Highway Code changes criticised in bizarre “I’m a cyclist, but…” Spectator article; Chris Froome channels his inner Steve Irwin; Atlético Madrid could host Vuelta stage…during a La Liga match; Count the cyclists + more on the live blog

77 thoughts on “Highway Code changes criticised in bizarre “I’m a cyclist, but…” Spectator article; Chris Froome channels his inner Steve Irwin; Atlético Madrid could host Vuelta stage…during a La Liga match; Count the cyclists + more on the live blog”

1. Oh dear.  Jake doesn’t seem

   Oh dear.  Jake doesn’t seem to have outgrown his windscreen perspective and although he might ride a bike, his attitude hasn’t developed from his petrolhead mistaken assumptions.

   I think a top ten of stories that start with “I’m a cyclist myself but…..” would be highly entertaining, and I’m pretty sure this one would make it on the list.

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2. “You have to hug the kerb so

   “You have to hug the kerb so cars can squeeze past at great risk to your safety, because being stuck behind a bike for a few seconds is annoying.”

   Yet apparently it’s us cyclists that are ‘entitled’…

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   • I was thinking about this as

     I was thinking about this as I was put at risk by a dangerously close pass for the third time on my 10 minute commute last night.

     Why should I care at all about the feelings, convenience or attitude of a group of people who think 5 seconds of their time is more important than a human life? Of course I don’t respect them enough to make my journey less convenient to benefit them. They don’t even respect me enough to spend 5 seconds to avoid risking my life.

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3. To answer the Spectator
   To answer the Spectator article seriously, until you’ve tried it, you don’t understand how “hogging the lane” counterintuitively helps motorists.

   My unscientific take is that 80% of motorists are essentially incompetent. By taking a central position in the lane where there are obstructions, you help an incompetent and hasty driver avoid making a poor decision. A cyclist has a vested interest in optimising safety… which includes conceding ground where appropriate. I would suggest cyclists read the road better because we worry more about junctions and driveways and doors on cars – hazards that many drivers don’t consider because they “have right of way” and imagine the other party will observe and concede to them.

   The problem comes with the 5% risk takers and the 1% evil. The 1% are going to try and give you grief for existing, they will rarely make contact deliberately but being in the gutter means they can deliberately close pass you and blame you simply for existing. The 5% naively think that if they don’t hit you there in no problem… until the day comes

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   • This is pretty much how I’ve

     This is pretty much how I’ve always thought of it/explained it too. I view drivers as belonging to two groups: “inept drivers” and “psychopaths”. The inept drivers make up around 95% of drivers in the UK and they aren’t out to get you, they’re just useless. They’ll happily try and squeeze their 1.8m wide car through the 1.5m gap between you and the traffic island to your right and they don’t understand why that makes you angry. They’re not trying to hurt you, but if you let them control the situation and they screw up, they will. Taking the lane stops the inept drivers from trying anything stupid and keeps you safe.

     The rest are psychopaths, and you can’t do anything about them. They hate you just for being there and they’re happy to take massive risks to teach you a lesson.

     When people say that cyclists shouldn’t take the lane because it winds up the psychopaths and they’re likely to lose their patience and hurt you, they’re probably right to an extent – but if you don’t assert yourself and take a controlling road position when required, you’ll be killed by an inept driver long before you meet a psychopath.

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   • Quote:

     I would suggest cyclists read the road better because we worry more about junctions and driveways and doors on cars – hazards that many drivers don’t consider because they “have right of way” and imagine the other party will observe and concede to them.

     I had a perfect example of this on my cycle home the other day. Approaching this junction I noticed a couple of ‘youth’ cyclists approaching the tight bend with also a pedestrian on it. As can be seen it get very tight there on the pavement, especially when the foliage is not cut back. I was ready for the rear one to come in into the road to avoid the ped so slowed slightly. He looked behind, came into the road and then took a full 90 turn across it to go the other side. His friend, who had stopped to wait so had no momentum then went to follow him and then stopped perpendicular to me as a car approached. As I had anticpated an issue (maybe not that exact sceanrio but something), I could stop without colliding. I imagine most drivers would have been looking at the lights instead of the pavement. 

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     • I would bet that if you did a

       I would bet that if you did a fake Twitter post about two incidents: a pedestrian stepping into the road to avoid something and getting run over by a car, the Twitterati would blame the pedestrian (how stupid not checking for a car, it’s their own fault), but if they were hit by a cyclist, they would blame the cyclist, not the pedestrian (the cyclist should have known they were going to step out and swerved to avoid them (in front of the car, no doubt). Oddly, if you consider the outcomes, this would still be true (one being life changing injuries for one person, the other being a robust argument and bruises for both parties).

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   • Very well put 

     Very well put 

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   • IanMSpencer wrote:

     My unscientific take is that 80% of motorists are essentially incompetent.

     — IanMSpencer

     I think you are being generous!

     Going by all the times I’ve been a passenger in vehicles I’ve only known 3 drivers who were not. One was an ex professional rally driver, one cycles and motorbikes and the last one drives gritter lorries, construction equipment and motorbikes and is trained in case they attend a serious motorway incident before the emergency services get there so he’s seen his fair share of carnage.

     I assume all drivers either haven’t seen me or are actively trying to kill me except when I occasionally take the lane which confuses them or they think I’m a car.

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4. Old enough to remember when

   Old enough to remember when there were milk floats hogging the lanes.  The world didn’t end.  That was before mobile phones or the internet though;  I’m not suggesting returning to a time when you couldn’t get even something the next day without visiting a shop.

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   • I worked in W H Smiths in

     I worked in W H Smiths in Forest Hill in the 70s and we did book orders. To order a book could take a month, and customers would dutifully walk in every Saturday from about week 3 onwards to see if it had arrived. It wasn’t considered late until about 6 weeks had passed.

     When Amazon started and delivered a book in a few days, it was amazing – a paltry 20 years ago.

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5. And there was me thinking the

   And there was me thinking the new HC re-wordings were to protect people in the order of vulnerability. Nope, according to the Knight (who curtails and bows down to agressive bullies which doesn’t seem to be knightly behaviour) it was only for cyclists. And what law changes is he talking about?

   Quoting a 20 year old study seems strange as well. I’m sure if the same questions were asked about caravans, learner drivers, bikes, pedestrians and anything else which might cause the driver to moderate their speed down, they would also cause “rage”. 

   And for someone who suffered catastrophic injuries when wrapped in a cocoon of steel, surely he should be calling for more consideration by drivers rather then victim blaming cyclists. 

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   • Why do drivers hate learner

     Why do drivers hate learner drivers so very much? It would seem even more than cyclists.

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     • I don’t think they hate them

       I don’t think they hate them more per se, just that they hate anything which might make them slow to safer speeds like with cyclists, caravans, tractors, buses, lorries (especially when they overtake one another)…..

       But unlike the rest of the causes, everyone was once a learner driver which should make them forgiving of the nervousness or mistakes but that doesn’t seem to be the case for most of them. 

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       • They also hate other car

         They also hate other car drivers, old ladies, men with hats, anyone sticking to the speed limit, anyone else driving too fast, anyone in the “fast” lane doing 70mph overtaking a lorry (my pet hobby when I see a car approaching fast is to extra carefully pull out and to extra carefully check my mirror and extra carefully pull over when safe just to see how hard I can get them to accelerate after I pull in), traffic in queues, drivers who push in, drivers who don’t let them push in, drivers on roundabouts they have to wait for, drivers who use the other lane at traffic lights when it goes down to one lane, drivers who won’t let them in after they’ve overtaken 50 cars in a queue and ended up in the cones, drivers who overtake them in a queue before the cones. 

         You get the idea.

         Driving is isolated and encourages a selfish and self-centred mindset and the most peculiar factor is how we can ascribe malice to every action of another road user when most of the time they are oblivious to other road users.

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       • AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

         But unlike the rest of the causes, everyone was once a learner driver which should make them forgiving of the nervousness or mistakes but that doesn’t seem to be the case for most of them. 

         — AlsoSomniloquism

         More likely it causes cognitive dissonance by reminding them that driving isn’t some innate skill, and that it’s therefore possible that their own driving education is incomplete and fallible.

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     • ktache wrote:

       Why do drivers hate learner drivers so very much? It would seem even more than cyclists.

       — ktache

       Because learner drivers are quite likely to hold them up for a few seconds – possibly even up to a minute if the learner stalls the car and/or panics.

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     • ktache wrote:

       Why do drivers hate learner drivers so very much? It would seem even more than cyclists.

       — ktache

       Anecdote alert.

       Last week, I had the office window open.  I could hear a car horn blaring for what felt like ages.

       Looked out in time to see a Golf or similar overtaking a AA driving school car on the main road outside, then stopping right in front of it.

       The driver leapt out (leaving his door open, which stopped a bus passing in the opposite direction).  He ran round to the passenger side of the driving school car, pulled open the door and started screaming at (presumably) the instructor.  I couldn’t hear it, except it started with “What the F do you F-ing think you are F-ing teaching people, you F”.  This went on for a couple of minutes, then he stalked back to his car, tried (and failed!) to do a three point turn, then abandoned that and screamed off at definitely more than the 20mph speed limit.

       A woman walked over and spoke to the driving instructor (I imagine, asking if they needed a witness…?).

       The driving school car tried to pull away, stalled, then tried again.

       I’ll tell you what, I hope that learner got their money back!

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       • That just shows how bizarrely

         That just shows how bizarrely people can behave when in a car and presumably stressed by the driving conditions. Imagine someone behaving like that at a supermarket if a new cashier was being trained.

         I really think we need to be able to temporarily revoke someone’s ability to drive if they behave like a spoilt child – something like a yellow card/timeout to give the driver a chance to reflect on why they let their emotions control their behaviour.

         Maybe give everyone a supply of yellow card stickers that they can use if they think a driver is acting up or if a car is badly parked. Once someone picks up two or three yellow cards, then they’re banned from driving for 24 hours or so. It’d be great to see someone park in a cycle lane, then return to see a flurry of yellow tickets over their vehicle. Maybe have a limit of 10 yellow cards in an hour which would lead to the vehicle getting immediately towed and confiscated for a week.

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         • hawkinspeter wrote:

           Imagine someone behaving like that at a supermarket if a new cashier was being trained.

           — hawkinspeter

           Having in my younger days been that new cashier being trained, I can definitely imagine someone behaving like that. Some people really are just simply that far gone, whether they’re behind a wheel of a car or not. Personally I put it down to a power thing.

         • hawkinspeter wrote:

           Imagine someone behaving like that at a supermarket if a new cashier was being trained.

           — hawkinspeter

           I don’t need to imagine it, I lived it for four years during my part-time stint in retail whilst at school. I saw plenty of abuse hurled at trainees, fist-fights over the last parking space/tin of biscuts, I had a death-threat over pork loin ribs once, then there was that one time a guy threw a punch at me because I got his fresh loaf of bread sliced too quickly…

           You’re right though – driving a car is just a “target-rich” environment for the sort of frustrations that can really push people over the edge. It also gives them the tools to present maximum risk to others when the red mist does descend.

            

         • BalladOfStruth wrote:

           … then there was that one time a guy threw a punch at me because I got his fresh loaf of bread sliced too quickly…

           — BalladOfStruthWow!

         • eburtthebike wrote:

           Wow!

           — eburtthebike

           Yeah, retail is great.

         • .

           .

           Must have been bloody good pork loin ribs!

           .

         • hawkinspeter wrote:

           That just shows how bizarrely people can behave when in a car and presumably stressed by the driving conditions. Imagine someone behaving like that at a supermarket if a new cashier was being trained.

           I really think we need to be able to temporarily revoke someone’s ability to drive if they behave like a spoilt child – something like a yellow card/timeout to give the driver a chance to reflect on why they let their emotions control their behaviour.

           Maybe give everyone a supply of yellow card stickers that they can use if they think a driver is acting up or if a car is badly parked. Once someone picks up two or three yellow cards, then they’re banned from driving for 24 hours or so. It’d be great to see someone park in a cycle lane, then return to see a flurry of yellow tickets over their vehicle. Maybe have a limit of 10 yellow cards in an hour which would lead to the vehicle getting immediately towed and confiscated for a week.

           — hawkinspeter

           I’m pretty sure Harlan Ellison wrote a short story set in a near-future where you could challenge other road users to trial by combat, if you felt that they had been driving badly…

     • Quote from another driver

       Quote from another driver

       “Anyone driving slower than me is a ****ing idiot. Anyone driving faster than me is suicidal”

       One argument I had went

       “You need to get out of my way! If I hit you it will hurt you more then me.”

       I responded” Not half as much as my fist connecting with your face after going through your window” Apparently I was rude!

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       • A simple wave of the hand can
         A simple wave of the hand can be enough to provoke road rage – somehow a gesture to indicate they have passed too close is several orders of magnitude worse than forcing a bike rider off the road and worthy of a threat of a beating, which clearly is not rude and entirely justified. I do not exaggerate, I have been assaulted simply for saying “You were too close” through an open window as I passed a right turning van I had been stuck behind in traffic after a MGIF close pass.

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         • This idiot tried to run me

           This idiot tried to run me off the road for waving my hand to show he was tailgating me! Luckily I’d already hit the brakes.

6. He literally quotes the

   He literally quotes the evidence which says that cyclists’ behaviour does not change drivers’ attitudes, and then says cyclists should change their behaviour.  He should be writing an article telling drivers to change their behaviour.

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   • An alternative reading is

     An alternative reading is that drivers are awful and will remain so so keep out of their way for your own good.

     The point is that the HWC is actually telling cyclists to change their behaviour and get out of the gutter. How many close pass videos on this site are enabled by cycling too close to the edge or single file?

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     • All fair points, Ian.  One

       All fair points, Ian.  One simple change to his article makes the point

       “Cyclists can now ride in the middle of the road so that when there is no room for cars to safely overtake us,”

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       • Close but no cigar.
         Close but no cigar.

         “Cyclists have always been able to ride in the middle of the road where there is no room for cars to safely overtake us.”

         The HWC did not change that, it just brought it to other road users’ attention.

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       • Hmm… “middle of road” or

         Hmm… “middle of road” or “middle of lane”?

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7. Seems Jake of The Spectator

   Seems Jake of The Spectator took up cycling after a massive car crash left him injured. I think the story here is “bad driver becomes bad cyclist”.

   At least on a bike he’s less of a risk to others and perhaps himself.

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   • HoarseMann wrote:

     Seems Jake of The Spectator took up cycling after a massive car crash left him injured. I think the story here is “bad driver becomes bad cyclist”.

     At least on a bike he’s less of a risk to others and perhaps himself.

     — HoarseMann

     That’s what we want – let’s celebrate the worst cyclists because they’ve chosen the most benign form of transport. (I sometimes wonder how bad a driver I would have made – most likely a MGIF type).

     I’m curious about where these bike lanes built “at great public expense” are.

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     • I nominate cycling bogeyman

       I nominate cycling bogeyman Jeremy Clarkson, because he’s been seen on a bike several times, often without a helmet or hi-vis and even on “special” cycles.

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     • hawkinspeter wrote:

       I’m curious about where these bike lanes built “at great public expense” are.

       — hawkinspeter

       I think he’s referring to the two-and-a-half tins of Dulux that someone’s spread along the gutters of a handful of the roads on my commute that entices drivers to pass me even closer.

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     • ” I’m curious about where
       ” I’m curious about where these bike lanes built “at great public expense” are.”

       London.
       Where else would they be?
       Most of us have to scrape by on poorly maintained suicide lanes.

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     • One of these between Leeds

       One of these between Leeds and Bradford

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       • Motorists!  Avoid showing

         Motorists!  Avoid showing prejudice by blocking cyclists or pedestrians – by blocking both.

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   • I did search him to see if I

     I did search him to see if I could find details on the crash. Only found an autobiographical DM article where he states it is an accident blackspot in the area. Another local paper seems to mention this junction is known for lots of accidents including one in 2019 so I am assuming this is it. (comment on that story is very good and could have been written by one of us). Anyway he never mentions who shot the junction or what punishment the other driver got for it which is telling.

     He then uses the rest of the article to essentially plug what items he uses like an influencer trying to get sponsorship, and to wheel out all the DM cycling tropes whilst winking (stroke caused him to change his personality, looked and realised I was now a mamil). Seems to take a snide potshot at the attending officer (upset when breathlyser showed not over the limit) and the NHS (my family members did better for me). Also seems his first amateur race was actually the New Forest Sportive. He came 40th out of 300 apparently in 2020. As he mentioned in his article, big up for ignoring Covid to ensure it went ahead. 

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     • AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

       Anyway he never mentions who shot the junction or what punishment the other driver got for it which is telling.

       — AlsoSomniloquism

       Agree. Plus the other statements about cars having no option but to hare around bends squeezing cyclists between wingmirror and hedge, don’t exactly speak of a competent and careful driver.

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8. Quote:

    This year the Highway Code was overhauled in favour of bicycles. Cyclists can now ride in the middle of the road so that there is no room for cars to overtake us, until we deem it safe for them to do so. We are permitted to ride two abreast; we are entitled to ignore cycle lanes.

   All of which was true previously (assuming by middle of the road he means middle of the lane), which makes one somewhat doubt his knowledge credentials.

    

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9. I think its important to

   I think its important to recognise Jakes approach to cycling is clearly borne out of the (car I presume) crash he was a victim of that caused pretty serious injuries including a stroke, and that he couldnt work for 4months whilst in rehab.

   and if thats what can happen to you in a car, we all know a layer of lycra is no protection at all on a bike, so you are obviously going to then ride with a mindset cycling is way more risky as theres no crash protection, and I think he even mentions it in the article, that he doesnt want to go through the trauma of that extent of injury again.

   So as a cyclist now, naturally defaults to ride very defensively, tries to minimise the risks by literally keeping out of the way of traffic as much as possible and fwiw there are alot of cyclists out there who espouse that kind of riding as being the way to go cycling on UK roads, he isnt alone in that thinking.

   But then he sees these highway code changes, even if he completely mucks up what the changes were, to be encouraging cyclists to place themselves at greater risk of harm, or certainly to do things he considers to be riskier.

   there are ghost bikes, or flowers on roadsides I cycle past and I often catch myself thinking have I fully understood the risks of being here on my bike, there are certainly roads I wouldnt ride on highway code changes or not.

   But I dont know how you unpick that trauma from his crash which is obviously still affecting him greatly, to show him that no its ok these changes actually make it safer to ride a bike, but dont attack him for his view, its not a Liddle/Littlejohn  style anticycling piece at all imo.

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   • I can’t go with that, it is a

     I can’t go with that, it is a blame-riddled article which does not acknowledge any responsibility of a driver to share the road. It really is a Liddle/Littlejohn article.

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     • I dont feel it is because its

       I dont feel it is because its not a hit piece about cycling like theirs was, its this guy has never felt safe cycling on the roads and the highway code changes makes him feel other cyclists are putting themselves at more risk.

       I dont have to agree with his views at all, but I can empathise with where he is coming from based on his experience

       but as always with these social media arguments its either you are with us or against us. and it just decends into a rubbish shouting match and people scoring points whilst missing the actual topic under debate

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       • The trouble is that the
         The trouble is that the language he is using and the ideas he is purveying might be generated as you say, but the result is indistinguishable from yet another “cyclists are to blame for their own misfortune” hit piece.

         There is an article to be written to express the confusion over advice because it does not make sense to some people, but that wasn’t it.

         I would add though, that I often say 80% of motorists are incompetent – clearly a considerable proportion of cyclists are too. Riding to the HWC is quite sophisticated and therefore beyond the competence of some (many?) cyclists. For example, I don’t believe you can take the lane without using a mirror because you need to be able to assess the road behind continuously and anticipate. You can hear vehicles on quite roads before you see them, but in traffic, oncoming traffic will soon hide the sound of vehicles approaching from behind. How many cyclists use a mirror? I’d guess less than 20%, probably much less.

         Similarly, I will also say that most driving mistakes can be ascribed to incompetence rather than malice, and that is true of cyclists too. I get very frustrated with certain members of my club who are incapable of responding to calls (doctors are the worst! Perhaps I need a receptionist on the ride?). The trouble is an incompetent driver inflicts damage, an incompetent rider gets damaged. Tolerance tends to be given to drivers in the media which is not given to cyclists.

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         • IanMSpencer wrote:

           I would add though, that I often say 80% of motorists are incompetent – clearly a considerable proportion of cyclists are too.

           — IanMSpencer

           I’d go further – 100% of us (drivers and cyclists) are incompetent. The 20% (or whatever it is) are those who have a better awareness of the bounds of their competence, and manage their ambition accordingly.

   • .

     .

     Balanced, reasoned, nuanced comment.

     .

     Will NOT go down well on here!

     .

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     • At least not batshitcrazy

       At least not batshitcrazy unhinged like your comments FB…

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   • Nope – he’s writing it for

     Nope – he’s writing it for “the common man” (as defined by the editor of the spectator) and as Clem Fandango has pointed out it’s a collection of “bad cycling tropes” from first to last, even with some misquoting of the HC (which was “overhauled in favour of cyclists”).  The only “content” is he says “I stay out of the way of cars” – presumably because “better safe than dead” but that’s reframes as “not being obnoxious” or “releasing the pressure”.

     So basically “two tribes” and “cyclists – don’t be idiots, get out of the way else people will get road rage”.  Plus a quick mention that motorists sometimes kill and injure cyclists.

     Nothing interesting here.  Hardly any advance on Liddle, I’m afraid.

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   • I know we’re all different ..
     I know we’re all different … But.

     When I was hit by an elderly driver in 2018, had life-threatening injuries (including needing CPR at the scene), I spent 4 months not being able to walk or lift an empty teacup; I spent a further 8 months unable to work full time; I’ve been left with life-changing physical injuries that affect my mobility and a brain injury that affects my mental ability.

     Do I ride in the gutter? Do I feck.
     I ride like I drive; I own that piece of tarmac that my bike is on, and the X number of meters in front I’m moving in to.
     I’ve not turned in to a timid shrew. I don’t feel the need to victim blame.
     If the author has been that affected, and is still that badly affected, then maybe being on the road – on any form of transport – isn’t where they should be.

     I’m not sorry if that’s harsh . . But I’ve been there in the Lycra; I’ve had the air-evac, God knows how many hours in surgery.

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     • I’ve been in two crashes with

       I’ve been in two crashes with an errant/aggressive motorist this past year (close pass forced me off the road into a fence, t-boned when on a roundabout) and, yes, for a period of time after the crash I was on high alert. I don’t think I performed a single maneuvre confidently, was highly anxious around junctions and roundabouts and didn’t feel like I ‘owned’ the lane. As such, I have some empathy for the author’s position.

       I think his error is not in espousing such views, but in voicing them unfiltered and not couching it in the blanket of “I only feel like this because I am shaken by my crash, and I hope I can feel different someday, car drivers who do this to people suck and I hate that my enjoyment has been ruined etc etc.” The assumption that riding in the gutter is being advocated as the norm and not merely an aftermath of his crash is problematic for sure.

       I wonder if he does have an agenda, or was perhaps only an occasional or casual cyclist previously as it seems he lacks the roadcraft to realise how poor his advice really is.

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10. That was a mistake, reading

    That was a mistake, reading the article. Tony Satterthwaite, whose heartwrenching stoiry was told on Sunday on Countryfile, had a ghost bike placed at the scene (it seems to come and go, not sure whether the family put it up for birthdays and anniversaries or it gets removed on a regular basis).

    This low-life writes:

    On one of my regular routes, a white ‘ghost bike’ is tied to a tree beside a junction in memory of a cyclist killed by a car at that exact spot. It serves as a reminder to be considerate of motorists whenever I pant my way past; inviting their ire, however unintentionally, is simply not worth the risk.

    Tony’s killer was not filled with ire, he just killed him with incompetence, didn’t even know he was there. To me it served as a reminder of just how at risk we are from drivers to which we have no defence.

    Offensive in the extreme.

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    • Yep.  It’s a war on the roads

      Yep.  It’s a war on the roads* and the vulnerable road users are losing it to those who don’t know they’re fighting.  It would be interesting to have some assessment of a “who causes the carnage”.  “Wrong’uns cause a lot of crashes” seems a sensible assumption.  However all the motorists driving into bollards, bridges, houses points to it being a fact of life when most adults are given charge of motor vehicles **.  Hence me banging on about separation of modes.

      We need better enforcement also for the variable fraction of people who know they’re doing something wrong but think “no consequences”.

      * Massacre is more apt.

      ** NB: that’s given the kind of infrastructure we’ve got now and the current rules.  So trusting the motorist to self-police, only testing once per lifetime, wide straight roads with gentle turns where we have to “sign the speed”, allowing overtaking at all on fast single-carriageway roads especially with poor sight lines etc. (Unworkable crazy notion?  The Dutch have started blocking just this.)

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      • Well it’s something like 80%
        Well it’s something like 80% of motorists fall into the “know they are doing something wrong”. Yet somehow the Government fell for the argument that catching people exceeding the speed limit was somehow unfair when there was an obvious solution to avoid being caught.

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11. I’ve just read the (very male

    I’ve just read the (very male and somewhat drivist centric) Spectator Article –  I think I’ve completed a full line on my bingo card (no full house sadly due to the failure to mention ‘road tax’, insurance, helmets or hi-viz).  I’m not sure what he’s trying to achieve – on the one hand a driver deliberatley swerved to clip his handlebars (terrifying and surely indicative of a pyscho that shouldn’t be allowed to operate a spoon in public let alone a car,) but yet cyclists should still act deferentially to the almighty car lest we “enrage” a drivist through our very presence, and hug the kerb (which as we know just invites close passes).

    Anyway:

    “As a cyclist myself” 

    “my ‘tribe'”

    “Everyone hates cyclists”

    “cyclists can ride in the middle of the road so there is no room for cars to overtake”

    “it’s a hobby” (ie not a mode of transport)

    “lycra”

    “entitled”

    “ignore cycle lanes”

    “public expense”

    “lycra” (again)

    HOUSE!

    oh any my favourite:  “Motorists respond happily when I pull over, with a toot of the horn or a friendly wave.”  – I think I’ve found another one of Nige’s identities….

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    • Courtesy and politeness!  All

      Courtesy and politeness!  All it takes…

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      • Nah, you also need Thoughts

        Nah, you also need Thoughts and Prayers. Works for mass shootings, so think how good it must be for cycling.

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      • Why can’t the message be; if

        Why can’t the message be; if we all just stick to the highway code then disputes between different groups of road users will be dramatically reduced?

        Plot spoiler: the answer is not because of cyclists sense of entitlement.

         

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12. It seems counterintuitive,
    It seems counterintuitive, when two road users are competing for the same roadspace, to say that it is the smaller one who is hogging the road, whereas the larger one’s progress is impeded only due to its own size.

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13. Cycle accident compensation

    Cycle accident compensation pay kept secret by Welsh government (BBC)

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-61646728

    The Welsh government has refused to disclose how much it paid in compensation to a claimant involved in a cycle accident.

    Climate Change Minister Julie James agreed the payment in May.

    But the Welsh government, which has not admitted it was at fault, has refused to tell BBC Wales anything more about the incident, citing data protection.

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    • That is weird. Does the Welsh

      That is weird. Does the Welsh Government control the big roads in Wales as I would have thought it would be a local council issue for most transport reasons. Or if a government officials vehicle was involved in an accident or something around an official gov building grounds?

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      • They are saying, amongst

        They are saying, amongst other things, that the cyclist wishes to remain anonymous and giving any details would lead to their identification.

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14. Pair jailed over Hartlepool

    Pair jailed over Hartlepool cyclist’s ‘senseless’ death (BBC)

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-61661264

    Two drivers who killed a cyclist while racing at 70mph (110kmh) were guilty of “senseless” and “appalling” driving, a judge who jailed them both said.

    Dad-of-two Graham Pattison, 49, from Hartlepool, was hit on the A689 between Wynyard and Sedgefield in July 2020.

    Paige Robinson, 24, of Billingham, and David Ferry, 47, of Redcar, had denied causing death by dangerous driving.

    Robinson has now been jailed for seven years and nine months while Ferry received an eight-year prison sentence.

    The pair were convicted earlier this month following a trial at Teesside Crown Court.

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    • Wow – that’s pretty close to

      Wow – that’s pretty close to the reported maximum I’ve seen.  (Yes – they do get more because not guilty pleas but the theoretical “maximum” is 14 years, no?)  I think sentencing in these cases – despite plenty guidelines – is a lottery.

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      • It is very surprising and a

        It is very surprising and a huge positive step to see actual, real jail time for a driver needlessly and foreseeably killing another road user. It will be interesting to see the mental gymnastics the carphiles on twitter employ to blame the cyclist for their own death. 

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        • I think it is because they
          I think it is because they could be identified as yobs with wheels rather than motorists like wot we are.

          Bit like we don’t like being lumped in with teenagers doing wheelies down dual carriageways the wrong way (but are).

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15.  “National Trust member at

     “National Trust member at the moment, but for how much longer?”

    I imagine that means he’s one of those who disagree with the NT pointing out how many of their large and pretty historical properties were paid for with – erm – ‘problematic’ commercial activities by their original owners back in the day…

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    • Love the fact that he ‘rarely
      Love the fact that he ‘rarely’ has problems with other road users. A bit too subjective for me.
      I think he might be putting to much faith in not being a prat to protect him.
      I wonder, and I don’t wish him any harm at all, if he gets knocked off by a dangerous driver he’ll say he wasn’t expecting it because he rarely has such incidents.

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    • He probably cycles like he
      He probably cycles like he drives – oblivious to the carnage he is creating around himself.

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16. File in the box labelled

    File in the box labelled “should have known”:

    “Jake Wallis Simons is Associate Global Editor for the Daily Mail Online.”

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17. Slightly off-topic, but does

    Slightly off-topic, but does anyone know some good links for watching streaming international football?

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    • My mate Jerry knows a thing

      My mate Jerry knows a thing or two.

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18. Slightly tenuous cyclist

    Slightly tenuous cyclist/footballer story from the guardian, but hey…

    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/05/brazil-ronaldo-cycle-valladolid

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    • ktache wrote:

      Slightly tenuous cyclist/footballer story from the guardian, but hey…

      https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/05/brazil-ronaldo-cycle-valladolid

      — ktache

      450km. “Several dozen” kilometres a day. On an eMTB. It’s not exactly the Fred Whitton is it?

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      • Weirdly, it’s 500 km at the

        Weirdly, it’s 500 km at the top of the story, but 450 km further down.

        Anyway, doing it in four days, apparently, so a little over 100 km a day. I suspect the ‘several dozen’ may be a lost in translation thing.

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