Seriously?
A Welsh bicyclist argues that changes to Great Britain’s Highway Code giving priority to pedestrians are just stupid, using many of the same arguments drivers use to complain about having to brake for people on bicycles.
Although he still wants drivers to give way to him.
What I’m not all for, is the decision to put pedestrians at the top of the hierarchy as the ‘road user’ everyone else has to give way to. For a start, this is the Highway Code – it should be about people who use the highway, and pedestrians just don’t. Ok – yes – they have to cross it – but that’s as far as their involvement goes. And, if you’re a pedestrian, you already know how to cross a road, like everyone does, because it was drummed into us all by the Green Cross Code man (or whatever the equivalent was for your generation). Look both ways, listen, and only cross when it’s safe to do so while continuing to look both ways. Ideally, that will be at a pedestrian crossing – and definitely not from a position between two parked cars – you know the drill, I’m sure.
What the Highway code ‘Hierarchy of Road Users’ changes have done, however, is kind of make like none of that common sense ever existed. Instead, it has been replaced by confusion and doubt. Drivers always knew they should give cyclists room – the ones who never did will probably carry on not doing. But I can’t argue with the decision to make all that a little clearer in the Highway Code. Drivers and cyclists, however, especially on urban roads, are often going not massively dissimilar speeds – and there’s a shared history there. Pedestrians, however, have always been separate, never sharing the same space as those on wheels, except to cross the road.
Now, they have been emboldened. Suddenly, they are no longer just kings and queens of the pavement, but the road too!
He goes on.
Of course he does, complaining about having to brake for pedestrians, when he’d rather just force them to jump back onto the curb and stay the hell out of his way.
So, we like to go fast. If we have to amble along so we’re able to stop on a 50p piece should a pedestrian decide to exercise their hierarchical right to randomly step out in front of us, then it just wouldn’t be road cycling. Drivers aren’t forced to travel at 5mph or less ‘just in case’ so why should we be forced to curtail our speed any more than the traffic laws and conditions on a particular road allow.
It paints a picture of a spoiled, entitled cyclist who can’t be bothered to help keep another person safe.
Just like all those spoiled, entitled drivers we’ve been dealing with for decades.
………
A San Diego TV station blames “rampant homelessness and a lucrative black market for stolen bikes,” with 9,200 bicycles reported stolen in the city in the last five years.
Although that number is likely just the tip of the iceberg, as many, if not most, bike thefts are never reported to the police.
And while they have certainly contributed to the problem, there was a thriving black market for hot bikes long before the recent rise in homelessness.
………
GCN offers tips on how to upgrade your first road bike.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A Coral Springs, Florida website complains that the city insists on building more new bike lanes, whether or nor anyone is using them.
No bias here, either. A London bike cop watches a cab driver blow a red light and nearly hit someone on a bike, then denies seeing it — and blames scofflaw bike riders for his refusal to enforce the law.
https://twitter.com/NaughtyDrivers/status/1550837368260902915
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Madisonville, Tennessee man faces charges for an alleged random attack on a pedestrian, riding by on a bicycle and whacking the victim across the jaw with what appeared to be a jack handle.
After London bike rider installs an air horn to get pedestrians out of his way, one man he scared the shit out of responds with a punch and a kick.
………
Local
Planetizen is the latest to pile on to the failed bike lanes on the “much anticipated” new 6th Street Viaduct, calling them disappointing and leaving much to be desired.
Santa Clarita sheriff’s deputies say they’re cracking down on bike theft, but lock your bike anyway.
State
A Huntington Beach letter writer complains that including sharrows as part of a $14.8 million makeover of PCH through the community means the money will be “wasted on ‘freshening up’ a dangerous roadway rather than actually fixing it.”
A 26-year old Ventura man was murdered in broad daylight as he rode his bicycle on a Ventura bike path Saturday afternoon, when someone approached his bike and stabbed him multiple times.
A 31-year old woman has been charged with 2nd degree murder for the alleged drunken that killed a 60-year old man riding a bicycle in San Mateo County, before continuing on and hitting another car head-on. Thanks to Jim for the heads-up.
San Francisco continues to run urbanist laps around Los Angeles, building a 14-acre park topping a pair of freeway tunnels. LA has talked about capping the 101 Freeway through Hollywood, as well as other highways. But as usual, talk is as far as it’s gone.
Oakland has two new protected intersections. Which compares favorably to LA’s none.
The road up the Bay Area’s popular Mt. Diablo now has multiple bike turnouts to allow uphill riders to get out of the way of impatient drivers.
Marin County pro cyclist Laura King says she rode through both of her pregnancies, and she’d do it again.
No bias here. A Citrus Heights man was seriously injured when he was hit by a driver, yet the press insists on saying he “collided with a vehicle.” Because of course he did.
National
High gas prices may finally be driving a change in American’s driving habits. Or maybe just a switch to cheaper grades and fewer gas station candy bars.
Even Good Housekeeping is catching up with the trend of carfree families.
Organizers have cancelled this year’s North American Handmade Bicycle Show, citing a lack of support; however, a new handmade bike show will debut in Portland next year.
Popular Mechanics proves they’re still around, with their picks for the eight best ebikes under $1,800.
Horrifying news from Utah, where a father was killed and his 17-year old daughter was injured when a pickup driver plowed into them from behind as they rode they bikes on the shoulder of the roadway; witnesses say there was no sign the driver even tried to stop before hitting them.
A Colorado man was fined a measly $600 for illegally casting his wife’s ballot for Donald Trump in the 2020 election; Barry Morphew was previously charged with murdering his wife, who disappeared after going for a bike ride on Mother’s Day in 2020, but prosecutors were forced to drop the case for lack of evidence.
A San Antonio, Texas bike shop has been in business continuously for 102 years. And been in the family since 1933.
Wisconsin has dropped precipitously from the top ten bike friendly states — once ranking as high as second — and falling to 29th in just five years, after becoming the only US state to repeal its Complete Streets policy.
The Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, better known as RAGBRAI, is back to full strength, with 18,000 riders setting off on Sunday — an increase of 3,000 over last year.
New York City’s Ghost Bike Project held its annual Memorial Ride through the Bronx on Sunday, home to five of the seven fatal bike crashes in New York this year.
More than 2,100 Philly bike riders took over a local highway for the annual Ben to the Shore Bike Tour, hoping to raise over $1.2 million to support families of fallen first responders.
Sad news from Philadelphia, though, where a 28-year old beatboxer and rapper was killed by a hit-and-run driver in a dually pickup as he rode a bike just blocks from his home.
DC is struggling to keep up with ghost bikes, as planned memorials for two fallen riders were interrupted by the death of another.
International
Women’s Wear Daily offers advice on how to ride in style, all the way down to your bike.
Sad news from France, where one girl is in a coma and several others injured when a group of Flemish scouts fell while on a ride through the country.
A Pakistani woman learns to ride a bicycle for the first time at 30-years old after moving to the Pacific Northwest from the conservative country, where women on bikes are frowned on. Or worse.
An Indian op-ed says every day should be World Bicycle Day.
Aussie bike riders are getting flat tires on a newly resurfaced bike lane, after the contractor apparently neglected to remove excess glass from the reflectorized surface.
Competitive Cycling
No major surprises in the final weekend of the Tour de France, as 25-year old Dane Jonas Vingegaard won his first grand tour, besting previous champs champ Tadej Pogačar and Geraint Thomas; Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen won Sunday’s final bunch sprint down the Champs-Élysées.
Race spectators dragged a handful of eco-protesters off the road after climate activists from the French group Dernière Rénovation — aka Last Renovation — attempted to block the route of the Tour’s Saturday’s time trial.
Dutch sprinter Lorena Wiebes topped the great Marianne Vos to win Sunday’s inaugural stage of the inaugural Tour de France Femmes on the streets of Paris.
Ouch. Cycling Weekly looks at the numbers behind the Tour de France Femmes, saying there’s a lot to be excited about. But prize money and riders’ pay, not so much.
Sports Illustrated calls the TdF Femmes a women’s sport triumph that was long in the making.
Twenty-eight-year old Colombian cyclist Miguel Ángel López was suspended by the Astana Qazaqstan team for ties to a doctor suspected of drug trafficking and money laundering. But the era of doping is over, right?
California’s Savilia Blunk won the women’s elite cross-country national mountain bike championship, while defending national champ Keegan Swenson took the men’s title.
L39ION of Los Angeles founder Justin Williams apologized for his part in a fight with Michael Hernandez of the Best Buddies team following a dustup on the last lap of the Salt Lake Criterium.
Finally…
That feeling when you try to stripe a bike lane, and it ends up looking like they were laid out by someone on acid. Or when you have to pedal a bike to power a stage at the famed Newport Folk Festival.
And this is what a great save looks like.
https://twitter.com/NxtFukingLevel/status/1550769185109684225
Although there’s no guarantee it wasn’t staged.
But still.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
