“This is supposed to be 2023, not 1823”: Cyclists slam Aldi for opening a new store with no bike parking; Primož Roglič joins Bora-Hansgrohe; Almost 20 cars line up on the cycling lane near Richmond Park during school hours + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Primož Roglič to Bora-Hansgrohe, here we go!
As another transfer season specialist journalist would say, Here We Go!
Bora–Hansgrohe has announced that Giro d’Italia winner Primož Roglič will ride for the Germany-based team from the 2024 season onwards, bringing one of the biggest chapters from this year’s cycling silly season saga to an end.
Welcome Primož Roglič!#borahansgrohe @rogla #procycling #newseason pic.twitter.com/f8FA43tST9
— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) October 6, 2023
The Grand Tour and Monument-winning Slovenian said: “I am looking forward to this step, even though a team change is kind of like new territory for me. The good memories of when we met years ago made the talks easy. But the decisive factor was that the team is really motivated to work with me, and that we hold the same ideas.”
Meanwhile, Ralph Denk, Team Manager for BORA said: “As a cyclist and Team Manager, patience is required. It is not always the first attack that leads to success. Eight years ago, Primož almost joined us as a neo-pro. Now he comes to us as a pro with a long list of victories that very few others have achieved.
“For us, the decisive factor was not what has been achieved, but what lies ahead. Together we want to leave our mark on the big races. Primož appreciates the strength of our squad and knows the great potential of his future teammates. I am convinced that his personality will inspire the entire team, because he is a leader with the will to win, and is also a team player at the same time. Most of all, however, he really loves what he does and for me, that is the key to success.”
That’s an end to one chapter, now can we get some updates on Soudal-Visma please?
"Is that a cycling lane or a car parking lane?" Hundreds of metres long queue of cars line up on cycle lane and pavement
Another perfect example of why cyclists don’t use the cycling lane.
I checked, it’s 19 cars, spanning over 300 metres, all parked up on the cycle lane near Richmond Park during school hours next to the Roehampton Gate School.
“Use the cycle lane! It costs millions, get off the f’ing road!”. Priory Lane, London. #richmondpark @MPSRoyal_Parks @MikeyCycling @tony_eh @cyclegaz @roadcc pic.twitter.com/pWHMQhgSgG
— Chapona Bike (@ChaponaBike123) October 6, 2023
Scottish newspaper brands World Championships a "ridiculous decision" and a "vanity project"
In a Scotsman Comment article representing its editorial stance, the newspaper labelled the hosting of the event a “vanity project”, highlighting other services and budgets that have been slashed and suggesting that now “Scottish taxpayers will have to foot the bill” for it being over budget.
> Scottish newspaper brands World Championships a “ridiculous decision” and a “vanity project”
"Only thing we can do is wait and hope it ends well": Remco Evenepoel says Soudal Quick-Step riders have ZERO information about impending merger with Jumbo Visma
It’s a difficult time at the Soudal Quick-Step camp. Trying to stay steady amidst the Jumbo-Visma-shaped storm, with no certainty about what the future holds for many of its pro riders who may go from being a part of a dominant team to suddenly being left with nothing in the matter of the few coming weeks.
While members have been doing everything to keep the sinking ship afloat, with two of its riders putting up a defiant display of resilience by winning two more races this week, and taking the team’s tally of victories to 55 this season, question marks still linger over the future of some of the best cyclists in the world.
And one of them is Remco Evenepoel, with a ridiculous palmares to his name, including road race and time trial world champion as well as the Vuelta a España and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, proving that there’s nothing the 23-year-old Belgian can’t do.
But if you’ve been following the saga which has dominated cycling in the last couple of weeks, you would probably know of his apparent disdain for the all-conquering Dutch team which became the first team in modern cycling history to win all three Grand Tours in one season.
In an interview with HLN Wielrennen, Evenepoel has said the riders don’t know anything and have zero information about their own future, let alone of the team.
He said: “We just don’t know anything. I only know what the media writes about it. We get zero information. So we have no answers. There are question marks, with everyone. The only thing we can do is wait and hope it ends well.
“We can’t assess what’ll come the next days & weeks. There’s time until 31/12 to sign with whomever, so there’s no hurry. At the same time there is, everyone wants to know asap what’ll happen with the team. This close to the holidays it’s not nice to sit with lingering questions.”
Evenepoel added that he’s focusing on tomorrow’s final monument race of the year, when the peloton goes back to Italy for Il Lombardia. He was out in Lombardy and posted his route on Strava, although it may have been swept away by Tadej Pogačar’s Strava monster recon ride (it was 40 seconds faster than the 2021 Il Lombardia peloton), who’s also set to race and hopefully give us the Remco vs Pogi showdown we were promised in Liège in April.
"Cyclist rolls through give way on wrong side of road outrage"... or just Danny MacAskill things?
Soudal Quick-Step's Twitter account is on a roll
Whoever runs Soudal Quick-Step’s Twitter account is on a mission to keep their job, whatever the future of the team holds.
First the wonderfully in-depth history of Legnano during the quieter moments of the Coppa Bernocchi earlier this week, then the absolutely cracking dig at Chelsea’s inability to put the ball in the opposition’s net (which sadly got jinxed as Chelsea put two past Fulham’s inept defence on Monday), and now striking gold with this tweet.
Tacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacatacataca pic.twitter.com/DptwX8w0Y7
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) October 5, 2023
Is the saga finally coming to a close?! Jumbo-Visma and Soudal Quick-Step merger to reportedly NOT go ahead
Is this the end? Is it the biggest chapter of cycling’s silly season this year finally coming to a close?
If reports from the Netherlands are to be believed, the rumbling soap opera that has been the rumours of two of the most dominant teams in the peloton, Jumbo-Visma and Soudal Quick-Step merging together to form a super-team, has finally reached its climax, with the will-they-won’t-they actors deciding to step away from each other and continue their own journeys.
Sorry, I might have been spending too much time at the theatres but according to Sporza, Soudal’s team boss Patrick Lefevere and financier Zdenek Bakala are supposedly continuing together until 2025, potentially putting the merger rumours to bed.
With Jumbo pulling out of sponsorship from TJV and Amazon reportedly looking ready to swoop in as the sponsor of the Dutch team, now slightly weakened by the departure of one of its prime GC riders Primož Roglič but still stacked with strong riders nonetheless, it may be a sign that after all, not much will change going into the 2024 season.
The future of Evenepoel still stays in doubt according to the Belgian media, but cycling fans all around the world, you can maybe start breathing in sighs of relief!
Folks, did we just see Patrick Lefevere pull off a masterclass?
Leferve Masterclass weakening Visma, Roglic lives, Visma thinks all ok we get Quickstep dudes
— Los Rosleros (@12Rosler) October 6, 2023
Lesson in building cycling culture: From Seville with love
How to create a cycling culture where none exists?
Build a complete network, and build it quickly.
Between 2006 and 2008, Seville went from 15 to 120 kilometres of protected bike infrastructure, and from a 0.5 to 6 percent modal share—a twelve-fold increase virtually overnight. pic.twitter.com/dl062LOw3l
— Melissa & Chris Bruntlett (@modacitylife) October 6, 2023
Run & Repair: A man's attempt to provide cycles for joy
We got this in our inbox today from a road.cc reader who wished to stay anonymous. It’s the story of one Matt Jones, who since the initial COVID lock down began, has been taking bicycle donations and passing them on to frontline workers after repairing them.
Based in Swindon, and specialising in fixies, he has now changed the scheme to pass the bicycles to families struggling over Christmas.
The reader told us: “He takes donations from the public. He then cleans them, services/repairs them and then over Christmas, passes them on to families in need, for free.
“For no recognition, or monetary awards. Just the kindness of his own heart. As I can gather, I am sure he is around or close to the 500 bicycles mark, passed on, to both frontline workers or families. Which to me, is an unbelievable number of bikes.”
Chapeau Mark, we need more people like you!
What makes a bike slow? Find out how to reduce drag, rolling resistance and the effect of gravity for a more efficient ride
Emily asking the real questions AND finding the answers to them. And while of course, more often than not, the answer is simply you, the rider, could there be a reason your bike feels sluggish?
Read this to find out six things you can do to make your ride feel more slippery…
"This is supposed to be 2023, not 1823": Cyclists slam Aldi for opening a new store with no provisions for bike parking or any other mobility aids
Aldi’s track record with cyclists hasn’t been the best lately. The German supermarket chain has already been in the bad books of cyclists quite a few times this year, and it’s managed to draw ire once again with the opening of a new store in Coventry yesterday.
The supermarket store in Central Six Retail Park in Coventry opened its doors yesterday, but it seemed like it was only interested in doing so to those who arrived driving a car, as it had neither any cycle parking areas, nor provisions for those with mobility aids.
Local transport campaigner James Avery tagged Aldi on Twitter and wrote: “Why are you opening a new store tomorrow with no cycle parking, when it’s the very first planning condition required in the approval?”
@AldiUK Why are you opening a new store tomorrow with no cycle parking, when it’s the very first planning condition required in the approval? pic.twitter.com/2PKhdadjHX
— Plastic Paradise (@PlasticPlanners) October 4, 2023
He added that the planning condition stated that “the development shall only operate in accordance with the external lighting, cycle parking stands, visibility barriers to Warwick Road and entrance barriers to the car parking areas as approved under application”. Except, the retail park in Coventry, located right next to the train station, doesn’t have any.
Avery said that the retail park goes back to the 1990s, when no cycle parking was mandated. He said: “There are no cycle stands on this very long strip mall retail park on the edge of the city.
“So council officers appear to have assumed cycle parking was included, or thought the trolley bay included cycle parking, or they just don’t care.”
Avery told road.cc: “The blue routes are cycle paths or low traffic roads – the retail park itself, like most retail parks, sits inside its own defacto ‘LTN’, as there’s only one road in and out for cars. The Starley Statue is 1 minute away by bike.”
On the Twitter thread, Avery added that it is required of Aldi to provide ambulant and wheelchair-bound disabled people with suitable convenient access into and throughout the building at all times.
“Surely ambulant disabled *includes* every form of mobility aid which needs to be parked outside the store, rather than taken in – including recumbents, trikes & handcycles?
“So Aldi are opening a new store in complete contravention of Equality Act 2010, as there is no suitable parking for mobility aids outside the store. This is supposed to be 2023, not 1823.”
It’s not the first time Aldi has been drawn into criticism because of poor provisions for cyclists. In June, cyclists blasted the supermarket for opening a store in Longwater, Norwich with no safe cycling and pedestrian paths and crossings in place.
Derek Williams from the Norwich Cycling Campaign told road.cc: “It’s going to be downright dangerous, it’s going to cause unspeakable damage.”
And a week later, cyclists raised security fears after discovering that new cycle stands at Aldi entrance were not even bolted to the ground and could be lifted out of the ground at the store in Leamington Spa.
Posted in a local group, someone discovered that the new @AldiUK hadn’t actually secured their bike stands into the ground and they can just be lifted out pic.twitter.com/wA1UiaVWR4
— Claire Lucas (@profclairelucas) June 28, 2023
“Cyclists are customers too, and retailers can and should do better,” added one Twitter user, while David joked that “those are definitely Aldi middle aisle bike stands”.
West Midlands walking and cycling commissioner Adam Tranter, who praised the facilities last year as an example of how it is “possible for supermarkets to do cycle parking right”, also expressed disappointment at the pick-up-and-go bike stands, writing: “Argh! And I had such high hopes.”
Me too, Adam. A shame, I wonder if Aldi would do the same sort of stuff in their native Germany…
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Latest Comments
I'll counter that by saying the Bryton 750se I have drives me nuts at times. Inconsistantly picks up on routes created on Komoot and the app re-syncs every few seconds when trying to set up the device and sends me back to the home screen. The most infuriating one is that I turned live track on. Once. It now won't turn off and repeatedly flags up the live track is starting, and then disconnecting every few seconds whilst riding. I haven't timed it but it wouldn't suprise me if 10-20% of the time the the screen is covered with an error message. That's been about 6 weeks now. Other than that it's great :/
RE: Police launch road safety operation... by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge Meanwhile in Glasgow, Police Scotland are riding their motorbikes over the pedestrian and cyclists only bridge. https://x.com/FietserGlasgow/status/2065106152917012523?s=20
@Paul J Van Schip certainly seems a bit of a dick, but he's a European and multiple World Champion on the track, pretty sure you don't get there without having some talent in your legs.
Poor Vincent cannot get over the simple fact that given the choice people prefer dedicated cycling spaces, rather than pretending to be cars like vehicular cyclists.
What is the point of the fancy air sensor if it can't account for changing weather conditions?? If all you care about is a delayed approximation of aerodynamic watts in steady conditions, you don't need any special sensors for that. Just your speed on a decently flat course is enough to approximate rolling resistance and drivetrain losses. And the rest must be aero. If you assume a less aero body position at the same watts, your speed will drop while rolling resistance also drops, which means approximated aero watts goes up. And that's enough to demonstrate what you've shown in your testing protocol ("I sat upright and the number went up a little while later").
Your correction is accurate - it's almost always been "the (lack of) thought that (doesn't) count". "Massive" - less than a billion a year spent on active travel (trying to catch up / building a network across the entire country) Not massive - 6 billion every year (2026-2030) spent on road *maintenance* of existing "already built, goes everywhere, very convenient" road network for inactive travel Ultimately the reason "cycle infra" is *needed* is those unbelievably colossal amounts spent every year (and for more than a century now) on making mass motoring not just viable but apparently the "best choice" for most journeys. As the Dutch and others have shown, the majority of people *are* prepared to cycle and even mix with very light, slow local motor traffic *if* cycling is also made safe and convenient for the whole of their journey (including secure parking at both ends). (The history of the financial drivers of the current situation are a complex topic but note that while people complain about "crumbling roads" and underfunded motor infra - with some reason - by us continuing the fuel duty escalator freeze (for example) we're actually helping motorists pay *even less* for that activity / subsidising more of the cost of driving than ever.)
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
63 thoughts on ““This is supposed to be 2023, not 1823”: Cyclists slam Aldi for opening a new store with no bike parking; Primož Roglič joins Bora-Hansgrohe; Almost 20 cars line up on the cycling lane near Richmond Park during school hours + more on the live blog”
Like almost all retailers,
Like almost all retailers, Aldi are very hot on the environment:
“Helping to create a better environment for generations
We’re continually striving to find better ways to care for our planet. From finding innovative solutions to reduce energy and gas consumption, to reducing food waste and cutting back on packaging. Being Greener Everyday is at the forefront of everything we do.”
Except reducing the carbon footprint of their customers. I’ve looked through their environment pages and can find nothing about helping their customers create a better environment, which is a bit odd, because the way that their customers travel is probably the biggest effect the company has on the environment.
Any chance road.cc could ask them about that?
I’m not aware of any supermarket with even adequate cycle parking. Certainly not where I used to live in Bristol, with the possible exception of Waitrose. The local Aldi had none, nor the Tesco, and while the Sainsbury’s had some, they intially put them them round the back, possibly blocking the fire exit, then they re-vamped the store and put them as far from the entrance as possible.
eburtthebike wrote:
Seems unlikely.
While they are clearly a conglomerator of news on cycling from around the media, rather than a journalistic outlet in their own right, they could do readers an immense service by following up on some of these stories when mainstream media clearly is not interested in doing so.
Their reports do occasionally include words like … x has been asked for comment … I have rarely seen any follow up on those questions.
Shame really.
I find their ‘near miss of
I find their ‘near miss of the day’ series pointless. It can’t be called a campaign as a campaign has objectives to achieve and it appears to have none beyond website clicks, which changes nothing.
Surreyrider wrote:
At best, it’s something to point at when people don’t believe how badly cyclists get treated on the roads. NMOTD has earned me a few thousand karma on Reddit when someone’s started an anti-cyclist circle-jerk, and it’s opened a few eyes when I’ve shown it to them, but that’s about it.
NMOTD is valuable.
NMOTD is valuable.
It seeds a lot of stories about dangerous behaviour around people riding cycles in the mainstream media.
That does get to some, and will have a long-term influence.
Surreyrider wrote:
At the very least NMOTD acts as a repository for examples of police response to a variety of poor driving around cyclists. It highlights the lack of action and inconsistecy of various forces. I agree, though, that it would be better if roadcc followed more of them up with the forces concerned but thay have done with a few.
Having said that, in my opinion, the more recent examples have shown an improvement in the police response with one even getting a dangerous driving conviction. Most cylist deaths don’t even get that. Obviously one can’t show that NMOTD has lead to that but I can’t see how it could be doing any harm.
ALDI in Meanwood (Leeds) had
ALDI in Meanwood (Leeds) had excellent coverered (with sliding doors) cycle parking – until they removed it and replaced it with a trolley park. Cyclists now have to secure bikes to the trolley park bars which I’m sure is more inconvenient for the shop. Worth pursuing them via planning conditions – if it needs approval then cycle parking should be made a condition of any grant.
I’ve been to one Aldi which
I’ve been to one Aldi which has bike racks near the front door. Much nicer than the usual arrangement of an endless sea of car parking spaces at the front with one small rack hidden around the side of the building. Build it and they will come.
“Except, the retail park in
“Except, the retail park in Coventry, located right next to the train station, doesn’t have any”
I know Central Six in Coventry and unless they’ve removed them there are/were five or six sheffield stands at the entrance to the shopping park.. PLUS there are 162 new bicycle stands just 100 yards further away at the train station.
The person who publicised this seems very angry about not an awful lot. I don’t dispute that six isn’t enough.. but there is somewhere to put your bike.
Very few people would choose
Very few people would choose to park their bike at a nearby railway station in order to go to the shops. Locking up at railway station bike parking is like going swimming in shark-infested water wearing a bacon wetsuit…
Quite right. How do we
Quite right. How do we normally organise this? Ah – multi-storey car parks just on the edge of the main centres.
Just change the middle word then:
Amsterdam Beursplein underground cycle parking.
Amsterdam Just Got Awesomer (underwater bike parking)
Park (car) and ride (bike)
Utrecht bike parking (admittedly by the railway station – they have another in the centre of town)
Just take your bike into Aldi
Just take your bike into Aldi and wheel it around with you. If the staff object, ask to be taken to the bike parking facility.
Ineos are probably holding
Ineos are probably holding out for Remco being released when JV and SQ merge
Ineos are looking a little
Ineos are looking a little light on number sfor 2024 with a number of riders out of contract and very little in the way of new signings.
I think they have 15 or so.
I think they have 15 or so. They need 27 to retain their licence.
Looks like there are quite a
Looks like there are quite a few Sheffield stands outside that Aldi – someone’s just put trolleys in them…
The big Tesco’s next to the
The big Tesco’s next to the Thames in Reading has really weedy Sheffields, the multi ones, that aren’t very attached to the ground, but the trolley guards look like they could stop a tank, so I now use them.
Hosting a sporting event
Hosting a sporting event costs money, who knew?
If nobody was willing to put any money towards host a sporting event of any kind there would be no sporting industry. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions worldwide would be out of work.
No police/steward presence = no security and no road closures, and therefore no guarantee of safety to the public.
No willingness to provide finance for venues = no arenas, stadiums etc.
No sport, no clubs and teams where among the professional ranks of any sport can employ numerous full time and part time non-sporting staff.
I get there is a balance to be struck, but the old addage of speculate to accumulate rings stong bells here.
but this is in Glasgow, where
but this is in Glasgow, where sport involves kicking a wee round bag of wind or … er no thats it
There’s the Glasgow Kiss,
There’s the Glasgow Kiss, although not strictly sport I guess.
Charlie Mackenzie wrote:
Can’t believe its 30 years old.
It’s a sport for some as is
It’s a sport for some as is the Glesga Smile.
EK Spinner wrote:
Leave Niccola out of it!
And also, since when as any
And also, since when as any Government funded project been completed with in budget, local or national? Strugging to think of one.
The M74 through Glasgow was
The M74 through Glasgow was completed between 15/20 million.
…although the M8 was rather
…although the M8 was rather famous for having loose ends!
Living in Edinburgh though I can hardly carp at that – the Edinburgh tram network project didn’t even deliver a single complete line at the first try, at goodness knows how many times the cost. Proposed in 1999, in development and planning for almost a decade, a truncated version of a single line was built from 2008 – 2014 and trams have finally started operating on the missing part of that a couple of months back.
I’m just worried they’ll rush an extension through and my friends’ grandkids might be disturbed by the construction.
Which part of the M74 cost
Which part of the M74 cost £20 million?
The most recent M74 extension cost £692 million, or £137 million per mile. Also I notice construction costs are always talked about, but never expected ongoing maintenance costs which will be affected by the design, eg elevated sections will cost more to maintain.
bikes wrote:
Couple of painted lane markings and a handful of cats eyes?
Or the DoT testing station in the arse end of no-where near Beattock?
I forgot to add under the
I forgot to add under the £692m. Thanks for highlighting. I remember there was much chest thumping at the time. Kind of ironic as the original estimate in 1999 was around £177m before the final decision and proposal of 692
The Queensferry Crossing was
The Queensferry Crossing was considerably under budget.
Presumably being on-time and on-budget isn’t a news story (maybe it should be!)
Many high profile projects do overshoot – although that’s sometimes because the initial budgets were deliberately over-optimistic in order to secure funding.
The wonder that is the
The wonder that is the Queensferry Crossing … Comes with its own mobile car park on each side.
Seeing the long queues that form on both sides (thankfully the Forth Road Bridge is still open to pedestrian and cycle traffic) 7days a week, I’m glad I don’t have that on my commute or weekend travel plans.
“Is that a cycling lane or a
“Is that a cycling lane or a car parking lane?”
Under the government’s (government – ha, ha, ha) new Plan for Drivers, it is perfectly legal to drive and park on the footpath: war on the motorist innit. I haven’t checked but I’m pretty sure that’s true.
Check yourself https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/plan-for-drivers/the-plan-for-drivers
I would but I’d like to hang on the shred of sanity I’ve still got.
I’ve just read it. I don’t
I’ve just read it. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
The government declared a
The government declared a consultation on banning pavement parking in, IIRC, 2014, and in the last few weeks, there were off-the-record briefings with journalists that they weren’t going to ban it.
Well that’s a worrying
Well that’s a worrying document to read through. Lots of anti-LTN, 15-minute city conspiracy nonsense (I’m not sure how providing local amenities within a 15-minute walk, so people aren’t forced to drive is “policing people’s lives”).
Three highlights for me were:
“Drivers are justifiably irritated by traffic not flowing when it easily could.”
You mean that thing caused, almost exclusively, by people conducting pointlessly short journeys by car and clogging up the roads?
“10. Smarter traffic lights. A £20 million ‘Green Light Fund’ to tune up traffic signals to better reflect current traffic conditions and get traffic flowing.“
Gee, I can’t wait for the 5-minute wait to cross a road to get even longer. We can’t go inconveniencing the people in the motorised armchairs now, can we?
“An insurance company poll of drivers in 2023 found that the examples of bad driving that most upset people were:
You mean merge-in-turn exactly as instructed by the Highway Code?
BalladOfStruth wrote:
Thought exactly the same. One of many misconceptions that mandatory periodic testing/refresher courses could address. Just like you get in the workplace…
There were some roadworks on
There were some roadworks on the northbound A38 near me recently whereby the road went from two lanes to one in the 40mph average speed check bit near Lichfield. You’d think this would be easy.
There were road signs in the 800m leading up to the cones saying “WHEN QUEUEING USE BOTH LANES” and one at 200m to go saying “MERGE IN TURN”. Big signs, block capitals in white font on a red background. Still ignored by most drivers whose British sense of “ooh there’s a queue I’d better not push in” kicked in, resulting in an unnecessarily long tailback and drivers trying to stop people merging <sigh>. Other than a public information broadcast “Charlie says read the ****ing Highway Code” (he must be old enough to drive by now) what else can they do?
I reckon they should just
I reckon they should just legalise the power-ups you get in Mario Kart. Knock other drivers out of the way and cause the ones reading your collar size to go for a spin.
Waiting the adverts for this: “Are you a hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying motorist? Do you know that you’re a better driver than at least 90% of drivers on the road? We’re here for YOU and will fix all the lights to speed up your particular journey!”
Hopefully they’ll get flushed at the next election and Starmer and co will relax and stop trying to copy them once in office. Not that they’ll do anything positive for active travel either – but hopefully they’ll just fail to implement this nonsense because they’ll realise they’ve bigger problems.
Jebus wept (great name for a
Jebus wept (great name for a band before anyone suggests it).
“It is not right that some drivers feel under attack.”
Most of the increasingly marginalised “non-drivers” (ie people that don’t happen to be behind the wheel in a given moment) on the other hand…. fair game for them to feel almost permanently under attack?
I think we’re looking at that
I think we’re looking at that video the wrong way.
It’s not a line of parked cars.
It’s a line of cars that have pulled over to let the much faster cyclists go past. Very decent of those drivers.
In their own minds, I think
In their own minds, I think they are being considerate.
Being half on the road, half on the path it isn’t really possible for a car to get past them, only a cyclist, given the oncoming traffic. If I were on a bike then I’d actually rather be on the road on the outside than on a cycle lane on the inside knowing they all want to turn into the school and a fair percentage of them are likely being distracted by small passengers (based on my own experiences of doing the school run).
I don’t know the road – is the cycle path intended for use in both directions?
Wow; just, “wow”
Wow; just, “wow”
Anyone reading that would think that motorists had never had any real money spent on them or any Govt subsidy, that they were the most persecuted group ever etc etc etc.
Very depressing reading.
(Of course, in a month’s time the news cycle will have moved on and the Govt can pretend that they never said any of it, like with Gear Change…).
The situation on the roads is
The situation on the roads is immediately, noticeably worse as well. I have had about the same number of close passes and aggressive drivers today as I would usually have in a week.
That number should be 0 but is closer to 8
I didn’t get to the end of
I didn’t get to the end of the first paragraph. I had a skim read of the next few and then left.
The document is flame bait appealing to the lowest common denominator. We’re on target for the hottest year on record, the hottest October day on record and the idiots think more of the same is what is needed.
“The Plan for Drivers,
“The Plan for Drivers, published on Tuesday, originally said there were successful appeals against 42.8% of Penalty Charge Notices in London – which would be a staggering 3.2mn a year. The true figure is 18,130.”
“The DfT has changed the document today to make clear the claim is only about the tiny numbers of appeals. But the text still insists the high proportion of successful appeals shows there’s a problem.”
Presumably it’s a way of
Presumably it’s a way of having a pop at Sadiq Khan.
The Plan for Drivers is a misuse of the machinery of government for party political purposes.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
Reminds me of when Thatcher used the police as her own private army against the miners
When the strike ended she
When the strike ended she held a drinks party at the Home Office to congratulate the chief constables of forces who helped defeat the miners. Disgusting woman.
This petition for a general
This petition for a general election now has gathered 160,383 signatures in about seven hours.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/641904
eburtthebike wrote:
Signed, though it’ll be ignored
Thanks for the link. Now at
Thanks for the link. Now at 174061
194,174
194,174
Wasn’t Priory Lane on road.cc
Wasn’t Priory Lane on road.cc once before? – some manic looking bloke in a too tight leather jacket complaining that cyclists weren’t using the cycle path…
brooksby wrote:
Yes, the owner of a chain of local coffee shops as I recall (not a good idea to piss off cyclists if you’re trying to sell coffee and cake). I think I did note on that story though that the cycle path is absolutely useless anyway, it’s too narrow for two cyclists to pass each other and the pavement is so narrow because of it that anyone in a wheelchair or with a buggy has to stray into the cycle lane. I’ve never used it, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else use it except very small children while the supervising parent rode alongside in the road. Not that that excuses the parking of course, but to be honest they may as well turn it into parking bays for all the use it is the cyclists.
Can I recommend the Daily
Can I recommend the Daily Mail comment section?
The article is the usual dishonest garbage designed to build a collection of planks, however a few (don’t get excited unless you have a thing for TINY Black Bralettes – a few is not a lot) more sane people than usual have infiltrated BTL.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12565967/Why-taxpayers-funding-charities-want-rid-roads-cars-Fury-pro-walking-cycling-groups-raking-millions-government-funds-push-anti-vehicle-agenda-UK.html#comments
The media push against
The media push against anything that makes driving slightly less easy has begun!
They trash Sustrans and Living Streets, using pejorative phrases like “they pocketed millions of taxpayers money”. At least they contacted Sustrans and Living Streets for their views, and, you won’t believe this, but the article wasn’t accurate! In the Mail!!!!
“A spokesman for Living Streets said: ‘Living Streets’ income from charitable activities was not £10.6 million in one year.
‘For the financial year ending 2021, this was £4,827,012 and for the financial year ending 2020, we received £5,798,981. £10.6 million is the combined total for two financial years.
‘This covers income from all charitable activities, including grants from central and local government, contracts, and funding from trusts, foundations and other organisations.
We received funding from government to deliver specific projects, including supporting more children and families to travel to school safely with our walk to school programme.
‘We do not receive funding from national or local government for campaigning.’
A Sustrans spokesperson said: ‘We do not recognise several assertions made in this article. Accurate numbers relating to our finances can be found in our Annual Report.’”
Why I don’t use the cycle
Why I don’t use the cycle lane
(there is a claim that “the council told them to park there”)
Assuming he lives in the
Assuming he lives in the house it is parked outside of, there seems to be a perferctly serviceable empty drive next door. If it isn’t there house, there seems to be a perfectly serviceable road next to the lane with no parking restrictions.
I don’t know if this is a francise but I don’t think it is. Under the reg of his old vehicle he seemed to get a lot of feedback.
Cyclists, stop riding on the
Cyclists, stop riding on the pavement – you get in the way of motorists.
Tories – we don’t give a shit
Tories – we don’t give a shit about anyone not in a motor vehicle
Sorry, that’s not full marks.
Sorry, that’s not full marks. They’ve not parked on the double yellows or directly across a junction, only on the pavement and blocking someone’s view…
Those tyres are looking
Those tyres are looking dangerously under-inflated as well.
Meanwhile, in America….
Meanwhile, in America….
Cycle lanes being cleared of detritus. I thought cycle lanes were where car rubbish was meant to be stored.