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news
Staffordshire Police“Unacceptable” – police condemn Staffordshire cyclist filmed taking 30mph tow uphill from car (+ link to video)
Police have condemned the behaviour of a cyclist filmed in Staffordshire seen taking a tow uphill from a car – and that of the driver of the vehicle – as “unacceptable” after footage of the episode was sent to a local newspaper.
It’s something we’d expect to report on more in the context of a pro cyclist getting illegal assistance from his team car – remember Vincenzo Nibali getting kicked off the Vuelta a couple of years ago? – but this incident happened on a road between Tutbury and Burton-on-Trent.
> Video: Vincenzo Nibali thrown off Vuelta after being towed by team car
The Burton Mail says it was sent dashcam footage by Porsche Cayenne owner Eric Dowding, who had been following the cyclist when he saw him grab onto the car on the driver’s side, with vehicles coming in the opposite direction, including an ambulance, narrowly missing him.
Mr Dowding, who said he was travelling at around 30mph, told the newspaper: "I went to pick my lad up from Beavers, and as I was coming back I noticed there was a cyclist slap bang in the middle of the road and I couldn't quite understand why.
"Then it looked as though there was a car trying to undertake him, and the next thing he took hold of the vehicle and they were travelling up the hill.
"It was wobbling all over the place, on every pot-hole, and it was a road bike so it had very skinny tyres and he was just wearing Lycra.
"I think it's just ridiculous, absolutely bonkers.”
He added: "I can only imagine that they did know each other. The driver's window was open, so I can't imagine he would just say 'here mate just hang onto my car' if he didn't know him.
“So I think they know each other, and he's given him a lift up the hill."
A spokesman for Staffordshire Police told the Burton Mail: "Such behaviour on our roads is illegal, and unacceptable.
"Both driver and cyclist have a responsibility to act safely on the road to ensure their own safety and that of other road users.
"We will not tolerate such dangerous behaviour and would urge anyone who witnesses such activity to report it immediately, providing as much detail about the car and cyclist as possible," he added.
As far as we are aware, Staffordshire Police are not among the forces that have adopted the widely acclaimed close pass initiative originally launched by West Midlands Police last year.
However, in February they did retweet a road.cc story on the subject, asking whether they should adopt it – with some predictable responses from non-cyclists ensuing.
For the cyclists who follow us https://t.co/vwrAlKDvoW
Any thoughts? Seems a good initiative, should we get involved?— StaffsRoads&Tactical (@RoadPolicing) February 10, 2017
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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28 comments
Shucks JR, I wanted a full wheel by wheel playback of your epic riding like a boss cool as smashathon...
I rode 2 miles, pretty slowly, didn't even boss the big ring!
Agree with sentiment that this is all a bit of a yawn/not really newsworthy, albeit potentially dumb/unsafe for individual doing holding on.
There's a lot of "commuting like a boss" this morning. Must have been a good trip in.
my boss drives to work
I dont condone the cyclists method of hill climbing but the newspaper article is trying to emmulate the Express/Dailymail or Sun. "Narrowly avoiding an ambulance"--it was parked on the other side of the road. Hahahahahaha
Absolute madness; 30 second ad to watch a 66 second video. Shocking.
I do hope that Eric, in his capacity as "safety officer for the world(tm)" uploads all the unsafe driving acts he no doubt encounters on his daily patrol in his Porsche Cayenne. mmmmk?
In my experience of Porsche Cayenne drivers, he would have to turn the cam around and film himself.
Didn't look that wobbly...
Stupid? Yes.
Dangerous? It is to the man on the bike himself.
More outragous than countless closs passes/cutting up/driving whilst using a phone/not using indicators - all of which I see on a daily basis? Not in a million years.
Whilst it was a stupidly dumb thing to do, I don't get the outrage from our mate Eric. If he's that concerned about cycle safety, I'm guessing I'll see him at the next die-in protest.
Thought not.
Love how Eric spots the "ridiculous, absolutely bonkers" behaviour and drops back and keeps his distance in case anything went wrong, rather than accelerating up behind and following closely....
Looking on Facebook, Porsche Cayenne Owner, Eric Dowding, seems to be a Mountain biker. Maybe he just hates roadies and their "very skinny tyres".
Quick, someone report him for that KOM on strava.
Eric must be do embarrassed they told everyone what type of car he drove.
Yes, the poor fella can't afford a 911.
Seriously, this looks fine. Probably not everyday, but as a one off, its fine.
I mean...
Driver does something reckless; nearly hits/kills cyclits: nobody died, no case to answer
Driver hits and kills cyclist: Oopsie, but we will call it careless and no you don't need to go to prison
Cyclist skitches a car, nobody injured: "this is unaceptable and will not be tolerated!!!"
Typical anti-cyclist spin.
What's wrong with "helpful cyclist gives motorist an assist when his car struggles with gradient."?
He was only wearing lycra. But he was wearing a helmet.
I'm also making an assumption here, but:
Eric Dowding bought a dashcam purely to film something vaguely interesting to send in to the local paper, and have his name preceded by 'Porsche Cayenne owner'.
This country.
I'm making some assumptions here.
The driver was complicit is this madness
The dash cam driver was able to read the number plate of the offending car
The dash cam driver passed the reg details to the police (along with his footage)
The Police visited the car drivers address and enquired who the cyclist was
The issue was resolved and the 2 idiots involved charged with the appropriate offences
Case closed?
What an idiot!
Highway Code:
Yeah, whatever. Looked perfectly controlled to me.
I do get the point though that if he veered to the side, causing an oncoming motorist to spill hot coffee onto her lap and then in agony accidentally tweet "it's over" to her lover who works at the nuclear missile launch site then we could all end up dead, just because of that cyclist, who is typical of them all.
Meanwhile, did you see that nice little village ruined with all the ugly f****ing cars parked all over the roads, their noisy porsche engines sputtering away and shattering what should be the tranquil peace of a place to live? No, thought not... back to outrage over "bad" cyclists. Not like you and me.
Nice to know Horninglow is a tranquil, nice little village. Don't remember it being like that when I lived there. LMAO
Keep chuckling arseless ... the joke's on you. It will never be "like that" again until the porsche drivers are drowned in the village duckpond: http://horninglowandeton.co.uk/history-of-the-area/
I see drivers using their phones while behind the wheel and their driving seems "perfectly controlled" in the right conditions, does that make it OK to do it all the time?
if he did it all the time it would kinda defeat the object of going for a ride - maybe he's like those mountain bikers that can only go downhill?
Not that I'd recommend this method of hill climbing but I don't see the cyclist wobbling any more than usual, as far as I can see he stays entirely on his side of the centre line and the clearance between him and the ambulance is a damn sight more than many drivers allow.
Thanks for clearing that up - a sticky bottle is therefore necessary to stay on the right side of the law.
"Vincenzo, mate! Just let the Strava segments go."