Posts Tagged ‘ Road Safety ’

Tomorrow is my father’s Nth birthday. It’s also the day that he’s giving up riding a bike. I know: “Say it ain’t so!”: His bike is a bit different to any of mine though - it’s a Honda Goldwing. Let’s face it, when it comes to road presence, this thing is more like Judge Dredd’s Lawmaster...
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First up - congratulations to Jim Davis for his winning entry to last week’s caption contest. His observation that the Raleigh Grifter had a long and painful development process that saw much of its purist refinements stripped out before S.O.P. hit the nail on the head. We’ll be sending Jim his very own time...
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Darwin is often mis-quoted. It’s not “survival of the fittest”, but “survival of the least stupid”. No - I’m not picking on everyone’s favourite social outsiders (recumbent riders*), but people who for the safety of future generations, really are just too stupid to be allowed breed: * Of course, I’m only kidding about not picking on...
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Our glorious Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government isn’t afraid to tackle the big issues, and speak plainly when there’s an embarrassing problem that needs to be addressed. He’s the sort of friend who’ll tell you when you’ve got B.O. or bad breath. The sort of bloke who’ll confidently call a spade a...
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Without joined-up thinking we’re never going to get anywhere fast. My personal immediate bugbear on this principal is the hit-and-miss approach to speed limits in Whitley Bay. The council set up some 20mph zones (a Good Thing), but . . . In discussions with the previous cabinet member responsible for transport (Clr Frank Lott), I...
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David Hembrow’s done it again - hit the nail right on the head. This post in A View From The Cycle Path gives a bit of background to the changes in Dutch society in the 1970s that led them to build the infrastructure that they have today. Up until then, both the UK and the...
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I picked this up toward the end of last week from Bike Portland - pictures painted on the road to give drivers pause for thought: It looks pretty real, but is this the sort of thing that’ll end up causing more problems than it solves? Drivers swerving (rather than braking) to avoid the perceived hazard? Drivers...
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You’re doing WHAT? Taking your kids on a tow-along trailer thing on the public highway? Where there are CARS for Chrissake? Are you either totally mental, or just don’t give a damn about your kids’ health? OK - enough of that. And I’m exaggerating a whole lot anyway. The issue of whether or...
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"Enemy" is probably too strong a word for this sort of Muppet driver - it’s more their casual ignorance & stupidity that unless you’re aware of them will put you in hospital or on a slab. Here’s the scenario - you’re riding along, approaching a junction on your side of the road, about...
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Before you panic, not it wasn’t me who actually got killed by a car - it was a fluffy bunny-wunnie. So let’s get my near-miss out of the way first. I was riding north up the coast into the wind, early on today’s bank holiday. The roads were deserted at a time in the morning...
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