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Monday, 8 November 2010
Monday, 1 November 2010
Things on the Rail I can do without
- Smashed champagne bottles (if you can believe that?)
- Sarcastic Impington Village College Kids
- Either of
- Branches (no, I do not mean twigs, I mean bloody huge branches)
- Big bits of wood (!)
- Dog sh*t
- Horse sh*t
- More dog sh*t
I'm sure the branches usually get where they are by falling from trees (duh!) but the wood??? I have one question: why?
#2 is an odd one. Children walking to school to Impington Village College use the rail. As I approach them they have in the past simply moved out of the way. However, they then discovered that I got annoyed if they made me stop before moving. Initially I told them that I was riding very fast & it'd be safer if they simply stood aside. I even told one girl on a bike that I'd lean against the rail and she could easily move past me. Somehow that didn't go down well either. Too late, I've given them the ammunition and now they always leave it to the last second to move. I have to come to a complete halt and then they move. The recent development is that they've now taken to telling me off when I don't thank them; like I'm going to say "thank you" if they make me stop first. grrr
As for 4 & 5. Well #5 is mostly around the stables at the NW corner of Histon. I am personally surprised that a horse can comfortably walk on the rail, let alone defecate on it! :-) #4 happens everywhere and just goes to show how little community spirit exists. People only clear up their dog sh*t where there's a sign threatening them with a fine for not or enough witnesses for the social unacceptability of it to pre-shame them into taking it home with them. Where there's no-one around and they think there's no victim, they just don't give a, well, sh*t!
Of course the thing that's missing from my list is the huge lumps of concrete that are temporarily there to stop traffic from joining the rail. I do wish they all left room for bikes to comfortably go round them, rather than having to come to a dead stop, de-clip your pedals and creep through a gap of about 10cm. :-(
Monday, 25 October 2010
Riding on the A428!
Monday 25th, 11:04
According to the Cambridge News,
The article was published on the 24th and mentions 7.17pm and indeed was referring to the evening of Saturday the 23rd.
I was driving from Cambourne to Cambridge and was approaching the Dry Drayton exit when loads of Police cars with flashing blue lights appeared going both East and West. Turns out they were coming from Cambridge and doing "U" turns at the Cambourne exit to get to the scene.
The collision appeared to have happened mere metres from the start of the Eastbound off-ramp at the Dry Drayton exit. Indeed, there were big gouged skid marks running up the embankment after the start of the off-ramp.
My heart sank when I saw the bike on the edge of the road. I have to tell you, it was pitch black and I would have thought twice before riding along the A428.
I have ridden along the A14 quite a few times, but it's always been in broad daylight and it is often the case that I'm doing so when the traffic is so heavy I'm going faster than it is. Also, I almost always only have need to go North on the A14 and that means going along the side with the lorry park / lay-by etc. I spend well over 75% of my journey physically separated from the traffic-proper.
I decided to give it a try when I saw the blue "cyclists should ride this way" sign / road map thing. I figured if there are signs saying where the cyclists should ride I have license to ride there. When I figure out what these are called / get a photo I'll update this post.
According to the Cambridge News,
I (almost) saw this happen. :-("A 30-year-old man, from London, has also been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving following the death of a cyclist yesterday.It follows a collision at 7.17pm on the eastbound carriageway of the A428 between Dry Drayton and Cambourne.The 53-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene after being involved in a collision with a white Ford Transit van.The man arrested has been released on police bail, a spokesman for Cambridgeshire Constabulary said."
The article was published on the 24th and mentions 7.17pm and indeed was referring to the evening of Saturday the 23rd.
I was driving from Cambourne to Cambridge and was approaching the Dry Drayton exit when loads of Police cars with flashing blue lights appeared going both East and West. Turns out they were coming from Cambridge and doing "U" turns at the Cambourne exit to get to the scene.
The collision appeared to have happened mere metres from the start of the Eastbound off-ramp at the Dry Drayton exit. Indeed, there were big gouged skid marks running up the embankment after the start of the off-ramp.
My heart sank when I saw the bike on the edge of the road. I have to tell you, it was pitch black and I would have thought twice before riding along the A428.
I have ridden along the A14 quite a few times, but it's always been in broad daylight and it is often the case that I'm doing so when the traffic is so heavy I'm going faster than it is. Also, I almost always only have need to go North on the A14 and that means going along the side with the lorry park / lay-by etc. I spend well over 75% of my journey physically separated from the traffic-proper.
I decided to give it a try when I saw the blue "cyclists should ride this way" sign / road map thing. I figured if there are signs saying where the cyclists should ride I have license to ride there. When I figure out what these are called / get a photo I'll update this post.
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Close call with a BMW
Last night I was riding onto the dreaded Longstanton - Oakington no-vehicles road when a BMW tried to go around me whilst the driver was using his bloody iPhone (in his right hand [1])!
I (naturally) yelled at him to put the phone away and he came along side me & rolled down the passenger window. I yelled again to put his phone away (and that it was dangerous) and just as he was about to yell something back, another car came off the no-vehicles road head-on at the BMW. :-)
Of course he floored-it, rather than stopping (why that choice I wonder), & only just got out of the way of a bad collision, then he sped off, almost with his tail between his legs, point obviously conceded that he was reckless and should pay more attention the road.
Katie Price was just fined £1,000 for swerving into the path of oncoming traffic because she was distracted whilst using her phone. I almost wish this guy had had an accident, even if it had involved me, so that he could have been fined too and taught a lesson.
4 minutes after that I was on a blind bend on the same road and a black 8th generation European-shape Honda Civic overtook me even though I waved a hand at him & yelled not to go around me on a dangerous bend.
[Addendum]: This morning (Oct 19th 2010) the very same Civic was going to overtake me in the 30mph in St. Michaels with an oncoming car. It only decided not to when I waved it back. After the oncoming traffic passed by, the Civic screamed by at well over 40mph. What a complete and total moron!
Lord! 1.5 miles, 4 minutes and two close shaves. I hate the illegal drivers who use the no-vehicles road.
[1] I mention the right hand as it's plain that were it in his left hand and he wants to change gear, he can do so with a hand still on his steering wheel, but with a phone in his right hand then changing gear definitely means he's driving with no hands on the wheel at all!
I (naturally) yelled at him to put the phone away and he came along side me & rolled down the passenger window. I yelled again to put his phone away (and that it was dangerous) and just as he was about to yell something back, another car came off the no-vehicles road head-on at the BMW. :-)
Of course he floored-it, rather than stopping (why that choice I wonder), & only just got out of the way of a bad collision, then he sped off, almost with his tail between his legs, point obviously conceded that he was reckless and should pay more attention the road.
Katie Price was just fined £1,000 for swerving into the path of oncoming traffic because she was distracted whilst using her phone. I almost wish this guy had had an accident, even if it had involved me, so that he could have been fined too and taught a lesson.
4 minutes after that I was on a blind bend on the same road and a black 8th generation European-shape Honda Civic overtook me even though I waved a hand at him & yelled not to go around me on a dangerous bend.
[Addendum]: This morning (Oct 19th 2010) the very same Civic was going to overtake me in the 30mph in St. Michaels with an oncoming car. It only decided not to when I waved it back. After the oncoming traffic passed by, the Civic screamed by at well over 40mph. What a complete and total moron!
Lord! 1.5 miles, 4 minutes and two close shaves. I hate the illegal drivers who use the no-vehicles road.
[1] I mention the right hand as it's plain that were it in his left hand and he wants to change gear, he can do so with a hand still on his steering wheel, but with a phone in his right hand then changing gear definitely means he's driving with no hands on the wheel at all!
Monday, 18 October 2010
Rail Riding
I shot this whilst riding on the Cambridge Guided Bus rail, approaching the underpass of the A14 just out from the Cambridge Regional College.
The rail is baby smooth, (by definition) traffic free and apart from the breaks where there are stations & crossings of/with real roads it is really fast.
Since veering off/to either edge would mean certain injury (going as fast as I do) one has to concentrate quite hard on the rail so watching the countryside isn't possible. For me this is a commute, so I'm prepared to pay that price.
p.s. I fixed the "Private Video" mistake.
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Ask the Council to fix Longstanton Road
I've just filled in the form here: http://tinyurl.com/3ae99w3 that the Council supply for reporting defective roads. It comes from one of their PDFs. :-/
It will come as no surprise to regular readers that my preferred solution to the contention over Longstanton Road is to re-surface it and then open it up fully.
Until that happens I'll happily condemn drivers who use the road, mostly because the utterly awful condition of the surface makes my bike and their car have to come together.
Once the surface is clean and I can ride on the left in comfort and safety I'd be happy to share the road, with the proviso that they stay under 40mph.
Jamie (who's brilliant blog I follow) regularly takes pictures of drivers en mass ignoring the no motor vehicles sign.
The Cambridge News has also done articles on the drivers getting Fixed Penalty Notices. This happens once every two years or thereabouts and does nothing to help the problem.
I've decided that only lobbying of councils, the Police and anyone else with influence will help.
It will come as no surprise to regular readers that my preferred solution to the contention over Longstanton Road is to re-surface it and then open it up fully.
Until that happens I'll happily condemn drivers who use the road, mostly because the utterly awful condition of the surface makes my bike and their car have to come together.
Once the surface is clean and I can ride on the left in comfort and safety I'd be happy to share the road, with the proviso that they stay under 40mph.
Jamie (who's brilliant blog I follow) regularly takes pictures of drivers en mass ignoring the no motor vehicles sign.
The Cambridge News has also done articles on the drivers getting Fixed Penalty Notices. This happens once every two years or thereabouts and does nothing to help the problem.
I've decided that only lobbying of councils, the Police and anyone else with influence will help.
Helmets on Handlebars.
What the hell? Why, why, why, why, why, why, why do people dangle their helmets from their handlebars instead of putting them on their heads??????
The most prolific culprits of this baffling crime are secondary school pupils. A good while back I used to work near(ish) to a secondary school and almost every child who rode a bike to it (that I saw) either wore no helmet or dangled the bloody thing from their handlebars.
Only this morning a fully grown adult (in his 30's maybe?) rode past me doing it too!
For those who don't know me, I'm an equal opportunity angry cyclist. :-)
I yell at fellow cyclists who jump red lights (I usually accuse them of making us all look bad).
I usually simply yell "helmet!" (good double entendre eh? ;-)) at people dangling the damned things instead of wearing them.
As a small follow-up to this: On Friday evening I was riding home and I overtook a guy riding without a helmet and carrying a quite large pack of nappies on his handlebars. :-O
Seems to me that a fella who has a nappy-wearing baby at home might think about sticking about a bit for the child & wear a helmet. I guess that's just how I might feel.
The most prolific culprits of this baffling crime are secondary school pupils. A good while back I used to work near(ish) to a secondary school and almost every child who rode a bike to it (that I saw) either wore no helmet or dangled the bloody thing from their handlebars.
Only this morning a fully grown adult (in his 30's maybe?) rode past me doing it too!
For those who don't know me, I'm an equal opportunity angry cyclist. :-)
I yell at fellow cyclists who jump red lights (I usually accuse them of making us all look bad).
I usually simply yell "helmet!" (good double entendre eh? ;-)) at people dangling the damned things instead of wearing them.
As a small follow-up to this: On Friday evening I was riding home and I overtook a guy riding without a helmet and carrying a quite large pack of nappies on his handlebars. :-O
Seems to me that a fella who has a nappy-wearing baby at home might think about sticking about a bit for the child & wear a helmet. I guess that's just how I might feel.
Friday, 8 October 2010
Trashed Bike On Guided Bus Way
The wheels were crushed to heck, as shown in the close-ups.
I leaned it up against the fence. You can find it here:
View Larger Map
Gonna Buy One Of These
Thank Goodness I Don't Live In Toronto
Rob Ford, City Councillor for Toronto, Ontario, says in this YouTube video that cyclists who get run down on the roads are to blame for their own accidents.
It's simply because it's obvious that as long as you ride a bike on a road that's built for cars, trucks and buses, eventually you're going to get run down.
He calls it swimming with the sharks.
Here's a great example of drivers in Toronto; seems to me that the City Council might legally be partially responsible: the more you tell drivers they exclusively own the road the more you're responsible for their actions in asserting that right, no?
It's simply because it's obvious that as long as you ride a bike on a road that's built for cars, trucks and buses, eventually you're going to get run down.
He calls it swimming with the sharks.
Here's a great example of drivers in Toronto; seems to me that the City Council might legally be partially responsible: the more you tell drivers they exclusively own the road the more you're responsible for their actions in asserting that right, no?
Thursday, 7 October 2010
The BP Petrol Station on Huntingdon Road
So I have frequent cause to ride down Huntingdon Road. I'm usually doing so at a time of day when the traffic is heavy and slow. This usually suits me fine except for when I'm passing the BP Petrol Station.
As you will note from this close-up of the exit, there are no signs warning departing customers to look out for cyclists.
The big problem comes from the slow moving traffic. Since they're moving slowly, they tend to flash cars to join the traffic. EVERY time that happens and I'm in the painted mandatory cycle lane
So I did some Googling and the legality of this is astonishing. Any collision would be (mostly) my fault! There's the 1973 case of a bus who pulled over near an emerging side road (to alight passengers, I think) and the bus driver flashed a car to emerge whilst the bus was stationary. The bus driver then saw an approaching motorcycle and started flashing and beeping madly to get everyone to stop. The car carried on out and hit the motorbike. The emerging car was found to be 1/3rd to blame for pulling out but the motorbike was found to be 2/3rds to blame for not foreseeing that the car might pull out!!!
Well since I cant get the cars to either notice or yield to my right of way, I thought I'd try & get BP to at least help by putting up a sign. Firstly BP told me that they don't actually own that station,someone else does and licenses the BP petrol sale rights & livery. So they passed on my request to the legal owners / managers. They declined my request saying
As you will note from this close-up of the exit, there are no signs warning departing customers to look out for cyclists.
The big problem comes from the slow moving traffic. Since they're moving slowly, they tend to flash cars to join the traffic. EVERY time that happens and I'm in the painted mandatory cycle lane
- The flashing (snigger) driver doesn't look for me
- The emerging driver doesn't look for me
- I'm going downhill at well over 20mph
- I have to skid or swerve to avoid the emerging car
So I did some Googling and the legality of this is astonishing. Any collision would be (mostly) my fault! There's the 1973 case of a bus who pulled over near an emerging side road (to alight passengers, I think) and the bus driver flashed a car to emerge whilst the bus was stationary. The bus driver then saw an approaching motorcycle and started flashing and beeping madly to get everyone to stop. The car carried on out and hit the motorbike. The emerging car was found to be 1/3rd to blame for pulling out but the motorbike was found to be 2/3rds to blame for not foreseeing that the car might pull out!!!
Well since I cant get the cars to either notice or yield to my right of way, I thought I'd try & get BP to at least help by putting up a sign. Firstly BP told me that they don't actually own that station,someone else does and licenses the BP petrol sale rights & livery. So they passed on my request to the legal owners / managers. They declined my request saying
- It's the County Council who should put up signs
- A sign would cause a hazard & block the emerging drivers view of the road
- Shan't! No, no, no, I don't wanna, go away nasty cyclist!
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Now Prosecute the Taxi Driver, Right?
On Tuesday March 9th, at around 5.30pm, in London this guy was cut up but a taxi so badly that he collided with the back of the cab. Sounds nasty.
During the ensuing conversation, where the taxi driver issued racial insults, the cabbie strangled the cyclist to unconsciousness with the cyclists scarf. When the cyclist came round, he was arrested for assaulting the taxi driver!!!
A witness who saw the cyclist being arrested tried to tell the arresting Police officer that he'd be a witness for the cyclist but was shooed away by the copper. :-(
Then the cyclist has to appear in court and defend himself against the egregious false allegation. It's only because the first witness went to a Police station and gave testimony that the cyclist's name was cleared.
I've got to say I truly hope the taxi driver is charged. Not only did he violently assault the cyclist and incorrectly call him a 'paki' (he's of mixed Irish, Scottish and English heritage :-D), so it was a racially motivated assault, but he wasted Police time and probably either gave false testimony or committed perjury.
The story in the London Evening Standard.
During the ensuing conversation, where the taxi driver issued racial insults, the cabbie strangled the cyclist to unconsciousness with the cyclists scarf. When the cyclist came round, he was arrested for assaulting the taxi driver!!!
A witness who saw the cyclist being arrested tried to tell the arresting Police officer that he'd be a witness for the cyclist but was shooed away by the copper. :-(
Then the cyclist has to appear in court and defend himself against the egregious false allegation. It's only because the first witness went to a Police station and gave testimony that the cyclist's name was cleared.
I've got to say I truly hope the taxi driver is charged. Not only did he violently assault the cyclist and incorrectly call him a 'paki' (he's of mixed Irish, Scottish and English heritage :-D), so it was a racially motivated assault, but he wasted Police time and probably either gave false testimony or committed perjury.
The story in the London Evening Standard.
Friday, 1 October 2010
Morning from hell.
So this morning, I had a really rough ride in.
It was spitting and I figured the rain would get worse so I put my lights on, only to find after a few hundred metres that the batteries were flat in my headlight. So I dutifully turned round, went home and changed them: perhaps I'll carry some spares from now on?
Time passes, the road whizzes by and eventually, after some calm, I enter the airfield road.
As I was entering the infamous "S" bend a Ford Focus screeches up behind me and beeps angrily. He goes round me & I confess I shouted at him, so he does a 4-wheel skid to a halt & this is him just before getting out to shout back at me. I'm upset that my picture is blurred, but at least you can tell it's a blue-ish Focus.
OK, then, after this guy drives off and I'm 75% through the airfield road a Citroën C3 Picasso AJ59FHF pulling a trailer carrying an Alko lawnmower hurtles past me in the opposite direction. Well I was already angry & he was going very fast and was well into the middle of the road, so I shook my fist at him. He does a "U" turn, follows me into the next village, goes on, turns round again and comes back and then drives into me, knocking me down (I won't overstate it: I was standing still (on the bike) & he bumped hard into me bending my mudguard, but I did fall off the bike)! Another sodding blurred picture. :-( We had a few angry words a) the guy was well over 50 and should know better, b) He asked why I was angry & in reply to my telling him he was driving illegally on a No Vehicles road he actually pointed at the No Vehicles sign and shouted "Except for Access!" :-O
It stuns me the amount of morons who think that "Except For Access" means ignore this sign & drive all the way through.
As I'm picking up my bike, a white Escort van pulls up to me allegedly to ask if I need help but he actually hits my front wheel again!!!! It was slight and in hindsight I reckon it was accidental, but give a guy a break will you?
So he pissed off back onto the airfield road (for the second time!) and as I had his license plate in my photo I declined the offers of help from three cars who watched it all happen. Behind them was an 80 seater coach - great big purple thing - and several other cars: a regular traffic jam on a road where vehicles are banned! This guy rammed a stationary cyclist with over 6 cars and a coach all watching him. Incredible.
You know: I fully recognise that my shouting a bad drivers and shaking my fist at them makes things worse. I really should stop, simply out of self preservation, if nothing else. It's just that the bastards beep at me & drive like bloody lunatics all illegally on a road that's basically a glorified tractor, taxi and bike lane. The injustice lights my blue touch-paper.
It was spitting and I figured the rain would get worse so I put my lights on, only to find after a few hundred metres that the batteries were flat in my headlight. So I dutifully turned round, went home and changed them: perhaps I'll carry some spares from now on?
Time passes, the road whizzes by and eventually, after some calm, I enter the airfield road.
It stuns me the amount of morons who think that "Except For Access" means ignore this sign & drive all the way through.
As I'm picking up my bike, a white Escort van pulls up to me allegedly to ask if I need help but he actually hits my front wheel again!!!! It was slight and in hindsight I reckon it was accidental, but give a guy a break will you?
So he pissed off back onto the airfield road (for the second time!) and as I had his license plate in my photo I declined the offers of help from three cars who watched it all happen. Behind them was an 80 seater coach - great big purple thing - and several other cars: a regular traffic jam on a road where vehicles are banned! This guy rammed a stationary cyclist with over 6 cars and a coach all watching him. Incredible.
You know: I fully recognise that my shouting a bad drivers and shaking my fist at them makes things worse. I really should stop, simply out of self preservation, if nothing else. It's just that the bastards beep at me & drive like bloody lunatics all illegally on a road that's basically a glorified tractor, taxi and bike lane. The injustice lights my blue touch-paper.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Commercial Culprits
Here are the names of the companies whose drivers I regularly see breaking the law, driving the Airfield Road.
- J. Kilborn & Sons (Longstanton)
In fairness this isn't a commercial vehicle, it's just one of the employees going to work every day
He gets a listing here because he's a complete loony who swears at me and makes gestures with his hands when he sees me - no idea why - O'Dell Heating & Plumbing (Longstanton)
- The Royal Mail
- DHL (Bar Hill)
- Durman Stearn Civil Engineering
- Majestic Plumbing & Heating (AD04GVY, White Van, overtook me on a blind bend at considerable speed)
- R J Tryer
- Cambs Lock & Safe (MN56VJK, aggressively overtook me on the blind "S" bend)
- The Highways Agency (not working on the road, just driving through it to work)
NoGuidedBus.com now provides RSS feed
I had a brief email chat with "J", the figure behind http://www.noguidedbus.com and subsequently J. has implemented an RSS feed of the web site headlines. :-)
Excellent news for those of us who prefer to be prodded, rather than poll a web site for it's updates.
The feed URL is: http://www.noguidedbus.com/feed.xml
Excellent news for those of us who prefer to be prodded, rather than poll a web site for it's updates.
The feed URL is: http://www.noguidedbus.com/feed.xml
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
CGB Won't Start Carrying Buses Until Q2 2011!
The Cambridge News reports (amongst other things) that Cllr Sir Peter Brown has said that he thinks the Cambridge Guided Bus won't start carrying buses until the second quarter of 2011.
Over at Keep Pushing Those Pedals, Jamie has a really great posting on the CGB, as he rode a loop route from Cambridge to St. Ives and back.
It is of national disgrace that both our County Council and this building contractor have failed to work together well enough to build this thing even remotely close to on time and I'm certain the rest of the country will regard it as a total white elephant.
I confess my vested interest in the CGB is it's cycle path. I'm certain that it won't be tarmac-ed over until close to when the buses go live.
Over at Keep Pushing Those Pedals, Jamie has a really great posting on the CGB, as he rode a loop route from Cambridge to St. Ives and back.
It is of national disgrace that both our County Council and this building contractor have failed to work together well enough to build this thing even remotely close to on time and I'm certain the rest of the country will regard it as a total white elephant.
I confess my vested interest in the CGB is it's cycle path. I'm certain that it won't be tarmac-ed over until close to when the buses go live.
Monday, 27 September 2010
A Bike Wouldn't Have Done This
A 16th Century stone arch at Scone Palace in Perthshire, Scotland has been accidentally driven into by a van and completely destroyed.
Before and After:
Scone is where, during the middle-ages, the Kings of Scotland were crowned down to Alexander III.
I don't mean to down on cars arbitrarily but this bloody wall pre-dated cars themselves by about half a millennium for Christs sake!
Before and After:
Scone is where, during the middle-ages, the Kings of Scotland were crowned down to Alexander III.
I don't mean to down on cars arbitrarily but this bloody wall pre-dated cars themselves by about half a millennium for Christs sake!
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Clarification on the Poll
I received an email asking me to add a choice to the poll along the lines of:
However since voting has taken place, I can't clarify that now.
Please vote, if you haven't, Longstanton District Councillor Alex Riley has taken an informal poll of the residents of Longstanton and I'd love to rebut his poll with one of my own. :-D
Leave the road alone but properly enforce the vehicles exclusionWell I meant for the first choice - "Nothing - it's fine the way it is" - to embody that.
However since voting has taken place, I can't clarify that now.
Please vote, if you haven't, Longstanton District Councillor Alex Riley has taken an informal poll of the residents of Longstanton and I'd love to rebut his poll with one of my own. :-D
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Longstanton says to Oakington: Get Stuffed!
On September 14th, Longstanton District Councillor Alex Riley asked his email list of Longstanton residents to vote on whether to fully open the road between Oakington and Longstanton or to keep it closed to normal traffic.
He asked that the vote take the form of the recipients relying with one of two words: "open" and "closed".
He didn't give any real argument either way, no facts, no resources, he just asked for people to express their opinion.
Well a follow-up email came out yesterday with the results. I'll quote the email at the end of this article, but I feel the headlines are:
To me, the interesting point seems to be that the residents of Longstanton care so little for the well-being of the Oakington residents, their neighbours, that they're happy to break the law on a minute-by-minute basis, just to save a few minutes on their journey, all of this, against the overwhelming public opinion of the residents of Oakington against having their village remain a small speed-bump on a rat-run to / from Cambridge.
I can't help think there's a kind of NIMBYism here. You see, Longstanton has a by-pass. A shiny new no doubt multi-million pound by-pass that traffic from the villages to the West of Longstanton can use to get to the A14. Longstanton used to be a rat-run but isn't any more. But Oakington still is a rat-run, oh yes. But that doesn't matter, because Longstanton isn't and so I (says the Longstanton resident) don't care. Ya boo sucks to the residents of Oakington, I've got a by-pass and I'm all right!
Lastly I'll mention his second observation: namely that cyclists have "*vigorously* accosted" him and that cyclists complain about aggressive driving.
Cllr Riley: I am one of the cyclists in question and when I spoke to you on this matter I definitely feel I did not accost you. I did, however, beg you and beg you to help rescue me from the homicidal criminals that break the law every hour of every day in your constituency. Also, the driving is almost inconsequential in comparison to the violence of the scum-bags who get out of their cars and threaten me with death for having had the insane temerity to move rightwards on the road (to avoid a huge pot-hole) when they are (illegally) driving past me! I here-within accuse you of being an apologist for the violent. Shame on you.
As promised, here's the letter in full. Cllr Riley writes:
He asked that the vote take the form of the recipients relying with one of two words: "open" and "closed".
He didn't give any real argument either way, no facts, no resources, he just asked for people to express their opinion.
Well a follow-up email came out yesterday with the results. I'll quote the email at the end of this article, but I feel the headlines are:
- Longstanton is a village of some 2000 odd residences
- His list has 280 addresses
- 142 people replied
122 voting to open the road
20 to close it
- Oakington residents were polled by their local news letter in 2008 and overwhelmingly voted to close the road
- Longstanton Parish Council (LCP) have told O&WPC that they will be very unlikely to ever support (financially or otherwise) doing anything to help close the road.
To me, the interesting point seems to be that the residents of Longstanton care so little for the well-being of the Oakington residents, their neighbours, that they're happy to break the law on a minute-by-minute basis, just to save a few minutes on their journey, all of this, against the overwhelming public opinion of the residents of Oakington against having their village remain a small speed-bump on a rat-run to / from Cambridge.
I can't help think there's a kind of NIMBYism here. You see, Longstanton has a by-pass. A shiny new no doubt multi-million pound by-pass that traffic from the villages to the West of Longstanton can use to get to the A14. Longstanton used to be a rat-run but isn't any more. But Oakington still is a rat-run, oh yes. But that doesn't matter, because Longstanton isn't and so I (says the Longstanton resident) don't care. Ya boo sucks to the residents of Oakington, I've got a by-pass and I'm all right!
Lastly I'll mention his second observation: namely that cyclists have "*vigorously* accosted" him and that cyclists complain about aggressive driving.
Cllr Riley: I am one of the cyclists in question and when I spoke to you on this matter I definitely feel I did not accost you. I did, however, beg you and beg you to help rescue me from the homicidal criminals that break the law every hour of every day in your constituency. Also, the driving is almost inconsequential in comparison to the violence of the scum-bags who get out of their cars and threaten me with death for having had the insane temerity to move rightwards on the road (to avoid a huge pot-hole) when they are (illegally) driving past me! I here-within accuse you of being an apologist for the violent. Shame on you.
As promised, here's the letter in full. Cllr Riley writes:
I was taken aback by the scale of response to my last email about the Airfield Road. My village email list contains about 280 local residents and half of you have taken the trouble to respond. The voting so far is:Open the road: 122 votesClose the road: 20 votesThis is only a straw poll, and not every person in the village was consulted. But the conclusion is inevitable. If you know others who might not yet have voted, by all means suggest that they do. All it takes is the one word Open or Closed to be sent to myself.I sifted out any who in error voted twice and I classed any who said “Yes” as wanting it open and those who said “No” as wanting it closed (there were actually 2 of each).A number of you sent me reasoned arguments in favour of your position. I haven’t replied to any of these, but I have read them all carefully. Some made the point that the one word answer hardly sufficed. I see what they mean, but the way our democracy works is via the sledgehammer approach of a simple vote one way or the other.If you CTRL-click on the following, you will find quite a lot of interesting information:From this it emerges that our own Parish Council undertook in late 2008 to distribute a questionnaire round the whole village. I hope this will happen shortly. I gather that the police have indicated that they do not intend to continue actively policing the road until the affected communities have been consulted.I happen to live on St Michael’s and it was delightfully peaceful when the road was being resurfaced and there was no traffic at all. But I see my responsibility as being to represent the views of the whole of the village.I would like to list some of the points that have been made about this whole issue:
1. Oakington residents (which probably means those living in Longstanton Road, Oakington) have historically been opposed to the road being open, whereas Longstanton residents have in general been more in favour.
2. According to the police, the main complainants this time around were cyclists – and certainly I have been very “vigorously” accosted on this matter by a couple of cyclists. They claim that drivers on the airfield drive aggressively so far as cyclists are concerned. There is no excuse for aggressive driving but the fact that one is breaking the law just by being on the Airfield road might actually encourage recklessness.
3. St Michael’s and Woodside contain a number of houses which are very close to the road and for them heavy and speeding traffic are a nuisance, a hazard, and even damaging to their properties. One of the great ironies of the present restrictions is that fully-laden double-decker buses can quite legally use the airfield road.
4. There is a lot of speeding takes place down St Michael’s / Woodside and this would potentially get much worse if the road were opened up to all traffic. Some of you suggested traffic calming measures. The kind of priority system we already have on entering the village via School Lane might help, but speed bumps are generally reckoned to cause much more damage to neighbouring properties than no speed bumps. Maybe the tendency to speed would reduce if using the airfield road were not itself illegal.
5. Several responders made the point that even if those in other parts of the village wish to use the road, those in Woodside and St Michael’s would be resolutely opposed. Well, based on the poll results so far, that’s not the case. There actually seems to be a slender majority of those living on these two roads in favour of the airfield road being opened.
6. It would not solve the problem to close the road and to back this up with either a gate (to which all local farmers, taxi drivers and emergency services had keys) or rising bollards (ditto). This would be very expensive (how would you power the bollards?) and regrettably very open to vandalism (e.g. gates welded shut) owing to its remote location. Vandalism could have fatal consequences if an emergency vehicle were prevented from driving across.
7. Last, but not least, I have always taken a fairly relaxed view about all this because when (no, not if) Northstowe actually happens, the plans are for the road to be totally closed because the main access road to Northstowe, a dual carriageway, will cut straight across the airfield road. Pedestrian and cycle access will be maintained, but it is hard to see that a flyover across the dual carriageway, capable of taking all road traffic, could be afforded.
If anyone feels I have failed to make significant points, please let me know and I’ll make them another time. In the mean time, please vote if you wish to and have not yet done so.RegardsAlex
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