"Read the Highway Code!": Confrontational close pass van driver fined £220; Bernal needs second spinal operation; Pidcock's rainbow bands; "Particularly British" anti-cycling sentiment; G rumbled by Phil Gaimon; But cyclists + more on the live blog

The whole piece is terrible

“However, our latest research found that more than almost three in four (72 percent) drivers found the new rules confusing, which can be concerning as these are put in place to help keep all road users safe.

“In particular, more than half of drivers said that they felt confused about pedestrian priority at junctions."

In order to do some proper research, they should have found out drivers' knowledge of the previous HC. I would bet a good sum the same number or more had no idea about giving way to peds at junctions or not overtaking slower users in traffic calming.

Exact same story cut and pasted in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle. More like a paid for advert for this media chain than a story...

Moist von Lipwig wrote:

Exact same story cut and pasted in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle. More like a paid for advert for this media chain than a story...

All of the 'local newspaper' sites run by Reach are run from a very small group of 'hubs' rather than genuine 'local news'.

That's why you'll read a story on the Bristol Post website and find its actually about John Smith of Sheffield, or on the Yorkshire Evening Post site and find it's about Alice Brown of Dunstable...

I want to know where all these amazing cyclists that are going so fast that they are able to floor it sufficiently to undertake (or overtaking) cars on a generally free flowing road everytime they reach a left or right turn.

Maybe they are thinking more of the situation where a cyclist, filtering past a queue of slow moving cars, comes alongside one already indicating to turn. So no superhuman burst of speed is required.

"how they can challenge the new Highway Code"

That was last year under what is known as a consultation which lasted many months...

Lordy! Thank the Deity of your choice that these dufuses decided to meet via Zoom. Can you imagine the carnage if they all attempted to drive to a destination using their personal internal versions of the HC.

There's a new character on my morning commute - coming in the opposite direction. A person on a motor scooter. He sits in  primary position, as he should, and presumably can hit the dizzy heights of 30mph (it's a 60mph single carriage way A road). The queue of cars behind him is massive (literally dozens) as there's little opportunity to overtake at that time in the morning. I do wonder if he is subject to the same level of vitriol on line as cyclists are when they hold a driver up for a few seconds.

I commented similar previously, Moped and Restricted Motorbikes seem to be considered appropriate to take up the lane and be passed with respect.

Wait until the Citreon Ami hits the UK roads, that is going to be a rolling roadblock.

Awavey wrote:

I see ATE advertising for another new hire, this time it's a Director of Inspections. https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1769203 However one of the requirements is a track record of successfully changing the status quo for walking & cycling in highways schemes. So that pretty much rules out everyone in the UK apart from ATEs interim commissioner.

Not so.  Some councillors for example changed the (recent) status quo for cycling and walking (emergency Covid measures) by ripping them out saying this was for everyone's benefit...

Awavey wrote:

I see ATE advertising for another new hire, this time it's a Director of Inspections. https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1769203 However one of the requirements is a track record of successfully changing the status quo for walking & cycling in highways schemes. So that pretty much rules out everyone in the UK apart from ATEs interim commissioner.

Andrew Gilligan?

And that Boris Johnson bloke might be looking for a new job soon.

Steve K wrote:

Awavey wrote:

I see ATE advertising for another new hire, this time it's a Director of Inspections. https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1769203 However one of the requirements is a track record of successfully changing the status quo for walking & cycling in highways schemes. So that pretty much rules out everyone in the UK apart from ATEs interim commissioner.

Andrew Gilligan?

And that Boris Johnson bloke might be looking for a new job soon.

Relax, folks. Anybody with a Dutch accent would demonstrate both a clearer grasp of the active travel issues and a better grasp of coherent English.

mdavidford wrote:

Quote:

Egan Bernal to undergo second spinal injury

Seems like questions need to be asked about Ineos' training plans if they're scheduling them in now.

Good spot, we'll get that changed.

That tweet lead me to this gem !

https://twitter.com/CycleCalm/status/1488643055439777796

hirsute wrote:

That tweet lead me to this gem !

https://twitter.com/CycleCalm/status/1488643055439777796

I saw that one.  If you ask me, the real idiot in that clip isn't the car driver (she made a mistake but she realised - perhaps with help - and rectified it) but the van driver behind who must be able to see what's happening but carries on going forward and almost prevents her returning to the car lane.

Tbf to the van driver they probably werent terribly keen to get stuck in that box junction,which is monitored by the cctv camera on the lamppost to the right, by the actions of another driver, even if it's by mistake.

As the fine would just be automatically issued and theyd then have to appeal, and very few appeals work on those and even those that do generally get taken all the way to court, and explain the exit was clear, but they had to stop because the daft car driver wanted to drive up a cycle lane.

I dont think it would have been that much of a disaster to just let the van go and then the car driver sorts themselves out.

Steve K wrote:

That car crash in Hackney - I trust any reports on the occupant's injuries will focus on whether or not they were wearing a helmet?

Hopefully if there's video it can be put on youtube and everyone can laugh and joke about it...like they did with the cyclists crashing on ice in Holland...

A couple of years ago, I nearly got run over on a pavement by a driver who wanted to go to a cashpoint. It didn't seem to occur to the driver that I neither had eyes in the back of my head, nor was obliged to give way to allow them to park on the pavement.

The partner in the passenger seat seemed to think it was appropriate to threaten me when I gave the driver one of my special Paddington hard stares as I held my ground after first leaping out the way. Motorists even believe they have right of way on pavements.

It's not the first time I've had motorists mount pavements and expect me to move out of their way. They never take it well when you point out things like kerbs, yellow lines and no unloading signs. Which reminds me of the time someone I knew almost ran me over when I stepped out of the opticians and they drove full along the wide pavement. (here https://goo.gl/maps/1egyQs7SCBCRAtcn6)

I had one driver justify nearly mowing me down on the pavement because I was reading a paper.

hawkinspeter wrote:

According to the Bristol Post, some poor horse rider got threatened by a driver so it's not just cyclists getting abuse:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/horse-rider-upset-scared-after-6582770

Quote:

She said she was out horse riding with a friend when a car reversed out of a parking bay without looking behind, nearly hitting the horses.

Ms Falango said the woman - who she said was driving an Audi TT - then started swearing at them and followed them down the High Street.

The horse rider said: "She was revving the engine and drove at my horse's hind legs, swerving at last minute but brushing her tail with the car.

"My youngster nearly sat on her bonnet with fright.

"This could have been a serious accident and people like this should be punished.

"We both wore Hi Vis and are responsible, polite riders."

Ms Falango, from Stoke Gifford, said she was left upset and scared after the incident as she has had problems before but it has always been on main roads.

The 39-year-old said she was very surprised by what happened, adding that she was not expecting to see a "hooligan" like that on a Sunday morning on Chipping Sodbury's High Street.

shame the horse didn't kick the car

Shame the horse didn't sit on the bonnet !

hirsute wrote:

Shame the horse didn't sit on the bonnet !

LOL reminds me of visiting a rural site with access through a horse field, as we were left we watched a horse rubbing it's arse on the car of our colleague in front. The whole car was shaking.

When you need to scratch...