A hit-and-run driver who jumped a red light "at speed" in his Audi A4 — colliding with a schoolgirl cycling across the junction on her way home — before fleeing the scene and abandoning his car without helping the injured child, has avoided jail.
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> Hit-and-run driver ran red light "at speed" and hit 10-year-old cyclist, avoids jail
While Primož Roglič’s name is being used to promote safe driving in Slovenia, former world champion Michał Kwiatkowski has been granted the somewhat dubious honour of becoming the first ever owner of an Ineos Grenadier 4x4 (complete with cyclist horn, of course) in Poland:
And the comments are exactly what you’d expect them to be…
“Awesome – for a low carbon world…”
“So many buttons.”
“It inherently encourages distracted driving.”
“Think about how many cyclists you can kill with the giant bumper.”
“I’d take the Pinarello over the car any day.”
Now, this is the pro cycling/road safety crossover we’ve all been waiting for…
Slovenia has decided to pay homage to its recent Giro d’Italia champion and national hero Primož Roglič, not with some fancy city hall reception or TV special, but with a pertinent reminder to wannabe racers on the country’s motorways:
Leave the racing to Roglič.
As seen today on one electronic highway message board in Slovenia.
🏁🚴♀️🚴🚴♀️🚴🏻♂️🚙🚗 pic.twitter.com/GyG2ZmjZzZ
— Zlatko Čajić @zlatkoc [at] mastodon.social (@zlatkoc) June 5, 2023
I can’t wait for the Pogačar/phone use follow up in July. They could even use Pog’s iconic photo with Vingegaard on the phone as the poster…
Or maybe the British government is planning a Mark Cavendish-based speed awareness campaign in July? The again, maybe not.
A cyclist from Galway – where councillors last year unanimously, and controversially, voted against a major segregated cycleway– who was hospitalised for four and a half months after being hit by a driver has described the Irish city as the “worst place I’ve ever cycled by a long shot”.
Simon Rowan was riding home from work in January when he was struck by a motorist at a roundabout, leaving him with multiple fractures, including a broken pelvis, as well as other serious trauma.
He underwent two major surgeries during a two-month stay in hospital, before being transferred to a rehab facility for another two months. Simon was finally able to return to his home this week, with the aid of crutches, with his wife Ruth acknowledging that there is still “a very long road ahead” in his recovery.
> Galway councillors vote for U-turn on Salthill cycleway, prompting "disgust and disappointment"
Speaking to the Irish Times, the cyclist – who lived in Los Angeles for a number of years, so should know a thing or two about cycling in a car-focused city – says the impact of his collision in January has underlined the need for safe, protected cycling infrastructure in Galway, a place where, it seems, the private car remains top of the pile.
Last year on the live blog we reported that plans for a major two-way, 3km-long segregated cycleway along the promenade in Salthill, a seaside suburb of Galway City, were scrapped when councillors – who initially back the project – voted 13 to four against it after local business owners said the lane would create “havoc”.
In the aftermath of that decision, cyclists in Salthill left homemade signs on cars, some of which were permanently parked for advertising purposes, to make a cutting point about how the council appears to prefer road space to be used.
> "This could be a cycleway": Cyclist leaves homemade sign on abandoned car
Feel free to share pics. pic.twitter.com/JnCwX1Tfak
— Gráinne Faller (@FHmediastuff) March 24, 2022
And Simon reckons that the decision in Salthill is indicative of a local authority that cares more about parking spaces for cars that it does the safety of its residents.
“I would say this is the worst place I’ve ever cycled by a long shot,” he told the Times. “When I went to LA I expected it to be really bad. But it’s actually so much better than here.
“I have been thinking about what makes Galway so bad. It keeps on coming back to the council and councillors and the negativity towards cyclists here.
“The decision on the prom [in Salthill] really got to me especially now after my accident… To me it was that car parking space was more valuable than a child being safe, or some adults being safe on a bike.”
His wife Ruth added: “People are encouraged to cycle but there’s nothing happening to make it safer. You are still expected to share the road with every kind of vehicle: cars and buses and trucks.
“It is frustrating and heart-breaking to see that this happened to my husband. And to think that still nothing might change because people don’t like change.”
As Simon begins another phase of his long recovery at home, his message to Galway City Council – and any other local authority for that matter – is a pointed one: “These sorts of accidents are happening all the time. Like, they know where it’s at. They know where the traffic is. And not a finger lifted to do something about it.”
