Cyclists don't pay 'road tax'! (Except this one slapped with £1,500 bill); CyclingMikey interview; Maxine Peake talks Festive 500 on The One Show; Jan Ullrich rubbishes rehab rumours; Injured Van der Poel ends CX season; Cafe ride + more on the live blog

I surprisingly had an email from WMP from a submission I made last night. The email was asking for me to resubmit as the Statement page hadn't loaded properly. The ref number I was told to append already showed over 30 submissions to them from the start of the year that they had accepted. At least I know my submissions are being looked at which is something I never had sight of before, I'm more inclined to add to the number. 

Bedfordshire have a new system and seem very keen. The response is very generic but it was sent back literally within hours of the submission. As you say it's encouraging.

IanMK wrote:

Bedfordshire have a new system and seem very keen. The response is very generic but it was sent back literally within hours of the submission. As you say it's encouraging.

This looks similar to Herts (I think actually they might both use the same portal along with Cambs)

Beds, Herts and Cambs have a combined Road Policing Unit.

Yes, that's the dodge letter with 'these options include the following...', which then allows them to comply with it but do nothing at all, or give 'words of advice'. The Lancashire version is even more suspect as it cunningly slides in the phrase 'may include'.

I wasn't trying to make it sound like it was a great response, it's just "encouraging" to get a fast response to tell you that they've reviewed the footage and they are taking positive action. TVP by comparison feels more like a black hole for footage.

I got a "Positive outcome letter" from Lincs police within 2 days, and the wording was stronger with the phrase

"we are satisfied that one of the following actions is necessary to proceed with this matter:

Warning
Conditional offer of a diversionary course
Conditional offer of fixed penalty

Proceed to court"

As you say, not perfect but at least someone is reviewing the footage and recognises a close pass when they see one.

SimoninSpalding wrote:

Conditional offer of a diversionary course

Does that mean they're made to take the long way home?

I think so. Hopefully the conditions are that it is on a unicycle wearing a pink sock on their head.

"we are satisfied that one of the following actions is necessary to proceed with this matter:

Warning
Conditional offer of a diversionary course
Conditional offer of fixed penalty

Proceed to court"

Good for Lincolnshire. It is possible to produce a simple non-evasive letter, so the forces which persist with the evasive ones are presumed to be going for 'nothing' or 'words of advice'.

Yep, WMP always felt like a Black Hole so to at least know they deifinitely have seen it is an uplift.

Yes, with the wtjs hat on, it shows nothing and you never find out if they followed through but at least it states they think it is bad enough. And if it is a warning letter or even the words of advice is given, it might make the driver more aware in future. 

wtjs wrote:

Yes, that's the dodge letter with 'these options include the following...', which then allows them to comply with it but do nothing at all, or give 'words of advice'. The Lancashire version is even more suspect as it cunningly slides in the phrase 'may include'.

perhaps, although speaking directly with Herts it means that they will take action. They told me that they are specific in their communication if they decide NFA.

Interesting rear camera set up.

Anyone know how it is done?

hirsute wrote:

Interesting rear camera set up.

Anyone know how it is done?

Probably some kind of Nut-R

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/04/gopro-bike-wheel-mount.html

I hope their engineering is better than their website as their certificate expired back in May (for the love of Chris, automate your certificate renewals!)

https://www.nut-r.co.uk/

It's an excellent piece and explains his motives really well.

does it matter though ? he still rode more miles than people sitting in a car or on the sofa do, he did the Ride London 100 miles as well, thats something Ive never done,thanks to its cancellation. But so frankly I wouldnt care if half the population looked like clowns on bikes, theyd be riding bikes and thats for me the far more important thing.

Awavey wrote:

does it matter though ? he still rode more miles than people sitting in a car or on the sofa do, he did the Ride London 100 miles as well, thats something Ive never done,thanks to its cancellation. But so frankly I wouldnt care if half the population looked like clowns on bikes, theyd be riding bikes and thats for me the far more important thing.

Exactly! We need to get as many clowns as possible out of cars and onto bikes (though I do worry about their oversized shoes clipping the front wheel).

hawkinspeter wrote:

We need to get as many clowns as possible out of cars and onto bikes (though I do worry about their oversized shoes clipping the front wheel).

At least there's no need to worry about whether they have a bell fitted - a quick squeeze of the nose should do the job.

I think the fietsorkest should open the show - they've got several horns and no doubt bells could be incorporated.

Awavey wrote:

does it matter though ? he still rode more miles than people sitting in a car or on the sofa do, he did the Ride London 100 miles as well, thats something Ive never done,thanks to its cancellation. But so frankly I wouldnt care if half the population looked like clowns on bikes, theyd be riding bikes and thats for me the far more important thing.

I can confirm I passed Bozzo on Boxhill.  As to whether he did the whole thing?   I had an early start, and whilst I am not the fastest, I was a bit surprised that he was at least half way round before I caught him.

I said something witty and derogatory as I passed, but can't remember what it was now.  If I had been able to see the future...

Yep, I missed out on that in 2020 as well even though I had got it through the flukey extra chance method. 

Cycling infrastructure advocates, those generally in favour of active travel etc, are going to miss Boris when he is gone. Before his second term as mayor the only half decent infra on my commute was in Camden. As PM he has funded LTN's and authorised the installation of pop up cycle lanes across the country.

I cannot think of another politician who 'gets' cycling like Boris does. With him in power active travel gets a sympathetic hearing and routes have been pushed thru' despite opposition from the highways authority and dinosaur local authorities.

When Boris goes, cycling will be wholly ignored again. Sadly, cronyism and short-term thinking will not be going with him.

Boris is a vanity project enthusiast and that is the driver for "infrastructure" not cycling. The fact that led to a few bits of road being painted blue in London (rather slippery when it rained if I recall) does not make him a supporter of cycling. He has done nothing to improve safety of cyclists outside of urban areas, and is completely in hock to oil funded car obsessed back bench tories, like my own "representative" John Hayes.

Ultimately paint and bollards solves nothing until legislation is updated to recognise the seriousness of driving offences, and the fact that he has found no means to do this in 2 years with an 80 seat parliamentary majority says everything I need to know about his commitment to cycling. He has however managed to bring forward repressive legislation that if passed will make it an offence to be annoying.

I far prefer riding along the Embankment on a fully segregated cycle lane to the promise that if I am struck by a vehicle that the driver will be held to account!

YMMV but record numbers of trips on the Embankment and Royal College Street etc point to a demand for better infrastructure. 
 

andyp wrote:

TAX (ROAD) YOUR PAY. Did Yoda write this?

I suspect swldxer

American roads have marking like this. Where the words are written in this order

The rest of the world writes their on road signs with the words as you come to them (considering you're not in a helicopter looking down; you're driving on a flat road).

And for some reason they assume that you can only read one word at a time without a break.

Or perhaps they're trying to generate a bit of mystery and excitement to keep the driver's attention on the road.