Surrey RoadSafe is a partnership between the county's police force and council "working to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on Surrey roads". So, what are we focusing on today? Speeding? Drink driving? Mobile phone use? Anti-social behaviour on the roads? Oh, right... telling cyclists how to ride to help improve visibility so... they don't get hit by drivers...
Cyclists improve your visibility on the road.
Watch our series of animations illustrating common car/bike collision scenarios and how to avoid them.
#1 DRIVE OUT #HabitsForLifepic.twitter.com/kGNWlm8LuJ
— Surrey RoadSafe (@SurreyRS) May 29, 2024
"Car/bike collisions can be avoided," we're told. "Use defensive action to ride safer!" the video continues. Because, as the graphic goes on to imply, if someone fails to give way and pulls out in front of you, causing a collision, the action we should all be seeking, to avoid such incidents is... cyclists riding in the middle of their lane so they are more visible.
Needless to say the Surrey RoadSafe partnership got plenty of feedback under the post... from those calling the advice "victim blaming", through to people pointing out it might be slightly useful to instead ask the cause of the collision pictured not to... well, you know... crash into cyclists because you didn't look properly to see an oncoming road user when pulling out at a junction?
Bob From Accounts called the video "victim blaming 101" and suggested "separate infrastructure is the only solution". VNS added that as cyclists we already know about riding in primary position in certain situations as it can be safer. Rather, he said, "It's drivers who think cyclists are being inconsiderate for doing this. Please also educate drivers. Drivers being the ones who are responsible for collisions like this."
Matthew: "Yeah, because it's definitely not the drivers failing to look properly. All you're doing is empowering drivers to blame cyclists for 'not riding correctly, so I couldn't see them'."
RedLaser4000: "Is this real? That was the fault of the driver pulling out without looking!"
Mustapha Cycle: "Nothing wrong with cyclists improving their visibility but maybe focus on the real offenders and less on the victims. Enforce the Highway Code rigidly and get the standard of driving back on track to an acceptable level."
Tim Pryce: "Problem is drivers then yell at you and close pass you for being 'in the middle of the road'."
Ian Bradbury: "We know and we do. The people you should direct this at are the drivers screaming 'get out of the middle of the road' and the eejits who paint murder strips at the side of the road and pretend they are cycle provision."
Incidentally, the UK's head of roads policing recently spoke at-length about her wishes for making the roads safer, highlighting the key areas of concern that addressing would bring about real-world change and a reduction in the number of deaths and serious injuries.
Jo Shiner urged stricter sentences for driving offences and warned that the "basic standard of driving has reduced" and puts cyclists and pedestrians at risk. She also suggested that deaths on the UK's roads have become "unseen" due to their frequency.
"We have over 1,700 deaths a year on our roads, we have got to look at it differently," she said. "Sometimes the reporting of those people who are killed or seriously injured barely features in the local papers anymore.
"Anti-social driving is really prevalent on our roads at the moment and we know that it is causing a lot of collisions and I think that's where in terms of the punishment fitting the crime we do need greater deterrence.
"So one of our focuses within our portfolio is on greater sentencing, so the ability for us to be able to actually increase the sentences which both magistrates and other courts can give, but also greater sentences.
"What I mean by that is that if you actually compare some of the sentences the drivers who do kill people because of the way in which they've drive on the roads versus maybe some other crimes in society, predominantly you see that those sentences are lower and that's just one example where I think families are not feeling that they do get the justice that sometimes they deserve.
"I think the basic standard of driving on our roads has reduced," she continued. "Using an indicator, being in the correct lane, actually knowing what the Highway Code says, knowing which lane to go in when you're going around a roundabout and also just calming down on our roads.
"You know, sometimes I see behaviours where people are just utterly impatient to get where they want to go, really not recognising the risks that are around them, that they're both creating for others but also that others are then potentially creating for them.
"So I think changing behaviours and changing minds is really, really important in terms of just calming people down and also trying to reinforce just how much damage a vehicle can do, particularly to other vulnerable road users, whether that's a pedestrian, a pedal cyclist, a horse rider, it's really important that people take responsibility for the risk that they could pose to others when they're behind the wheel."
We must have missed the bit about cyclists being more visible so they don't get hit.
A FIFTH win of the season for Lenny Martinez 🇫🇷
The 20-year-old continues his sensational early season form, as he takes his fifth win of the year at the Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes 🔥
An attack in the final kilometre was enough to secure a gap and glide to victory 💪 pic.twitter.com/ZGmchsCMa2
— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 29, 2024
17 minutes and 40 seconds later Chris Froome crossed the line in 47th place. Maybe we'll get some disc brake excuses later? Maybe the four-time Tour de France winner was riding for his teammates today on his return? After all, George Bennett and Matthew Riccitello were both in the top 10, while rising star Stephen Williams and Mason Hollyman finished just a minute up the road from Froome. Anyway, we'll cross our fingers for disc brake excuses...
A few of you have had your say on the Surrey RoadSafe video...
Clem Fandango: "I mean, the message about riding defensively is fair enough, they've just framed it pretty poorly in my opinion.
"Doesn't matter where you ride if the drivist isn't looking or paying attention & in this example, it's still not the cyclists fault if there is a collision (which you could argue is being implied - certainly the rabid anti-cyclists & Loophole lawyers would no doubt jump on it that way & put all accountability on the rider). Surely they could have found a better way of educating all road users that cyclists taking primary in certain circumstances is a good option? At least it's not a party election broadcast....."
hawkinspeter: "Considering that the majority of bike/car collisions are unavoidable and the fault of the driver, it would be far more effective to lecture drivers about actually looking for bikes and paying attention to what they're doing. Experienced cyclists will generally ride defensively anyhow, so they're just targeting the inexperienced cyclists."
AidanR:"I can't help but think that the illustrated collision could have been avoided by the driver actually stopping at the junction, rather than rolling through it."
FionaJJ: "I don't mind advice on better road positioning to improve visibility, as there are still some cyclists, as well as drivers, who for a variety of reasons think bikes should hug the pavement, or think that's the considerate or even safest thing to do. Anything that explains why it isn't, or gives permission to more deferential cyclists to take the right position on the road for them is good IMO.
"However, if I were in charge I would pitch it differently. I'd aim the clip at drivers, using it to explain why it's the safest road position for cyclists, and ultimately makes life easier for them, then hope that it clicks for cyclists that don't already realise this."
Elsewhere there has been praise for Chris Boardman and a call for Jo Shiner to be given a particularly loud megaphone to spread her message. We can hope...
Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey, Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds and local candidate David Chadwick riding bikes during a visit to Knighton, Wales, while on the General Election campaign trail.
Image ID: 2X94NNT / Jacob King / PA Wire#generalelectionpic.twitter.com/QYFKL03Qlj
— Alamy Editorial (@Alamy_Editorial) May 29, 2024
With the Tour de Suisse just a couple of weeks away the race's organisers have announced a series of tributes that will be made to Gino Mäder, the Swiss rider who tragically died in a crash at last year's race. Mäder crashed on a high-speed descent at the end of stage five, falling into a ravine and was airlifted to hospital, his Bahrain Victorious team later revealing the worst possible news that the 26-year-old had not survived.
Swiss journalist Pascal Ritter reports that this year's race will honour Mäder with a series of tributes. The race number 44 will be retired and the highest KOM climb of the week will be named 'Ride for Gino', the slogan also appearing on all of the leaders' jerseys. There will be a memorial ride in Aigle on 16 June. Mäder's family requested that no minute's silence is held.
SHOCKING EXCLUSIVE: Lots of bike news on bike website... would have guessed it?
First up, is this an unreleased Canyon Aeroad that F1's Valtteri Bottas was seen riding at the Monaco Grand Prix?
Next up, leaks have emerged online showing a new Trek road bike with an 'IsoFlow' seat tube hole, leaving our tech team to ask, is it a new Émonda or revamped Madone?
And finally, Jamie's travelled back to 2012 to take an in-depth look at the bike that arguably signalled the beginning of the end for rim brakes (*smiles as he looks away from his desk at the lovely rim brake bike still serving him well*)...
Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman has penned a comment piece in the Evening Standard calling for an end to the "relentlessly hostile rhetoric" about cyclists, arguing that the "hate-mongers offer no solutions".
Referencing his own family tragedy — Boardman's mother was hit and killed by a driver in July 2016 — the active travel chief said it upset him to read "certain parts of the media continue their relentless campaign against cyclists", meanwhile "more than 1,700 people are killed each year by motor vehicles".
"In 2016, one of them was my mother, Keith's life partner, gone, crushed to death by a law-breaking driver," he wrote. "A vibrant, elderly woman in great health because of her passion, wiped off the face of the earth. What makes this even more horrific, if that was possible, is she was one five people who died on our roads that day. Five mothers, sons and daughters killed every day, without national headlines or calls for changes in the law.
"Allowing such uniformly negative, data-barren and blatantly false accusations to continually go unchallenged does people like my dad, and the vast majority of cyclists, a terrible disservice."
He later concluded: "At a time we desperately need to decarbonise, to improve public health and ensure everyone has affordable transport choices, we cannot afford this relentlessly hostile rhetoric.
"You'll notice the hate-mongers offer no solutions, they don't take responsibility for their actions, they just peddle hate (excuse the pun). So I for one am going to speak up for my dad and my kids, for the things that will lead to a better life for them. I hope others will stand with me, be brave and speak up for their family’s future.
"Whether walking, wheeling or riding, our streets would be a nicer place if we stopped persecuting the vulnerable and instead directed our energies to ensuring everyone has the choice to be a bit more Keith."
It's a pretty decent summary of humanity that you've got the one mate giving a hand, at least trying to help the man who's made the questionable choice to climb into this coiled bike rack, only to (very predictably) get stuck. Meanwhile, the other mate is simply trying not to cause himself any damage by laughing too hard or falling over while filming his pal's predicament.
— Dubs life (@dubslife1) May 27, 2024
Reason #2,701 why Sheffield Stands should be the universal cycle parking design. Obviously, simple and practical racks to lock your bike to would be number one, but preventing drunk people using them as a tunnel only to get stuck is at least on the list somewhere, even if a bit further down the priority hierarchy.
We've got no idea where this happened, or which unimpressed fire service was asked to attend. Maybe he was just confused by the design and went looking for his bike? Okay, fair enough, that's too generous — always remember to enjoy alcohol responsibly. Otherwise you might end up stuck inside a Turkey Twizzler bike rack... enough to give Jamie Oliver nightmares.
We've seen these god-awful bike racks before, namely outside a Lidl branch in Dublin and they got a shout-out in our appropriately titled feature:
> Worst bike racks — from the useless to utterly unusable places to park your bicycle
You'd do well to get stuck in any of those other ones, although I guess the middle one up top ('the toast rack' as it was dubbed) has potential.
Fans of Always Sunny might think they've seen this one before:
Frank, is that you? pic.twitter.com/LDE0oa7buD
— D Naylor (@R3DLFC) May 28, 2024
Another in the comments declared that "stupid springs to mind"... ba dum tss...