Yet Another Cycling Forum

General Category => On The Road => Topic started by: red marley on 23 January, 2017, 09:43:58 pm

Title: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: red marley on 23 January, 2017, 09:43:58 pm
The Mayor of London announced today that life-threatening stabbings in the capital have reached the highest levels recorded and the rate is currently the worst in Europe.

Those with vulnerable chest cavities who are not able to withstand penetration by a sharp steel object are asked not to place themselves in proximity to the thousands in the city currently stabbing people. This warning applies especially to children and older people although the prevalence of stabbings is currently so high that anyone who wishes not to be stabbed is at risk if they venture out of their home.

The mayor requested that anyone who has been stabbing people to consider not doing so today while the rate of stabbings remains so high.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Kim on 23 January, 2017, 09:50:17 pm
The mayor requested that anyone who has been stabbing people to consider not doing so today while the rate of stabbings remains so high.

O Rly?
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Jurek on 23 January, 2017, 10:01:28 pm
The mayor requested that anyone who has been stabbing people to consider not doing so today while the rate of stabbings remains so high.

O Rly?
It is important to deal with the numbers.
Isn't it?

ETA - Jo, I'm struggling to ascertain how much Fe there is in your OP  :)
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: hellymedic on 23 January, 2017, 10:12:30 pm
There is a high level of Fe.
It alludes to the spurious exhortations of how to avoid breathing 'London's Filthy Air' rather than addressing the cause.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: jsabine on 23 January, 2017, 10:17:21 pm
But just think of the economic damage if these stabbings - tragic though they undoubtedly are for the victims - had to stop. We're simply not equipped to get people and goods around the city without using sharp implements, and collateral damage is inevitable.

Besides, we'll be rid of these pesky EU stabbings limits once we've entered our red white and blue future.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Moleman76 on 24 January, 2017, 01:00:54 am
Clearly there's a need for more sharp pointy things in circulation, since as the NRA tells us over here, the only way to stop stabbings is for the good guys to have the sharp pointy things too, and in abundance.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: red marley on 24 January, 2017, 06:07:31 am
Having developed a permanent "London Cough" for being stupid enough to walk and cycle to work and with a partner who now has asthma that clears up whenever we leave London, this pisses me off mightily.

(http://staff.city.ac.uk/~jwo/acf/airQuality.jpg)

both the lack of bold action by the GLA and the complacency of those drivers who kid themselves that their motorised journey is more important than the lives of the 9500 people they are killing in London every year.

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2017/01/london-pollution-black-alert-dangerous-air-quality/514121
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 24 January, 2017, 06:19:12 am
Especially when compared with other cities that take more effective measures to avoid stabbings or indeed, mitigate air pollution.

Paris is the obvious example, making public transport free when air pollution is too high and actively restricting motor vehicle use.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-public-transport-free-air-pollution-spike-a7460191.html
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Whitedown Man on 24 January, 2017, 07:16:13 am
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a knife is a good guy with a knife: cyclists, take to your cars.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: hatler on 24 January, 2017, 08:08:20 am
There's a fantastically circular discussion (http://talklondon.london.gov.uk/travel/cycling/discussions/new-investment-cycling) going on about this at Talk London. (Only view if you have time on your hands.)
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: ian on 24 January, 2017, 09:05:15 am
I'm glad I'm not the only one who read the official 'advice' to avoid breathing as insane. Do they genuinely not get it, or is saying anything about motor vehicle use now verboten?
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Pingu on 25 January, 2017, 12:49:44 pm
The grauniad article I read about this a couple of days ago did not mention traffic reduction at all.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 25 January, 2017, 12:59:32 pm
Does the Mayor of London actually have the power to say "No cars today" as the equivalent positions in Paris and some other cities evidently do?
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Mr Larrington on 25 January, 2017, 06:31:29 pm
And meanwhile titanic prick Jacob Rees-Mogg tells us that Indian emissions regulations will be perfectly OK for London, from his stately home in Somerset.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: spindrift on 25 January, 2017, 06:34:29 pm
He just got several million in a government grant to do that place up. His mother in law's.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: The French Tandem on 27 January, 2017, 07:16:05 pm
Does the Mayor of London actually have the power to say "No cars today" as the equivalent positions in Paris and some other cities evidently do?

Traffic laws in Paris are often seen as mere suggestions, so when the Mayor of Paris says "No cars with even (or odd) numbered plates today", what you should understand is "It would be nice if people with even/odd numbered cars choose leave the car at home and take the metro".  A similar statement in London would probably have greater effects.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 27 January, 2017, 10:59:49 pm
Seems unlikely, as in London it would be nothing more than a suggestion. I see Westminster are trying the traditional British way of tackling traffic-related problems, ie parking charges:
Quote
The charge will be introduced for a trial period from April. Drivers of diesel-powered cars and vans will pay an additional 50%, which at current rates would be an extra £2.45 an hour to park on the street in Marylebone, one of the most polluted areas of the borough.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/27/westminster-council-first-charge-extra-park-diesel-cars-air-pollution-emissions

How they're going to know which are diesel isn't stated.

The Vandergraph newserator mentions a new sort of congestion-plus charge the Mayor is supposed to be introducing later:
Quote
It also comes ahead of London Mayor Sadiq Khan introducing a “T-charge”, a toxicity levy, later this year, expected to be around £10-a-day, for the most polluting vehicles, diesel and petrol, to drive into central London.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/27/new-london-parking-surcharge-diesel-drivers-predicted-spread/
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: rogerzilla on 28 January, 2017, 11:24:30 am
Since it's an EU emissions limit that's been breached, Brexit will solve everything!
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Mr Larrington on 28 January, 2017, 11:52:48 am
They tried that odd/even number plates malarkey in Athens a while back.  It didn't take the Bubbles long to notice that no-one cared if your second set of number plates was less than legit.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Terry72 on 29 January, 2017, 07:37:19 pm
Amazed more people are not infuriated by the terrible air pollution. Seems most are happy to let their Government poison them.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: ian on 30 January, 2017, 09:07:22 am
They seem happy to poison themselves. I walked past the local school last week about kicking out time. No shortage of parents – despite all the warnings about high pollution levels – waiting for the offspring with their engines idling. Well, come on, poisoning your kids or being mildly cold for a few minutes?
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: mattc on 30 January, 2017, 10:14:19 am
It's like "traffic" - we are always held up by it, but never causing it.

double-think / cognitive dissonance. Or something.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Kim on 30 January, 2017, 01:27:05 pm
It's not just mildly cold though.  The turbo-diesel wankpanzer won't have had time to heat up on the 0.5 mile journey from home, so if they don't leave the engine running they might as well have walked!
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 30 January, 2017, 02:26:19 pm
Walked past a school a couple of hours ago, there was a van outside, idling. With a notice in the window saying it was from school meals.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Kim on 30 January, 2017, 05:54:22 pm
Walked past a school a couple of hours ago, there was a van outside, idling. With a notice in the window saying it was from school meals.

That possibly gets special dispensation for temperature-controlled contents.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 31 January, 2017, 09:49:05 am
It wasn't a refrigerated vehicle in this case.
Title: Re: Stabbings in London reach record high
Post by: Asterix, the former Gaul. on 10 February, 2017, 04:05:54 pm
The Mayor of London announced today that life-threatening stabbings in the capital have reached the highest levels recorded and the rate is currently the worst in Europe.

Those with vulnerable chest cavities who are not able to withstand penetration by a sharp steel object are asked not to place themselves in proximity to the thousands in the city currently stabbing people. This warning applies especially to children and older people although the prevalence of stabbings is currently so high that anyone who wishes not to be stabbed is at risk if they venture out of their home.

The mayor requested that anyone who has been stabbing people to consider not doing so today while the rate of stabbings remains so high.

 Third cyclist killed in four days on London's roads (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38923734)

Quote
The man, in his early 30s, died after colliding with a HGV in North Woolwich Road, Silvertown, at about 13:30 GMT on Thursday.

Anita Szucs, 30, died after an apparent hit-and-run on Bounces Road, Enfield, while architect Karla Roman, 32, was killed in a crash with a coach on Whitechapel High Street, Tower Hamlets.

Campaign group Stop Killing Cyclists are planning a protest outside the Treasury on Horseguards Parade on Saturday.
The "die-in vigil" will call for 10% of the transport budget to be spent on pedestrian infrastructure by 2020.


Maybe the stabbings could at least be reduced by not killing cyclists?