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news
“We’re just numbers, pawns at Ineos,” says Pavel Sivakov after Vuelta snub; Government finally trials bolt down barriers on car and bin-filled cycle lane; U23 Paris-Roubaix winner in coma after “hitting back of car hard” + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
No Live Blog item found.
Pavel Sivakov, 2023 Giro d’Italia (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)24 August 2023, 10:17
“It’s such an obvious solution but now they are only considering it”: Government decides to – finally – trial new bolt down barriers on cycle lane littered for years with parked cars and bins
‘Eureka!’ came the cry, I imagine, from Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure, when one of its number stumbled upon a fantastical, earth-shattering solution to the longstanding issue of one of Belfast’s few ‘protected’ cycle lanes being almost constantly blocked by parked cars.
‘We could use barrier and bollards that are actually, you know, bolt into the ground and which can’t just simply be driven over. We’re geniuses! How has nobody ever thought of this before?’
Well, I assume that’s how the department’s decision to trail new bolt down cycle lane bollards on Belfast’s Hardcastle Street transpired, anyway.
The seemingly ‘protected’ bike lane on Hardcastle Street, as many of you will know, has long been a favourite on the live blog. A key route for cyclists into the city centre, it is often jampacked with parked cars and vans – sometimes parked diagonally right across the lane – as well as bins from local businesses.
Back in February, Sustrans described the situation on Hardcastle Street as “disgraceful – every single day, no action”.
“This is one of Belfast's ONLY ‘separated’ cycle lanes,” the North Belfast Cycle Campaign also noted. “This is the ONLY safe route across town. How is this acceptable?”
But never fear, because after just the many, many, many years of frustration from cyclists at the maddening levels of bike lane parking, the glacial pace of decision making in Northern Ireland has finally led to the Department for Infrastructure deciding to replace the flimsy plastic bollards currently in place on Hardcastle Street with new “bolt down” barriers.
A DfI spokesperson told Belfast Live: “The Department recognises the frustration caused by inconsiderate parking on cycle lanes across the city. While the legislative process to make the pop-up cycle permanent is ongoing, in the interim the Department now intends to trial new bolt down barriers which will make the cycle lanes inaccessible to cars.
“These will be installed as soon as possible. We would encourage road users to respect everyone’s journey and think before you park.”
The admittedly belated decision follows a meeting of Northern Ireland’s All Party Cycling Group, held to outline the group’s vision for a “better cycling future”. The meeting came just days after councillors in Belfast launched a scathing attack on Northern Ireland’s Stormont government and what they describe as its “joke” approach to cycling infrastructure.
At the All Party Cycling Group meeting, call were made for the DfI “to step up and build infrastructure and maintain the paltry infrastructure that does exist” to make active travel safer and more accessible, while Cycling UK emphasised the business case for installing more cycle lanes.
Cycling UK’s Andrew McClean also proposed painting double yellow lines on cycle lanes in a bid to stop motorists from parking in them.
“The DfI said that’s not a bad idea... it’s such an obvious solution but now they are only considering it,” he said, before adding that the group agreed that “one of the most important things we can do is enforce existing laws”.
24 August 2023, 08:07
“We’re just numbers, pawns at Ineos,” says Pavel Sivakov after Vuelta snub
It turns out it isn’t just Luke Rowe who’s slightly miffed at being left out of the Ineos Grenadiers line-up for the upcoming Vuelta a España, which gets underway on Saturday with a team time trial around the streets of Barcelona.
Speaking to L'Équipe after finishing 56th in yesterday’s super short 2.3km prologue TT at the Tour of Germany, Rowe’s teammate Pavel Sivakov said that missing out on the Spanish grand tour was a “big blow”, especially after spending almost two months at altitude this summer preparing for the race, along with a further four weeks training and racing with what he assumed was the Vuelta squad.
The 26-year-old announced at the beginning of the month that, after six years with the British squad, he will be leaving to join UAE Team Emirates for 2024, one of a number of big-name riders heading out the Ineos exit door this winter, including Tao Geoghegan Hart, Ben Tulett, and Dani Martinez, while the future of promising Spaniard Carlos Rodríguez hangs in the balance.
Meanwhile, rumours continue to persist concerning a merger between the team and Soudal-Quick Step, a momentous move that, if true, would see Remco Evenepoel spearhead the new squad’s GC challenge at the grand tours, and help revitalise an outfit that has been in transition mode for a few seasons now after the heady successes of the 2010s.
(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
It’s perhaps fair to say that, despite GC wins at the Tour of Poland, Tour of the Alps, and the Vuelta a Burgos, the departing Sivakov hasn’t quite lived up to the admittedly lofty expectations placed upon him since turning pro with the then-Team Sky in 2019.
And this month’s Vuelta snub has only underlined, in his eyes, his status as just a “pawn” in the Ineos game.
“We will say that I had a big blow last week,” he told L'Équipe yesterday. “I was told that I was not going to do the Vuelta, it was really difficult. I spent a month and a half at altitude this summer and three weeks with the Vuelta squad. We then all went together to the Tour of Poland. It went well, very well indeed.
“Afterwards, I went straight back to altitude to prepare this Vuelta. I think I was in the best condition of my season, in my opinion I was even better than before the Giro, and then there you go...
“I got a phone call telling me it wasn’t going to happen. It was complicated. I’ve been on the team for six years, everyone knows I'm leaving, but that’s cycling.
“We’re just numbers, pawns. That’s kind of how I see it. It makes us realise that the ‘management’ sometimes has to make difficult decisions. I was shot at the time, but I have since pulled myself together. I want to take advantage of all the work that has been done this summer by trying to do something by the end of the season.”
24 August 2023, 15:36
When you get to that point during Paris-Brest-Paris when you start questioning your life choices
Wtf am I doing? I've had approx 5 hrs sleep in the last four days. I'm sweaty and dirty and tired. My limbs are screaming at me to stop. The best decision would be to book in to a hotel, wash and sleep, but I'm not making good decisions. #pbp2023 pic.twitter.com/1cN9W7ZULl
— Rod Nicolson (@rodnic66) August 23, 2023
To be fair, that’s me on most Thursday afternoons if I’m honest…
24 August 2023, 15:05
Teenage sensation Josh Tarling storms to time trial win at Renewi Tour, becoming joint youngest ever winner of a WorldTour race
Glancing at the race calendar, you’d have been forgiven for thinking the old and always interesting Tour of the Benelux – formerly the Eneco Tour, and then the BinckBank Tour – had been consigned to the dustbin of forgotten bike races.
But nope, the race is still going strong in 2023, just now in its 115th different guise as the Renewi Tour (so much for brand identity, eh?). To add to the confusion, its famous ‘golden kilometre’ of frantic bonus seconds has even been replaced by a ‘green kilometre’, to reflect the new sponsor’s waste management business. Hopefully the riders don’t mistake the new green kilometre for the litter zone, anyway…
Joshua Tarling wins his first world tour race at the age of 19 years and 190 days pic.twitter.com/KBIY4Qfjku
— Katie (@medicinexthings) August 24, 2023
While the race itself has a new name and identity, what hasn’t changed is the staggering success of British teenage sensation Josh Tarling’s debut season in the pro ranks.
The 19-year-old Ineos Grenadiers time trial specialist has only finished outside the top three once in his five solo efforts against the clock this year, securing a British national title and a bronze medal behind Remco Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna at the world championships along the way.
And today, over a 13.6km circuit in Sluis, Tarling stormed to his first career WorldTour victory, beating two-time Benelux Tour champion Tim Wellens by 14 seconds and Tour de France prologue winner Yves Lampaert by 18, taking the leader’s jersey in the process.
This lil kid just won his first WT race, a stage in #RenewiTour! Only 19 years old 🤯
Congrats 🇬🇧 Joshua Tarling! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/zMNMCdH9f1
— Domestique (@Domestique___) August 24, 2023
Tarling’s win also means – according to GCN’s resident statistician Cillian Kelly – he’s now the joint youngest rider to take a victory in cycling’s top tier, tied with (who else?) Remco Evenepoel, who was also 19 years, six months, and nine days old when he soloed to the win at Clásica San Sebastián in 2019.
Now, that’s not a bad record at all to share. And, considering what Remco has since gone on to achieve on both the road and TT bike, could we once again be staring, blinking, at the beginning of a new Cancellara or Martin-esque time trialling dynasty?
24 August 2023, 14:55
Ride your bike… to the Formula One race
Only in the Netherlands… (though how cool would this be at Silverstone? Or anywhere, really?)
24 August 2023, 14:28
Wout van Dirt: Jumbo-Visma star heads to the loose stuff ahead of gravel worlds
While Mathieu van der Poel’s sensational 2023 – crash at the mountain bike worlds notwithstanding – has cemented the Dutchman’s status as the multidisciplinary king of cycling, his old ‘cross and road shadow Wout van Aert is ready to do his own bit of branching out, swapping the mud and the cobbles for some loose dirt at this weekend’s UCI Gravel World Series event in Houffalize.
The Jumbo-Visma star will line up alongside the likes of retired roadies Niki Terpstra, Johnny Hoogerland, and Jan Bakelants at the start of the 110km race, which will kick off at the foot of the Côte de Saint Roch, one of the emblematic climbs of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, as he builds towards October’s world gravel champs in the Veneto region of Italy.
At last year’s inaugural UCI world gravel championships, Van der Poel finished third, behind Alpecin–Deceuninck teammate Gianni Vermeersch. After their electric battles for the cyclocross and road rainbow jerseys this year, could we be set for another MVDP v WVA showdown for a world title in October.
Also, the way things are going, all we need is Tom Pidcock to take to the gravel and Van Aert to pull the mountain bike out of the shed, and the multi-discipline takeover of cycling will be complete.
> The rise of the cycling multi-disciplinarian
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Netherlands, Marianne Vos – fresh from winning a UCI gravel round in Sweden at the weekend – laughs while staring at all her road, ‘cross, mountain bike, gravel, and track trophies and jerseys…
24 August 2023, 14:04
“This is a good step to make Scotland’s roads safer for cyclists”: Cycling UK welcomes new guidance which will see drivers receive tougher sentences for killing cyclists, including more serious penalties for aggressive driving like tailgating
24 August 2023, 13:29
Merida reports double-digit drop in profit for first half of 2023, as sales also fall
Figures released by bike manufacturer Merida this week will do little to quell the sense of doom and gloom surrounding the cycling industry in 2023, as the Taiwan-based company announced that their profit for the first half of the year has fallen by 38.8 percent to €38.30 million.
According to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, sales are also down 6.6 percent to €453.02 million, compared to the first six months of 2022, Bike Europe reports. A statement on Merida’s website, however, refers to sales of €451.71 million, which would mean a drop of 6.72 percent.
> Shimano bike component sales fall by 18% as company cites “weak” demand for products
While Merida did not give any reason for the significant decline in profit and revenue, it is clear that the company – which supplies bikes for the WorldTour Bahrain Victorious team – is facing the same industry-wide pressures and price reductions currently reverberating throughout the cycling market, as well as dealing with high inventory levels.
24 August 2023, 12:47
Oh, RadioCycling, you big tease
🚨 BREAKING NEWS: Ineos Grenadiers and Soudal-QuickStep merge together in Barcelona, with RadioCycling understanding that both teams are rather awkwardly sharing the same Vuelta a España hotel until Sunday morning.
Early 2024 team meeting taking place in the conference room?
— RadioCycling (@radio_cycling) August 24, 2023
I have to admit, the first line of that post had me there for a second…
What next? Sir Jim and Big Pat sitting down in the hotel restaurant, thrashing out a merger over a nice glass of Rioja and some tapas?
24 August 2023, 12:21
After 4,000km and four weeks on the bike, “real hero” Han Lu reaches Thessaloniki, the last rider to finish this year’s Transcontinental race
It’s one thing smashing these ultra-distance events in super-quick time, breaking records in the process; it’s quite another thing to continue slogging away at it, riding your bike for weeks, just to make it to the end.
But that’s what British cyclist Han Lu has done, reaching the finish of this year’s Transcontinental race at the Greek port of Thessaloniki late last night, almost exactly a month since she set off from Geraardsbergen on her 4,000km journey across Europe, and over three weeks since Christoph Strasser finished first for the second consecutive year.
> Potholes, road rash, stray dogs, bee stings, cracked rim... Transcontinental suffering
The 49-year-old, who was born in Vietnam and grew up in the UK, was one of the recipients of this year’s Mike Hall Bursary, a scheme set up to help riders from low-income families participate in the Transcon.
At her first ever cycling event a few years ago, RideLondon, she “rode like mad just to stay warm” through a storm, catching the cycling and ultra-distance bug in the process.
“I met a TCR rider last year and became obsessed with the idea of the Race,” she said before setting off last month. “It will be a big push for me, because I have always wanted to go out bike touring but I don’t have the confidence to go by myself. This way, I have no choice.”
Celebrating her lanterne rouge finish last night, the Transcon organisers said: “Dot-watchers and the Lost Dot team will rest easy tonight knowing that the last rider on the road has completed their journey. We imagine Han will, too.
“We congratulate all riders who have completed TCRNo9 since the GC cut-off, and we congratulate Han on her resilience and determination to finish this Race, exemplifying true Race spirit.”
And, if I may be so bold, she also exemplified what riding your bike is all about. Chapeau.
24 August 2023, 11:52
How fast? American ultra-cyclist Nick DeHaan breaks modern record for Paris-Brest-Paris, averaging over 29kph on the 1,219km route
1891, Course #ParisBrestParis 1230 kms : 71 h 37'.
2011, cyclo Christophe Bocquet 🇫🇷 44h 13' avec un groupe que j'entrainais.
2015 Björn Lenhard 🇩🇪 42h 26', à 28,9 km/h.
2023 Nick Dehaan 🇺🇸 41h 46' à 29,2 km/h, seul depuis Brest, sans dormir, 50 minutes d'avance sur le 2ème ! pic.twitter.com/9FixGQ2Yv5— 🅰ntoine VAYER 📸🖋️ (@festinaboy) August 23, 2023
Now, that’s pretty quick. DeHaan completed all 1,219km of the legendary Paris-Brest-Paris, the largest and most famous audax event in the world, in just 41 hours and 46 and a half minutes, carrying on as the lead group stopped for a break with 600km (as you do) to reach the finish line in Rambouillet first, 50 minutes clear of the rest. Apparently, the American newcomer was barely able to stand up as he posed for photos. No wonder.
Some may argue that finishing first and breaking records goes against the central ethos of audax and randonneuring events like PBP, but it’s still an impressive feat of bike riding nonetheless.
24 August 2023, 11:27
Driver caught speeding past child cyclist at an “eye-watering” 61mph in a 30mph zone outside school
Devon and Cornwall’s roads policing team have confirmed that the driver will be prosecuted, while adding that they also identified 280 – 280! – other instances of motorists speeding or using phones while driving in the space of just one hour, during a recent crackdown on motoring offences during rush hour.
24 August 2023, 10:57
“A middle-aged bloke in Lycra is definitely up to something nefarious”: Police on the hunt for cyclist who allegedly scratched 20 cars on same road during five-year spell
Over in Australia – a place where simply riding your bike is “overwhelmingly fear inducing”, according to Lidl-Trek pro Brodie Chapman, thanks to “abusive and volatile” motorists – police are on the hunt for a cyclist who has allegedly scratched 20 cars parked on the same road over a five-year period.
That’s commitment, I suppose.
Police in North Brisbane have said that they are investigating 20 separate wilful damage reports and are encouraging “any other motorists who believe their car may have been targeted” on Sylvan Road to come forward.
They’ve also released an image of a cyclist who is “regularly in the area” who “may be able to assist with ongoing investigations”.
Police are appealing for public assistance with investigations into several wilful damage incidents along Sylvan Road in Toowong.
Investigators have released a photo of a cyclist who is regularly in the area and may be able to assist.
MORE: https://t.co/Wm0xmoBZmN pic.twitter.com/nr6zuoMEaE
— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) August 19, 2023
Over on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, some weren’t impressed with this apparently urgent use of the police’s resources, while others criticised the handling of the whole thing.
“Guilty until proven guilty in good old Australia,” one wrote, while another said: “It was him for sure. A middle-aged bloke in Lycra is definitely up to something nefarious.”
Meanwhile, Fred appears to have got to the bottom of why some cars are being targeted on Sylvan Road: “You should actually enforce the no parking during certain times that exists on this street, then maybe people wouldn't take it into their own hands, just saying…”
24 August 2023, 09:47
Tour de l’Avenir stage moved forward by two hours due to extreme heat
Extreme weather conditions are continuing to plague bike races in Europe this summer, with the organisers of the Tour de l’Avenir – the de facto U23 version of the Tour de France – deciding to move today’s 141km stage from La Tour-de-Salvagny to Lac d’Aiguebelette forward by two hours in a bid to counteract the horrendously high temperatures plaguing central France and the Alps this week.
As a result, the riders were treated to a 10.30am start (a nice throwback to their junior days, no doubt) – though I reckon the big lake at the finish could still prove tempting to some, anyway.
ℹ️ Le départ est avancé à 10h30 au lieu de 12h30 en raison des fortes chaleurs. ☀️#TDAV #TourdelAvenir ✨
— Tour de l'Avenir (@tourdelavenir) August 24, 2023
Yesterday’s stage also fell victim to the extreme heat, as the organisers removed one of the two finishing loops around Evaux-les-Bains – cutting the distance by 16km – after temperatures reached 37.5 degrees in the town.
And, to think, the Vuelta is starting this weekend too. I’m sure some weather apps will be working overtime in the next few days…
24 August 2023, 09:19
Encouraging active travel and cleaner air – surely that’s a good thing? Right?
Start your Thursday morning right (or angry, maybe) by mulling over Simon’s thoughts on all things ULEZ, bike promotions, and the misinformation wars…
> Bike brands bank on ULEZ expansion – but will enlarged clean air zone boost active travel?
24 August 2023, 08:45
U23 Paris-Roubaix winner Tijl De Decker in coma after “hitting back of a car hard” during training
Some worrying news from Belgium last night, as this year’s winner of Paris-Roubaix Espoirs, the U23 version of the Hell of the North, Tijl De Decker, was involved in a serious collision involving a motorist yesterday and is currently in a coma.
According to Het Nieuwsblad and Sporza, the 22-year-old, who is set to turn pro with Lotto Dstny in 2024 after racing for the Belgian squad’s development team this year, “crashed hard into the back of a car” while on a training ride, losing a lot of blood.
He was rushed to hospital in Lier where he underwent surgery, before being transferred to Antwerp University Hospital (UZA). He remains in a coma.
“The accident took place on a public road, outside the centre,” a spokesperson for Lier police said. “The cyclist was seriously injured and taken to hospital. It remains to be seen how his condition evolves. A traffic expert from the public prosecutor’s office has arrived on site, and an investigation is underway into the exact circumstances. I can confirm that a passenger car was involved in the accident.”
Tijl De Decker was involved in a crash today. He was brought to a local hospital where he underwent surgery.
Later today he was transported to the UZA.
More news about the consequences of the crash will follow after further examinations
Our thoughts & prayers are with Tijl ♥️🙏— Lotto Dstny (@lotto_dstny) August 23, 2023
Lotto Dstny last night confirmed the news, writing on social media: “Tijl De Decker was involved in a crash today. He was brought to a local hospital where he underwent surgery. Later today he was transported to the UZA. More news about the consequences of the crash will follow after further examinations. Our thoughts and prayers are with Tijl.”
The young Belgian has enjoyed a fine 2023 with Lotto’s development squad, helping him secure his first professional contract with the senior team for next year. In March, he won a stage of the Tour of Taiwan, before taking a breakthrough win at the U23 Paris-Roubaix in May, just weeks after finishing second at the Rutland-Melton CiCLE Classic in Melton Mowbray. We wish him all the best.
De Decker’s horror crash comes just days after another up-and-coming star of the sport, 21-year-old British rider Thomas Gloag, was injured after being struck by a driver while out on a training ride.
The Jumbo-Visma prospect suffered a knee injury in the collision, which required surgery, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
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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I have been in Belfast for work this week and have been shocked by the congestion around the city centre. There are lots of frustrated drivers...
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Cyclists should be made to have insurance etc https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/24757516.four-vehicles-seize...
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On a bus the driver has a fully glazed double set of doors that give a direct view of any cyclist or pedestrian travelling right into the left side...
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A friend in my cycling club has a new Ribble Allroad, I think the model with 105, and when I asked how he was finding it (before reading this...
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Get them back? They've never gone away for me, cheap tdf winning bikes on eBay with rim brakes and cheap rim brake aero wheels, just don't tell...
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You can find out whether they're lying about 'taking action' by asking them what they actually did. When they refuse to tell you, citing various...
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I don't know how the road.cc team have time to manage your profile and their own.
No, the inbox is not monitored. I nor KYA (as far as I know) have ever had a response
Pathetic Whims. Now there was a band that knew how to tour.
The '87 "I need help" tour lasted nearly 6 years, revisiting the same venues several times for some reason.
EDIT: they were known to edit their own material too
I think we need a new forum thread for "Detailed discussion of bands that never existed"
The Matt Berry Project 1974
(trigger warning)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxB4_uZyWAI
It reminds me a little bit of Frankenstein by the Edgar Winters Group
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8f-Qb-bwlU
I read that as the Mary Berry Project!!
Not as good as the originals - they were a bit half-baked!
Now I want to see Mary Berry in a prog rock group
Mary Berry and the Soggy Bottom Project? On the same bill as Cream, Tangerine Dream, The Strawbs and Egg.*
*Egg were a thing, Dave Stewart on keyboards
Maybe include Magnum and The Mars Volta
I remember the Soggy Bottom Boys! An early gig didn't go down well with the local politicos.
Encore by Hot Chocolate?
Or Sweet.
Or The Jam. Or Half Man Half Biscuit.
Cake for me. I will of course be doing the cakewalk.
Hyperbole, much?
More poking the tiger - what was that Terry Pratchett quote about standing on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are bastards'?
Was that Pratchett or was it Douglas Adams?
(edit) Google is your friend. It was indeed Sir Terry.
Probably a better one would be
Remember folks, don't feed the troll. Every time you reply to them, they go back under their bridge for a crafty wank. Possibly also a doughnut.
Capability Without Accountability split up in the late '80s when their guitarist "Fast" DJ Chadders was accidentally killed in a bizarre crown green bowling accident. Do keep up.
(I know I'm replying to the wrong comment but I'm trying to play by the rules here).
That's where Crown Green Bowling Accident got their name from. They started out as a tribute act but as the drink and drugs took over they forgot who they were a tribute to.
A tragic but common story. Oasis lost touch with their florist's shop roots as soon as they hit the big time, tried to regain it with "what's the story, morning glory" but soon the best they could hope for was an allotment.
The allotment was the beginning of the end, and the many problems were compounded when one of the two brothers left the band just before they were about to go on stage after an argument about who had the biggest marrow.
I liked their greatest hits album "open, pour and be yourself once more!"
"Drivers face tougher sentences for killing pedestrians"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66593086
Not objecting to that, but I'd also like to see much longer revocations of driving licenses.
I'd like to see any Dangerous Driving conviction trigger an automatic lifetime ban
Drivers should face more serious punishment for all serious driving offences and the fact someone is a vulnerable road user shouldn't really factor into it.
All the laws around cars suggest that its perfectly normal and reasonable to drive intentionally badly as long as you aren't unlucky and hurt someone. The number of times drivers pass me on blind corners is ridiculous. They are gambling like all the other awful and willfully dangerous drivers out there.
Perhaps if we were more proactive about stopping bad driving we wouldn't have to worry quite as much about how harsh the punishment should be when shock shock horror, they aren't lucky and they hurt or kill someone.
Boils my blood when people are treated with massive leniency because they "are of good character and its their first offence". No they aren't and no it wasn't. Its not my first murder if I have committed 10 and got away with the first 9. People who have accidents from bad driving have been bad drivers for a long time. They just ran out of luck.
Agree with your whole post but this struck a chord. The number of times I'm passed in an unsafe way is unbelievable. I see drivers constantly passing cyclists in a way that, were I driving, I simply would not. Seems like there's a large percentage of drivers that do not know how to pass a cyclist and probably do not actually care. If they screw up I want them to be punished.
Another agreeing with Mr 23 - although not really with the revenge-style punishments often demanded here with a wave of the pitchfork or burning brand.
Prevention is far, far better than cure. It's of little recompense to one maimed or murdered if Mr or Ms Carloon is sent to be beaten, raped and otherwise utterly degraded in prison. The brief joy at such a sentence amongst the bereaved is generally very short lived, as the grief returns once more.
Best prevention would be to deal with the fundamental causes so as to stop the murdering & maiming in the first place.
The first and foremost method could be to radically change the nature of car and road designs, which should not provide opportunities, nay exhortations (aka adverts) to drive madly at silly speeds and without attention. There are also many technologies now available that could prevent carloons from looning in these ways.
The next preventative, as you both mention, is to prevent actually and potentially murderous offenders from having further opportunities to carloon about. Permanent driving bans for 'em; similar penalties on any suppliers (those who sell or lend a car to a banned carloon). And heavy enforcement of these penalties.
Stuffing carloons into prisons for an absolute degradation and the inculcation of their consequent huge disaffection & resentment, not to mention more criminal techniques taught them by other denizens of the places - that's no prevention if carloons know that only 1 in 100 of them may be caught, especially if they can also afford that Loophole or similar. It also costs we taxpayers the proverbial bomb.
No need to worry: the comprehensive review of road laws will be along any minute. This government wouldn't lie to us would they?
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