Jeremy Vine was left wondering how he could possibly be more visible to some motorists after being blocked off by a driver while using a cycle lane on his penny-farthing.
The broadcaster and presenter regularly uploads videos from his cycling travels around London, his latest showing an incident while riding his penny-farthing on Cycleway 9 along Chiswick High Road in west London.
I thought I was more visible on a penny farthing. But I don't think this driver sees anyone. pic.twitter.com/kIH7bZ5tXm
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) April 14, 2024
The protected cycling infrastructure gives users priority at junctions, such as the one at Devonshire Road seen in the footage, and has been designed in line with the recent Highway Code changes that mean drivers should give pedestrians or cyclists travelling straight priority when turning into a side road.
Having mounted his penny-farthing, Vine did not get far before a driver turned from his left before stopping in the middle of the junction, seemingly ignoring the three cyclists and one pedestrian waiting to cross Devonshire Road who should have had priority.
"Drivers must give way to cyclists on this cycle lane," Vine explained to viewers. "If drivers can't see a penny farthing, what chance does a child on a bike have?"
"Oh man, you don't even look," he could be heard saying as the driver pulled across the cycle lane. "If you can't see a penny farthing, you can't see a child," the video concludes.
Interestingly, the takeaway messaged Kevin Buck, a Conservative councillor for Southend West and Leigh, took from the video was that "these bicycles are very dangerous and should be banned".
"There's a reason they were abandoned many years ago in favour of the 'safety bicycle'!" he replied to Vine. "You complain roads are dangerous, yet deliberately expose yourself to greater risk. Someone WILL be killed using one, it's when, not if!"
Ah yes, the way to make roads safer is to stop people riding penny farthings. pic.twitter.com/yFlSOD9G78
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) April 14, 2024
It is not the first time Vine's use of his high wheel has led some to raise safety concerns, although in May 2020 it was a pointless helmet debate that the presenter's claim to being "the first person to cycle up the redesigned Park Lane on a penny-farthing" caused. Pointless because, well, he was wearing a helmet at the time. Never let the truth get in the way of a good Twitter row.
In February 2022, Vine was taken to hospital having crashed while riding his penny-farthing and sustained a black eye.
"I've been in the wars a little bit, as my mum would always say," he told his Channel 5 show. "Look at the black eye there, and I broke my glasses because I came off my penny-farthing. The thing is, when you're on it you're eight foot up, and I basically was on grass, no one around. I didn't see the divot, front wheel went into it, over the handlebars, I landed on my head, and a crowd gathered.
"When I went to A&E they said 'you're fine but you're lucky'. They said 'we've never written this ['was riding a penny-farthing'] on the form before'."