It can happen to even the greatest cyclists #roadsafety

Not Bradley Wiggins crash

The news that Bradley Wiggins has been involved in a crash on British roads while riding his bike shouldn't come as a surprise to any who cycle. The fact that it happened in a relatively quiet village and  to the winner of the Tour de France has garnered media attention of this scale.

While I was a student in Kingston I soon learnt that not all road users could follow simple rules such as:

• Lane markings: I once got squeezed between two cars while turning right, the one of my left was in a left turn only lane at the lights.
• Overtaking without due caution: I was once looking to turn right, and waited for a van to come past me before heading to the centre of the road. As I checked over my shoulder to move out the van broke right in front of me breaking my jaw.
• Pulling across lanes without checking: I was once cycling along in a cycle lane in rush hour traffic for a car to turn through the gap left my a car right in front of me. I couldn't break in 1m so took an excursion over their bonnet.
• Open doors without checking: On a different day but on the same stretch of cycle lane a car once parked in a no-parking zone for that time of the morning, straddled the cycle lane. I had to pull out to go around them, only to be greeted by an opening driver's door in the face. Fortunately the car behind me managed to stop just in time to merely tap my back as I lay on the ground.

There are just a few of the examples, the ones where I came off due to contact. There were other occasions where avoidance action was taken, sometimes throwing myself and/or bike out of the way of inconsiderate drivers.

I admit those misadventures happened over 20 years ago. However, they did total a couple of bike frames and several wheels, and could easily have been fatal, bike helmets weren't en vogue then and I wasn't wearing one. However, there are still stories about cyclists who are obeying the rules of the road suffering injuries or death as a result of other road users, protected in their steel shell not seeing  them or taking attention of them.

Here are some tips.

• If there is a cycle lane, check if there is a cyclist in it
• Even if there isn't a cyclist may be coming up the inside of traffic.
• If you are a cyclist obey traffic lights and stop signs (indeed any part of the highway code) yourself
•  Leave room on the inside of a slow moving queue of traffic, that is where the cyclists should be able to go safely.
• If you are going to be parking all day (while going to work etc) don't park over a cycling lane on a main road use a side road
• Cyclists wear a helmet, armour sadly is a little impractical for side impact protection.
• Give cyclists room both while overtaking and after you have overtaken, don't take an immediate left after overtaking them wait for them to cross the junction first
• If driving always be aware of cyclists
• If cycling always be aware of other vehicles and ride at an appropriate speed for the surroundings (it isn't always a individual time trial)

 I hope that Wiggo has a speedy recovery from his broken ribs to get back into training for next season and that all road users will learn to respect others especially those who are vulnerably exposed on their bikes.

Citius, Altius, Fortius, de Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum

RIP Nodar Kumaritashvili 1988-2010

Competitors have said that the Bobsleigh track at Whistler for the Olympics is incredibly fast. In fact it has long had a reputation as the fastest track in the world.

However, there have been a number of crashes in practise and as the Games prepare to officially open we are reminded of just how dangerous these sports can be. Georgian luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled on his sixth and final practise run, crashed on the final turn, came off his sled at at 90mph (144.3km/h) and hit a unpadded pole near the finish. He was pronounced dead later at hospital.

Josef Fendt, the president of the World Luge Federation said:

"The track is too fast. We have planned it for a maximum speed of 137 kph but it is almost 20kph faster. We think this is planning mistake.''

One of the things that the Canadians have been criticised for prior to these games is lack of access to the venues of visiting teams. While this policy is within the letter of the rules it has drawn criticism from many of the other nations. In Sunday's Observer Sport Monthly the following startling statistic was mentioned which in light of today's events takes on new significance. Ahead of the 2002 Salt Lake Games the US offered 90 practice runs to the Canadian luge team, this year the reciprocal deal is just 18.

British silver medalist in Turin 2006 in the skeleton Shelley Rudman said:

"The reality is, it's a different track, I haven't had that many runs there. The Canadians have had a phenomenal amount of runs there and they are very strong at the moment."

According to a team official the British team have had just 10% of the practise time on the track of the host team. Australian luger Hannah Campbell-Pegg said after losing control on Thursday:

"I think they are pushing it a little too much. To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we're crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives."

The rest of the Georgian team have said that they will compete Nikolos Rurua, the country's Minister for Culture and Sport said the national team had "decided to be loyal to the spirit of the Olympic Games" adding that the athletes will "dedicate their performances to their fallen comrade".

Kumaritashvili joins the ranks of Australian skier Ross Milne and British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski who both died in training crashed in Innsbruk in 1964, and Swiss short-track speed skier Nicolas Bochatay who was killed in practice for the then demonstration event in Albertville 1992.

As my title says combining the Olympic motto "Swifter, higher, stronger" added on to a Horace quote "of the dead say nothing but good". For poor Nador and his family my thoughts and prayers, for the Olympic movement look at the future and the safety of the athletes, look at the rules to access to venues for visiting athletes and see if that rule can be changed that would be a lasting tribute to this young man whose life was tragically cut short in his prime.

Update 01:51: The luge event was planned to go ahead on Saturday and the latest news is that this is still the intention.

Update 2: According to BBC correspondent Ollie Williams' tweet.

Olympic luge track reopened. Training resumes later on Saturday but with higher wall where Georgian luger died and "change in ice profile"

Update 3: The men's event is scheduled to go ahead later on Saturday as planned. The men will use the women's start 200m further down the track which will reduce speed. The walls at the exit of turn 16, where Kumaritashvili crashed have also been raised as a precaution.

The men were offered two addition training runs this morning. 36 of the remaining competitors took to the track, of the 3 who didn't one was Levan Gureshidze, the Georgian team mate of Kumaritashvili. The three may still take part in the event which starts are 0100 GMT.

Pickles Says Call For a General Election

Wasting no time with Labour, or at least if seems Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt, in turmoil Eric Pickles calls for an immediate General Election. Admittedly we are weeks away from one being called but this is opportunism and also a very badly timed call for such action.

There is talk of the freeze lasting another three weeks, parts of Scotland have been cut off for three weeks and may well be for another 3. So campaigning, voting and counting the ballots in some of the more remote Scottish areas would be impossible for a 3 or 4 week campaign at this time.

Harry Cole (aka Tory Bear) has repeated this call just now on Sky News calling for Gordon to go to the Palace in the morning. Pickles has been saying call an election now for ages. But now is just not the right time, just yet not when large sections of the country are merely knuckled down to survive the winter. Many of us are constantly watching the weather and getting away as soon as we can, or sooner if we need to from work. I have friends all over the place who are working from home because they cannot get into work. Every screen in my office has the BBC local weather open on a number of windows along with the traffic reports.

So yes while I want to see the back of illiberal Labour I don't want an election to be fought when people's safety and livelihoods is at risk in some of our remotest areas. So in the bleak mid-winter is not the time for such opportunism from Pickles or the Tories. Maybe they;ve realised after 4 days of bloopers that 4 months may well do a lot of harm, bring that on.

Retained Fire Fighters: Keep the Opt Out

There is a need to keep the retained Fire Fighters in our communities. 321 of Scotland's 391 fire stations were staffed by part-time retained fire fighters. Below
Tavish Scott with Mike Rumbles and Rosemary Bruce discuss the issue.



You can join the campaign at www.keeptheoptout.com