Out of the ordinary STOLEN BIKE ALERT! Penny-farthing pinched from London cyclist; UAE Team Emirates rider goes off course during Dauphiné time trial; "We need physical barriers between motorists & cyclists" + more on the live blog

Totally agree looks a very cool dude ! 

mitsky wrote:

"Ban fossil fuel ads to save climate, says UN chief"

Does this mean British Cycling has to drop Shell?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv22vl99vwro

there is no has to because the UN is suggesting banning advertising it hasn't yet been banned (nor is it likely to).

Personally I can't see how banning fossil fuel ads achieves anything. People Aren't weighing up travelling by train or travelling by car before being swayed by a shell advert and choosing to drive.

People are using fossil fuels for their convenience, so advertising is about increasing market share. I don't believe the advertising creates any desire to use more petrol or deisel in a way that is comparable to advertising alcohol or smoking.

The most pressing concern with fossil fuels is to stop all new licences for new wells and mines, let the price rise due to supply/demand and leave market forces to drive the move away from carbon fuels as they become more expensive than renewables and are left only for those uses which cannot be decarbonised.

Interesting to read the (as usual, badly written) headline state "car crashes into" only to be followed by "a motorist smashed into"...

Thanks for that link.
A very amusing read.

Hirsute wrote:

More collective responsibility

https://www.onlondon.co.uk/dave-hill-londons-cyclists-must-improve-their...

" Go to Copenhagen, so often cited as an example London ought to follow, and be astonished by the civility of cyclists there compared to the casual rule-breaking and extreme sport mentality prevalent here. "

Anyone been to Copenhagen and able to comment ?

I have. It's notable that red lights are held in much greater regard over there (including amongst pedestrians) which may have something to do with their two-phase left turns and the sheer amount of traffic using the separated infrastructure (not as much opportunity to misbehave if you're travelling in a large group of cyclists). I did notice quite a number of cyclists/scooterists using their mobile phones whilst travelling which I believe is illegal over there, so I don't think they're necessarily any more well behaved than people over here.

Must pay it a visit.

This chimes with my (brief, now old) observations in e.g. NL.  Actually while some rules seem more scrupulously observed if you look there's plenty of lawbreaking, not just of the "technical" kind.

Yes, people do differ a bit in their general attitude to compliance with authority.  But they definitely vary around specific rules. (And not just in places where the policing's such that if you do it, you'd be very lucky to be able to do it again...)

I think the UK's unexamined ideal of Good Cyclists (if they exist) confuses things.  We've probably all internalised it.  So Good Cyclists are like cycle-monks - they scrupulously keep all the "rules", written and customary, and are highly skilled riders who are somehow far more considerate than the mass of the walking, driving public.  (We all know what Bad Cyclists are...)

Noting that in the UK even in places where there is a "lot of cycling" (a few places in London) I'm not sure it's full "mass cycling" yet (though it's encouraging).  So there's still probably a skew away from the normal spread of the population (in terms of age, socioeconomic categories etc.)  That also goes for the one place where there may be sufficient cyclists to count - Cambridge.

The infrastructure is also designed for cyclists, so probably much less 'need' to break the rules to make steady progress?

In UK many/most signal controlled junctions don't sense cycles, so what is one to do if there are no motor vehicles? Also no green waves etc etc.

Also, if there was no separated infrastructure in NL DK cities, motor traffic would be swamped & grind to a halt.

"The London cycling demographic contains heavy over-representation of white males from higher-income households."

Couldn't the same be said for cars ?

Mr Hoopdriver wrote:

"The London cycling demographic contains heavy over-representation of white males from higher-income households."

Couldn't the same be said for cars ?

This fact is in itself revealing of the discriminating nature of motor dominated road traffic, it largely excludes all sorts of "weaker" demographics, children, the elderly, women... Not that the author of that piece would recognise that, given that his aim, after a few paragraphs where he pretends to be really interested in cycling, is to disparage cyclists.

Everyone knows that there is no such thing as a tailwind, only a headwind 

Cugel wrote:

Is it possible, in densely-built cities, to make full-separation cycling facilities? Part of the reason that murder strips exist is that it isn't - not to mention hugely expensive in the short stretches where it is.

Yes it most certainly is possible. Where the roads are narrow, it's a simple case of making them one-way for motorised traffic.

I would argue that it's far more expensive to not have separated cycling facilities as that impacts the health of the population (more sedentary and effects of tyre/exhaust pollution).

hawkinspeter wrote:

I would argue that it's far more expensive to not have separated cycling facilities as that impacts the health of the population (more sedentary and effects of tyre/exhaust pollution).

Netherlands spends €500 million a year on cycling infrastructure and gets €18 billion of benefit in return in terms of reduced cost to their health service, reductions in workplace lateness and absenteeism and so on. €36 back for every €1 spent and yet we are told that it's not practical/cost-effective to do the same in the UK.

Rendel Harris wrote:

Netherlands spends €500 million a year on cycling infrastructure and gets €18 billion of benefit in return in terms of reduced cost to their health service, reductions in workplace lateness and absenteeism and so on. €36 back for every €1 spent and yet we are told that it's not practical/cost-effective to do the same in the UK.

It is a little known fact that the Dutch pioneered genetic engineering. Back in the 80s they had genetically engineered a strain of grain that ended up making musical tones when the wind blew across it. They trademarked it as Holland Oats.

The United Nations refused to recognize the trade mark, saying "I can't go for that, no can do."

hawkinspeter wrote:

It is a little known fact that the Dutch pioneered genetic engineering. Back in the 80s they had genetically engineered a strain of grain that ended up making musical tones when the wind blew across it. They trademarked it as Holland Oats.

The United Nations refused to recognize the trade mark, saying "I can't go for that, no can do."

Say It Isn't So? Could that not be Just Your Imagination? Ah well, Who Said the World Was Fair?

In Richmond Park in South West London parts of the park are closed to unauthorised vehicles with more parts closed at weekends.  In the closed sections authorised vehicles are expected to drive at 10mph with hazard warning lights flashing*.  

Similar restrictions could/should be applied to roads where the roads are too narrow for a car to pass a cyclist either because of adjacent buildings or parked cars.

Ultimately cars are going to have to have power-to-weight ratio limits (as was done for motorcyclists decades ago) and location-based speed restrictions that also activate warning lights and other safety devices.

Given how difficult it is to get drivers to obey 20mph (and any other) speed restrictions I don't see this happening for a very long time, but how else to curb the enormous number of road casualties every year?

* few obey this regulation however

Pub bike wrote:

In Richmond Park in South West London parts of the park are closed to unauthorised vehicles with more parts closed at weekends.  In the closed sections authorised vehicles are expected to drive at 10mph with hazard warning lights flashing*. 

* few obey this regulation however

I agree most of the permitted vehicles don't follow this rule (parents of children at the Royal Ballet School in their SUVs are particularly bad) but I was riding there on Sunday and coming down Sawyers Hill towards Roehampton Gate there was a car following the rules to the letter, 10 mph and hazards on, and the behaviour of certain cyclists around it was ridiculous. They were approaching from behind at speeds in excess of 30 mph and skimming the car so close that I was worried that the slightest flinch from the driver would cause a potentially fatal accident. A couple of the people doing this were making "wanker" signs to the driver as they passed. They were doing all this into the face of heavy oncoming cyclist traffic going up the hill, with a number of those riders having to swerve out of the way for the big brave men (yes, they were all men) to come through. It was really disappointing to see a small minority behaving so dangerously and inconsiderately towards someone who was actually sticking to the rules that have been implemented to protect cyclists.

Cugel wrote:

Is it possible, in densely-built cities, to make full-separation cycling facilities?

https://youtu.be/nNkwVr1Kwws

From: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/cycling-in-the-hague/

Highest population density city in NL = The Hague (true in 2019 and AFAIK still the case)

Apparently quite a bit less cycling than e.g. Amsterdam - it's on the low side for NL.  The difference seems to be filled by greater public transport usage.  Apparently they're making efforts to improve matters.

How do you remove those dangerous drivers from the road? 

Hand over the first step of dash cam reporting not to the police but to the DVLA, they could then remove the license from any driver who did something which would have been grounds for failing a driving test and forward anything which falls into the insanely high bar of the careless and dangerous driving laws to the police for proscecution. This would make queues for driving tests longer but that is literally the deterrant needed to stop people doing stupid shit to save a few seconds. "I could pull out in front of this cyclist but if they have a camera I can't drive for 5 months while I wait for a test slot." would be enough to stop most of the stuff that puts our lives at risk every day. The malicious violent drivers and the people who drive without a license wouldn't be stopped...but they are already not being stopped so the situation isn't worse. 

Collars for motorists if they get too close or use the cycle lane.

"The collars play a tune to redirect the cattle when they come close to a boundary, and then give them a gentle shock if they do not divert."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/crggxxk28g6o