Live blog: Canyon Ultimate model made entirely from Lego; Ride with Quick-Step in Roubaix (for €3k each); 6 points and £230 fine for driver who left cyclist with brain injury; Alternative Peloton ad you can't unsee; Supermarket edition near miss +more

Blackthorne wrote:

Good job but struggling to see the point of a LEGO replica bike. Serves no functional or artistic purpose whatsoever. 

I know, right? It's like people build stuff out of LEGO just for fun and don't even care about the practicality of it.

hawkinspeter wrote:

Blackthorne wrote:

Good job but struggling to see the point of a LEGO replica bike. Serves no functional or artistic purpose whatsoever. 

I know, right? It's like people build stuff out of LEGO just for fun and don't even care about the practicality of it.

 

I know but this is different. I like your squirrel. It's cute, creative, and an original interpretation. This LEGO bike is none of those.  It's a cold replica that takes up half a living room.

Blackthorne wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

Blackthorne wrote:

Good job but struggling to see the point of a LEGO replica bike. Serves no functional or artistic purpose whatsoever. 

I know, right? It's like people build stuff out of LEGO just for fun and don't even care about the practicality of it.

I know but this is different. I like your squirrel. It's cute, creative, and an original interpretation. This LEGO bike is none of those.  It's a cold replica that takes up half a living room.

Thank you, though it's not my model - just found the picture.

Building large lego replicas does take a lot of skill and planning so I think you're underestimating how good that lego bike is.

hirsute wrote:

£250 for leaving someone in one to one care for the rest of (what will likely be short now) life? Since she is a nurse perhaps the sentence should have been to look after him 24 hours a day for the rest of his life.

Given she works in the area, there's a very real chance that she could be looking after him, how weird would that be?

Yet again, negligence whilst driving is accepted. What if someone had been severely injured because she had a 'momentary lapse' and adminstered a near fatal dose of medication? Would that have been a £250 fine and carry on as normal?

HoarseMann wrote:

hirsute wrote:

£250 for leaving someone in one to one care for the rest of (what will likely be short now) life? Since she is a nurse perhaps the sentence should have been to look after him 24 hours a day for the rest of his life.

Given she works in the area, there's a very real chance that she could be looking after him, how weird would that be?

Yet again, negligence whilst driving is accepted. What if someone had been severely injured because she had a 'momentary lapse' and adminstered a near fatal dose of medication? Would that have been a £250 fine and carry on as normal?

Without wishing to sound paranoid or cynical I can't help but wonder what the outcome would have been had a cyclist caused similar injuries to a pedestrian whilst making a dangerous/illegal manoeuvre. 

hirsute wrote:

£250 for leaving someone in one to one care for the rest of (what will likely be short now) life? Since she is a nurse perhaps the sentence should have been to look after him 24 hours a day for the rest of his life.

Maybe there's a Texan connection? After all, she's very sorry but it was Just An Accident (tm)

CygnusX1 wrote:

Another joke of a sentence. This joke is wearing a bit thin. 

For driving without due care and attention then the sentencing guidelines are 5 to 6 penalty points and a fine of 75 to 125% of weekly income (link). This is where the driver has low culpability but has caused high harm. Culpability and harm being defined in the sentencing guidelines linked.

So here, I suspect the sentence is probably towards the max of what the court could give out whilst remaining within the guidelines.

Whether this was the correct charge the driver had to answer for is a valid question. I imagine there was a conversation which went along the lines of "100% sure we can get a guilty verdict for driving without due care and attention or 30% (made up number to illustrate the point!) sure we can get a guilty verdict to something more severe - which should we go for.."

I'm sure the civil claim against the driver's insurance will reflect the injuries caused and care costs. Should we hope this leads to insurance becoming too expensive for the driver in question and forces them off the road? Does this lead down the path towards more uninsured drivers? I don't know.

Rick_Rude wrote:

LOL at American medical bills! What's the score over there? Actual cost then mutiply by 10? I seem to remember some guy getting charged $47k for having a snake bite antidote. Surely the antidote does not cost anything like that, where do they get their numbers?

It's simple; their system is driven by profit, not need.  There are a number of recent stories about diabetics dying because they can't afford insulin since the pharma companies increased the price by ten times.  As the report uncovered before the election showed, the one the tories blacked out every word in, they are going to do the same to us.

burtthebike wrote:

Rick_Rude wrote:

LOL at American medical bills! What's the score over there? Actual cost then mutiply by 10? I seem to remember some guy getting charged $47k for having a snake bite antidote. Surely the antidote does not cost anything like that, where do they get their numbers?

It's simple; their system is driven by profit, not need.  There are a number of recent stories about diabetics dying because they can't afford insulin since the pharma companies increased the price by ten times.  As the report uncovered before the election showed, the one the tories blacked out every word in, they are going to do the same to us.

Happy New Year from the drug companies: https://www.businessinsider.com/more-drugmakers-hike-us-prices-as-new-year-begins-2020-1?r=US&IR=T

burtthebike wrote:

Rick_Rude wrote:

LOL at American medical bills! What's the score over there? Actual cost then mutiply by 10? I seem to remember some guy getting charged $47k for having a snake bite antidote. Surely the antidote does not cost anything like that, where do they get their numbers?

It's simple; their system is driven by profit, not need.  There are a number of recent stories about diabetics dying because they can't afford insulin since the pharma companies increased the price by ten times.  As the report uncovered before the election showed, the one the tories blacked out every word in, they are going to do the same to us.

The healthcare system is around 20% of the entire US economy. Hospitals the single largest employer in some cities. Hence why Obamacare was attacked and repealed by Trump. Simply can't afford for it to be affordable. 

hawkinspeter wrote:

That supermarket video is great - it really highlights how differently people behave when on a road.

Doesn’t seem different to Australian supermarkets to me, people shop as bad as they drive. I’ve seen all that and worse. At the supermarket it’s usually a woman on the phone who runs into you and then gives you the finger, despite it being her fault. So not entirely accurate, but close.

It didn’t even cover the litterers - the people who take stuff out of their trolley and leave it on the nearest shelf. I couldn’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen meat, frozen foods and deli items left on random shelves. Or the park-anywhere types who leave the shopping trolley obstructing walkways because they won’t walk the 10 steps to the return bay. The lane changers who switch checkout lines every time the next one looks like it’s moving faster. The double-parking ones who block an aisle to have a conversation with their next door neighbour. The ones who remember something they’ve forgotten while at the checkout and go back to get it, forcing everyone to wait. MGIF’s are as common in the supermarket as on the road, especially at the deli counter.

what I don’t know is did driving cause the supermarket behaviour, or vice versa?

Philh68 wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

That supermarket video is great - it really highlights how differently people behave when on a road.

Doesn’t seem different to Australian supermarkets to me, people shop as bad as they drive. I’ve seen all that and worse. At the supermarket it’s usually a woman on the phone who runs into you and then gives you the finger, despite it being her fault. So not entirely accurate, but close.

It didn’t even cover the litterers - the people who take stuff out of their trolley and leave it on the nearest shelf. I couldn’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen meat, frozen foods and deli items left on random shelves. Or the park-anywhere types who leave the shopping trolley obstructing walkways because they won’t walk the 10 steps to the return bay. The lane changers who switch checkout lines every time the next one looks like it’s moving faster. The double-parking ones who block an aisle to have a conversation with their next door neighbour. The ones who remember something they’ve forgotten while at the checkout and go back to get it, forcing everyone to wait. MGIF’s are as common in the supermarket as on the road, especially at the deli counter.

what I don’t know is did driving cause the supermarket behaviour, or vice versa?

We get similar supermarket behaviour in the UK, but most of it is just laziness with not putting stuff back where you got it from.

I haven't encountered people smashing into you when they're on the phone, so maybe you're unlucky with that one.

hawkinspeter wrote:

Philh68 wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

That supermarket video is great - it really highlights how differently people behave when on a road.

Doesn’t seem different to Australian supermarkets to me, people shop as bad as they drive. I’ve seen all that and worse. At the supermarket it’s usually a woman on the phone who runs into you and then gives you the finger, despite it being her fault. So not entirely accurate, but close.

It didn’t even cover the litterers - the people who take stuff out of their trolley and leave it on the nearest shelf. I couldn’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen meat, frozen foods and deli items left on random shelves. Or the park-anywhere types who leave the shopping trolley obstructing walkways because they won’t walk the 10 steps to the return bay. The lane changers who switch checkout lines every time the next one looks like it’s moving faster. The double-parking ones who block an aisle to have a conversation with their next door neighbour. The ones who remember something they’ve forgotten while at the checkout and go back to get it, forcing everyone to wait. MGIF’s are as common in the supermarket as on the road, especially at the deli counter.

what I don’t know is did driving cause the supermarket behaviour, or vice versa?

We get similar supermarket behaviour in the UK, but most of it is just laziness with not putting stuff back where you got it from.

I haven't encountered people smashing into you when they're on the phone, so maybe you're unlucky with that one.

"Creative shelf stacking" - when you find a box of eggs and a packet of bacon abandoned near the bread, or a bottle of whiskey next to the coffee, that sort of thing.