Another cyclist killed in London today

Er....well, something's not working then! If a car driver wove through traffic in that way, resulting in an accident, I would expect them to be charged for some kind of driving offence. Maybe cyclists are not taken very seriously as the main casualty is usually (not always) likely to be themselves.

 

My journey home from work this evening was horrible. I was maxing out at 40mph on the national speed limit moor road, because the rain and hail and sleet was coming down so fast that with my wipers on full, I could barely see where I was going. Plus its blowing a gale and the car was being buffeted so much I was weaving about a fair bit, and with huge puddles all over the roads there was plenty of opportunity for a bit of aquaplaning and steering wheel suddenly snatching. Add that to the fact that is was dark, being evening in winter and all, and you'd think people would have the sense to not come out on their pushbikes. I saw a few about. They're not brave, their insane. My nerves were frayed in my big comfy tin box with a seat belt with pretensioners, ABS, an airbag, 3 or 4 foot of bonnet and engine in front of me, great big side impact bars to the sides of me, and 4 as opposed to 2 wheels holding me to the road surface. I don't know what people are thinking taking their pushbikes out in those conditions.

 

Well, if it's their main means of transport then they will, whatever the weather. Like you did with the car.

 

I'd have stayed in. There is nothing in the world more important than family, and you're no good to your family if you're in your in a gutter somewhere.

 

I thought that was part of the Highway code anyway.

Arn't most London buses in bus lanes anyway.

Anyway here's a thought, make cycling on the pavement legal, and illegal on the roads, that way its the pedestrians that are most likely to get hurt and not the poor old cyclist.

But also make all bikes carry some form of ID number, and all cyclists have proper insurance.

 

The problem isn't cyclists, or motorists, its people.

I mentioned a post or 2 ago how I was a nervous wreck driving home (and I'm not normally a nervous character behind the wheel or otherwise). Yet others were caning it along as though it was a perfect, sunny, mid summer afternoon. When I'm driving, I am aware not only of what could happen to me if it goes wrong, but what an almost 2 tonne block of steel will do to others if I get it wrong, yet many seem to sit behind their airbags and just assume that tyres work exactly the same on standing water/ice as they do on dry concrete/tarmac, or that they'll be able to see who else is about because they'll also be in a car with a full set of lights on. They completely fail to factor in that tyres don't grip as well on slush, or that people might be about that are not in well lit-up cars, or that if they find the cyclist/horse ride/pedestrian at 60mph as they come looming out of the thick haze of rain, sleet and road spray, there will be very little anyone can do about it at that speed.

Cyclists seem to forget that car drivers are not all perfect. Yes there are rules of the road that are there to protect everybody, but too many people ignore those rules, and who's right wont come as much consolation to the family. I can't imagine many grieving widows telling the crying kids that daddy isn't coming home ever again, but at least he was right.

Then there's pedestrians. Those sheeple who deactivate their brains whenever they find themselves in a town. They will fill up the whole pavement in one direction, and not make any allowances for someone who wants to pass the other way, or they will simply step into the road to go round a slow moving flock of zombies without bothering to look if anything is coming. Its a nightmare in any popular tourist town. I work in Whitby, which is often packed out. In such places the crowds will simply spill out onto the road, seemingly oblivious to the fact that its still actually a real town, with real motor vehicles occupying real roads.

I don't know what the solution is, but I have a feeling that somehow educating some common sense and common courtesy into people might come into the equation somewhere.

 

At least it's safer than in China where cyclists are in danger of couples having rampant sex against windows in flats and bursting through the glass and falling down on them! (google it)