As a road.cc reader, I think it’s fair to say that you probably spend quite a bit of time concentrating on cycling, thinking about cycling, daydreaming about cycling… So you’d probably agree that ‘concentrate on your cycling’ is pretty decent
life advice that, if more people adhered to it, could end up making the world a better place.
It’s not, however, the kind of advice you’d normally want to hear shouted at you by a police officer, especially one attending to a motorist who appears to have made a pig’s ear out of parking their vehicle.
But that’s what happened to cyclist Louise Vardeman, who was sternly told by a police officer to “concentrate on your cycling” as she filmed a precariously parked car – and by that, I mean maybe one or two of the wheels were parked on the ground �
�� in Richmond Park yesterday.
Vardeman, who has represented Great Britain at the Gran Fondo world championships, as well as setting team LEJOG records and riding the route of the 2019 Tour de France to push ASO to finally create a proper women’s Tour, posted the video on social
media yesterday with the caption: “Me getting shouted at by a police officer as I cycled slowly and carefully past a motorist that had beached himself in Richmond Park. I don’t think I’m the issue here?”
Let’s just say that Cycling Twitter wasn’t too impressed with the officer’s advice.
“Wonder if they told the driver to concentrate on their driving,” Awesome Wells asked, while Sam pondered: “How does a driver capable of doing that manage to actually pass a test to get them a licence in the first place?”
Others, meanwhile, reckoned the officer was simply offering up some encouragement.
“I think he was urging you to put in a good Strava segment,” noted Gareth, while Stu said: “Maybe he was reminding you to shout the obligatory ‘Can’t park there mate!’”
Some, however, believed the words of advice were appropriate, and accused Vardeman of ‘rubbernecking’.
“At that moment in time you are because you’re ‘rubber necking’ – either not looking where you’re going or holding a camera in one hand which would impede your ability to brake. You also have no idea what caused the accident, may have been a
medical emergency,” wrote Bill.
Brendan added: “Maybe the officer saw you getting closer to the middle of the road just as the cyclist coming the opposite way on the wrong side of the road got nearer. Whatever it was, you filming the scene, though perfectly legal, wasn’t helping
the situation” – a response that, Louise replied, “makes perfect sense”.
What do you reckon? Was the officer right to call out the cyclist on their ‘rubbernecking’? Or should they be more concerned about the seemingly endemic poor driving on display in Richmond Park?
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-13-september-2023-303827#live-blog-item-49625
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