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Complete moron on a bike

this just exemplifies almost all moronic cyclist behaviour, almost every cyclist I experience at a crossing skips the red light

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-58009784

should have been jailed for life for taking a life
Really, how many car drivers ever get life for taking a life? I deplore the actions of the individual involved but the media always gives more coverage to cases like this one. If the same coverage was given to similar offences by motorists there would be no room for other news.

Usual bullshit
 
In my 73 years I've only once been hit by a vehicle while using a pedestrian crossing. That vehicle was a cycle.
 
Really, how many car drivers ever get life for taking a life? I deplore the actions of the individual involved but the media always gives more coverage to cases like this one. If the same coverage was given to similar offences by motorists there would be no room for other news.

Usual bullshit
Do you use a ladder to mount that steed?
 
Just going to play devil's advocate here with some statistics. Taking 2019 as that is the last year I can find consistent government data for there were 375 pedestrian related casualties caused by pedal cycles (4 fatals) and 15,675 caused by cars (271 fatals). However there were 280 billion miles covered by cars compared to 5 billion by cycles which means we get the following figures per billion miles

Pedal cycles: 75 casualties per billion miles/0.8 fatals per billion miles
Cars: 56 casualties per billion miles/0.97 fatals per billion miles.

Broadly comparable I would say. So IMO (and I will say this until I am blue in the face) it's not right to keep up this mantra of deflection from one type of road user being more to blame than another. We all use the roads, most of us in multiple ways (we are all pedestrians) and we all need to be better at it. Speeding in a car or red light jumping on a pedal cycle can both have consequences... so why defend those that do it just because we favour their mode of transport? At the end of the day if we all obeyed the rules and stopped trying to use other road users' behaviour to justify our own shortcomings then the roads would be a safer place for all!
 
Just going to play devil's advocate here with some statistics. Taking 2019 as that is the last year I can find consistent government data for there were 375 pedestrian related casualties caused by pedal cycles (4 fatals) and 15,675 caused by cars (271 fatals). However there were 280 billion miles covered by cars compared to 5 billion by cycles which means we get the following figures per billion miles

Pedal cycles: 75 casualties per billion miles/0.8 fatals per billion miles
Cars: 56 casualties per billion miles/0.97 fatals per billion miles.

Broadly comparable I would say. So IMO (and I will say this until I am blue in the face) it's not right to keep up this mantra of deflection from one type of road user being more to blame than another. We all use the roads, most of us in multiple ways (we are all pedestrians) and we all need to be better at it. Speeding in a car or red light jumping on a pedal cycle can both have consequences... so why defend those that do it just because we favour their mode of transport? At the end of the day if we all obeyed the rules and stopped trying to use other road users' behaviour to justify our own shortcomings then the roads would be a safer place for all!

Rules are only as effective as their enforcement. This is what I have argued until I'm blue in the face. If the enforcement of road rules is fully and strictly automated, we wouldn't need cycle paths as the roads on which cycling is permitted would be safe enough for all to use. It would also be cheaper, in the long run, than using the police for this.

However, whilst I suspect there is a strong business case for speed cameras and vehicle registration, I'm not sure there would be for a creating and maintaining a practical system for unique IDs for every bicycle used on the road. That would be a mammothly costly enterprise and a huge disincentive to an activity which is plainly beneficial in terms of both environment and health.
 
Just going to play devil's advocate here with some statistics. Taking 2019 as that is the last year I can find consistent government data for there were 375 pedestrian related casualties caused by pedal cycles (4 fatals) and 15,675 caused by cars (271 fatals). However there were 280 billion miles covered by cars compared to 5 billion by cycles which means we get the following figures per billion miles

Pedal cycles: 75 casualties per billion miles/0.8 fatals per billion miles
Cars: 56 casualties per billion miles/0.97 fatals per billion miles.

Broadly comparable I would say. So IMO (and I will say this until I am blue in the face) it's not right to keep up this mantra of deflection from one type of road user being more to blame than another. We all use the roads, most of us in multiple ways (we are all pedestrians) and we all need to be better at it. Speeding in a car or red light jumping on a pedal cycle can both have consequences... so why defend those that do it just because we favour their mode of transport? At the end of the day if we all obeyed the rules and stopped trying to use other road users' behaviour to justify our own shortcomings then the roads would be a safer place for all!
That is all perfectly fine but it just becomes a rod to beat cyclists with. Also, let’s have a bit of context, how many cyclists are injured or killed by cars? If you add up the total deaths at the hands of motorists it is probably higher. Also, cyclists are more likely to cycle where there are people, we don’t have dedicated spaces like motorways (this deflates the accident by mileage figure somewhat).

My main beef is that cyclists have nothing, no decent infrastructure & whenever a cycle path is proposed which takes up road space (which it always will) then the motorists gang up until it is gone.

Pedestrians have footpaths, crossings etc but cyclists have bugger all. I am heartily sick of the attitude of motorists towards me (& fellow cyclists) when I am on a bike.
 
There may well be a cultural shift to come following the change to the Highway Code that's due in Autumn as it shifts more responsibility for pedestrian and cyclist safety onto drivers of motorised/vehicular transport.

Only last week some driver gave me abuse for holding up traffic by not using the shared cycle/pedestrian pathway. I was going way too fast to use the pathway and besides, its condition isn't great for road bikes, but she just wasn't in the mood for rational conversation so her attitude about cyclists never changed following our brief interaction.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58021450
 
Peoples-Front-of-Judea-700x394.jpg


But apart from cycle paths, toucan crossings, Dutch roundabouts, advanced stop lines, lycra and Strava, cyclists have b*gger all.
 
There may well be a cultural shift to come following the change to the Highway Code that's due in Autumn as it shifts more responsibility for pedestrian and cyclist safety onto drivers of motorised/vehicular transport.

Only last week some driver gave me abuse for holding up traffic by not using the shared cycle/pedestrian pathway. I was going way too fast to use the pathway and besides, its condition isn't great for road bikes, but she just wasn't in the mood for rational conversation so her attitude about cyclists never changed following our brief interaction.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58021450

It seems long overdue, prioritising road use based on comparative vulnerability of the users.
 
That is all perfectly fine but it just becomes a rod to beat cyclists with. Also, let’s have a bit of context, how many cyclists are injured or killed by cars? If you add up the total deaths at the hands of motorists it is probably higher. Also, cyclists are more likely to cycle where there are people, we don’t have dedicated spaces like motorways (this deflates the accident by mileage figure somewhat).

My main beef is that cyclists have nothing, no decent infrastructure & whenever a cycle path is proposed which takes up road space (which it always will) then the motorists gang up until it is gone.

Pedestrians have footpaths, crossings etc but cyclists have bugger all. I am heartily sick of the attitude of motorists towards me (& fellow cyclists) when I am on a bike.

Sorry Woodface, but IMO you're part of the problem with this attitude. Anyway I'm off to Manchester so I'll leave you to it.
 


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