“Those cobbles are cushions for him”: Cyclists impressed by Van der Poel taking off vest while turning on cobbled climb; Cab driver turns left without indicating, almost hits Jeremy Vine… and laughs it off; No AI Wout van ‘Art’ + more on the live blog

Exactly. We live in a jungle where the stronger always wins. 

Of course roundabouts don't exist there - they are traffic circles !

chrisonabike wrote:

RE: Average ‘Murican roundabout with average nonsensical laws…

As I understand it, the average American roundabout doesn't exist - to a first approximation they just don't do them.  Not "there are no cycling - equipped roundabouts" - almost no roundabouts full stop (more on this here, here, here, here).  There are a couple of notable exceptions (particularly Carmel, Indiana).

So... as so often I think we are best just leaving the US to their own traffic problems in their own way.  We have our own anyway; and the solutions are a lot closer!

Other than a few mini roundabouts that have four-way stops, I think there are about five in or around my town.

Here's a lovely one I sprint through downtown, keeping up with traffic. If you hit the portal fast enough, it activates and you end up on another planet.

I love it - it's a roundabout with a sculpture of a roundabout on its desk!

There's good and bad on bikes, in cars, and vans.

Exactly that.

Just to redress the balance slightly re white van drivers

https://upride.cc/incident/kv69zns_sprinter_closepass/

https://upride.cc/incident/sc19usu_brosterbuilders_closepass/

https://upride.cc/incident/dl51jml_vwtransporter_closepass/

https://upride.cc/incident/pf72wxt_transit_closepass/

https://upride.cc/incident/cu19exj_hannanblindsexpert_closepass/

https://upride.cc/incident/rx17mxlpn66kna_2lorriestogether_closepass/

https://upride.cc/incident/dg07tmo_mbvito_closepass/

https://upride.cc/incident/po13jsx_berlingo_closepass/

And that's only going back a year (and did you spot the black one?)

When bus drivers behave like this, I can see why:
https://youtu.be/SF4u42-lx84

Personally, I am of the opinion that they ought to carry out a comprehensive road safety review before they start announcing any new strategy…

brooksby wrote:

Personally, I am of the opinion that they ought to carry out a comprehensive road safety review before they start announcing any new strategy…

I'm of the opinion they should simply announce whether they really want change or are happy enough with the status quo - acknowledging that comes with deepening road maintenance costs, worsening congestion, no change or a worsening in the casualty rates etc.

Of course no government would commit to a statement of "plan is - like now but a bit worse because frankly change is politically unpalatable, there are vast and powerful vested intests and we can't see a fast political payoff (or indeed some free tickets from the cycle industry / jobs for my constituents in a new pannier factory)"!

Nor - far worse - the opposite, a decision that no, we can't go on like this and we are prepared to do what it takes to change (even just a little bit).

Increasingly I doubt that the UK can change (positively) at regional / national level without making a commitment to some drastic (for us) shifts in policy *.

Why?  Well it was pretty disruptive for the Dutch when they made their change in direction in the 70s.  And that happened when a large percentage of people still cycled and walked, they already had a lot of "roughly good enough" cycle infra (though it may have been "for" motor scooters) in many places and there were fewer motor vehicles and journeys per head of population.  Plus - like many countries - road deaths were still increasing ** and an oil crisis had just focussed minds on the lack of resilience of motor transport.

* Very fortunately active travel is "small" and "local" - so things can be done e.g. in a town, or part of a city.

** Hence "Stop De Kindermoord" had real visceral appeal (even the minister of transport had lost a child).  Unlike now in the UK where for most it's just in the background (or one of the many worries of parents).

The hon. Lady raises a very important question, and I am passionate about this issue. She will be aware that the Government will be bringing forward a new road safety strategy—the first one in over a decade

APPGCW 2017 Report: many problems remain, particularly where cyclists are the victims. The Ministry of Justice should examine in more detail how these offences are being used, including the penalties available for offences of careless and dangerous driving.

APPGCW 2023 Report: In December 2021, the Government recommitted to review road traffic offences, a commitment initially made in 2014. The review still has not commenced, however.

APPGCW 2027 Report?

Even better, concerning the dodge most beloved of the police (after he didn't see the cyclist; he didn't mean to do it and it was only a momentary loss of concentration/ doesn't remember the incident/ experienced a fit/ medical episode)

APPGCW 2017 Report: The length of time required by the Police to serve a Notice of Intended Prosecution for a road traffic offence is currently just 14 days and must be extended. This period is too short to enable many cases to be adequately processed and in some cases may enable offenders to escape justice.

APPGCW 2023 Report: No progress but look what's happened by 2025!

Bungle's quotation from Parliament: the perception of and actual issues with safety on our highways

That must be it- it's all just a perception! These happened within 2 minutes:

https://upride.cc/incident/cd10wer_audiq7_closerpass/

https://upride.cc/incident/wj19kwe_karoq_closepass/

I'm sure your local police will be happy to deal with perceptions - or even extra laws - in exactly the same way they have up to this point!

Your perception is spot-on!

Pretty appalling those numbers although tbh 54% and 74% of a very small number is hardly anything.

Andrewbanshee wrote:

Pretty appalling those numbers although tbh 54% and 74% of a very small number is hardly anything.

She was saying that 29% of women and 46% of men do cycle, so in the UK as a whole that would amount to about 15 million men and 10 million women, perhaps disappointingly small but not "hardly anything".

Rendel Harris wrote:

She was saying that 29% of women and 46% of men do cycle, so in the UK as a whole that would amount to about 15 million men and 10 million women, perhaps disappointingly small but not "hardly anything".

That must be in the sense of "x% of population cycle" that our occasional US friend seems to use e.g. perhaps for 30 minutes in the park, once every decade or so?  Or does it actually mean "own a bike"?

Unless - like so many drivers - I am literally not seeing the cyclists?  I'm pretty sure I'd have noticed if 46% of men in Edinburgh cycled with any regularity.  But perhaps they're all commuting on the bypass (motorway rules so not legal, so I have never ridden there myself)?

Or does the entire population of e.g. SE England cycle-commute?

Quote:

Wera Hobhouse Liberal Democrat, Bath

Women cycle a lot less than men—71% of women do not cycle, compared with 54% of men.

"lies, damned lies, and statistics"

She seems to have confused 'have cycled' with 'do cycle'.

SUVs with gleaming mountain bikes strapped to the rear

Here it's not so much the golf owners as the fiesta drivers and the pickup trucks.

Also anyone wearing a baseball cap while driving

+ Teslas (seem to have become new Audi/BMW)

Big pickup trucks that have clearly never been used for their intended purposes

Any motorcycle or electric bicycle with a Just Eat/Uber/Deliveroo bag on the back

Scaffolding lorries/skip delivery lorries

Cars with "baby on board" stickers

Cars with any bling modifications such as expensive alloys, LED lights on the underside et cetera

Plus everybody else.

On my LEJoG, I noticed worse driving by the people driving hired caravans in Scotland, and any white hatchback with an Arnold Clark sticker on the back window.

But the worst close pass was of course a big, newer BMW.

I think it's difficult to categorise like this.

I've had boy racers in souped up cars be very respectful when passing and others who have put all road and footpath users in danger.

Same for taxi drivers and white van men/women.