“Allowing cyclists to ignore 20mph zones makes a dangerous situation so much worse”: Mr Loophole calls for “kamikaze cyclists” to be forced to adhere to 20mph speed limits and wear number plates; The great garish TT helmet poll + more on the live blog

After yesterday’s blog – and its focus on the “plagues of two-wheeled vermin” swarming around Box Hill, at least according to one oddly furious, tuba-playing student – reminded us that vicious anti-cycling invectives can cut across the generations, we’re now diverting our attention back to one of the anti-cycling OGs, ‘Mr Loophole’ himself, Nick Freeman.

> Bizarre ‘Young Reporter’ anti-cycling opinion piece by schoolkid bemoans “plagues of two-wheeled vermin” on Box Hill, making them late for music lessons 

It’s been a while – over three months in fact – since Freeman, a lawyer famous for obtaining not guilty verdicts for celebrities charged with driving offences, last popped up on our timeline, calling for cyclists to be required to fit registration plates on their bikes, or be subject to speed limits, and penalty points… And not so much on phone use behind the wheel, but you get the point.

> Mr Loophole makes renewed call for cyclist number plates, but gets shut down by Jeremy Vine show panel

But this week, he’s back doing what he does best, appearing in the Express to complain about “kamikaze” cyclists dangerously “overtaking and undertaking” motorists in new 20mph zones “with impunity”.

The widespread implementation of 20mph zones, Freeman says, is a “contradiction in terms” because it doesn’t apply to cyclists – who are constantly zooming about at over 20mph of course (now, don’t bring up time trials, okay?).

Oh, and he also slotted in his personal favourite – arguing that any legislation to require cyclists to adhere to speed limits “will lack teeth if cyclists remain anonymous”, and that any road traffic law which “applies to motor vehicles apply to cyclists and e-bikes too.”

All the hits, then.

> “We warned that voting for these parties would lead to anti-car measures”: 20mph speed limit plan to “really encourage more cycle journeys” slammed as “nuts” and “extremely worrying”

“There is so much fanfare about how roads with 20mph limits will be so much safer,” Freeman said in the Express. “But how on earth can cyclists safely share road space with cars on 20mph roads when those on bikes don’t have to observe the limit?

“How can you have a speed limit which claims to protect all, yet which doesn’t apply to certain road users? It is a contradiction in terms.

“Because of this disparity, we see legally compliant cars crawling along at 20mph while kamikaze cyclists dangerously undertake and overtake these vehicles with impunity – because there is no law to stop them from doing so.

“How on earth is this supposed to advance the cause of road safety?”

Ah yes, that classic dichotomy – a motorist travelling at 20mph is “crawling along”, while a cyclist riding at the same speed is “dangerous”. Might want to think that one through a bit more, Nick.

> "Far more pleasant for walkers and cyclists": 20mph speed limit analysis hailed "astonishing", with drivers' journeys just 45 seconds longer

And it’s not just those pesky kamikaze cyclists motorists have to be worried about in the 20mph zones.

“At present drivers in a 20mph zone are constantly having to focus on their speedometer which is a distraction in itself,” Freeman adds.

“But they also have the additional responsibility of looking out for kamikaze cyclists. It’s such a dangerous situation and one the government either overlooked or didn’t consider when drafting legislation for bikes and cyclists on our roads.

“The number of accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians is increasing exponentially – which is why there is an urgent need to legislate to ensure cyclists obey the speed limit.

“Roads with a 20mph limit are already causing massive congestion whilst motorists are distracted by the constant need to brake. Allowing cyclists to ignore the limit simply makes a dangerous situation so much worse.”

> "Dangerous" cyclists "entirely unaccountable" and should have number plates, argues former Met Police chief

And don’t worry, he’s about to mention number plates now.

"Any legislation will lack teeth if cyclists remain anonymous,” Freeman says of the means of clamping down on ‘speeding’ cyclists. “They must be required to display a form of identification – say a registered tabard or registration plate – and have a licence or insurance.

“Otherwise it is hard for those who break the law to be caught. In other words, make the same road traffic law which applies to motor vehicles apply to cyclists and e-bikes too.”

Of course, Mr Loophole has been a longstanding proponent of cycling number plates – to no great effect – with his 2021 petition on the issue limping across the 10,000-signature threshold for an official response from the government, only to be decidedly rejected by the Department for Transport (a stance consistently repeated since then).

But, sure if this latest campaign fails, he can always get a job as a ‘young reporter’ at This is Local London, right?

Who needs wind tunnels, months of engineering and testing, and the real-world results of a Paris-Nice team time trial, when you have the views of a smattering  of road.cc live blog readers?

Though if the tech nerds are still desperate, of course, I know of a particular time trial look that is surely due a comeback and would keep the punters happy at the same time:

When going AERO meant just sticking a disc in your road bike and nearly riding at 50kph average…. #tthelmets #TirrenoAdriatico2024 pic.twitter.com/e8POzVnfx9

— Paul Kane (@Kaner1972) March 4, 2024

Well, they don’t call him the King for nothing…

And there it is.

Never one for waiting until the technological horse had bolted before shutting the regulatory door (promising to look into hookless rims “as a matter of urgency” only after Thomas De Gendt’s tyre exploded at the UAE Tour being one notable recent example of that fashionable lateness), the UCI has woken up, stretched, made a coffee, checked the morning papers and their coverage of Visma-Lease a Bike’s revolutionary helmet, and then decided to release a statement about it.

Promising an “in-depth analysis of the regulations governing the design and use of time trial helmets”, the governing body’s statement seeks to clarify its position amid “ever more radical designs”, noting that while Visma and Bahrain’s latest helmet looks are currently legal, they raise “a significant issue concerning the current and wider trend in time trial helmet design, which focuses more on performance than the primary function of a helmet, namely to ensure the safety of the wearer in the event of a fall”.

Oh, and while they’re at it, the UCI has also announced that Specialized’s infamous head sock will be banned from 2 April, in a move that will certainly annoy the Manchester City team of the early 2010s.

Read more: > UCI to review design rules in light of Team Visma-Lease a Bike helmet and “ever more radical designs”

All these attempts by the UCI to clamp down on groundbreaking, slightly weird, and quite ugly tech – have I travelled back in time to the mid-1990s?

> Look’s new Keo Blade Power is “the lightest power meter pedal on the market”

> Rapha unveils "fastest jersey" it's ever produced as part of latest Pro Team collection

Well, they’re not going to say their shiny new product isn’t the lightest, fastest, coolest thing ever, are they?

In yet another episode in the long-running battle between the local authority’s “zero-tolerance” policy and people riding bikes in Grimsby’s pedestrianised zones, a North East Lincolnshire councillor has hailed a “great result for our enforcement teams” after a 60-year-old cyclist was fined and ordered to pay £500 after breaching a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) by cycling through the town centre.

Read more: > Cyclist ordered to pay £500 for riding bicycle through town centre as councillor claims hefty fine is “great result for our enforcement teams”

Laura Kenny, Britain’s most successful female Olympian, has only a “slim chance” racing at this summer’s Paris Olympics, according to British Cycling’s performance director Stephen Park.

The 31-year-old gave birth to a second child, Monty, in July last year, and has not raced since the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Kenny is also continuing to train on her own, away from the rest of GB’s track endurance squad, and does not currently have the UCI points required for Olympic qualification, with April’s Track Nations Cup in Canada her last opportunity to secure a potential spot at the Paris Games.

> “Everyone thinks I’m absolutely mad, but if I don’t try I’ll never know”: Laura Kenny targets 2024 Paris Olympics return

“She has a slim chance of being in Paris,” Park told reporters at the Manchester velodrome today.

“The first challenge is for her to be in a position where she feels that she is going to be competitive, and therefore put herself and if you like put her hand up to be selected for events that will allow her to qualify herself as well as qualify in the team.

“Both of those are fairly significant hurdles because you need to be able to get to the right events on an individual level to qualify, and secondly she’s got to be competitive in a team that’s more competitive than it's ever been.”

(Alex Broadway, SWpix.com)

Nevertheless, Park says the five-time Olympic gold medallist is “optimistic” about returning to form in time for October’s world championships.

“The time is approaching fairly quickly where she’s going to have to be pretty clear as to whether she wants [to race at the Olympics], otherwise she’ll perhaps miss the opportunity,” GB’s performance director added.

“The first big piece is about her having the confidence, nobody knows better than Laura about what you need to do to win a medal in women’s track.

“I’ve got no doubt that if she decided that she was going to absolutely put her mind to it and felt that she was physically and mentally in the right place, she would do. [While] she’s getting herself back into that place, she doesn’t want to be in the situation where she is affecting the training of the others as well, she’s really conscious of the progress they’re making too.”

(Alex Broadway, SWpix.com)

In November, Kenny told Team GB’s The Journey documentary series that she remained intent on securing her spot in Paris, for what would be her fourth Olympics.

“I obviously want to compete in the next Olympics,” she said. “I know everyone thinks I’m absolutely mad in saying that, but if I don’t try, I’ll never know.

“I would hate to be sat here thinking, ‘well I never even gave it a go, to see whether I could make it possible’.”

It’ll come as no surprise to regular readers of this live blog that Belfast – a city where bins and parked cars clog up ‘protected’ cycle lanes, where the lack of change in cycling casualty figures over the past decade has been branded “shameful”, and where exasperated councillors plea with the government to devolve powers to them so they can “bloody” install some cycling infrastructure – boasts just two miles of segregated cycle lanes.

Sustrans’ Walking and Cycling Index for 2023 has revealed that the number of protected bike lanes in Belfast has not changed in five years – despite the majority of the city’s residents being in favour of more segregated infrastructure and dealing with the car-dominance and pavement parking that defines Belfast’s streets.

> “If they can’t build cycle lanes, devolve bloody powers to us and we’ll do it”: Belfast Council slams Northern Ireland government’s “joke” delivery of cycling infrastructure – as just 2.8km of bike lanes installed in two years

In August, Green councillor Anthony Flynn was scathing about the government’s lack of delivery on its cycle network plans, which he described as “incredibly frustrating” and “ridiculous”.

“With £700,000 they have delivered 2.8 kilometres in the last two years. And on another project £245,000 on an active travel funding upgrade,” Flynn said.

“I am exasperated with that, to be honest. We had the Belfast Cycling Network Delivery Plan two years ago – there was an £11 million budget, and again we are left with little to no delivery, which is incredibly frustrating.”

> No change in cycling casualties over 10 years in Northern Ireland called “shameful” by Cycling UK and should be “wake-up call” for decision makers

And according to Sustrans’ latest survey, thanks to this active travel inertia perpetuated by the political standoff at Stormont, active travel numbers have dropped by two per cent since 2021, while driving numbers have risen from 44 per cent to 51 per cent.

However, a third of those surveyed said they would like to drive less, while 47 per cent said they wanted to cycle more and 65 per cent said they would support more protected infrastructure in the city.

Meanwhile, in a result that will shock controversialists across the UK and on GB News, 77 per cent of Belfast residents said they’d also be in favour of the creation of 20-minute neighbourhoods in the city.

“In the 10th year of the Index, we are delighted to be able to spotlight the realities and ambitions of the people of Belfast regarding active travel,” Claire Pollock, head of Sustrans in Northern Ireland, said in a statement following the index’s publication.

“The responses to the independent survey show that the majority of people would like to see less car dominance and more active travel options available.

“Investment in such infrastructure would go a long way towards tackling physical and mental health issues, as well as cut carbon emissions in a cost-effective way which would benefit everyone living in, working in and visiting Belfast.”

> “Stop victim blaming”: Government’s New Year’s call for all road users to “share responsibility” for safety slammed, as new figures reveal cyclists, pedestrians, and motorcyclists account for over half of all road deaths in 2023

The politician responsible for investing in this infrastructure, Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, said he “welcomed” the report, and that “it is encouraging to hear that more people would like to get out of their car and make the switch to active travel journeys.

“I plan to turn that into a reality by investing in more and better active travel infrastructure. Infrastructure is the starting point for a more prosperous and productive economy; as well as a better quality of life for our communities.

“I want to create people-centred cities, towns and villages which look and feel cleaner and greener and that create a thriving, healthy environment where people can live, work, shop, visit and invest.”

If I’m honest, John, I won’t be holding my breath…

Some reaction to the government’s plans to relax planning laws to allow bike sheds in front garden, which disabled cycling charity Wheels for Wellbeing has warned could possibly lead to “discrimination” against those with larger, adapted cycles unable to fit within the planned permitted measurements:

> Disabled cyclists’ campaign group calls relaxing of planning laws to allow bike storage units in front gardens “very worrying”, if larger designs for adapted cycles are not allowed