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“The car rules”: Parent branded an “apologist for car violence” after blaming dad and kids on cargo bike for collision; Zebra crossing fiasco; Dodging drivers in the cycle lane; Big metal box beauty contest; UCI’s climate charter + more on the live blog

Happy Friday! Fresh austerity measures are on the way, Twitter is about to collapse, but at least Ryan Mallon’s here with the final live blog of the week. That’s something, right?
18 November 2022, 09:28
School road markings (public domain)
“Blame the victim! The car rules”: Parent branded an “apologist for car violence” after blaming dad and kids on cargo bike for collision with motorist outside school

“Just to point out…”

When you see those four small words crop up in a conversation about cycling or road safety, whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter (RIP), or even the local parents’ WhatsApp group, you know it’s never going to be pretty.

Well, we’ve got some Victim Blaming 101 to kick off the last live blog of the Twitter era (before we all revert to fax machines and Teletext, I presume) and this one is a classic of this most unfortunate of genres.

Yesterday, Pauline von Hellermann, a lecturer in environmental anthropology, tweeted that a father riding a cargo bike to school with his two children in Eastbourne was struck by a motorist pulling out of the school’s car park.

According to Pauline, the dad and children were knocked off their bikes in the collision and taken to hospital by ambulance. They are reportedly fine but, understandably, left “very shaken” by the incident.

However, after alerting other parents at the school in their shared WhatsApp group, Pauline was met with the following – rather startling – response: “Just to point out the bikes race down that hill and if a car pulling out onto the road with cars parked up either side dropping off as they can’t possibly park safely to drop off makes it very difficult to see a bike coming down the hill especially at speed.”

The message continues: “Unfortunately or fortunately the lady in the car had just pulled out. I agree something needs to be done but equally bike riders need not all but some[!] to slow down and equally be traffic aware.”

> “You couldn’t make it up”: Driver mounts pavement on wrong side of the road… then chastises six-year-old for cycling on same footpath

Wow, a lot to unpack there. But it gets worse.

Pauline replied to our victim-blamer-in-chief: “To be honest I would be surprised if a father with two children on a cargo bike would have been racing down the hill.”

Victim-blamer-in-chief’s reply?

“You would be surprised.”

> Sajid Javid blames father of five-year-old cyclist for letting child ride on road in viral video

Needless to say, the last of the Twitter users weren’t impressed with this response, described as “revolting” and “soul destroying”, with one branding the victim-blaming parent “an apologist for car violence”:

18 November 2022, 17:23
“Nope. Has to be the bike at fault”: School run victim blaming reaction

Today’s latest example of anti-cycling victim blaming – which saw a parent at a school point the finger at a cargo bike-riding dad and his kids after they were, wait for it, struck by a motorist pulling out of a car park – has got plenty of you talking in the comments section.

“Ah, the good old ‘the speeding cyclist is at fault because they were travelling at less than two-thirds of the speed a car would be’ chestnut,” wrote BalladOfStruth.

“How can people not understand that when you perform a manoeuvre, that you are responsible for ensuring it is safe to do so,” asked hawkinspeter. “If you can't see that it’s clear to pull out, then either wait until you can see or get someone to guide you out – it’s not difficult.”

On the subject of the school’s apparently abysmal parking situation, Patrick9-32 wrote: “‘It’s impossible to park safely’, so car drivers park there anyway, putting their own children’s lives at risk rather than walking any distance from a safe place to park or even, heaven forbid, from home.”

“‘It’s impossible to park safely’ usually translates to ‘it’s perfectly possible to park safely, but I can’t be bothered to walk 100 metres, so I’ll park dangerously’,” replied BalladOfStruth.

Finally, nosferatu1001 summed the whole thing up: “I love the fact how the cars are parked badly, that this is a known issue to everyone including the driver pulling out, still doesn’t make the poster think it’s the cars at fault. 

“Nope. Has to be the bike.”

Every. Time…

18 November 2022, 16:37
West Yorkshire’s most infamous zebra crossing strikes again

Part one: 

And part two: 

Top tip: Don’t read the replies (Ah Twitter, we’ll miss you when you’re gone…).

Meanwhile, the Labour MP for Bradford East, Imran Hussain, told the Guardian that he is “absolutely horrified” by the above videos of motorists hitting both cyclists and pedestrians at the crossing on the city’s Horton Grange Road.

“I’m absolutely horrified to see this catalogue of incidents where cars have hit pedestrians on what is a well-marked and visible zebra crossing on Horton Grange Road, and it is evidently clear that we need to see much tougher action against those who seemingly have no problem with violating the rules of the road,” Hussain said.

“For too long, a minority of dangerous drivers in Bradford have been blighting Bradford’s roads and making the lives of the majority of responsible road users an absolute misery, and I’ve been pressing both Bradford council and West Yorkshire police to implement a number of road safety measures at accident blackspots in my constituency, while also pressing ministers to impose tougher sentences for dangerous drivers.”

A spokesperson for Bradford Council also told the newspaper that it is currently awaiting funding to convert the zebra into a signalled crossing with traffic lights, with work set to commence “as soon as we can”.

18 November 2022, 16:59
But don’t worry, justice will be served

NB. Before you get the pencil sharpener out to complain, Sandford Constabulary is the fictional police force from Hot Fuzz.

Though, sometimes it is hard to tell…

18 November 2022, 15:59
Oh great, another ‘avid cyclist’…

On that note...

> Rishi Sunak “an avid supporter of cycling” claim his supporters 

18 November 2022, 15:30
Seven-day cycling world record broken – through a hurricane

Round-the-world cyclist Leigh Timmis completed his latest record-breaking adventure last weekend – by cycling a mind-boggling 2,230 miles in seven days… three of which were slap bang in the middle of a hurricane.

“In the early hours of Sunday 13th November, the team and I broke the seven-day cycling world record,” Timmis wrote on Facebook earlier this week.

“With a total of 2,230 miles, we added 19 miles to the existing record set by Arvis Sprude in July this year.

“What makes this record so impressive is that for three days of the record attempt every mile was affected by Hurricane Nicole. A storm of this magnitude has not made Florida landfall in November for many years, but this one dumped some of the worst wind and rain on Highway 41 since 1932.

“Despite this, we dug deep, dynamically changing strategies to bring home the world record.

“It was a gargantuan effort by all involved and I owe a huge thank you to the road team – Christian Aucote, Sally Carter, Dan Smith and Jack Hague. Four amazing, professional, passionate, and enthusiastic people.”

I feel shattered just reading that…

18 November 2022, 14:47
Tour de France protest (GCN)
80 signatories, including leading race organisers, commit to UCI’s new climate action charter

The UCI has today confirmed that 80 stakeholders – including race organisers, federations, and teams – have signed the world governing body’s new Climate Action Charter.

ASO and RCS Sport, the organisers of the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia respectively, are among the charter’s most notable signatories, along with Belgian race chiefs, Flanders Classics.

> “Reinforcing the point that bike racing isn’t exactly green”: Giro d’Italia organisers criticised for rumoured Rome finale – and 700km transfer

By signing the charter, the organisations have committed to reducing professional cycling’s harmful environmental impact, by promoting active travel to combat climate change, reporting and measuring their climate footprint according to international standards, reducing waste and energy demand, and increasing sustainability.

WorldTour teams Bora-Hansgrohe, BikeExhange-Jayco, Trek-Segafredo, Bahrain-Victorious, Israel-Premier Tech, and UAE Team Emirates have all committed to the new charter.

The Ineos Grenadiers are not among the 80 founding signatories.

> “They’re protesting about a good thing”: Tour de France riders, organisers and journalists react to climate protest

“I am delighted that so many stakeholders have already committed to our UCI Climate Action Charter,” UCI President David Lappartient said in a statement today.

“Our aim when adopting this Charter was to unite cycling’s stakeholders to reduce our sport’s emissions and help slow climate change. We need to work together, learn from each other and collaborate on solutions for the shared challenges we face to achieve climate neutrality for our sport.

“It is clear from the early response that our stakeholders share our concerns and desire to contribute to a better world, and I look forward to seeing the list of signatories lengthen.”

The UCI’s Climate Action Charter, and its eight key commitments, can be viewed here.

18 November 2022, 14:02
Celebs on bikes

We love spotting a famous face enjoying a bike ride over here on the road.cc live blog and, by the looks of things, so does London’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner Will Norman:

Shhh… keep it quiet, but there’s a rumour going around that the Destiny’s Child singer (because it’s still 2002 in my head) is currently working on a new single, ‘Cycle the World’.

I’ll get my coat…

18 November 2022, 12:57
The Twittocalypse: Intermarché joins the fun
18 November 2022, 12:40
face mask - deliveroo x cambridge face mask 2.PNG
Deliveroo suddenly collapses in Australia – leaving thousands of delivery riders jobless

Thousands of delivery cyclists in Australia are scrambling to find work after Deliveroo suddenly shut up shop in the country earlier this week.

The Guardian reports that the food delivery company announced that it would go into administration and stop operating in Australia immediately on Wednesday. Deliveroo’s Australia website was wiped overnight, while its app no longer functions, shocking partners, customers and even its employees.

Delivery riders told the Guardian that they had been given no notice of the plans to close the company. The decision, which comes after the business ceased operations in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Taiwan, has affected up to 15,000 delivery workers.

“I was working in the morning, stopping at midday and then suddenly when I wanted to start working again, this notification pops up on the screen of the app,” Deliveroo rider Rodrigo told the Guardian.

“And I went to the emails [to] check [and they said] that they cease immediately, effective immediately. So, I couldn’t even finish the day yesterday.”

A member of the Transport Workers’ Union, Rodrigo said that the Australian government should do more to improve the rights of delivery cyclists and other gig workers.

“We’ve been fighting so hard against these kinds of companies,” he said. “They are exploiting us and they are not treating us like workers. So we don’t have rights. We don’t have any benefits, nothing at all. We are not even considered workers for them.”

> Deliveroo cyclist attacked by knife-wielding teenager after collision

Dr Rob Nicholls, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales, noted that delivery workers will likely suffer the most from the company’s abrupt closure.

“No restaurant is going to say ‘well, if Deliveroo is out of the game, we’ll stop using a delivery service’,” he said. “They’ll shift to one of the other big three services almost certainly.”

The Transport Workers’ Union was also scathing of Deliveroo’s approach to its two-wheeled employees.

“Deliveroo’s sudden and cowardly act, treating workers as callously in exit as it did in operation, highlights the urgent need for the federal government to enact gig reform,” the union’s national secretary, Michael Kaine, said this week.

“Transport workers were hit first and hardest by the gig tsunami and are now being left high and dry by Deliveroo at the first indication that it can’t rely on exploitation to make profits.”

18 November 2022, 11:56
Thomas De Gendt’s final tweet?

It’s perhaps fitting that everyone’s favourite Stelvio king-turned-breakaway merchant-turned-breakaway killer-turned prolific avant garde tweeter would bow out of the bird app with a post like this:

18 November 2022, 11:23
Dude, where’s my bike? Ehhh… parked at Oxford station
18 November 2022, 10:57
Some big metal boxes are more equal than others

For anyone not keeping up to speed with the latest cycle hangar-related shenanigans in Brighton and Hove (though I’m sure you are; it’s not like there’s anything particularly newsworthy happening at the moment), a resident has persuaded the local council to not put one of the new bike storage units outside her home… because she says they’re “unattractive”.

> Hove woman persuades council not to locate “unattractive” cycle hangar outside her home

But the five Range Rovers parked diagonally on the pavement are pure beauts, of course.

However, climate change activist Leo Murray may just have the perfect solution:  

18 November 2022, 10:34
Dan Lloyd’s new wheels

Hopefully the GCN presenter’s new set-up is safer than his cyclocross bike…

> Dan Lloyd tries cyclocross… and breaks ankle 

18 November 2022, 09:57
‘Get in the bike lane!’ ‘But you’re in it!’: Just another day of dodging drivers in the cycle lane

And on the subject of terrible cycling takes, TikTok appears to be a goldmine.

“Now they know how we feel when they drive on a road when there is a cycle path,” wrote one apparent veteran of anti-cycling bingo.

Two users pointed out that yesterday’s spot of bike lane driving may have just been an “honest mistake” – and that the cyclist in question was “being a bit of a bully” – while another rather intellectual TikToker said that the motorist “should have stuck his foot down on the break [sic]” and sent the cyclist flying “over the Bonet”.

Not too sure what Movistar veteran Lluís Mas Bonet has to do with any of this, but there you go.

Finally, the aptly named mrsausage67 concluded that the driver was in the right all along, as “in fairness he does pay road tax”.

He obviously spends too much time reading the BBC and the Guardian

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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39 comments

Avatar
Hirsute | 1 year ago
1 like

How is this justice ?

https://www.norfolk.police.uk/news/latest-news/drink-driver-jailed-after...

A drink driver has been jailed for 8 years after his car mounted a pavement and hit two pedestrians. One of them, a 20-year-old woman, was killed. This is footage from the body worn video captured by the officer who arrested him. More details here: http://shorturl.at/EFPST
 
Driving ban of 7 years ( ???)
 
PC Callum Walchester, who arrested Waite at the scene of the collision, said: “I’ve been a PC for 10 years and worked in roads policing for almost six years, and he was the drunkest person I have ever seen behind the wheel of a car.”
 
 

 

Avatar
ktache replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
1 like

The mother's victim statement is heartbreaking.

I'm guessing a licenced driver?

And the car was registered and insured?

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Hirsute replied to ktache | 1 year ago
0 likes

I should hope with a Lexus RX SUV he could afford the required insurance.

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brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes

Is this the story everyone was on about yesterday?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/18/footage-of-cars-hitting-...

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hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
6 likes

brooksby wrote:

Is this the story everyone was on about yesterday?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/18/footage-of-cars-hitting-...

I'm puzzled about the response of "convert the location to a signalled crossing with traffic lights". The problem isn't the type of crossing, but the drivers. What they should be doing is setting up CCTV and prosecuting any driver that doesn't give way to people crossing the zebra.

Avatar
Hirsute replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
3 likes

Looking at street view there is a junction in play for either direction, so a competent driver would be slowing already and checking for hazards.

 

(and I'll just throw this one in

https://newsthump.com/2022/11/18/maoist-firebrand-jeremy-hunt-abolishes-...

“Growth can only come from the workers producing goods according to national plans set by the representatives of the proletariat.” )

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
7 likes

hirsute wrote:

https://newsthump.com/2022/11/18/maoist-firebrand-jeremy-hunt-abolishes-...

“Growth can only come from the workers producing goods according to national plans set by the representatives of the proletariat.”

We're in end-stage capitalism now. As the wealth gap grows ever bigger it can only end in civil war unless the ultra-rich realise that being taxed is a far nicer alternative than what usually happens.

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The Accountant replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

hawkinspeter wrote:

We're in end-stage capitalism now. As the wealth gap grows ever bigger it can only end in civil war unless the ultra-rich realise that being taxed is a far nicer alternative than what usually happens.

Fact check: the Gini coefficient (the best known inequality measurement) has been falling since the financial crisis - source https://www.statista.com/statistics/872472/gini-index-of-the-united-king...'s,higher%20score%20implies%20more%20inequality.

A higher Gini score implies a greater level of inequality.

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BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP replied to The Accountant | 1 year ago
0 likes

The Coefficient is about the same it was 3 decades OK. So neither brexitty or austerity has done anything it was supposed to do. 

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ShutTheFrontDawes replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
0 likes
hawkinspeter wrote:

unless the ultra-rich realise that being taxed is a far nicer alternative than what usually happens.

I think thale ultra-rich must be realising exactly that. I can't think of any other reason why inequality metrics would stagnate (and in some cases actually fall) and ultra-rich people start giving away their wealth (e.g. Gates, Scott, Bezos). I don't believe that these people just *decide* to be different.

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hawkinspeter replied to ShutTheFrontDawes | 1 year ago
1 like

ShutTheFrontDawes wrote:

I think thale ultra-rich must be realising exactly that. I can't think of any other reason why inequality metrics would stagnate (and in some cases actually fall) and ultra-rich people start giving away their wealth (e.g. Gates, Scott, Bezos). I don't believe that these people just *decide* to be different.

It's a tricky thing to boil down to just one number, but the FT reckons it's increasing: https://www.ft.com/content/d52743ca-c669-4c71-941f-8281230a21b5

Quote:

Economists have warned of wealth inequality rising in Great Britain owing to the pandemic after 14 years of relative stability, which has bucked the trend of many other countries where divides have been steadily widening. The wealthiest 10 per cent of households owned 43 per cent of all the wealth in Britain between April 2018 to March 2020, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday. In contrast, the bottom half of the population held only 9 per cent. However, over the past 14 years wealth inequality measured by the Gini coefficient has remained by and large stable, according to the ONS. This is in contrast with many countries where wealth inequality increased between 2000 and 2019, including in the US, Italy, Russia and China, according to estimates by Credit Suisse. Over that period, wealth inequality also remained largely stable or fell in France and Germany. The data also revealed that the wealth of the richest 1 per cent of households in Great Britain was more than £3.6 million per household on average, 230 times higher than the £15,400 or less for the least wealthy 10 per cent.

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NOtotheEU replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

hawkinspeter wrote:

I'm puzzled about the response of "convert the location to a signalled crossing with traffic lights". The problem isn't the type of crossing, but the drivers. What they should be doing is setting up CCTV and prosecuting any driver that doesn't give way to people crossing the zebra.

Please stop with the eminently sensible suggestions. There must be a million reasons why this can't be done, it most definitely couldn't be made to pay for itself in fines and the improved safety would cause far to much inconvenience to hard pressed motorists!

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BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP replied to NOtotheEU | 1 year ago
0 likes

There's not much money once you get out of London. 

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grOg replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
0 likes

I'm pretty sure that zebra crossings are for pedestrians, not cyclists..

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hawkinspeter replied to grOg | 1 year ago
2 likes

grOg wrote:

I'm pretty sure that zebra crossings are for pedestrians, not cyclists..

So you're saying that cars aren't allowed on them either?

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Oldfatgit | 1 year ago
2 likes

Bike box Karen.
Put the bike box in the slots outside her neighbours house.

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Hirsute | 1 year ago
2 likes

Police update on the kid cycling on the zebra crossing

https://twitter.com/Sandford_Police/status/1593265034704060416

Appeal to trace cyclist following a collision that occurred on Shorton Grange Road Cyclist has illegally ridden on the pedestrian crossing causing minor damage to a passing car

 

(btw sandford police is from hot fuzz. I got caught out on this !)

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Moist von Lipwig replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
0 likes

and further down that thread - there's another video of it happening again at the same zebra!

https://twitter.com/theJeremyVine/status/1593299400931033088

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Hirsute replied to Moist von Lipwig | 1 year ago
2 likes

Joking aside, shocking thread from Mark Hodson

https://twitter.com/markandcharlie/status/1593584746642161669

Lots of crossing stuff about in the last few days, we did analysis and found that 38% of pedestrian #KSIs occurred on crossings leading to #OpZigZag... You can see why, at the point where they are most expected to take the upmost care some drivers don't care at all... #S2RTA1988

 

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quiff replied to Moist von Lipwig | 1 year ago
0 likes

And another one (same crossing) in the Mark Hodson thread hirsute linked to. This looks like the crossing: https://goo.gl/maps/YmFquetGtRK3D8Xg6.       

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ShutTheFrontDawes replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
1 like

If we don't come down 'ard on these cycling ninjas, we'll be up to our balls in RLJ'ers!

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nniff replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
1 like

"And if it's not yoofs riding across zebra crossings and damaging cars, it;'s them bleedin' infants in push chairs.  'Kin liberty, I tell you.  Is nowhere safe for a car tax payer now?"

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Steve K | 1 year ago
2 likes

I expect people are too busy complaining she's on the pavement and not wearing hi viz or a helmet to realise who she is.

https://twitter.com/EmilyKerr36/status/1593518105199788032

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brooksby replied to Steve K | 1 year ago
2 likes

Best thing there is that she's just riding on "a bike", a bog standard hybrid, not  some hand-crafted artisanal steel framed beauty... laugh

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Steve K replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
4 likes

Absolutely.  And she has a rack and mudguards.

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Flintshire Boy replied to Steve K | 1 year ago
1 like

.

Naw teeeee!

.

Avatar
Steve K | 1 year ago
3 likes

In the most important bike news of the day, my (road.cc recommends) Jack the Bike Rack finally arrived this morning. 

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pockstone replied to Steve K | 1 year ago
0 likes

Not wanting to plant an earworm, but how long has this been goin'on?

I wanted one for my birthday, and I suspect it's now too late to get one for Xmas!

PS IS it as good as it looks?

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Steve K replied to pockstone | 1 year ago
0 likes

I'm 99% certain they're not available on general sale yet - just now arriving with people who backed them on kickstarter (just over a year ago in my case).

And I've not actually unboxed it yet... 

Avatar
BalladOfStruth | 1 year ago
13 likes

Ah, the good old "the speeding cyclist is at fault because they were travelling at less than two-thirds of the speed a car would be" chesnut.

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