East Yorkshire bike races under threat after police reportedly insist on road closures due to safety concerns

Everybody should be pleased to know that the Hull Thursday RC series of events, run under TLI Cycling rules and regulations, are now back on track and will run as scheduled.

Thanks to TLI Cycling who liaised with the police to satisfy their original objections. Remember, TLI Cycling annual membership costs only £10 for seniors and £5 for juniors.

doc, dont know where you got your costings from for Police but even now at double time on a bank holiday i barely break that and i'm on the top whack pay never mind 10 years ago.

Not disputing your other points cos i've no experience of such events, just commenting on pay.

It seems an awful lot of work for one race though and should be simplified.

I'm not aware of the cost side of things but i cant imagine it will cost a lot to put a few signs up saying road closed and diversions in place ?

We, as Police in Northumbria, dont get paid for covering these events. The force simply cancels a rest day in advance and you have to work for free, with a day back in lieu at some point.

Cant comment on other forces though.

I agree that road closures are the way forward because if it subsequently saves, not a life but something as simple as minor injuries caused by a vehicle then it will be worth it.

We seem to have lost track here a little bit, in the past everyone shouts for the Police / authorities to do more to help us and make our pastime safer, yet when they come out and say we cant support a race unless the roads are closed so its safer for riders its a "knee jerk reaction" to what was a very unfortunate death. They all need to sit down together and discuss this so a correct result will come from it.

After all a council can close a lane for upto 2 weeks so that its workers are safer whilst they cut a bit of grass or clean the gutters so whats the problem in closing a lane for a few hours to help secure riders safety

Do the police want a return to the semi-"underground" days when near enough the only racing was TT-ing? I'm sure there's some TT-ers wouldn't be too upset, but the idea of withdrawing support for the (generally safer) road racing with its mobile marshals, NEG, escort cars etc because of something that happened during a TT with its spread out riders, marshals only really at junctions and use of dual carriageways seems perverse. Of course, it is very hard to frame a law that could actually ban TTs.

This concerns me most -

"The council is keen to see events continue that are enjoyed by residents and attract significant turnouts of spectators."

Essentially, we can't be bothered for anything smaller than the Tour of Britain. How exactly are we supposed to attract major events if we've effectively banned all small ones.

It's a disaster even if it only lasts a year as it's much quicker to kill off the racing scene than it is to build up a decent local series.

its going to have to be a big shift to make true closed road racing viable. The costs will need to reflect the size of the event to keep grass roosts racing alive.

The biggest shift will have to be from the public though. The change from 'Anger and Inconvienece' to 'just a regular occurrence' won't be easy.

If you look at the way people rant about road closures for the Olympics, or the London Surrey 100 despite their size and infrequent appearence, can you imagine the carnage if a couple of villiages are shut off for a couple of hours every other Sunday?

I would love to see it, I think it would raise the profile of road racing and perhaps increase the spectator numbers, but I fear those making the decisions will make it difficult to manage.

Yet again, as with many things involving cycling, it will be dependant on the various authorities working together with the clubs, and a significant cultural shiift in the way the public views cycling.

Closed road for races are fine and brilliant idea. So long as they aren't anywhere near me or anywhere i might need or want to go...sorry i was driving this morning.

I can see the logic of wanting closed roads, but i think the practicality will vary depending on how easy it is to get roads closed for races - local council being onside etc as to wether it will be workable or just kill of racing in certain (*cough* New forest *cough*) areas. But then i haven't ever raced as i'm slow, weak and would probably not be allowed in due to being a triathlete...

"We want events here, it is good for the economy and is good for so many reasons."

As the statement above says, its good for so many reasons!
I think road closures are the way forward and change the current mindset that holding a race on closed roads is a hinderance to cars and make it an expected and acceptable event.
These type of races are generally held on roads out of towns in areas where local diversions would cause minimal disruption for a minimal period of time. Even small football club games generate traffic disruption that people seem to accept, so the culture needs to change to accept another sport.
Maybe in years to come we will have a culture similar to that of Belgium where it is the norm that a bike race is on and thus a few roads will be closed!

"I completely agree with the Police in that running races on busy roads with rolling roadblocks can be very dangerous"

Do you have any statistics that show this?

Hundreds of road races take place each year with no incident. Fatalities or serious accidents are extremely rare.

All road race circuits are risk assessed and the routes carefully chosen.

The British Cycling approach with marshalls having the ability to temporarily stop traffic is the way forward.

I also think that temporarily making some stretches of road one-way only during an event would help as well. So all traffic is moving in the same direction but avoids a complete road closure. This would work well on a lot of circuits.

Some bizarre comments on here.

Cost of closing roads make it extremly impractical for every race to be closed road based on cost. For people participating in road races every weekend this would get very expensive. There is currently a rolling road block scenario so the roads are not completely open as such, once you are dropped you are out of the convoys protection though.

There is an aweful lot goes in to getting a road course risk assessed and signed off for use, this is also true for time trial courses. Its not like people just turn up on a strech of road and decide to have a race on it.

Refrence the comments on sportives. Not all are closed road and the ones that are get round this by extremely high participation numbers.

Sportives also are not races (contrary to the belief of many), this allows them to get around a lot of the red tape involved such as police permission (I think, hence why road races get cancelled if there are sportives running on the route at the time, police have power to stop the road racing but not sportives).

Craig S; Regards the current batch of UK pros coming from a track background. You think they got to where they are without doing any road races? Nonsense.

In every way its kills the grass roots. You cant learn road race craft on a track, its a complimentary discipline. Look at the 100% ME team for example. All the top UK teams are scratching around for races to push themselves.

You also see plenty of elite riders compete in midweek club 10's etc as well.

It is particularly baffling in terms of the 'Humberside' races as the lanes of The Wolds are particularly quiet!

I think that a lot of races need to have the route that they take scrutinised- on one hand there are events like the High Peak Road Race, where there are barely any cars for the whole of the 60 mile race.

Then on the other, there are time trials on dual carriageways, which many people feel is an accident waiting to happen.

They can't all be lumped into the same group, because they are so different. I completely agree with the Police in that running races on busy roads with rolling roadblocks can be very dangerous, so why not do some recon work and find roads that are quiet.

Bottom line is that banning road racing is a step backwards for the sport as a whole. Cycling is getting much more popular and as such we've started to pop up in people's viewpoint more. Everyone seems to have an opinion. We need to adapt and move forwards, rather than becoming stagnant and trying to keep things the way they've always been.

I so hope that this doesn't escalate across other Police forces, because if it does domestic road racing will go down the pan.

Is the expensive 'Sportive' on closed roads coming to bear on road races?

British Cycling has been campaigning to keep road racing on the public roads and is currently trialling the use of 'official' marshals who can temporarily halt traffic.

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/campaigning_racing_on_the_road

The police attitude here seems like a knee-jerk response to the recent fatal incident. Statistically there are very few accidents in road races (or running races), they are generally very safe.

Following the police's logic surely motor vehicles should be banned from the public highway as statistically they present the greatest risk of an accident causing a fatal or serious injury.

It probably has public support though. Firstly "racing" reinforces the mythical Daily Mail stereotype of "Lycra Louts" racing around knocking down grannies as they run red lights. Secondly "racing" cars on the public highway is dangerous and illegal so why should it be any different for bikes?

Most cyclists will know differently but the general public won't see beyond "racing". In some ways it kills the grass roots but then again Wiggins, Cavendish, Thomas, Kennaugh etc. all came from a track background!

hoski, and if only the police had powers to do so! Oh wait...

Quote:

“What we are saying is roads are a hostile environment for cyclists and runners without road closures and the way to get a road closure is through the application process,” she explained.

Maybe, y'know, work on sorting out that hostile environment?

I am not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I totally understand the police's point of view. But on the other I know its a bit impractical for club events to close roads, especially if its a monthly sort of thing.

In my eyes. I'd love to see ANY event that calls itself a "race" on closed roads, just for the safety aspect of it.

If you don't want to race and be on open roads, do sportives....