"Motorists obey the law... Cyclists don't": Adam Boulton at it again; Some parts of London set for 'largest car-free zones in the world; New bright Shimano commuter pedals; Calls for NHS bike sheds; Cops issue nail trap warning + more on the live blog

We’re creating one of the largest low-traffic areas anywhere in the world to help the capital move in a safe way 🌍

Find out about Streetspace for London#StreetspaceLDNhttps://t.co/FBj2qTiZDG pic.twitter.com/rRBU6LGlwH

— Transport for London 🚶🚴 (@TfL) May 15, 2020

The full extent of London's Streetspace plans have been announced, with London's Mayor saying TfL will "make central London one of the largest car-free zones in any capital city in the world, increasing walking and cycling and improving our air quality."

Areas set for car-free zones include streets between London Bridge and Shoreditch,
Euston and Waterloo and Old Street and Holborn. More streets will see space repurposed for cyclists and pedestrians, while London's cycling network is also set to be added to. 

"London's road to recovery cannot be clogged with cars", reiterated Khan. 

Motorists obey the law and face sanctions if they don't. Cyclists don't but should. https://t.co/rS71jthI0g

— Adam Boulton (@adamboultonSKY) May 15, 2020

The Mayor of London has to make walking and cycling easier to ease pressure on public transport. Here’s a journalist whose sole line of questioning on this serious issue is a solid two minutes of nonsense about “clamping down” on people cycling pic.twitter.com/VUM4IiSDxs

— Mark Treasure (@AsEasyAsRiding) May 15, 2020

The sweeping statement from the Sky News Editor-at-large has provoked a strong and baffled reaction online - as did his interview with Sadiq Khan - with many pointing him to numerous statistics related to traffic incidents in the UK. 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
*gasps*
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA pic.twitter.com/FiLo9UcOWB

— Jon (@ormondroyd) May 15, 2020

Road tax abolished in 1930s. Vehicle Excise Duty based on emissions. My car and my bikes both zero rated. Pick any set of traffic lights in the country and I'll show you motorists going through at red. There are bad cyclists and bad drivers. Bad drivers kill more. pic.twitter.com/51y191p1Nq

— Ruaridh Browne (@RuarBro) May 15, 2020

https://t.co/mgOaigY5oJ

— Hackney Cyclist (@Hackneycyclist) May 15, 2020

That's got nothing to do with research. My points were about enforcement, which @SadiqKhan didn't answer. https://t.co/wd1bpB5TDl

— Adam Boulton (@adamboultonSKY) May 15, 2020

Boulton claims his points were about 'enforcement' and not incidents, although others have noted that many drivers don't "obey the law", and a large proportion of motoring offences don't face sanctions that would be deemed strong enough in the eyes of many. 

Come on Adam not this again - you can do better.
There are over 1 million uninsured drivers in this country and a hit and run with an uninsured driver every 3 days.
But yeah motorists obey the law, right?

— Andrew 🇬🇧🇧🇪🇪🇺 (@TwoWheeledAndy) May 15, 2020

Very funny. The vast majority of motorists do not always obey the law on speed limits, safe passing distances among other things, yet only a fraction of transgressions are ever reported, let alone prosecuted.

— AledElwyn (@aledelwyn) May 15, 2020

Boulton has form for being anti-cycling - in 2017 he penned a rant in the Sunday Times, claiming "a backlash could be stirring against cyclophilia" and accusing the UK of having "a senseless worship of bicycles”. 

Boulton is yet to back up his claims with evidence or statistics, which road.cc awaits with great anticipation. 

According to @ciclo21 there are two teams interested in signing Froome and one of them is Team Movistar: https://t.co/CASo4qRnhh

— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) May 14, 2020

Although according to Gazzetta dello Sport an Ineos source has claimed any talk of a transfer is fake news, while reportedly admitting that there's a chance he won't be the team's leader when racing resumes.

After growing instances of theft outside hospital entrances across the UK - described as "disturbing" by Spokes Lothian Cycling Campaign spokesperson David French - his fellow Spokes member Professor Chris Oliver has called for 24-hour secure bike sheds to be made mandatory on all NHS Lothian sites. 

The former surgeon told The Edinburgh Evening News: "It’s very upsetting for doctors and nurses to come back to their bike to discover it’s been systematically vandalised for parts or completely stolen. It should be mandatory that NHS Lothian and Edinburgh University provide secure safe bike parking for staff that need to travel to work by cycle.

"It’s no excuse that poor cycling infrastructure persists, especially with the recent move to more active travel with the pandemic."

A 29-year-old doctor who had her bike stolen by a thief who was shown on CCTV spending 10 minutes to snap her lock in half believes that some criminals are turning to bike theft beause shops are closed. 

Police in Lothian say they are reviewng CCTV of the thefts. 

A number of the comments on the Cleveland Police Facebook page have took issue with the warning that offenders could be 'potentially' be left with a criminal record for planting nail traps in wooded areas. Hopefully it will be considerably more than a slap on the wrist for those responsible if they are caught...

🌬 Ventilation
🎶 Distractions
🍌 Nutrition @ChrisFroome reveals his top three tips for indoor training 🚴‍♂️

Watch the full episode of Lockdown Lowdown with @aimee_fuller here: https://t.co/5xwVQkZ6zd pic.twitter.com/Qry8tECTJq

— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) May 14, 2020

In an interview on Eurosport's 'Lockdown Lowdown' show, Froome says that decent fans, musical or visual distractions and some food within easy reach are the three top things he'd recommend for a better home training experience. Interesting that the four-time Tour champ chose to wear a plain black hoody rather than Team Ineos kit in this video... anything in those rumours, we wonder? 

Earlier this month, images of these shocking traps buried in the woods went viral after a cyclist was forced to call for a lift home when the traps punctured both of his tyres; and it's now reached the sad state of affairs where police are asking the public to be "cautious", because it's believed more have been planted, and will continue to be planted over the weekend. People are also still posting more pictures of traps across social media. 

Please share if you are planning on exercising in the below areas over the weekend.

Officers are warning people over potential nail traps being planted in wooded areas in @EastCleveNPT pic.twitter.com/0dApvnpXJQ

— Cleveland Police (@ClevelandPolice) May 14, 2020

Marske woods today, well placed tree layed over a trail, someone is going to get seriously hurt soon pic.twitter.com/EMYaKhlh7d

— andy jackson (@smogmonster9) May 14, 2020

Cleveland Police also added that anyone caught planting traps will be arrested. The Independent spoke to Mary Lanigan, leader of Redcar and Cleveland District Council, who believes the campaign is most likely the work of warped self-styled 'vigilantes' who take issue with people exercising in rural areas during the pandemic. She said: “This isn’t the work of kids. They started appearing not long after the lockdown so I’m not sure it’s a coincidence but … whoever it is, it is shocking. It is stupid. What they’re doing, it could cause unimaginable injury to someone. It has to stop.”

“People have a right to exercise here. If the people putting these horrific traps think they may be helping in some way, all they will do is add to the pressures on our hospitals.”

Yesterday, police in North Yorkshire said they were interviewing two women who admitted on camera to planting traps when they were confronted by a 17-year-old cyclist. 

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