Crashes, what can be done?

[Koronin]

UGH! The UCI just proved that they don't care about rider safety and there is no penalty at all for intentionally injuring riders by causing crashes. The stupid spectator needs to be made an example out of.

 

[DanielSong39]

Yes, the points system is similar to what we have. I agree it would be weird to make them a part of a punishment, unless their car was somehow involved in their race disruption.

It's a road related incident so it's fair to make them sit in traffic school for a day (which is usually how people deal with getting a point on their license)

 

[RedheadDane]

It's a road related incident so it's fair to make them sit in traffic school for a day (which is usually how people deal with getting a point on their license)

I suppose it would be something you'd learn as part of the lesson called Don't step out in front of vehicles moving at around 50 KpH while you're looking the other way!

 

[Bolder]

I am sure that my life has produced a couple of hours of videos of viral material for the internet. And i doubt i am all that special in this regard.

I was just joking around!

But do tell...

 

[Axel Hangleck]

'Respect the riders'.......Well meaning, but pretty hollow, they need to be more pro active. Watching the ITT yesterday, there were fans in the road; get them off the road and onto the grass. The road is for the riders, not the fans.....

 

[DanielSong39]

It's up to the local authorities but a few well-timed 50 Euro tickets would do the trick.

It's tough. You don't want to tag the guy running beside the cyclist who is on a solo breakaway waving a flag or the people who take one step on the road then back away when the cyclists get within 50 meters. You're going to give a lot more leeway for fans that cheer on solo breakaway riders on a 8% gradient than the people who block a peloton and cause a crash.

It's not just the spectators either. I remember the time there was a police motorbike that was parked in the road and it ended up taking out a GC contender.

I can't speak for everyone but for most, a 50 Euro ticket and having to spend a day in traffic school is sufficient deterrent for disrupting races. A bigger fine of course if you take out 100 riders or if you park a motorbike in the middle of the road.

 

[Netserk]

It's up to the local authorities but a few well-timed 50 Euro tickets would do the trick.

It's tough. You don't want to tag the guy running beside the cyclist who is on a solo breakaway waving a flag or the people who take one step on the road then back away when the cyclists get within 50 meters. You're going to give a lot more leeway for fans that cheer on solo breakaway riders on a 8% gradient than the people who block a peloton and cause a crash.

It's not just the spectators either. I remember the time there was a police motorbike that was parked in the road and it ended up taking out a GC contender.

I can't speak for everyone but for most, a 50 Euro ticket and having to spend a day in traffic school is sufficient deterrent for disrupting races. A bigger fine of course if you take out 100 riders or if you park a motorbike in the middle of the road.

If you run on the road, you do so behind the riders, never in front or beside them. If you step onto the road, you do it before they get near you, you keep your eyes on the incoming riders, and you step back when they get close. Only on slower (uphill) sections of the route. Otherwise, your feet should never touch the asphalt.

EDIT: and you shouldn't step on the road with flags and signs that can hit the riders.

The woman in stage 1 violated pretty much all the rules.

 

[Cookster15]

You have never done a stupid thing in your life? I find that really hard to believe.

We will keep your opinion in mind when a rider is killed due to such stupidity.

 

[DanielSong39]

I watched footage of Contador's attack on Verbier in 2009 and it didn't seem too bad, there were a few fans on the road but they didn't disrupt the race.

Most of the fans did follow the general rules and most people with flags ran behind the rider and only when they were riding solo or in a small group. The few who ran ahead were some distance from the rider and moved aside or off the road when the riders got closer.

It helps that it was on an 8% incline and the riders were doing 20km/h.

I guess it's a small number of fans that ruin it for everyone.

 

[Leinster]

If you run on the road, you do so behind the riders, never in front or beside them. If you step onto the road, you do it before they get near you, you keep your eyes on the incoming riders, and you step back when they get close. Only on slower (uphill) sections of the route. Otherwise, your feet should never touch the asphalt.

EDIT: and you shouldn't step on the road with flags and signs that can hit the riders.

The woman in stage 1 violated pretty much all the rules.

Are these rules written down somewhere? Is there a code of conduct, which every one of the 1 million or so spectators who line the Tour De France route each year must sign?

The woman in stage 1 came up with (what seemed to her to be) a clever way to get a live TV shoutout to her grandparents. I'm not aware if anyone ever showed her a "En Regardant Le Tour a Cote de la Route" handbook, saying "if you have a sign, please make sure to not encroach onto the road, before, during, or after the arrival of the cyclists, until the whole Tour caravan has passed."

In all the significant Pub caravan that goes before the Tour, is there/should there be a portion of it devoted to rider safety? "Keep your obstructions out of the road. Don't be like this guy!"

 

[DanielSong39]

I mean, some things are just common sense and you can't give a forearm shiver to a cyclist traveling at 50km/h. That's a traffic violation in any civilized country.

 

[Netserk]

Are these rules written down somewhere? Is there a code of conduct, which every one of the 1 million or so spectators who line the Tour De France route each year must sign?

The woman in stage 1 came up with (what seemed to her to be) a clever way to get a live TV shoutout to her grandparents. I'm not aware if anyone ever showed her a "En Regardant Le Tour a Cote de la Route" handbook, saying "if you have a sign, please make sure to not encroach onto the road, before, during, or after the arrival of the cyclists, until the whole Tour caravan has passed."

In all the significant Pub caravan that goes before the Tour, is there/should there be a portion of it devoted to rider safety? "Keep your obstructions out of the road. Don't be like this guy!"

It's the convention for good spectating. Pretty much all (sensible) experienced spectators know how to behave. If you haven't tried it before, I think it's common sense to either step back and watch how the rest behaves, or ask other people there for advice.

 

[Leinster]

It's the convention for good spectating. Pretty much all (sensible) experienced spectators know how to behave. If you haven't tried it before, I think it's common sense to either step back and watch how the rest behaves, or ask other people there for advice.

And who's to say she hadn't been to a Tour before? She lives in France (presumably) and her grandparents (apparently) watch the Tour on tv.

 

[Netserk]

And who's to say she hadn't been to a Tour before? She lives in France (presumably) and her grandparents (apparently) watch the Tour on tv.

Then she knowingly broke the rules for how to behave. Only right then to have her appear in court.

 

[Leinster]

Then she knowingly broke the rules for how to behave. Only right then to have her appear in court.

So this "Convention for good spectating" you speak of. The text of this is available online? Is it a UCI document, or a universal one that applies to all sports, presumably through the IOC?

 

[Netserk]

Convention
noun (CUSTOM)
C1 [ C or U ]
a usual or accepted way of behaving, especially in social situations, often following an old way of thinking or a custom in one particular society:

They defied/flouted/broke with convention by giving up their jobs and becoming self-sufficient.
Convention dictates that it is the man who asks the woman to marry him and not the other way round.
In many countries it is the/a convention to wear black at funerals.

 

[jmdirt]

That sounds more like actual torture.

Just a mild, uncomfortable heads up!

Holes in bike tires...that's torture!

 

[Netserk]

So this "Convention for good spectating" you speak of. The text of this is available online? Is it a UCI document, or a universal one that applies to all sports, presumably through the IOC?

It's also not written in any official document that you are not allowed to show up for a wedding or funeral naked. Or interrupt all speeches there by blowing a whistle.

 

[jmdirt]

Are these rules written down somewhere? Is there a code of conduct, which every one of the 1 million or so spectators who line the Tour De France route each year must sign?

The woman in stage 1 came up with (what seemed to her to be) a clever way to get a live TV shoutout to her grandparents. I'm not aware if anyone ever showed her a "En Regardant Le Tour a Cote de la Route" handbook, saying "if you have a sign, please make sure to not encroach onto the road, before, during, or after the arrival of the cyclists, until the whole Tour caravan has passed."

In all the significant Pub caravan that goes before the Tour, is there/should there be a portion of it devoted to rider safety? "Keep your obstructions out of the road. Don't be like this guy!"

Ah, you come from the 'everybody is special/should get a trophy/ribbon/A' school of thought.

 

[Leinster]

Ah, you come from the 'everybody is special/should get a trophy/ribbon/A' school of thought.

She holds the sign 3' to her right, and Martin (and the whole peloton) breeze past, her grandparents see her on tv, and nobody else ever gives a ***. So if only someone had been there to tell her "Holding up a sign is ok, as long as it doesn't hang over the road." Maybe she thought the cardboard would bend like a mudflap, I dunno. I did say "seemed to her," and clearly she (and whoever she may or may not have discussed with beforehand) hadn't thought it all the way through.

 

[Netserk]

She holds the sign 3' to her right, and Martin (and the whole peloton) breeze past, her grandparents see her on tv, and nobody else ever gives a ***. So if only someone had been there to tell her "Holding up a sign is ok, as long as it doesn't hang over the road." Maybe she thought the cardboard would bend like a mudflap, I dunno. I did say "seemed to her," and clearly she (and whoever she may or may not have discussed with beforehand) hadn't thought it all the way through.

She still steps onto the road (with her back to the riders) immediately before the peloton gets to her.

 

[CyclistAbi]

We are talking about a specific thing: standing in the road as the peloton is coming by and causing a crash. So no I haven't and wouldn't do that.

You present this like woman woke up in the morning and said omi and opi i am going to the Tour to crash the peloton. In that case i would agree with you. As for you saying you wouldn't cause an accident. That is why it is called an accident. Isn't it? It's not like you would get a confirmation box Yes or No and you would get to choose. And there is no chance you would wave a flag or extend an arm? And for somehow a rider to get caught in it? There are literary thousands of fans doing exactly that on each stage.

Anyway. All the peopel in this thread claiming on how making this woman an example would improve safety in the peloton. It would do jack *** for improving the safety in the peloton.

 

[Cookster15]

This is extremely short (and one) sighted view of the whole situation. The other extreme being she should organise a fund raiser to cash in her newly established fame.

In short this woman is not to blame for all of the world problems.

Where did I say that? My point of view is clear. She is responsible for causing a crash that could have been tragic due to her own negligence. In fact it has caused at least one rider potential loss of income. People have been sued for negligence for less careless actions. Fund raiser comment is irrelevant.

 

[Cookster15]

Anyway. All the peopel in this thread claiming on how making this woman an example would improve safety in the peloton. It would do jack *** for improving the safety in the peloton.

That’s your opinion and you are wrong. It’s a real pity the UCI backed down.

 

[jmdirt]

You present this like woman woke up in the morning and said omi and opi i am going to the Tour to crash the peloton. In that case i would agree with you. As for you saying you wouldn't cause an accident. That is why it is called an accident. Isn't it? It's not like you would get a confirmation box Yes or No and you would get to choose. And there is no chance you would wave a flag or extend an arm? And for somehow a rider to get caught in it? There are literary thousands of fans doing exactly that on each stage.

Anyway. All the peopel in this thread claiming on how making this woman an example would improve safety in the peloton. It would do jack *** for improving the safety in the peloton.

I disagree. If idiots regularly got tickets for this type of thing it would happen less. Would it completely stop idiots (especially under the influence of fun juice) from doing idiotic things? Of course not.

It goes back to the speeding ticket example offered a few days ago (sorry I forgot by who): I can't speak for others, but the only reason that I don't speed on my motorcycle is because I don't want to get a ticket and the eventual high insurance rates. I can safely travel much faster than posted speeds (I'm obviously talking about twisty canyon roads not downtown streets/residential roads). IMO, many people at cycling events would 'think about it' if they knew that they could get a ticket.