What can be done to stop bike thefts?; Two men chase off gang of bike thieves; Fundraiser for cyclist who was hit by three motorists; Cav goes close; Chris Froome realistic about his chances; Low San Remo audience; Catalunya TT + more on the live blog

Would they let you leave your bike there if it was "vintage"?

I'm guessing that it isn't filming for the pilot of the "Lewis" spinoff "Hathaway"...

That's a bit harsh on Mr Khan (the one quoted here, not the Mayor).

You do realise that Iqbal Khan is one of the eye-witnesses, and not Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London?

RoubaixCube wrote:

Yet Mayor Khan still wants to cut police funding by around £110mil as he mentioned in 2020

He doesn't "want" to - something which anyone with any sense would be able to deduce from the fact that pre-pandemic he devoted an extra £110M of business rates to policing. He will probably have to make the cuts thanks to the fact that London is facing a predicted £493M shortfall in income for the next two years due to Covid and the fact that over the last decade central government has imposed over £1BN in cuts on the Met's direct grant and is demanding a further £600M in cuts by 2024.

Unless you believe that the mayor is responsible for the pandemic and/or the last ten years of coalition/Tory government, blaming him for the cuts is nonsensical.

...and it was his predecessor as mayor, Boris Johnson, who closed police stations in London. The Tories cut 44,000 police officers. That was a move made by Theresa May when she was in charge of the Home Office.

Im well aware that the buck doesnt stop with mayor Khan and its the culmination of 3 or 4 previous governments that have run the police force into the ground. But he is still going to cut funding regardless of any amount it will affect the overall performance and its already bad as it is.

RoubaixCube wrote:

Im well aware that the buck doesnt stop with mayor Khan and its the culmination of 3 or 4 previous governments that have run the police force into the ground. But he is still going to cut funding regardless of any amount it will affect the overall performance and its already bad as it is.

You're well aware it's not his fault but you're still blaming him for it, in other words.

RoubaixCube wrote:

But he is still going to cut funding regardless of any amount it will affect the overall performance and its already bad as it is.

No, it is quite explicit in the article (which you provided) that the emergency services (fire and police) are being protected as much as possible from the brunt of the cuts

"The Met and London Fire Brigade face the smallest percentage cuts because of their critical public safety roles and because they have already been cut over the last decade."

Furthermore:

"The Met police currently has 32,401 officers – up 800 on when Mr Khan became Mayor in May 2016"

I'm not seeing anything to correct my view that you didn't actually read your referenced source. ....

RoubaixCube wrote:

....

Yet Mayor Khan still wants to cut police funding by around £110mil as he mentioned in 2020

.....

"Wants to cut"? why, it's almost as if you didn't read your own source.....

“The scale of the challenge is far beyond anything that any local or regional authority could have prepared for. My first priority is to protect frontline emergency services, which is why we have outlined proportionately smaller savings for the police and fire brigade.”

This video from Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets shows the shocking moment four hooded bike thieves attempted to steal bicycles on a busy Sunday afternoon

All I saw was the pavement?

ChasP wrote:

This video from Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets shows the shocking moment four hooded bike thieves attempted to steal bicycles on a busy Sunday afternoon

All I saw was the pavement?

That's why it says you should watch it full screen.  Zero for comprehension; must try harder.

Full screen the video and you should be able to see a lot more

From the news article on the 10th showing the traffic back to the M4, I'm guessing he had come from Fitton heading out of Bristol which meant the shared use cycle lane was on the wrong side of the road anyway. 

"Dual carriageway" equals "motorway" is how many drivers' brains are programmed. Coupled with bad driver training (how often do you see someone nearly drive into the back of a tractor etc) and an attitude of "if you're on a fast road it's your own fault" the problem will only continue.

In fact, with the number of drivers - mainly van drivers, I have to say - running Netflix or YouTube on their phones while they're driving it's only going to get worse. It's painfully obvious at night: you only have to glance across into their cab and you'll see the video playing.

It is also just off the junction of the M4 and people carry that speed off Motorways, especially if the road is very similar.

I've often felt that motorway off-slips should have chicanes at the bottom - like urban designers love to put in on any cycle lane entrance/exit they can. Preferably a chicane with a 2-foot high speed bump. That'd make drivers scrub their speed and enter the non-motorway road at an appropriate speed. The number of times I've nearly been hit at the M48/Chepstow junction crossing by cars that have clearly barrelled off the M-way is just mad.

If you travel on the German Autobahn network, you'll note that most junctions have fairly tight radius curves. You really do have to step on the brakes as you exit the autobahn. The downside of this is that in wet/icy weather, you do get quite a few crashes.

Has there been any update on the story?  Did the police track down the three motorists who hit him? (three motorists? f-ing h-ll...).

All I found was the initial Bristol Post story on the 10th. Nothing else yet and as it was early, they only had one driver involved at the time. 

Update on Bristol Post today on this story:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/family-devastated-cyclis...

Quote:

Tom Harris, from Bristol, spent five days in a medically induced coma after an A4174 collision involving three cars on March 9.

Doctors told the 20-year-old’s family he had a 10 per cent chance of survival and was living “minute to minute” with “the worst brain injury they had ever seen”. He has since woken but is struggling to form words.

...

Tom ... was cycling to a job interview at 2.30pm when the crash happened.

The family say they have been told that Tom had been riding on his bike, crossing the six-lane dual carriageway, when a car hit him. They have raised questions and concerns about the layout of the junction which has been subject to an expermental traffic order.

The force of the collision threw Tom onto the bonnet of the car behind, and then onto a third car, says [his father] Rich.

and if anyone feels they have low blood pressure this morning...

Quote:

“He wasn’t wearing a helmet,” added the dad. “People don’t realise how dangerous these roads are. We bought all the kids helmets for Christmas, but he wouldn’t wear it, maybe because he thinks it’s silly.

“Both wheels were ripped off the bike, which was just completely mangled. Miraculously Tom only broke one rib, and the doctors think he might have fractured his left leg, but they haven’t been able to X-ray it yet because of his condition.