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Birmingham's bollard bonanza as "forest" of traffic-calming poles installed outside school... to protect cyclists and pedestrians from bad parking; Kid's expletive-laden reaction to not getting a bike for Christmas + more on the live blog

̶I̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶W̶e̶d̶n̶e̶s̶d̶a̶y̶ It feels like Wednesday and Dan Alexander is here to take you through the middle of the shortened week on the live blog...
Thu, Jan 05, 2023 09:07
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Birmingham's bollard bonanza as "forest" of traffic-calming poles installed outside school... to protect cyclists and pedestrians from bad parking; Kid's expletive-laden reaction to not getting a bike for Christmas + more on the live blogBirmingham bollard bonanza (screenshot World Bollard Association/Twitter video)
05 January 2023, 09:07
Birmingham's bollard bonanza as "forest" of traffic-calming poles installed outside school... to protect cyclists and pedestrians from bad parking

This anti-dangerous parking measure from Birmingham City Council along the A38 Bristol Road between Longbridge and Northfield has attracted more than enough chatter for a blog post...

Installed to "challenge" inconsiderate and dangerous parking outside The Meadows Primary School, it was actually implemented 18 months ago but has come to the world's attention thanks to national newspaper coverage and, of course, Twitter's ever-brilliant World Bollard Association.

The 50m stretch includes 60 of the poles, described by one local as "weird slalom posts more suited to the Winter Olympics", outside the primary school, but has drawn criticism from some, including those who believe the scheme could prove more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists.

"We're all for traffic safety around a primary school, but this just looks like a weird slalom of posts more suited to the Winter Olympics," Jessica grant told the Coventry Telegraph.

"It's an absolute eyesore too and if anything could prove more dangerous for cyclists or pedestrians trying to navigate it. Delivery drivers have also been unable to park up and I hear parents have had difficulties too. I've never seen anything like it anywhere else to be honest."

Another local added: "Serious questions have to be asked of the council. It's barmy. Who on earth thought this was a good idea? We have had problems with parking near the school but this is an unnecessary eyesore and complete overkill by the council."

05 January 2023, 09:18
"Unfortunately the number of bollards that have been installed demonstrates the scale of the problem"

Responding to the public frenzy over the bollards, Birmingham City Council told The Telegraph:

We receive regular complaints from residents about inconsiderate and dangerous parking outside the school. 

We are working with the school to help challenge this behaviour and encourage walking and cycling where appropriate, but unfortunately the number of bollards that have been installed demonstrates the scale of the problem. 

We will continue to encourage parents to consider other forms of transport and to consider others when dropping off children at school.
 

05 January 2023, 17:01
British clothing brand VeloVixen enters liquidation
velovixen 2015

VeloVixen co-founder Phil Bingham has told Cycling Weekly a multitude of factors and "feeling the pinch" has caused his British-based cycling clothing brand to enter liquidation.

The news was shared on the company's website, with Bingham explaining "adverse forces" have conspired against it and that after 11 years the brand is no more.

"It's like any other small business in the cycling world," he explained. "At the moment, I don't know if there is any business within cycling that isn't feeling the pinch," he said. "I think we can genuinely say that this is all the forces at once conspiring against us. It's a combination of energy prices, inflation, doom and gloom amongst consumers and cost of living."

We'll have a feature on the challenges facing British cycling clothing brands in the near future...

05 January 2023, 16:40
Near Miss of the Day overseas edition

@epimountainbiker When a taxi drafts you on a bike #mtblife , #roadrage #bikersoftiktok #sudbury #fyp #Aarons ♬ original sound - theepimountainbik 

05 January 2023, 16:05
05 January 2023, 16:04
How I expect all future bike photos to be posted...
05 January 2023, 15:49
05 January 2023, 15:35
New Kask helmet spotted in Ineos Grenadiers Instagram post?

We love a bit of off-season speculating and kit spotting. As the pros head out on training camp spins, their teams keen to snap all the new kit, it's a great opportunity to try to see if there's anything interesting and unreleased on show.

> Is a MECHANICAL 12-speed Shimano 105 groupset coming in 2023 after all?

So, when we saw this on Ineos Grenadiers' Instagram we first had to get over the shock of seeing G without Oakleys... but once the deep feeling of emptiness had shifted, another thing caught our eye — that aero helmet on Dani Martinez's head...

New Kask helmet? (Ineos Grenadiers/Instagram)

Seen again here... 

New Kask helmet? (Ineos Grenadiers/Instagram)

Now, if you search Kask Elemento you'll get a few results come up online, but it's not yet released, leading our tech team to speculate this could be a replacement for the Utopia or slot in between the Utopia and Protone Icon in the Kask range.

For more off-season sightings check out the possible new Cannondale SuperSix Evo 4 that EF pros have been seen on this week...

> Is this the new Cannondale SuperSix Evo 4? Pro riders spotted on mysterious new road racing machine

05 January 2023, 15:19
Wout wins again

Water's wet, the Pope's a Catholic etc. etc.

That's Van Aert first, Van der Poel second. And another classic of the badly timed cycling photos genre...

05 January 2023, 14:20
More on Battersea's bike hub

road.cc reader Rendel went to visit Battersea's new bike hub, shared on yesterday's live blog, and sent us this video of the confusing amount of pushbutton doors you have to negotiate if entering from the car park...

Just a reminder the total redevelopment cost £9 billion...

Oh, and if you aren't coming from the car park there's a lift, or this...

05 January 2023, 14:09
05 January 2023, 13:10
Cycling Tech News | The TOP 10 bike-tech news stories of 2022

05 January 2023, 12:52
Dame Sarah Storey, DCS Andy Cox and a whole bunch of whataboutery — reaction to our near miss feature

You might have seen we've put together an updated feature on submitting camera footage to police forces...

Near Miss of the Day 821

> Here's what to do if you capture a near miss, close pass or collision on camera while cycling

It was put together with the input of Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Cox whose full comments can be read here...

 Anyway, the piece prompted a fair bit of discussion...

And a wholly predictable bunch of whataboutery...

05 January 2023, 11:41
Kid's expletive-laden reaction to not getting a bike for Christmas

There's other stuff around this morning outside of Birmingham. We'd rather you don't take this one too seriously or pile into the comments to have a go at anyone involved...

Anyway, it's now internet famous and it can't be long before it pops up across the usual meme pages... 

05 January 2023, 10:32
Your thoughts

 To kick off our early comments round-up, SimoninSpalding sums up how we're all feeling this morning...

"Will you please stop putting links to the World Bollard Association Twitter feed in the live blog. It causes a significant reduction in productivity in this corner of Lincolnshire every time you do."

Car Delenda Est: "The bollards do seem to be on a shared path so I have concerns about whether they'd need to be spaced further for accessibility. But overall traffic calming and stopping pavement parking outside a school are a two for one. Just a shame they haven't done anything for the road itself."

Patrick9-32: "Delivery drivers have also been unable to park up and I hear parents have had difficulties too. That's literally the point you lukewarm cup of piss." *Makes a note of lukewarm cup of piss as an insult for future purposes...

hawkinspeter: "As much as bollards are the true heroes of road safety, I can't help but think that parking rule enforcement is the better answer. Install some ANPR cameras covering the area and keep on sending out fines in the post to the drivers."

And finally with a little language warning... JustTryingToGet...: "Birmingham Council should be more blunt. 'Sure it looks a bit mad, but it's better than a selfish prick killing a kid with their illegal parking. They don't give a fuck whether your kid lives or dies, but they do (sometimes) care about their vehicle paintwork. Therefore we're hopeful that this approach will succeed where other reasonable approaches have failed to get through their thick skulls'.

To which SimoninSpalding replied: "Do you work in marketing or the Diplomatic Service? If not you may have missed your calling!"

05 January 2023, 09:36
MORE BOLLARDS

What's that across the junction? Of course... more bollards! Oh, and confirmation the fairly wide path running parallel to the A-road, and now bursting with bollards, is a shared-use path... (admittedly one you may not want to use)...

Birmingham bollard site (Google Maps)

 

05 January 2023, 09:25
"A place where dreams come true": World Bollard Association can't control its excitement...

Everyone's favourite bollard-repping blue bird app account is in heaven...

You're a niche interest group... but bollard fans, this week you rule the world... (well, a 50m stretch of Birmingham A-road to be precise)... 

That was fun. 

Dan Alexander

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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48 comments

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to Car Delenda Est | 1 year ago
0 likes

It is weird that quite a main road in Brum doesn't seem to have streetview since 2017. However I wonder how much this house (2012) (that likes its privacy) has contributed to the cause of needing these bollards anyway. It does seem to be the only one that has cars (2014) parked outside(2015) on most streetviews (2016) going over the years.(2017)

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brooksby replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
0 likes

I knew you could apply to have a car registration plate or a face blurred out, if they'd been missed, but a whole house???

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
1 like

brooksby wrote:

I knew you could apply to have a car registration plate or a face blurred out, if they'd been missed, but a whole house???

Have you never heard of the Streisand effect?

Avatar
brooksby replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

hawkinspeter wrote:

brooksby wrote:

I knew you could apply to have a car registration plate or a face blurred out, if they'd been missed, but a whole house???

Have you never heard of the Streisand effect?

Or they're experimenting with a cloaking device in the shed, and it's nothing to do with Google...

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes

Quite simple to do apparently.

 

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Patrick9-32 | 1 year ago
23 likes

"Delivery drivers have also been unable to park up and I hear parents have had difficulties too." 

That's literally the point you lukewarm cup of piss. 

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
11 likes

As much as bollards are the true heroes of road safety, I can't help but think that parking rule enforcement is the better answer. Install some APN cameras covering the area and keep on sending out fines in the post to the drivers. I bet that'd be cheaper than installing bollards and the fines could go towards a nice champagne and cocaine party for the Tories.

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Gimpl replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
2 likes

I was with you, right up to your final cheap shot comrade.

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hawkinspeter replied to Gimpl | 1 year ago
15 likes

Gimpl wrote:

I was with you, right up to your final cheap shot comrade.

Cheap? I think you'll find it's an expensive, luxury shot.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/16/traces-of-suspected-cocaine-found-after-parties-in-liz-truss-grace-and-favour-house-say-staff

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Gimpl replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
0 likes

Doubling down on your cheapness - classy!

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hawkinspeter replied to Gimpl | 1 year ago
11 likes

Gimpl wrote:

Doubling down on your cheapness - classy!

Do you mean classy, like boasting about how you're diverting money away from deprived areas and funnelling it towards the wealthiest areas?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/05/video-emerges-of-rishi-sunak-admitting-to-taking-money-from-deprived-areas

Avatar
mattw replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

Except that studies show that most banknotes have traces of cocaine on them, including the ones in the squirrel wallet.

So you must be Liz Truss, therefore - following the Groan's habitual (lack of) logic. This study in London back in 1999 said 99%.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/464200.stm

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hawkinspeter replied to mattw | 1 year ago
0 likes

mattw wrote:

Except that studies show that most banknotes have traces of cocaine on them, including the ones in the squirrel wallet.

So you must be Liz Truss, therefore - following the Groan's habitual (lack of) logic. This study in London back in 1999 said 99%.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/464200.stm

Huh?

I'm pretty sure that handling a few bank notes is not going to leave visible residue lying around that then shows up as a positive cocaine test (the accuracy of which can be disputed).

What part of the Gnuariad's article was illogical in your opinion?

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chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

It was probably chopped macadamia nuts again.

The positive test is is easily explicable - that is very likely cross-contamination from having been around mistaken squirrels those in power.

Some here wishing to tar them all with the same brush?  Easy done - just off the top of my head it's rumoured that Peter Mandelson had a soft spot for Colombia's 2nd finest (after their coffee) and of course we all know about Paul Flowers and Keith Vaz.  The last moonlighting as an "industrial washing machine salesman" - obviously being a politician is something embarrassing that you don't want to mention...

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IanMK replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

Exactly this, and the camera should cover it's cost, hence the burden for preventing entitled drivers parking where they like won't fall on hard working council tax payers.

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JustTryingToGet... | 1 year ago
24 likes

Birmingham Council should be more blunt. "Sure it looks a bit mad, but it's better than a selfish prick killing a kid with their illegal parking. They don't give a fuck whether your kid lives or dies, but they do (sometimes) care about their vehicle paintwork. Therefore we're hopeful that this approach will succeed where other reasonable approaches have failed to get through their thick skulls".

Avatar
SimoninSpalding replied to JustTryingToGetFromAtoB | 1 year ago
10 likes

Do you work in marketing or the Diplomatic Service? If not you may have missed your calling!

Avatar
JustTryingToGet... replied to SimoninSpalding | 1 year ago
2 likes
SimoninSpalding wrote:

Do you work in marketing or the Diplomatic Service? If not you may have missed your calling!

I don't, but I totally should 😉

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