Safe Speed Forums

The next letter should really be tagged to the jason MacIntyre thread. :roll;

CW reader claims to have rekindled his love for cycling at age 55. He renovated his old bicycle and is spending on gear each week. (Make sure you hage lights.. hi-viz gilet .. )


But he claims




I have to say that we have always had to display alertness so how we travel - even to when the horse was the main mode of transport

The reader continues to write of his shock at learning of jason;'s death .. and even more anger at the "light sentence" and how the family must feel let down by the justice sytem.

sadly in all these cases - including one high profile one involving policemen accused of causing death by dangerous driving - the court has to be presented with bomb proof evidence supporting the level of danger or carelessness and then demonstrating to what exent this fell below the required standard of the normally competent and common sensed

Knowing in heart and mind is one thing. Arguing with points of law in the way is another. And we are also then having to ask which "lady" we are satisfying .. Lady Justice or Lady Vengeance. So the law (or judge who decides on the appopriate punishment in a guilty verdict/plea) then looks at the level of remorse and self flagellation on the part of the accused who pleads guilty and even whereby the accused denies the charges as in their mind - they did nothing wrong and it was pure ("un")avoidable accident. The sentence then will reflect and have to reflect some acceptance of remorse - and time spent on remand as well - if it is to be just to all parties.

Most worrying though is the comment and I fully understand him and AGREE with him on the basis that if you are using COAST or driving to the standard originally taught to (which is/always was COAST led in any case ) -





I disagree with his comment that drivers see cyclists as "non persons". But they just do not seem to be RISK ASSESSING correctly. Or rather too few risk assess correctly and far too few road users actually consider how what they think is a "safe manouevre" may worry the chap on two wheels or the truck driver trying to make a left turn with a very long vehicle.

Oh sure - I agree that really dangerous idiots should be removed from the roads and even serve life time bans in some cases. But ... revenge is not justice and does not help anyone and I would rather see our jails filled with seriously nasty criminals who cause much more serious harm to society - as opposed to the person who makes a stupid, non - malicious .. but still appalling mistake for which all parties serve a hard life sentence - harder than any prison term.

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

No! In so many conversations with motorists I here them say things like - "A bike got in my way". Always a bike never a cyclist. As if they see an inanimate piece of machinery rather than a vunerable human being.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I think folk tend to go into "denial" or "defensive denial". You always know that the tosser in the car acknowledge himself to be a tosser by the way he shake his fist with a frown instead of apologetic open hand wave und "ooopsy sorry look.."


By the way


What kind of bike you ride?

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Nicht ganz im Lot!
Ich setze mich immer wieder in die Nesseln! Der Mad Doc ist mein Mann! Und ich benutzte seinen PC!

UND OUR SMILEYS? Smile ... und the the world smiles with you.
Smiley guy seen when you read
Fine me for Safe Speed
(& other good causes..)

Greatest love & Greatest Achievements Require Greatest Risk
But if you lose the driving plan - don't lose the COAST lesson.
Me?
Je ne regrette rien!

Well, this is like cyclists saying "A car cut in front of me." A car not a driver. It's just shorthand when talking about what happened and has no deeper psychological meaning.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

I think the real issue is that drivers (of powererd vehicles) tend to regard cyclists and indeed pedestrians as obsticals to be negotiated rather than fellow travelers to be accomodated.

in most cases, since the powererd vehicles are typicalyl traveling significantly faster than the cyclist/pedestrian this is not too unreasonable a stratagy. Unfortunatly the consequence of this is that a "running" pedestrians and "sports" cyclists who may be moving rather faster than normal may find themselves highly vulnerable to SMIDSY type collisions.

Now I dare say that some will disagree, but to my mind thse who run into roads and/or cycle at upwards of 25MPH should be aware of the fact that they are doing things that though perfectly legal are likly to be unexpected and should a collisin occur they should be prepared to accept some of the responsibility for it.

By analogy, it is perfectly legal to to use a roundabout to perform a u turn, but only a bloody fool would wiz round without allowing for the fact that joining traffic will not expect you to go all the way round!

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

!!!

So if I'm on a pushbike travelling at 25mph and somebody waiting at a juntion looks at me, assumes I'm only going 10mph (because I'm on a pushbike) and pulls out and I hit them it's partly my fault for being on a cycle?

Ignoring that NOBODY should ever assume that somebody waiting at a side junction ISN'T just going to pull out in front of you, don't you think that's a bit of a stretch?

Extrapolating, if I pull out in front of a car that was doing 38mph along a 30mph stretch AS IF it was doing 30mph and he hits me, is it partly his fault because he was speeding?

No, Its "partially your fault" because you on a push bike traveling at the same speed as a car and failing to recognise that most other road users (and that includes pedestrians) will not be expecting this And you should know that!



I see You've been paying attention!

My roundabout scenario presents a similar picture without breaking any rules at all.

If you chose to drive/ride/walk in a way that you know is likly to confuse other people you have a responsibility to allow for this and be prepared to accept some responsibility for accidents that might arise from other peoples confusion.

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"