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“Is one minute of your time worth someone’s life?” Zero cyclists injured since new bike lane installed – while driving times barely change; Cyclist blasted for “too bright” lights… and no hi-vis; Is a muddy Roubaix on the way? + more on the live blog

It’s Thursday and Ryan Mallon’s here with more cycling news and gossip on the last live blog before Paris-Roubaix (and Easter too, of course)
Thu, Apr 06, 2023 09:55
76

SUMMARY

“Is one minute of your time worth someone’s life?” Zero cyclists injured since new bike lane installed – while driving times barely change; Cyclist blasted for “too bright” lights… and no hi-vis; Is a muddy Roubaix on the way? + more on the live blogCyclists ride in new cycle lane in support of cycling infrastructure in Maryland (credit - gwhennigan, Twitter)
06 April 2023, 16:13
Happy Easter everyone! Now, time for a weekend in Hell

That’s it for the live blog this week. I hope you all have a wonderful – and mud-filled – Paris-Roubaix weekend...

06 April 2023, 16:10
The Women’s Tour, the future of British cycling, and a wet and windy on-bike interview all feature in the latest episode of the road.cc Podcast
06 April 2023, 08:08
Cyclists ride in new cycle lane in support of cycling infrastructure in Maryland (credit - gwhennigan, Twitter)
“Is one minute of your time worth someone’s life?” Report says zero cyclists have been involved in collisions since protected bike lane was added – while travel times for motorists have barely changed

We’re kicking things off on our pre-Easter live blog with a trip across the Atlantic, where a report on a new segregated bike lane in the Mid-Atlantic state of Maryland – which was, surprise, surprise, vehemently opposed by some local motorists – has shown that no cyclists or pedestrians were involved in collisions in the six months since the protected infrastructure was installed.

In comparison, in the nine months before the bike lane was put in place, six pedestrians and cyclists were injured in collisions involving vehicles, while one cyclist was killed after being struck by a driver.

According to MoCo360, last year over 8,000 people signed a petition opposing the installation of a protected bike lane and high visibility pedestrian crossings on the Old Georgetown Road in North Bethesda.

The opposition to changes on the road, where 18-year-old cyclist Enzo Marcel Alvarenga was killed in a collision involving a motorist last June, were based on – as these things often are – concerns that the changes would extend the commuting time of drivers and confuse them.

So, what about the poor motorists? To what extent have they been affected by a new road layout which has so far succeeded in keeping the most vulnerable road users from being injured or killed?

Well, they’ve been delayed by a whole 30 seconds, even a minute, in one direction, at certain times of the day.

According to a report released by the Maryland State Highway Administration earlier this week, travel times for motorists heading northbound in the morning has increased by seven percent, or half a minute, since the bike lane was installed, while in the afternoon those travelling in the same direction face a stifling minute-long delay.

Heading southbound, travel times have barely been affected at all, and are currently sitting around pre-bike lane levels.

While local state delegate Marc Korman said that the whole thing was about “finding the right balance” (between road safety and motorists’ impatience, apparently), several cyclists on Twitter praised the report as evidence that “protected bike lanes are working”:

Of course, some angry motorists still aren’t impressed, kicking off a few debates:

Well, it’s nice to know that these arguments happen all over the world, eh?

06 April 2023, 16:07
Reader reaction: Time saving vs a cyclist’s life – what would you prioritise?

“Is one minute of your time worth someone’s life?” was the universal question posed by an American cyclist, after motorists in Maryland continued to oppose a new protected cycle lane because it added time to their commutes, despite a recently published state report noting that the cycle lane’s effect on drivers’ travel times was negligible.

So, is someone’s life worth the same as one minute of your time?

“I think the problem is that a lot of people might answer that with a loud ‘YES’,” road.cc reader brooksby noted in today’s comments section.

Benthic agreed, writing: “That's quite a different question to, ‘Is one minute of your time worth a cyclist’s life?’, in the mind of your average motorist.”

“Given the multiple daily examples many of us can cite where a driver has put either our own or other road users lives in danger, often just to save mere seconds, it feels a rhetorical question to pose,” says Awavey.

“Or indeed to save no seconds at all,” agrees Rendel, “given the substantial number of London drivers I experience every day making dubious overtakes and close passes in order to get to the red light that's clearly visible up ahead a bit more quickly.”

“But it's a minute EVERY DAY!...” pondered ktache. Sarcastically, of course…

06 April 2023, 15:48
The “Poundland Jeremy Vine” strikes again!

A classic (and thoroughly terrifying) case of phone driving here – did she even look up once? – which ensured the distracted, and obviously very popular, motorist picked up six points and a £200 fine…

… While also spawning a new nickname for Twitter user ThatGuyOnTheBike: the ‘Poundland Jeremy Vine’.

Turns out the OG Jezza Vine approves:

06 April 2023, 15:39
‘Pog did what at Flanders? Hold my beer’: Jonas Vingegaard grabs second stage win in a row with long-range Basque Country attack

He may be following the more traditional approach to the Tour de France compared to his cannibalistic rival Tadej Pogačar, but reigning Tour champ Jonas Vingegaard is proving that his form is just as on point, securing his second stage win in a row at the Tour of the Basque Country this afternoon.

Vingegaard even took a leaf out of the Pog playbook, attacking alongside Mikel Landa with 20km to go, before practically dragging the Spaniard to the line and then beating him in the sprint, all while holding off a small group of chasers behind.

Roll on July…  

06 April 2023, 15:00
UCI wants to ban Scottish mountain biker… because he’s sponsored by OnlyFans

Slow riding on cobbled climbs, sock height, sponsorships by adult subscription services… Is there anything the UCI won’t clamp down upon?

Hein and Pat, quiet at the back…

In the governing body’s latest quest to protect its glistening reputation (Hi, it’s Travis Tygart on the line), the UCI have sent a letter to Scottish pro mountain biker Lewis Buchanan, warning him that he won’t be able to take part in any of their races unless he drops his new sponsor, OnlyFans.

According to Innerleithen-born enduro rider Buchanan, the UCI told him that his deal with the subscription service (don’t pretend you’ve never heard of it) violates article 1.1.089 of their regulations, which states that:

Without prejudice of the applicable law, no brand of tobacco, spirits, pornographic products, or any other products that might damage the image of the UCI or the sport of cycling in general shall be associated directly or indirectly with a licence–holder, a UCI team or a national or international cycling competition.

Hmmm… the UCI were awful quiet about image-damaging sponsors when they let Ineos (petro-chemical fracking enthusiasts), Amgen (EPO manufacturers), and a host of oil states with dodgy human rights records walk brazenly through the front door of their HQ in Aigle.

> Cycling's most controversial sponsors

And speaking of the kind of thing OnlyFans subscribers enjoy, the UCI also seemed nonplussed about erotic website EasyToys sponsoring what was previously known as the Healthy Ageing Tour, complete with, ahem, interesting prizes for the winners of each state…

> “Prizes in women’s cycling are improving”: Ellen van Dijk awarded X-rated giftset – including sex toy and blindfold – after winning time trial

“As much as I’ve had criticism for my deal with OnlyFans for whatever reason, the positivity and understanding my supporters and fans have had has outweighed all that and it’s really allowing me to live a mint life, create more connections that can lead to life after riding and travel more and do more of what I love, which is riding and racing bikes,” Buchanan wrote on Instagram this week.

“The UCI are not really interested in learning more or being educated on it… so shame there. I wonder if OnlyFans came along and dumped a ton of cash and wanted to help the sport in a way, if that opinion/rule would be slid away a tad.”

Nail. Head.

06 April 2023, 14:28
MailOnline takes aim at cyclists for not using “rollercoaster” bike lane... that is “littered with stones” and “stops and starts all the way along”

As promised earlier today... 

Dorset cycle lane (credit - BCP Matters, Facebook)

> MailOnline takes aim at cyclists for not using “rollercoaster” bike lane... that is “littered with stones” and “stops and starts all the way along”

06 April 2023, 13:47
“Is this a picture of the old badly-designed, dangerous roads?” Department for Transport road safety graphic blasted for “representing bad practice”

The poor graphic designers at the Department for Transport will have a sleepless Easter break, after a graphic published alongside the DfT’s latest road safety announcement, has been widely panned on social media.

This morning, the DfT announced that it is committing £47.5 million to target 27 of England’s “most dangerous roads”. The scheme aims to enhance road safety measures on these high-risk roads by improving signage and road markings, and re-designing junctions.

However, the graphic accompanying the announcement – which features cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists navigating a road seemingly under construction – could have done with its own redesign, after several Twitter users noted that the road layout is not quite up to the DfT’s own standards:

Or maybe the DfT is just being clever, and showing us how desperate the situation on our roads has become? Maybe…

Meanwhile, road safety supremo Mark Hodson was on hand to note the biggest threat on our roads:

06 April 2023, 13:00
Audrey Cordon-Ragot (A.S.O/Thomas Maheux)
Audrey Cordon-Ragot bags new team – just in time for Paris-Roubaix

It’s been a rough few months for French champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot.

The former Trek-Segafredo rider was, along with Mark Cavendish, the highest profile star to be burned by the hubristic rise and dramatic fall of the B&B Hotels venture last autumn, and then, after ending up on the Zaaf team, has spent most of 2023 not being paid.

So, after finally losing patience with Zaaf and quitting the team last week, the 33-year-old – who was spotted, rather tellingly, by VeloNews training on the cobbles of northern France yesterday – appears to have found a new home, just in time for Paris-Roubaix.

At least that’s what the ever leaky UCI website appears to be suggesting:

Talk about leaving it late…

06 April 2023, 12:02
Give me all your funky colour schemes

 I like the homage to cycling history of this one…

2023 Trek ALR 6 - 2.jpeg

But I also like the airy wistfulness of this…

2023 Trek ALR 5 - 1.jpeg

Decisions, decisions…

> Is Trek’s new road bike really aluminium? Updated Émonda ALR features new frame with Kammtail aero tubing and fully integrated cables 

06 April 2023, 11:32
“I guess Roubaix is really not my race”: FDJ-Suez’s Vittoria Guazzini fractures pelvis during Paris-Roubaix recon ride

Devastating news for the in-form Italian, who was nervous about her return to the Hell of the North following her heavy crash at the 2021 edition.

The 22-year-old had been, until her fall during the closing stages of FDJ’s recon ride yesterday, looking impressive all spring, securing two podium places at Le Samyn and the Trofeo Binda, as well as a fourth at Dwars door Vlaanderen last week.

Grace Brown and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig will be expected to lead the French team in Guazzini’s absence over the treacherous cobbles of northern France on Saturday.

06 April 2023, 11:02
“Absolute mystery why no-one is using this cycle lane”

It looks like the bike lane every anti-cycling enthusiast loves to hate is back in the news this week, with even a stone-filled, rollercoaster-like surface not enough to convince the Daily Mail that cyclists can, actually, if they want, ride on the road – even when a (rubbish) cycle lane is nearby…

We’ll have more on the Mail’s bike lane fetish soon, but here’s a taster of some of the baffled reaction from the cycling world:

Over in yesterday’s live blog comments, road.cc reader Shake wrote: “I rode down that road recently, and as can be seen in that photo, it's so littered with stones you're almost guaranteed a puncture. Plus as you would expect, the lane stops and starts all the way along the road.”

But go on, tell us why it should be “illegal” for cyclists to ignore the cycle lane…

06 April 2023, 10:39
Idiotic arguments for cyclists paying ‘road tax’, #372

Just when you thought you’d seen every possible anti-cycling argument on the internet, some eejit comes up with this whopper on why “cyclists should pay for cycle lanes if they want to use them”:

06 April 2023, 10:22
Sing, Michael, sing…
06 April 2023, 09:57
Scottish cycling fans, get excited…

‘They (in this case, Mathieu van der Poel and Lotte Kopecky, probably) may take our rainbow jerseys, but they’ll never take our freedom!’ 

06 April 2023, 09:29
Schrödinger’s Cyclist: Driver says cyclist’s light is “too bright”… then blasts him for not wearing “hi-vis”

Some have suggested that this particular exchange may well belong in the internet’s notorious ‘Didn’t Happen’ hall of fame… But judging by the replies, the van driver’s impressive display of motoring doublethink isn’t an isolated phenomenon:

 Can’t believe you left the house without your reflectors, Wayne…

Graeme even claimed that he was once pulled over by the police for being, wait for it, “too visible”:

Maybe, as some pointed out, the van driver wasn’t actually that concerned about the cyclist’s attire and kit, and was more interested in his ongoing game of anti-cycling bingo (inspired by a certain Mail article from yesterday)…

And finally, Robert came along on the thread to ask the pertinent questions:

06 April 2023, 08:55
The news we all want to hear on the Thursday before Paris-Roubaix weekend

Unfortunately, the current weather forecast is showing far too much sunshine in Roubaix come Friday evening for my liking. But we can all live in hope…

Ryan Mallon

After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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76 comments

Avatar
Hirsute | 1 year ago
5 likes

//pbs.twimg.com/media/FtBP4L8XgAAF-_k?format=png&name=medium)

https://twitter.com/drewsnx/status/1643901767430619141

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chrisonabike replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
4 likes

Yep - this sounds silly but that's how it works.  Given the existence of "pedestrian flags" for you to wave when you're crossing a massive road this doesn't seem particularly far-fetched.  Perhaps everyone needs to have a tall flag attached to their head, or just an app to let the cars know you're there, without which you're liable...

Notjustbikes has a long rant on how the particular SUV / pickup thing came about.  The same applied to the rise of mass motoring in general however.  The 3rd frame here reflects on the extremely successful PR which lead to the invention of jaywalking - here's a real conspiracy for you, LTN-worriers!

The market is driving (ha) the fashion.  Generally true but while we may accept that for (non-fatal) clothes or food fads this should give us pause when we're talking about a free-for-all on public space and safety.  (To say nothing of resource over use now this has reached our collective consciousness).

Legislation is (at best) struggling to "fix" the side-effects of having "nice things".  Which someone carefully designed so they'd seem nice, lobbied for and marketed ("don't be left out" / "you NEED one for your kids now everyone else has one").

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Hirsute replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
4 likes

You linked that suv one before - the 35 mins flew by* and the guy is a great presenter.

* started on my phone thinking it was only 7 or 8 mins but carried on as I was so engrossed.

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chrisonabike replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
4 likes

Yep - but worth repeating because there was quite a bit of "why not just let people drive what they want" / "objectors to these are really just envious or using these as a proxy for other discontents" on here.

Some of the antis may indeed be doing the latter.  However these vehicles were not flogged to the public because the public were desparate for them.  It started as a dodge (ho!) around some regulation of the motor industry.  I think it's all well-covered in the video.

One or two may not be destroying the world, but they're being pushed in volume.

There really isn't anything good about these things.

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ktache replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
2 likes

A chunk of afternoon just vanished.

I may have seen it before too.

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Adam Sutton replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
0 likes

LMAO

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Cyclingjon1959 | 1 year ago
3 likes

According to a report released by the Maryland State Highway Administration earlier this week, travel times for motorists heading northbound in the morning has increased by seven percent, or half a minute, since the bike lane was installed, while in the afternoon those travelling in the same direction face a stifling minute-long delay.

This equates to a staggering average journey time of just over 4 minutes, for a 30 second delay.
Just a suggestion but if the commute is that short, it may be quicker to go by bike.

Avatar
Rik Mayals unde... | 1 year ago
3 likes

I was recently accosted by a driver who told me that my front light was too bright, on 150 lumens. He then screamed off in his supercharged Range Rover SVR, which comes with 3000 lumen lights. Two of them, one in each corner!

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Awavey | 1 year ago
3 likes

Maybe the DfTs graphic is designed to distract you from asking the more obvious relevant questions about what criteria makes these dangerous roads? and what improvements are being made to them?

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Adam Sutton | 1 year ago
9 likes

Daily mail and Twitter, I mean seriously? If I want shitty hands I will use cheap bogroll rather than read any of that.

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Samtheeagle | 1 year ago
10 likes

Re the Cycle Lane.  I have been in meetings discussing new developments where the transport planner has shown drawings of similar in their proposals.  New commuter routes for active travel should not be interrupted every 5metres by an access route used by a residential car x2.  This is just a recipe for disaster. Harder to avoid in this setting where it is added retrospectively in available space.  However, in new build it is unforgivable. 

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Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
15 likes

The cyclist not using the cycle path appears to be a well equipped sports cyclist who could easily be riding over 18 mph and so would be obeying DoT guidance to use the road at such a speed. I'm sure if she had been on the cycle path the Mail would have taken its usual heads we win tails you lose approach and run an article on killer cyclists storming down the cycle path at speeds in excess of 20 mph just inches from innocent pedestrians.

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wycombewheeler replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
0 likes

Rendel Harris wrote:

The cyclist not using the cycle path appears to be a well equipped sports cyclist who could easily be riding over 18 mph and so would be obeying DoT guidance to use the road at such a speed.

I thought that applied to shared use paths, in this case the cycle lane is clearly seperate from the footway.

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S13SFC replied to wycombewheeler | 1 year ago
4 likes

12mph for shared use.

 

18mph for cycle lanes.

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Rendel Harris replied to wycombewheeler | 1 year ago
1 like

12 on shared pavement/path, 18 on segregated cycle tracks.

ETA sorry now seen S13SFC had already answered.

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Awavey | 1 year ago
4 likes

Will the look at the cycle lane the Mail doesn't like ask the council why they've built it like that ?

They had the space, the money & seemingly will to do something,so why not build proper decent segregated infra to the LTN 1/20 standards, then you dont end up with some weird red pavement !?!?

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IanMK replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
3 likes

Yesterday, on the live blog, Seventyone (with the benefit of local knowledge) said that he did not recognise that stretch as being part of the "controversial" road narrowing schemeon the B7073 in Wimborne. It certainly doesn't look the same - it's not as wide and it's RED. See all the other photos in the article.

I wondered if anyone else recognised the location? Perhaps the Daily Fail can't ask the local council because they don't know where it is?

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David9694 replied to IanMK | 1 year ago
2 likes

The "controversial" Wimborne cycle lane is pretty good and as far as I can recall doesn't have this red surface treatment. I'll see if my Easter plans take me in that direction. There were some driver whinges about some road width being removed when it went in. 
 

A big fat "so what?" from me, wherever it turns out to be. 

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hutchdaddy replied to IanMK | 1 year ago
2 likes

The road is the road from Wimborne Minster to the "hamburger" roundabout. Which has a 30mph speed limit which most drivers ignore. The cycle path despite being new suffers from all the usual defects that you would expect. The road is plenty wide enough, but drivers are marginally less likely to try and squeeze past when overtaking than before the cycle lane was added. There is loads of new housing currently being built along the south side of the road, for those that choose to use it the cycle lane will be an alternative to sharing a road with the usual crop of speeding vehicles driven by impatient people.

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ktache replied to hutchdaddy | 1 year ago
3 likes

https://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.com/2015/05/on-level.html

There are solutions.

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Seventyone replied to hutchdaddy | 1 year ago
4 likes

That is what the daily mail say it is, but I'm sure it's not. The one in the photo is red, the one into/out of Wimborne is not.

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Seventyone replied to Seventyone | 1 year ago
7 likes

Id add that the one into /out of Wimborne is actually pretty good. It makes it clear that you, as a person a bicycle, have priority over vehicles from side roads, and it doesn't have the continual "pump track" feature, only having slight inclines leading up to level crossings.

It does suffer from
1. Not really going anywhere: as mentioned earlier the last bit into Wimborne is really hairy on a bike as it is very narrow and they decided that there would be no bike lane at this point, presumably as no space. This is where we get close passed all the time when going with my sons on bikes to the rugby club. At the other end it links (kind of) to more segregated cycle paths which go towards the airport, which is handy for all the times you want to cycle to your flight I guess

2. There is a lot of parking in it

3. Currently quite a lot of it is shut for roadworks and associated signage. As I mentioned yesterday one of the signs in the cylceway reads "beware cyclists in carriageway"

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to IanMK | 1 year ago
4 likes

IanMK wrote:

Yesterday, on the live blog, Seventyone (with the benefit of local knowledge) said that he did not recognise that stretch as being part of the "controversial" road narrowing schemeon the B7073 in Wimborne. It certainly doesn't look the same - it's not as wide and it's RED. See all the other photos in the article.

I wondered if anyone else recognised the location? Perhaps the Daily Fail can't ask the local council because they don't know where it is?

You cannot possibly be suggesting that the DM failed to fact check and published something that wasn't true?  Apologise immediately!  That's practically libel and their reputation for honest journalism has been irrepairably damaged.

Avatar
Benthic | 1 year ago
8 likes

“Is one minute of your time worth someone’s life?”

That's quite a different question to, “Is one minute of your time worth a cycist’s life?", in the mind of your average motorist.

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Awavey replied to Benthic | 1 year ago
6 likes

Given the multiple daily examples many of us can cite where a driver has put either our own or other road users lives in danger, often just to save mere seconds, it feels a rhetorical question to pose.

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Rendel Harris replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
7 likes

Awavey wrote:

Given the multiple daily examples many of us can cite where a driver has put either our own or other road users lives in danger, often just to save mere seconds, it feels a rhetorical question to pose.

Or indeed to save no seconds at all, given the substantial number of London drivers I experience every day making dubious overtakes and close passes in order to get to the red light that's clearly visible up ahead a bit more quickly.

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wtjs replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
5 likes

making dubious overtakes and close passes in order to get to the red light that's clearly visible up ahead a bit more quickly

Unfair! These dubious overtaking manoevres and close passes can be construed as much more reasonable when you realise that they're not planning to pay any attention to the red light anyway

Avatar
IanMSpencer replied to Benthic | 1 year ago
3 likes

I'm pretty sure that time is not even a factor in some motorists' behaviour. It appears to them that cyclists are vermin to be exterminated, and certainly worth making time to harass as I experience every time I go out.

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Mungecrundle replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
4 likes

Never attribute to malign intent that which can be explained by incompetence.

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hawkinspeter replied to Mungecrundle | 1 year ago
4 likes

Mungecrundle wrote:

Never attribute to malign intent that which can be explained by incompetence.

Why not both?

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