much better job than the UK though!) I appreciated their ads (not so much a lager drinker) but my favourite was one of Heineken’s:
I know it’s completely OT now unless that could work as a bicycle ditch…
Just a note for anyone
Just a note for anyone wanting to watch the Tour Femmes, Le Col still have free GCN passes available covering the duration of the race, at least they did last night when I applied for one for a friend who doesn’t have Eurosport, code arrived this morning.
https://lecolwahoo.com/moreeyesonher
If Cecile Uttrep Ludwig isn’t
If Cecile Uttrep Ludwig isn’t the greatest sportsperson on the planet right now I’ll eat my GCN pass?
Absolute quality athlete and marketer’s dream. She even gives the wallowing press pack so much content too.
“Why don’t cyclists use the
“Why don’t cyclists use the bike lane?”, part 967
Erm… So, have they not finished it, or did someone remove a dropped kerb and add railings after they’d painted it…?
“Hello, Mr Left Hand – do you know where Mr Right Hand is?”
“Sorry: not a clue…”
Commendable though the
Commendable though the Bullshire segregated cycling infrastructure ditch is, I think I may have come across a bit of an issue.
A recurring one…
A recurring one…though to be fair, this particular bike ditch, like so many, ended abruptly.
That Bullshire Police FB
That Bullshire Police FB thread is a hive of activity!
Chris Boardman wrote:
All hail St Chris!
Bonus for pointing out that
Bonus for pointing out that there is no “culture war”, especially not involving transport policy or indeed “on the streets”. (There is definitely road violence and bullying by motor vehicle drivers though…) A loose collection of interests have unilaterally declared there’s one. Presumably to give them a narrative for what they want to change / see themselves as opposing.
chrisonatrike wrote:
Do you mean Murdoch?
(Doesn’t explain the BBC, though)
Shh! https://www.private-eye
Shh! https://www.private-eye.co.uk/covers/cover-1281
Whilst I love Chris, I was a
Whilst I love Chris, I was a bit worried about the opening “I’m trying to stop it being a culture war” vs the end “You make this into genuine culture change”.
Isn’t that exactly the source of a “culture war” a bunch of angry gammons trying to stop change?
He may not want a culture war but he may well get one anyway. On FB saw loads of click bait journalism around the Chris Boardman says you should walk more and drive less story. So many replies with Who is Chris Boardman or why should some hasbeen olympian telling us what to do. The articles never pointed out that Chris as the head of ATE was the guy THIS government had appointed to tell you to drive less and walk and cycle more. I hope that when ATE is really launched that the Tories will really give him lots of support. In reality I think they see ATE as a “nudge” rather than central to government policy.
Chris Boardman wrote:
If normal people wear normal clothes when cycling do strange people wear lycra? . . . . . Just asking ?
YEStotheEU.
YEStotheEU.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
…but I don’t want to lose the tangible benefits and the promise of sunny uplands
Like queuing for hours at the
Like queuing for hours at the border . . . . ? It’s like trying to get out from a Warsaw Pact country in the 1980s. Passport- check – stamp – ‘have you been here in the last 90 days etc.”. – next – Passport – check- stamp – Next – Passport- check – stamp – ‘have you been here in the last 90 days etc.”. – next – Passport – check- stamp – next ” have you been here in the last 90 days?’ – Next – passport – check – stamp –
Just change your username if
Just change your username if you are that fussed.
They have explained their politics in the last day.
I’m not that fussed if it’s
I’m not that fussed if it’s ok with you. Even if it’s not ok with you.
So the new n+1 is a “ditch
So the new n+1 is a “ditch bike”? It won’t be fast, but it’s a fat bike with full mudguards.
Anyone read this horror story
Anyone read this horror story?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-62235941
Phone using truck driver failed to notice that the traffic up ahead had stopped and went into the back of the queue at 58mph…
(edited to correct URL)
The link isn’t working for me
The link isn’t working for me.
I’ve been in a car that was hit by a 38t artic at very low speed in traffic. we stopped and he tried to go around us and destroyed the car with the landing legs of the trailer. I can only imagine what destruction this guy caused.
Link to a specific story
Link to a specific story inclusing footage of the incident and interviews of people there on the day.
Thanks.
Thanks.
“It could just have been a momentary lapse in attention, . . . . . . ,” PC Warren said. ” . . . . . I felt a bit sorry for him.”
Beggers belief.
I think you have taken this
I think you have taken this out of context.
I believe the Police Officer is describing how they felt at the time, not now. Especially if the driver was not giving away much information beside “I didn’t have time to react for such a big machine.”
I am sure that the officer is now horrified by what they have found out.
DoomeFrog wrote:
Totaly agree with you, apart from me taking it out of context.
The Police officers first reaction to a scene of death and destruction caused by a lorry driver who admitted “I didn’t have time to react for such a big machine.” should have been anger and disgust. He should have replied “then why as a professional driver were you not driving in a manor appropriate for the size and weight of your vehicle and why did you not see the traffic had stopped?”
Instead his first reaction on seeing a scene he must be very familiar with, and from experience know that human error caused, is to make excuses for the driver and feel sorry for him.
“It could just have been a momentary lapse in attention, . . . ,” PC Warren said.
“I didn’t know why the accident had happened . . . .”
In other words “I didn’t know why this happened but my first reaction was it was an ‘accident’ and ‘just’ a momentary lapse in attention is a perfectly reasonable cause”
Training I suspect. Although
Training I suspect. Although the arsehole had just caused this, they couldn’t know if it was bad driving, bad maintenance, bad “luck” (like they mentioned, a wasp had just flown into the cab, illness or whatever. The driver would have been in shock after almost dying himself.
If they had gone in straight away with accusations he probably would have gone onto the defensive and refused to answer questions etc. Pretty sure Mark Hodson has mentioned similar when he gets to scenes and just works off the evidence.
And I’m not defending the POS, and still think 8 years is too little, but hopefully his apparent sincere words will make other drivers (and certain commentators on here) realise that mobile phone use is as bad as drink driving, and should be cracked down on at all levels. If people get used to using it when stationary in a queue, they will just increase levels when they think it is safe to use going forward.
A momentary lapse which leads
A momentary lapse which leads to decades of failure. Sounds familiar.
Which is why lorry drivers
Which is why lorry drivers have to constantly monitored and checked.
brooksby wrote:
3 counts, and only 8 years? !
If you want to kill someone
If you want to kill someone and get away with it, do it while driving. You don’t even have to pretend it was an accident if they are riding a bike.
One of those stories that
One of those stories that turns up from time to time about “health and safety”:
Metro – https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/25/neigh-luck-for-men-on-horse-and-cart-at-mcdonalds-drive-thru-17062872/
So sick of the Karens in
So sick of the Karens in these instances demanding their rights to use the drive through on a bike. The employees are hard working relatively lowly paid and pressured young kids often, take your Tik Tok rants somewhere else and leave the poor Macca’s employees alone.
Roulereo wrote:
I can only recommend you read the article. It’s oddly complete for the Metro in that they seem to have asked around although it’s mostly just one person’s quote.
If you’re still confused / offended after that, it’s you.
Just been watching CUL’s win
Just been watching CUL’s win on TV here in France, the French commentary didn’t translate her f-word! Great victory though, but Elsa L-B could win the overall if thrills and spills continue to happen.
“Kenny, who returned to
“Kenny, who returned to racing at the National Madison and Omnium Championships in April, is targeting the upcoming Commie Games……”
I’m beginning to think that the editor deliberately puts in these little nuggets to flush out the pedants.
Commie Games not really a
Commie Games not really a misnomer, considering the actions of dictators like Trudeau and various Australian tinpot premiers during all the Covid 19 betwetting…
I’m beginning to think that
I’m beginning to think that the editor deliberately puts in these little nuggets to flush out the …barmy conspiracy theorists!!
eburtthebike wrote:
Everybody gets a prize.
I don’t agree with ‘flushing out the pedants’ – most of us are out and proud already, but it should be a matter of individual choice.
Thaw comments on that
Thaw comments on that Bullshite page are some of the most depressing things I have read. Not only do they not realise that it’s satirical, they use it as a springboard to trot out most of the things the post is satirising!
As for Chris B, one of his pronouncements lead to various media outlets railing against cycling (it was only “think about using your cars a little less”) whereupon all the drivers posted pretty much the same thing that they are on the Bullshire post.