Search found 4319 matches

by MikeF
16 Mar 2024, 10:18pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: LTN politics
Replies: 50
Views: 3114

Re: LTN politics

gazza_d wrote: 31 Jan 2024, 7:58pm Newcastle have just pulled an ltn in Jesmond (one of the richer bits of Tyneside)
Consultation had 9 months left yet caved to a noisy minority. https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/citylife-n ... be-removed

I'm guessing that it's because many are too posh to walk and have influence against a weak council.
"The council has confirmed the measures will now be removed and learning from this scheme used in future transport schemes."
I wonder what it has learn't and what the future transport schemes will be? :wink:
by MikeF
16 Mar 2024, 10:09pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Filthy bridleway
Replies: 56
Views: 2113

Re: Filthy bridleway

Cycling along a public footpath is an act of trespass against the landowner unless the landowner has allowed cycling, as otherwise you haven't any right to be riding a bike there. Having said that I often ride along a short twitten which then leads to a public road and then to an access road that becomes a track over which there runs a public footpath. This then leads to a private estate road where the public footpath continues. This is a very convenient access from our house to places further afield,but I'm always very careful if there are pedestrians using the PROW.
by MikeF
16 Mar 2024, 8:44pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Road marking
Replies: 13
Views: 1324

Re: Road marking

Chris Jeggo wrote: 27 Feb 2024, 11:09am Not 'fart backside' then?
:lol:
by MikeF
16 Mar 2024, 8:30pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Dangerous mudguards
Replies: 37
Views: 3304

Re: Dangerous mudguards

pjclinch wrote: 15 Mar 2024, 5:56pm
Pinhead wrote: 15 Mar 2024, 3:04pm I only use these there are NO issues
My experience of crud catchers and high floating mudguards is an issue of the much less effective as mudguards than something closer in.

On my MTB having the rear guard underneath a rack gives it plenty of mud clearance, keeps it in place, and helps it stop me getting covered in mud. Plus the rack makes carrying stuff a lot easier.

Pete.
+1
by MikeF
16 Mar 2024, 8:15pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Fill that hole
Replies: 60
Views: 3764

Re: Fill that hole

rjb wrote: 8 Mar 2024, 4:33pm here on the somerset levels several of our roads are beside the rivers Tone and Parrett. Due to the high rainfall this winter the river levels are above the road constrained by the adjacent bank. Its quite noticeable how the roads are awash with water being forced up from below and opening potholes up in the process. Theres no point in attempting to repair them until the river levels drop back to normal. Its only going to get worse with global warming. Theres even spurts of water spouting through cracks in the mortar. Ive thought about poking my finger in the dyke to stop it. :lol:
There's a reason the place is called Somerset :wink:
by MikeF
3 Mar 2024, 8:23pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: 20mph Did you know, FACT!
Replies: 55
Views: 5988

Re: 20mph Did you know, FACT!

thirdcrank wrote: 6 Dec 2023, 8:57pm
Jdsk wrote: 6 Dec 2023, 8:41pm
thirdcrank wrote: 6 Dec 2023, 8:29pm I'm a bit thrown by the formatting here but I think there is little, if anything published.
...
I linked to an article on the background to the offence and the current CPS Guidance. As stated I couldn't find any Sentencing Guidelines.

Please feel free to add a link to the Act, but I don't think that adds much for people who aren't used to reading them.

Jonathan
I think a significant point from the offences Against the Person offence was the difference between eg horses bolting and somebody intentionally "not sparing the horses."

IIRC, the judge's sentencing comments in the Alliston case included some detail about the absence of precedents and I thought you had helpfully linked to the judge's remarks in PDF form.

I don't think there's anything I can add which isn't in my embarrassingly high number of earlier posts.
Yes I think this was really meant to apply to horses and horse drawn vehicles, but because a cycle is a "vehicle" it's convenient for some to apply it to cycles when nothing else seems to fit. :roll: For motor vehicles there seems to be only careless/dangerous driving, but I think this could also apply in practice.
by MikeF
3 Mar 2024, 8:02pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: George V & VI post boxes
Replies: 40
Views: 7861

Re: George V & VI post boxes

ferrit worrier wrote: 19 Dec 2022, 8:41pm Just paying a sadly very infrequent visit to the forum and came across the post box thread. this might be of interest

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... sthrough=1

not tried it yet

Good luck

Malc
Interesting. Sorted by sorting office and not actual post code of box. I noted 1 error.
by MikeF
3 Mar 2024, 7:40pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Fill that hole
Replies: 60
Views: 3764

Re: Fill that hole

Filling potholes is "sticking plaster". It should not be needed in the majority of cases - the road should be resurfaced so that potholes do not occur. In most cases noting the section of road that's failed should be what is reported, and not pinpointing the exact position of potholes. There are several reasons why potholes occur. Many are caused by utilities just back filling a trench and resurfacing the backfill, leaving the road with a mixture of surfacing and base that wears at different rates.
by MikeF
14 Jan 2024, 10:35pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Two robberies a day in London as bike-jacking epidemic takes hold - telegraph
Replies: 20
Views: 2291

Re: Two robberies a day in London as bike-jacking epidemic takes hold - telegraph

Carlton green wrote: 1 Jan 2024, 5:45pm
Is seizing some else’s bike a new thing? To my mind such things have been going on for decades - as has theft in general - and in a place so large as London I’d anticipate a lot of theft. My bigger concern for London is road safety, and in particular the safety of cyclists.
I don't recall anyone worrying about bike theft in the 1950s and all (as far as I know) bikes were left at school unlocked. Nowadays it seems thieves will target bikes left at schools as well as many other places.
by MikeF
14 Jan 2024, 10:24pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: National Transport Strategy
Replies: 155
Views: 39238

Re: National Transport Strategy

basingstoke123 wrote: 1 Jan 2024, 12:54pm
Mike Sales wrote: 20 Dec 2023, 11:34am In my many years of cycling I remember a whole series of plans, strategies, studies and whatever, none of which have come to very much. So I am afraid that I do not expect much to come from them in future.
So it's not just my local authority.

Cynically I sometimes think a strategy is where you describe things that you are 'supposed' to do, but have no intention of doing. Then when someone complains 'why isn't the council doing xxxx?', they can be given the reply 'But we are. We take xxxx very seriously. Here is the agreed strategy'.

I must try this in my next work appraisal.

When strategies are periodically revised or updated, there is rarely any review of the previous strategy. No acknowledgement of its ineffectiveness, let alone any analysis as to why.

But the quality of presentation has definitely improved.
You're not being cycnical at all
When a strategy (or plan) is completed the task is finished. It's as simple as that. The task is actually writing the strategy (or plan) to cover 5/10 or whatever years. When that time has elapsed a new one will be written.
That's what councils/ governments do - nothing more.
Implementing what the strategy/plan states is a completely different task and will depend on a whole range of factors, mainly resulting in complete inaction or at the most a token effect.
by MikeF
14 Jan 2024, 9:16pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Kilometers or Miles?
Replies: 311
Views: 22641

Re: Kilometers or Miles?

st599_uk wrote: 5 Jan 2024, 3:04pm
plancashire wrote: 5 Jan 2024, 11:16am The motivation for this thread was the difference of the UK units of measurement on the road from the rest of Europe. There used to be another difference: gradients.

Old road signs had a ratio such as 1:4 or 1:10. Now the signs show percentages: 25% or 10%. At the risk of sparking a heated discussion: I prefer the percentages. Yes, the calculation behind the ratios is easy to understand but the resulting numbers are an inverse scale, which is one where bigger numbers mean smaller quantity. A 25% slope is steeper than 10% but 1:4 has a smaller salient number (the 4) than 1:10. In my professional experience of many scales the inverted ones always caused confusion: that's why I prefer the percentages.

Reference: Traffic signs (page 3).
I was taught at school that 1:4 was a 1m rise for 4 m moved (so 4m hypotenuse) whilst the European percentage 25% was 1m rise for 4m horizontal transition (4m adjacent).
You should have been taught 1 unit rise for 4 units moved. :wink: Metrication has cut out lateral thinking.
by MikeF
14 Jan 2024, 9:08pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Kilometers or Miles?
Replies: 311
Views: 22641

Re: Kilometers or Miles?

Jdsk wrote: 24 Nov 2023, 9:23am
simonhill wrote: 24 Nov 2023, 8:54am No one has mentioned slopes. Are they metric now.
...
The two common methods for expressing slope on roads are both ways of describing the tangent of the angle of inclination.

I wouldn't consider one to be more "metric" than the other.

The SI unit would be the radian.

Jonathan

PS: The percentage nomenclature has the cognitive advantage that the value goes up with increasing slope. See wire gauges upthread!
But I think the slope on railways is the sine and measured as 1 in .... Much easier to measure of course, but on slight inclines sine and tangent are nearly the same.
by MikeF
20 Dec 2023, 7:41pm
Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
Topic: "Everything my wife learned from her first 100 miles e-biking to work"
Replies: 12
Views: 4305

Re: "Everything my wife learned from her first 100 miles e-biking to work"

pjclinch wrote: 20 Dec 2023, 10:33am
MikeF wrote: 20 Dec 2023, 9:52am
pjclinch wrote: 18 Dec 2023, 9:38am

Depends what you mean by "ergonomic design"...
If you have a motor to do much of the heavy lifting then you have less need to be efficient in delivering power, so you can worry less about that aspect.
Yes this seems to be the thinking of many electric bike producers. Less ergonomic design means the motor has to do more/most of the work so that the bike is heavier and needs more power eg from a larger battery that adds more weight. It's then effectictively a mini motor-bike. If such a bike needs manual handling eg up steps etc then that is more of a problem if it's heavier. All the battery and motor need to do is assist.
Electric motorcycles are legally as well as practically defined as different from e-bikes/pedelecs, and in the UK they require a m/cycle license, insurance and a m/cycle crash helmet.

"All the battery and motor need to do is assist" doesn't mean that much by itself because the level of assistance can vary between the odd blip of small motor up a hill to a bigger motor doing most of the work, most of the time, and there's certainly scope for that whole spectrum of assistance over the market as a whole.

Yes, a heavier bike is harder to manhandle, but if you can't manhandle any bike anyway (clearly an issue for a lot of disabled cyclists, particularly hand-cyclists who may not have any lower limb function) that's a bit of a moot point. "Ergonomic design" means, to me, fitting the device to the particular user, not some notional "average e-cyclist", and where some of them need bigger motors and lower seats that'll mean, for them, bigger motors and lower seats. A bigger battery is "ergonomic" if it's needed to get the range typically travelled because a small but empty battery is worse than useless. And so on.

Pete.
I wrote "It's then effectictively a mini motor-bike" That should have been "effectively", but I wasn't implying that it was one, but propelled in a similar way.
I don't think most people would want to swap their regular bike for a self propelled "tank", but just one that gives some assistance with little difference from the one they are using.
by MikeF
20 Dec 2023, 6:07pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: No more drunk driving? US automakers forced to adopt life-saving tech by 2024 National Highway Traffic Safety Administr
Replies: 9
Views: 1068

Re: No more drunk driving? US automakers forced to adopt life-saving tech by 2024 National Highway Traffic Safety Admin

Jdsk wrote: 20 Dec 2023, 5:05pm
MikeF wrote: 20 Dec 2023, 5:03pm
Jdsk wrote: 20 Dec 2023, 1:46pm
I very much doubt that the related harm is greater than that caused by alcohol.
What you mean by that statement?
That the harm caused is more important than the number who are intoxicated. And that the harm caused by alcohol is greater than that caused by other drugs. All within the context of road users.

Jonathan
It's still not clear.
by MikeF
20 Dec 2023, 5:03pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: No more drunk driving? US automakers forced to adopt life-saving tech by 2024 National Highway Traffic Safety Administr
Replies: 9
Views: 1068

Re: No more drunk driving? US automakers forced to adopt life-saving tech by 2024 National Highway Traffic Safety Admin

Jdsk wrote: 20 Dec 2023, 1:46pm
MikeF wrote: 20 Dec 2023, 1:29pm Intoxication is not just with alcohol, but possibly the main intoxication now is probably with other drugs.
I very much doubt that the related harm is greater than that caused by alcohol.

Jonathan
What you mean by that statement?