I had a Ford Ka driver almost rear end me on a roundabout before. I heard it rev and looked round to see it stop inches from me. I believe the passenger saved me as they appeared to have told the driver to stop. It must be quite tough to look ahead in front of their vehicle for a lot of drivers.
Road Cycling
- Thread starter FrenchTart
- Start date
I had a Ford Ka driver almost rear end me on a roundabout before. I heard it rev and looked round to see it stop inches from me. I believe the passenger saved me as they appeared to have told the driver to stop. It must be quite tough to look ahead in front of their vehicle for a lot of drivers.
Oh my word it is gorgeous.
When I was looking at buying my last bike I was looking at the XR2. Beautiful piece of kit. Plus, I love campag.
No ASL there?
Unless you really feel like wasting 1-2 hours of your time there's no point reporting it (unless you have damage/injuries and witnesses). As even reporting on 101 you'll have to go down to the local police station and wait for an appointment to fill out an 'incident report' with a local officer. We, as cyclists, should have a much easier and quicker way of logging these kinda things - so much happens on the road that nobody in authority knows anything about. In reality most cyclists who record stuff like this just throw it on Youtube with the numberplate. Name and shame! Would be good if insurance companies did a google search for registrations...!
I'll have this one please!
RCUK loved it too.
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I wouldn't be too happy if my insurance was higher because someone else driving my car drove like an idiot though.
- Joined
- 16 May 2005
- Posts
- 31,297
- Location
- Manchester
Waiting over an hour at the fracture clinic and watching ppl that arrived after me get seen first. Fun times.
Anybody have any experience with dhb Aeron kit? I've had the ordinary dhb kit in the past and it has done me fine but not quite as nice as the Rapha tops I have
There's a Rapha archive store about 40 mins from me but it would be a bit of a faff to get there before I go to Mallorca and can't guarantee I'll find anything
Thinking of getting a short sleeve top and bib shorts so I definately have enough gear for my holiday but if the dhb Aeron stuff isn't worth the money then I'll try make a trip to the archive store
There's a Rapha archive store about 40 mins from me but it would be a bit of a faff to get there before I go to Mallorca and can't guarantee I'll find anything
Thinking of getting a short sleeve top and bib shorts so I definately have enough gear for my holiday but if the dhb Aeron stuff isn't worth the money then I'll try make a trip to the archive store
- Joined
- 16 May 2005
- Posts
- 31,297
- Location
- Manchester
I used the high end dhb stuff on my 300 miler and it was very comfortable.
Rubbish, I bet they pay road tax...
Maybe some kinda way to 'reset' it when vehicles are sold/insurance changed. Everyone's insurance is stupidly high already and it's only going to increase. The majority of UK insurance companies have a 'pay-out' culture where they don't even look into incidents, just pay out and then everyone of that vehicle class in the postcode area of the insured foots the bill (understand that's how things are calculated) along with the policy holder (to a slight degree). With the current guidance of damage costing more than 30% of a vehicles book value deemed a write-off, the majority of repairs are over valued for insurance claims so the pay-outs are huge (and everyone's policies rise as a result).
Personally I think that's one of the huge problems with drivers - everyone on the road has a huge sense of entitlement because insurance and vehicles are so costly. I dare say it's one of the main contributors to road rage and the aggressive driving we see in this country compared to others.
Pffft!agreedroady with his nonsense again
Personally I think some 'safety awareness' database (accessible by the Police and Insurance underwriters) for publicly submitted information on drivers is a great idea. Think of it like a 'credit check/score' for peoples driving ability/risk. If the Police pull someone over for dodgy driving and would normally 'let them go with a warning', yet a check on their database shows that this driver has lots of 'black marks' against them for dodgy driving, then they would be able to make more informed decisions. The way things are currently going we're all going to be driving with insurance 'black boxes' monitoring our trajectories, cornering and driving habits within the next few years. Things could work the other way too, link it to drivers mileage and those amassing high miles with little/no 'black marks' get a reduction in insurance policy/preferential rates compared to 'normal' drivers. You could also have 'rewards' for those who attend driving awareness courses and show improvement afterwards. If insurance companies want to monitor every part of our driving we should make it also work to our benefit - Joe Bloggs has driven for 6 years on a tracker with no incidents, give him better rates at renewal and because he regularly drives on roads X, Y & Z involve him in council surveys for any road development in that area.
Vote Roady for Prime Minister!
Rubbish, I bet they pay road tax...
Maybe some kinda way to 'reset' it when vehicles are sold/insurance changed. Everyone's insurance is stupidly high already and it's only going to increase. The majority of UK insurance companies have a 'pay-out' culture where they don't even look into incidents, just pay out and then everyone of that vehicle class in the postcode area of the insured foots the bill (understand that's how things are calculated) along with the policy holder (to a slight degree). With the current guidance of damage costing more than 30% of a vehicles book value deemed a write-off, the majority of repairs are over valued for insurance claims so the pay-outs are huge.
Personally I think that's one of the huge problems with drivers - everyone on the road has a huge sense of entitlement because insurance and vehicles are so costly. I dare say it's one of the main contributors to road rage and the aggressive driving we see in this country compared to others.
Pffft!
Personally I think some 'safety awareness' database (accessible by the Police and Insurance underwriters) for publicly submitted information on drivers is a great idea. Think of it like a 'credit check/score' for peoples driving ability/risk. If the Police pull someone over for dodgy driving and would normally 'let them go with a warning', yet a check on their database shows that this driver has lots of 'black marks' against them for dodgy driving, then they would be able to make more informed decisions. The way things are currently going we're all going to be driving with insurance 'black boxes' monitoring our trajectories, cornering and driving habits within the next few years. Things could work the other way too, link it to drivers mileage and those amassing high miles with little/no 'black marks' get a reduction in insurance policy/preferential rates compared to 'normal' drivers. You could also have 'rewards' for those who attend driving awareness courses and show improvement afterwards. If insurance companies want to monitor every part of our driving we should make it also work to our benefit - Joe Bloggs has driven for 6 years on a tracker with no incidents, give him better rates at renewal and because he regularly drives on roads X, Y & Z involve him in council surveys for any road development in that area.
Vote Roady for Prime Minister!
then "letting go" wouldn't really work as it would still be logged on the system.
aka what points on the license do, declare them and you pay up.
the problem is that unless a driver hits a cyclist, gets caught by police etc, there will be no outcome.
hence the cyclists taking things into their own hands, naming and shaming companies, work vans, faces all over youtube etc..
it's not as good as actual points on license but better than nothing.
Problem is a vehicle doesn't necessarily just have one driver per registered keeper period. I could end up with a mark against mine because the mechanic took it on a test drive and passed a cyclist close or maybe a friend did something stupid for example.
This discussion reminds me... I need to renew my vehicle tax
I paid £389 but that was for the one with wrist heart rate, sapphire glass and an additional ant+ heart rate strap.
It is meant to do 3 weeks in watch mode but I won't go that long without using some gps. I predict I'll be topping it up every couple of days like I do with the Fitbit.
Postman is always here between 11 and 11.30... unless I'm waiting for a new toy
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Dec 2004
- Posts
- 17,072
- Location
- Shepley
Don't get me started on that, had too many enraging experiences at A&E this year.
when I cracked my elbow, bloody shoulder, face, twisted thumb etc...
4.5 hours later I was still in the reception
- Joined
- 16 May 2005
- Posts
- 31,297
- Location
- Manchester
I can understand it more in A&E tbh. This is an appointment-only clinic though...
2 hours late I had a very quick xray and chat to be informed that they aren't sure if I need surgery, sigh. Going to visit MRI A&E at 6am tomorrow morning to register their and get my xrays looked at by an upper limb specialist.
2 hours late I had a very quick xray and chat to be informed that they aren't sure if I need surgery, sigh. Going to visit MRI A&E at 6am tomorrow morning to register their and get my xrays looked at by an upper limb specialist.
Short post about my 9 days supported LeJog - Threshold Ride Across Britain
Day 1 - Lands End to Okehampton 8,675ft & 107.6mi @ 15.5mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/707139918
One word sums up this leg brutal. Loads of short very steep climbs with some technical roads which meant you had to keep your wits about you. When I got back to campsite I was allocated a tent but due to the extreme exhaustion I put all my gear in the wrong tent. It took me a good 10-15 minutes to work out which tent I had put my gear in. Going too hard on this first leg did cause me to suffer on the following days. Wet roads in the morning but it stayed dry all day
Day 2 - Okehampton – Bath 6,998ft & 111.2mi @ 16.2mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/708589913
Another brutal day but thankfully the climbs were generally less severe and the roads a little less technical. I suffered on this day due to the previous days antics , developed a sore A*** from the saddle and sore knees from the climbing.
Glorious sunshine all day
Day 3 – Bath-Ludlow 5,919 ft & 99.4mi @ 17.3mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/709710784
The organisers had told us this was a flat day with climbing of 3000 feet but it became apparent that they had made an error as we had hit this climbing target before lunch. This was mentally quite a hard day but fairly enjoyable as the roads where similar to those I ride at home with some tricky steep climbs.
Glorious sunshine all day
Day 4 – Ludlow – Haydock 3,064ft & 108.2mi @ 19.1 mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/710769349
This was supposed to be the first “rest day” so it started off fairly steady and we tried to get a group with some kind of order and run an easy chain gang but this didn’t really work as many of the riders had little experience in group riding. The roads were often single track and twisty so it was a recipe for disaster. We were passed by a fast group so I took the opportunity to become part of that, the fast riders from our group merged into the fast group and we had a pace of ~25mph. All was going well until I got a puncture but luckily this was only a few miles from the feed stop so I managed to get on another fast much smaller group.
Glorious sunshine all day, slower riders were soaked by an impressive electrical storm
Day 5 - Haydock to Penrith 5,374ft & 107.7mi @ 17.00 mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/713078743
This was a fairly hard day due to a massive head winds on the climbs and the fatigue that was setting in from the camping & cycling. It also held the highest climb of the trip Shap. Once over shap the small group of 6 I was with ramped up the pace to the campsite.
Glorious sunshine all day
Day 6 – Penrith to Hamilton 3,386ft & 100.4mi @ 18.9 mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/713081613
This was a relatively easy day as we all knew we had the longest day of the trip tomorrow but that didn’t stop the pace raising into the mid 20’s towards the end of the day other than the bad road surfaces this was a good day oh and it was good to be back in Scotland.
Glorious sunshine all day
Day 7 – Hamilton to Torlundy (Fort William) 6,214ft & 126.7mi @ 17.6mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/714312601
This was the longest day on the trip and it was made better as my dad decided to ride with me for this leg and thankfully gave me a wheel to draft behind for the start of the cold morning. We picked up some of the other Balfour Beatty guys at the second stop and rode with them for the majority of the ride. Amazing scenery and some good descents, one of the highlights of the trip.
Glorious sunshine with a welcome shower for a few minutes before Glencoe
Day 8 - Fort William to Kyle of Sutherland 5,272 & 111.0 mi @ 17.9 mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/7...l]https://www.strava.com/activities/716534203
The final day started at temps of one degrees but like the previous day it was set to get warm reaching a high of the mid twenties. The last day had what seemed like a lot of gradual climbs but we decided to stay together as group for the duration so it was done at a sensible pace. Seeing a large number of mechanicals and accidents on this last day made me nervous in the last third as failing at this stage would have been terrible.
Glorious sunshine freezing in the mornings.
All round it was a well organised event with some superb weather chucked in. The negatives of the event was being woken by Queen 5am or 5:30am from a damp tent.
Day 1 - Lands End to Okehampton 8,675ft & 107.6mi @ 15.5mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/707139918
One word sums up this leg brutal. Loads of short very steep climbs with some technical roads which meant you had to keep your wits about you. When I got back to campsite I was allocated a tent but due to the extreme exhaustion I put all my gear in the wrong tent. It took me a good 10-15 minutes to work out which tent I had put my gear in. Going too hard on this first leg did cause me to suffer on the following days. Wet roads in the morning but it stayed dry all day
Day 2 - Okehampton – Bath 6,998ft & 111.2mi @ 16.2mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/708589913
Another brutal day but thankfully the climbs were generally less severe and the roads a little less technical. I suffered on this day due to the previous days antics , developed a sore A*** from the saddle and sore knees from the climbing.
Glorious sunshine all day
Day 3 – Bath-Ludlow 5,919 ft & 99.4mi @ 17.3mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/709710784
The organisers had told us this was a flat day with climbing of 3000 feet but it became apparent that they had made an error as we had hit this climbing target before lunch. This was mentally quite a hard day but fairly enjoyable as the roads where similar to those I ride at home with some tricky steep climbs.
Glorious sunshine all day
Day 4 – Ludlow – Haydock 3,064ft & 108.2mi @ 19.1 mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/710769349
This was supposed to be the first “rest day” so it started off fairly steady and we tried to get a group with some kind of order and run an easy chain gang but this didn’t really work as many of the riders had little experience in group riding. The roads were often single track and twisty so it was a recipe for disaster. We were passed by a fast group so I took the opportunity to become part of that, the fast riders from our group merged into the fast group and we had a pace of ~25mph. All was going well until I got a puncture but luckily this was only a few miles from the feed stop so I managed to get on another fast much smaller group.
Glorious sunshine all day, slower riders were soaked by an impressive electrical storm
Day 5 - Haydock to Penrith 5,374ft & 107.7mi @ 17.00 mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/713078743
This was a fairly hard day due to a massive head winds on the climbs and the fatigue that was setting in from the camping & cycling. It also held the highest climb of the trip Shap. Once over shap the small group of 6 I was with ramped up the pace to the campsite.
Glorious sunshine all day
Day 6 – Penrith to Hamilton 3,386ft & 100.4mi @ 18.9 mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/713081613
This was a relatively easy day as we all knew we had the longest day of the trip tomorrow but that didn’t stop the pace raising into the mid 20’s towards the end of the day other than the bad road surfaces this was a good day oh and it was good to be back in Scotland.
Glorious sunshine all day
Day 7 – Hamilton to Torlundy (Fort William) 6,214ft & 126.7mi @ 17.6mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/714312601
This was the longest day on the trip and it was made better as my dad decided to ride with me for this leg and thankfully gave me a wheel to draft behind for the start of the cold morning. We picked up some of the other Balfour Beatty guys at the second stop and rode with them for the majority of the ride. Amazing scenery and some good descents, one of the highlights of the trip.
Glorious sunshine with a welcome shower for a few minutes before Glencoe
Day 8 - Fort William to Kyle of Sutherland 5,272 & 111.0 mi @ 17.9 mi/h
https://www.strava.com/activities/7...l]https://www.strava.com/activities/716534203
The final day started at temps of one degrees but like the previous day it was set to get warm reaching a high of the mid twenties. The last day had what seemed like a lot of gradual climbs but we decided to stay together as group for the duration so it was done at a sensible pace. Seeing a large number of mechanicals and accidents on this last day made me nervous in the last third as failing at this stage would have been terrible.
Glorious sunshine freezing in the mornings.
All round it was a well organised event with some superb weather chucked in. The negatives of the event was being woken by Queen 5am or 5:30am from a damp tent.
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Yeah, but still, a mark against your vehicle when the likelihood of it being driven by someone irresponsible is higher than someone elses is another 'benefit' of the system. Having marks against your vehicle doesn't have to mean anything (even more if they depreciate) as they're just an indicator. It might be insurers 'ignore' below 5 marks for existing customers and for 5-10 marks just don't offer you their best rates upon renewal. New Customers in an area with a high number of insurance claims (where insurers currently don't quote) could then quote for customers with very few marks, but not for those with more. These thresholds/cutoffs could change between vehicle types, areas, and insurers would no doubt have different rating schemes. They could even be done for other reasons - car is left unattended on a street and blocks access. Police are unable to do anything as the vehicle is removed before a tow truck arrives, but some marks are added as a 'penalty', rather than a fine.
Yeah, but then I was trying to expand on this... As the people doing this are only doing it because they feel there is nothing else they can do! Authorities have very strict rules on what points are awarded for, you can knock down a cyclist/pedestrian through really bad driving and not receive points. Just maybe a warning by Police and possibly a fine. Hell, drivers who KILL other road users get away with very lenient penalties/sentences because the crime happened on a road and in a vehicle. If I walked down the street and intentionally punched someone hard enough to kill them I would receive a much higher sentence. Why should hitting them with a car be any different, if anything it should receive a higher sentence!
The point I was trying to make, many of these 'soft-crimes' go unpunished. Even calling them a 'crime' is the wrong terminology. The Police don't want to get involved, if they are it rapidly becomes is a complete waste of time for everyone involved unless charges are brought (in which case a crime was committed). The only 'positive' outcome from the time spent is someone pushing for prosecution, which for most of these things I'm talking about is not required.
You need to be a drama queen in A&E. Making loads of noise will get you seen sooner, even better if you're upsetting other people! Another is to utterly stink & make a mess, went to A&E with a guy who'd fallen off a roof into some really stinky mud, reception was pretty full, but once they saw the mess and smelt him he got jumped up the queue...when I cracked my elbow, bloody shoulder, face, twisted thumb etc...
4.5 hours later I was still in the reception
Also, bleeding all over the floor works well too (been there done that)!
