“Bet the principal drives an Audi”: School bans e-bikes from grounds in “nonsense” move, leaving parents “fuming”; “When’s it going to end?” Anger as two student cyclists killed by driver in US; Tour of Britain Women updates + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
“Bet the principal drives an Audi”: School bans e-bikes from grounds in “nonsense” move, leaving parents “fuming”
It turns out police officers, Daily Mail editors, and Panorama presenters aren’t the only types of people confused about what constitutes an e-bike. School principals aren’t too sure, either.
Or at least one principal in Ireland isn’t, after allegedly banning both e-scooters and e-bikes from their school’s grounds ahead of the new term, in an email sent out to parents.
So, does that mean the e-cargo bike used by wee John, Penny, and their mum to ride to school every morning is outlawed? Or just high-speed, illegal models? Who does the principal work for, West Midlands Police?
“Email from son’s school today to say that e-scooters will be banned from school grounds from September (understandably) but also e-bikes!” Alan Dunne posted on BlueSky.
“E-bikes, which dozens of kids and families in that school rely on for their commute. Citing a single incident with an unspecified root cause. I am fuming.”
And other cyclists on the social media platform weren’t too happy about the ban, either.
“It’s complete horseshit driven by people who will see parents in oversized cars parked dangerously/illegally all over the place outside the school at pickup time, but would consider it rude to do anything about it,” wrote Dave.
“It’s utter nonsense,” agreed Alan. “I am mainly fuming about the fact that now I have to waste time writing and talking to them about this stupidity.”
I feel your pain, Alan. How do you think I feel when it’s my turn on the live blog?
“Ask them for a copy of the other version of the email. The one banning e-cars from the school grounds,” I Bike Dublin chipped in.
“Wouldn’t be surprised if some school staff used e-bikes to commute,” noted Alan.
And finally, Peter added: “Bet the principal drives an Audi.”
Audi school ban, anyone?
“When’s it going to end? It’s so sad that we live in a world where we can’t just ride our bikes in peace”: Two US university cyclists killed by driver and seven others injured in horror crash, as motorist charged with vehicular homicide
The US cycling community is in mourning today following the shocking news that two members of a university cycling team were killed by a driver and seven others injured in a horror crash in Tennessee.
11 members of the Milligan University team were on a morning training ride in Hampton, Tennessee on Wednesday when they were struck by motorist John Benfield.
In a video message, the university’s president Stephen Waers confirmed that Haylan Engdahl and Brayden Rogers were killed in the collision. Seven other members of the team were treated in hospital for their injuries, with four currently in critical condition.
Benfield, a 69-year-old from North Carolina, was arrested and charged with two counts of vehicular homicide by recklessness and five counts of aggravated assault by vehicle. Local police say the investigation into the crash is ongoing.
In May, Milligan won the men’s team time trial at the US collegiate national road championships in Wisconsin.
In a statement, the university said: “We are profoundly shocked and saddened to share that members of our cycling team were in an accident involving a vehicle this morning while cycling in Hampton, TN.
“There are no words to adequately describe this level of loss. Our prayers are with all those impacted by this tragedy. Please keep the Milligan community in your prayers.”
As the news broke, Ama Nsek, a multiple collegiate national champion and former student at Milligan took to social media to voice his anger and sadness at another fatal collision involving a driver.
“Shed a good amount of tears this morning. Kids were killed and we’re just supposed to chalk it up to another distracted or angry driver?” he wrote.
In an emotional video message, Nsek asked: “When’s it going to end? Two cyclists killed. Two kids killed, and five in the hospital.
“It’s so sad that we live in a world where we can’t just ride our bikes in peace. I’ve seen so many cyclists get killed or heavily injured by negligent drivers, and it’s just really sad. It’s really frustrating.”
“Considering the recent devastating events in our cycling community, it’s scary to see situations like this, when we know that this can have horrific consequences, especially so soon after suffering such a tragedy”
Some worrying news from the Tour of Britain Women this morning, where one rider claimed she was almost hit by a member of the public who drove onto the course during yesterday’s stage around Cockermouth:
At the end of what has been a harrowing, painful week for professional cycling, this is the last thing we needed to hear.
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Latest Comments
Yep - they went down the individual vehicle registration route for the purposes of the article, rather than it being type approved.
@John Emms From DVSA guidance notes on EAPCs "There are many products known as ‘e-bikes’ or ‘e-cycles’ available on the market. However, not all of these are classified as EAPCs. To be classified as an EAPC under the EAPC regulations[footnote 1], the cycle must: " etc. "footnote 1. The Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles Regulations 1983 SI 1983/1168 as amended by the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles (Amendment) Regulations 2015 SI 2015/24."
Apparently Riese und Muller fixed it for them: https://road.cc/ebiketips/content/advice/advice/buying-and-riding-an-s-pedelec-in-the-uk-1637
There must be at least one as this very site (or was it its sister?) had an article reporting on using a legal "speed pedalec" in the UK. (Would post link but it would probably be caught by the moderation system!)
Good luck in East Yorkshire. I am not well informed but suspect that is very much car country there.
This is a shocking near miss, especially after the recent death of Fin Tarling. However, the article describes the Portuguese driver as ignoring a race warning sign, which from previous articles did not appear to be the case. I have an unrelated comment about yesterday's stage. I watched around 90 mins of yesterday's stage and found it pretty dull. One rider broke away, gained around a minute before being closed down. Nothing much happened for the next 45 min. It appeared that the peleton had settled for a bunch sprint with around 80 km to go. I switched over to test match special radio coverage. If better TV coverage, sponsorship and pay are expected, then maybe more aggressive tactics should be encouraged?
@bensynnock Yes, but I think edjz was referring to pedal cycles with an electric motor - I don't know if there any non-EAPC-compliant examples of those with type approval.
@Geoff H And how often does this work is this purely scaremongering and often repeated rubbish. People don't sue the car manufacturer when they crash their car and the brakes didn't prevent the accident, the tyres didn't grip well enough, the windscreen wasn't tinted enough, someone put a speed bump in the road etc. This just sounds like rubbish that people use to justify stopping kids doing something fun that has some risk to it.
...(so assuming they're "type-approved" if MOT exists) ... and have the appropriate category on your driving licence (or presumably have done your CBT and have an L-plate), have got that insurance, wear an appropriate helmet and only ride on the road in accordance with the conditions for that kind of vehicle... but other than that, it's basically order on the Internet and go...
You can buy legal electric motorbikes and mopeds. https://www.flexelectric.co.uk/category/e-mopeds You'd think some of these were illegal if you saw them, but they have an MOT from new and can be insured. You'd want to carry your documents with you.