Telegraph claim Jeremy Vine’s “favourite” cycle lane is controversial… for making drivers look both ways at junction; GC action expected at Dauphiné + more on the live blog
Anti-cycling articles? From the Telegraph?
Long time readers of the live blog might be a little weary of Steve Bird’s antics. If you’re not, then as Bluesky user Still last identified, he has a track record of anti-cycling infrastructure articles for the Telegraph. And a lot of articles…
His latest work is aimed once again at undermining the cycling credentials of Jeremy Vine, a man who last year said he would stop sharing his home-edits of bad driving encountered on his cycle to work due to the online abuse he received, but has continued to discuss the matter on his morning Channel 5 phone-in show. I’m afraid I’m not a regular viewer.
“Jeremy Vine’s favourite cycle lane causes 500 percent increase in accidents” goes the headline. The article leans heavily on a petition by David Tarsh, a man who is also behind several other anti-active travel petitions. The cycle lane targeted this time is on King Street in Hammersmith, part of Cycleway 9 which runs from the town centre to Waterman’s park. But as Leo Murray observed on Bluesky, the Telegraph’s data is rather selective to include this menace of a junction.
“The 0.8m stretch of Cycleway 9 on King St selected by Tarsh includes a notoriously dangerous junction where a side road gives access to the A4: Weltje Rd. Weltje also lies between two large secondary schools, and schoolchildren crossing it as well as cyclists in C9 are routinely hit by cars here.” Murray writes.
“This junction has been an obvious fail since day one of C9 opening. As the casualties racked up, the council carried out some minor tinkering to the junction design. It didn’t help.
“We (local Evil Cycling Lobby) have written to [Hammersmith and Fulham Council] & discussed the problems here with cabinet members & officers constantly for the last 5 years. But they are too afraid of the motorist backlash that Tarsh et al will whip up if they do the obvious thing to fix it: close Weltje Rd to the A4.”
Bird, for his part, writes that the bike lane “has been controversial because it involves a two-way cycle track built on a one-way street.
“The council was forced to install signs warning motorists joining King Street that they should look both ways for hazards, despite the route still being one-way for cars.”
I’m not quite sure why a warning sign constitutes such a disaster, but anyway. Vine is somehow relevant to the story because he once described the roundabout, before the Cycleway was opened, as resembling a scene out of Ben-Hur. Good to know the Telegraph understand their audience demographics.
Maybe the last word should go to Vine though, who shows some rather effective restraint.
“Causes a 1,000 per cent increase in cycling journeys” would be a better headline
📻 ‘Jeremy Vine’s favourite cycle lane causes 500pc increase in accidents’https://t.co/LiSfaR0Npr
— Jeremy Vine | Here, on Tiktok, Insta & Facebook (@theJeremyVine) June 6, 2026
Dauphiné preview: surely a GC day
This has been one of the strangest Dauphiné’s I’ve seen, a race with only one bunch sprint, and with both pre-race favourites behind a host of other favourites for the overall victory. But today is an ideal chance for both Isaac Del Toro and Paul Seixas to start clawing back time on the likes of Matteo Jorgenson, Kevin Vauquelin and even Oscar Onley, whilst Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose will surely try and get in on the action.
Race leader Alex Baudin might fancy his chances of limiting his losses and remaining on GC, especially with a short descent breaking up the final hour of otherwise pretty relentless racing.
A factory error to end all factory errors?
Barcelona bans private bike share schemes from 2027, mayor slams e-bike “mess”
Hmm, not the best message you could be sending weeks before the start of the men’s Tour de France…
> Barcelona to ban private bike share schemes from 2027, as mayor slams e-bike parking “mess”
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@Mr Anderson Agreed. Perfect example is this parent doing an, approximately, 700 METRE school run. I worked t out by finding where the vehicle was parked on the residential road when I first encountered it. Whilst I can't be 100% sure, I am certain the children had no physical disability that would prevent them walking. https://youtu.be/R-dp-G6W8Jk
"Old Man Mountain kit is built tough, and comes with a lifetime warranty – which really matters, when it may well be subject to being battered over many tens of thousands of miles of awful terrain, carrying the equivalent weight of a small-ish child." Obviously it depends how the manufacturer applies its warranty, and OMM might be great - but worth noting that "lifetime warranty" is often less generous than it initially sounds - it's the reasonable lifetime of the product, and only warrants against manufacturing defects. So being battered over tens of thousands of miles is not necessarily going to be covered.
0.8m of cycleway does seem an extremely selective focus. Do we know which side of the junction those 80cm fall on?
I'd like to see some reviews of the IGPSport cycle computers & smart lights which are available on Amazon in the UK. They appear to be well equipped with GPS models in the £150 - £200 price bracket offering great features and very good value for money. If they are good enough to be supporting the Groupama-FDJ United World TourCycling team, we should be looking at them as a contender. It would be interesting how these compare to the Garmin and Wahoo models that are considered the industry standard.
Happens on a regular basis - seems to be one of the many exciting new 'features' of the new platform.
@Rendel Harris Thanks for that - every day's a school day. I had actually put 'Pedant mode off' under my comment but it didn't post and then as we all know, and are frustrated with, we can't edit posts any more. I will not correct anyone again - however, -ize still looks too American English for me. Cheers
We also have a greater volume of traffic, including on residential roads which were once quiet. Spending billions on infrastructure such as protected cycle tracks and modal filters is the only thing that will lead to mass cycling. Look at London. Why is there mass cycling there? Infrastructure. The Netherlands? The same reason. And often the only way to achieve meaningful change is reallocating some space and priority from motor vehicles, which is why the government's 'don't scare the horses' attitude is concerning.
You think there might be a clue to that in the name "City Light Set"? Marking it down because it's no good for fast riding on unlit roads seems somewhat akin to buying a micro-hatchback and then complaining that it's rubbish at pulling a plough.
This is like something from a kids' activity book. "The editor has a bit of a hangover this morning. Can you help him match the headline to the correct story?"
2 thoughts on “Telegraph claim Jeremy Vine’s “favourite” cycle lane is controversial… for making drivers look both ways at junction; GC action expected at Dauphiné + more on the live blog”
0.8m of cycleway does seem an extremely selective focus. Do we know which side of the junction those 80cm fall on?
@mdavidford