AIBU to think this event should never have happened.

[DaisiesAreOurSilver]

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mare-newborn-foal-die-because-15637103

Big cycle race of 100 miles in our area yesterday. Road closures from 5.30 am till 12.30 pm. Some streets were totally cut off for the whole time.

Residents were just told they should have parked outside the area the night before. For some that would mean a walk of a mile, given how many roads were closed. One family escorted through because they had a flight to catch but had to wait 25 minutes for an escort.

Carers were unable to visit the housebound clients, meals on wheels couldn't get through and the stewards didn't give a stuff. For some people it wasn't a question of finding a way around there were areas that were totally cut off for the duration.

But worst of all the stewards wouldn't let a emergency vet through and a mare and her foal died. The foal would have been worth a lot of money as was the mare. I hope the owner sues for every penny she can.

Residents are very angry and cannot understand why permission was granted for this to happen. If they try it again vigilantes have said they'll force the roads open if they try to close them. Feelings running very high.

I distinctly remember being a passenger in a car on the Ambleside to Windermere road and desperately, desperately needing a toilet. This should not have been a problem except it was bumper to bumper each way and two cyclists on our side were riding such that overtaking was impossible. There was a cavalcade behind us (we were the first car). People were getting impatient and beeping horns. I wanted a toilet. The driver was getting more and more stressed (as if it was his fault). Did these arseholes give a fuck? No, they didn't. Plenty of room to pull over - but they didn't. Too fucking selfish. They just held up traffic for almost the entire fucking way. I realise it is not a long drive, but it is at cycle speed.

These events should have proper planning

Thing is, under Council rules they're supposed to have proper planning, full risk assessments and all the rest. It's years since I ran a major event, but even then they crawled all over it and I'm told that it's even worse now

Which is why I wondered what exactly they were offered to turn a blind eye ...

Oh and yes there was lots of rubbish, I know because it’s still fucking there

Quite a lot of the West Midlands got Beechinged rather thoroughly... last year's route probably more than this.

West mids based, and near to the route but not on it. Nearest train station approx 18 miles (not counting heritage steam line or narrow gauge thing in a park). Walkable?

DH is a vet (not the relevant area though) - we try to pick up potential disruption to roads in his area.

Foalings are about the most the critical horse emergency there is. Unlike humans if the foal isn't out within 20 minutes of second stage labour it's unlikely to survive so it's about saving the mare... so the vet will have been pretty forthright with the steward.

This is very sad but many of these events do happen without these issues. I get trapped every year by a road race but because it’s well organised I know in advance. Organisers did make some changes over the years to help. I’m sure it will get better.

These events should have proper planning and residents should not be cut off from 5:30 am until Lunch time

In 2017 our road was cut off from 08:00 to 18:00

Proper planning would be
Frequent protected pedestrian crossing points.

Declaring the closures and sticking to them.
Making the closures very specific.
An app that allows people to map alternate routes in advance or on the day of.
Planning the route so that only homes directly on the route are cut off. Large swaths of homes must have a second exit or entrance point available.
Any home that is cut off gets individual contact made so it is confirmed residents are aware and special provisions are made if necessary.

Proper planning would be

Too expensive.

The thing is, it's not always possible to make provisions for things like this. The only way you can avoid going into work is by booking leave - why should you have to, for this sort of thing? What else can be done? If you can't get to work without a car, and all roads nearby are closed, it becomes a huge issue.

The main point is a private company should not be able to buy the use of roads to make a profit, whilst causing major problems for the people who live and work in the area.
Sebastian Coe and his partners don't give a damn about dead horses, sick people without carers, farmers unable to care for their livestock or people not being able to get to work!
The fact that local councils are facilitating this for whatever reason (backhanders?) is even more disgusting.

Also any cyclist who buys a ticket to take part in these closed road events (and is therefore supporting this undemocratic action) should be ashamed of themselves.

The main point is a private company should not be able to buy the use of roads to make a profit, whilst causing major problems for the people who live and work in the area.

Well, clearly they can.

Now, where's the will of the people when you need it.

I think the hatred for cyclists on this thread is just horrible. I get the emergencies but the holier than thou crap about being trapped in your homes for 9 hours and so much virtue signalling about the mare and foal is quite sickening (I've got horses and have bred from them so totally understand the urgency). I don't cycle myself but totally understand the joy of actually being able to cycle for once on a closed road without the fear of being run off the road or as some vile poster said a couple of pages back, of having someone putting a wire across the road at handlebar height I mean really???

holier than thou crap about being trapped in your homes for 9 hours and so much virtue signalling about the mare and foal is quite sickening

I don't think you understand what either holier than thou or virtue signalling means...

I ride and generally adore horses and this is truly sad and a reflection of the bad organisation.

But I also ride a bike because frankly, I was unfit and I needed to get some exercise. It is very hurtful to "normal" cyclists to call them all C-bombs and middle class entitled snobs etc...some people just want to do some exercise (or maybe even commute to cut down on their car usage)....is that so wrong? My bike belonged to my mum and is older than me, and I definitely don't wear Lycra! Stereotyping is really a bad road to walk so we shouldn't do it, even if it feels like the best way to garner attention, in this case, attention which needs to be paid to the poor organisation of the event.

Oh I do Raspberry

It's the hatred towards the cyclists, blaming them instead of the bad organisation ffs

I think the hatred for cyclists on this thread is just horrible

It's a shame the thread has degenerated. In hindsight the OP might have been better off couching the AIBU in more generic terms ... "AIBU about massive disruption to everyday life with little or no warning ?????"

I did suggest upthread it was misplaced anger that should be directed at the profit-turning company and it's lickspittle local authorities ...In fact, I've just said it again .

It's impossible to aggregate the individual motives of 17,000 cyclists into a single definitive statement. After all, that's the sort of thing racists do.

It is however much easier to suspect that a company of 8 people, plus a handful of local officials are a bunch of money-grabbing weasels with no care for the impact their decisions have on hundreds of thousands of people - some of whom will be amongst the more vulnerable in society.

Yeah, it's not virtue signalling to talk about how tragic that story is. Nor is it holier than thou for people to share stories about how affected they have been by this event... obviously! I don't hate all cyclists at all. I do think that of you choose to take part in an event like this then you have a responsibility to find out just how it is being managed and if there is any local unhappiness. So yeah, whilst agreeing it's the fault of the organisers, I do think it's incredibly selfish to sweep into an area, cause chaos and then bugger off again, just so you can spend the day pretending you're a pro cyclist.

Clearly the rules around these events need to change to recognise vets as emergency workers.

There are two cycle races through our town; there are crossing points by various roads where the organisers manage people crossing the road, the same way that they do for marathons. If that doesn't get local residents, care workers etc access within a reasonable distance of homes then the race route clearly hasn't been snuggly through properly nor checked.

While undoubtedly some cyclists behave badly, many motorists do and pedestrians too. None of that has anything to do with event planning failures, so it's best to mentally separate the two issues.

*snuggly = thought
Weird autoincorrect.

The air quality in London improves by something like 88% when the London marathon or Ride London are taking place. I'd have more of these events, not fewer.

Great idea - you can have 'em all in London, win-win.

or as some vile poster said a couple of pages back, of having someone putting a wire across the road at handlebar height shock I mean really???

Obviously not bloody really 🙄🙄🙄

By the way, you don’t know what holier than thou means going by the context of your post.

Proper planning would be ... Too expensive

Do you mean for the local authority, Velo? If so that's quite simple - pass the full cost onto the organisers

And if they claim they can't afford it? Oh dear, how sad, never mind ... after all it's not as if a cycle race is essential infrastructure

Proper planning would be ... Too expensive

Do you mean for the local authority, Velo? If so that's quite simple - pass the full cost onto the organisers

Let me see ....

The slush fund available spend has to be a subset of the total entrance fees, plus sponsorship. Let's stick a finger in the air and say entrance fees raised around £1.5 million and sponsorship doubled that. So £3,000,000 to play with. Out of that you need to pay for the signage, promotional materials (although a crafty organiser would get the sponsors paying for a lot). I'll be charitable and assume that everything was legal and above board with liability insurance (which we might find out ) - and that can be a big whack.

So out of what's left we need to pay the local authorities (certainly Birmingham admitted this was a commercial venture). The only way the local authorities can actually make money is by skimping on the "nice to haves" like planning and impact assessments.

Yes, the organisers could have paid more to the local authorities, but then they'd make less money. And since the whole events primary purpose was to make money for them, that was never going to happen.

I'm pretty certain if the owner of the poor horse has retained legal advice, they won't need my help ... however if it'were I (as DM used to say) I'd start by requesting the local authorities risk assessment and how it covered the situation that arose and whether the organisers on the ground complied or not. (Of course in order to comply, you need to have a copy ...). Maybe they'll have better luck than I did with the 2017 FOI I made in Birmingham.