Cyclists to be awarded equality with motorists.

And will no doubt be featured in statistics to show how dangerous motorcycles are.

 

Not so many students around here but I see it regularly.
Now if I go to Slough (only ever to see another fishie!) then it is the cars that are worse at light jumping.

Worst I have ever seen was here in Windsor. Total utter ****r in lycra. We have a massive roundabout here that is incredibly busy at rush hour and he went straight through a red light, nearly taken out by a bus, straight across another fast moving road where the lights had gone green and the leading cars had to brake to miss him, ditto the next one and so on. Sticking 2 fingers up at all and sundry. Clearly a Guardian reader

 

Those E scooters are quite good to watch in full flight though. I got a very sick sense of humour !

 

That’s not evidence, just anecdotal. I am sure I have seen some research on it. It probably is more prevalent in London, as is lots of bad behaviour

 

That happened to me, too (in Cairo, not Italy). I was new to the place and slammed on the brakes to stop for a random red light. Big mistake. The bloke behind banged into me (fortunately my car had headrests and a solid tow hook). He was very upset and got out of his car to give me a good lecture on the folly of stopping unpredictably for such an insignificant item of urban decoration. I learned the lesson: some red lights in Cairo are essential, but discretion is advised with the others.

 

Ok, here’s one for you. This is factual BTW, happened to a friend of mine.

Cyclist knocked off bike, nearly killed, among other things he suffered the following:

Fractured Skull
Broken Elbow
Compound Fracture of the tib/fib, 7 pieces below the knee. Had to wear a cage for 18months & was off work for over a year.
Suffers from panic attacks & has had 6 months of therapy
Has life changing injuries, leg still wonky, cannot fully extend arm.

He’s had a pretty terrible two years, thankfully he was a member of British Cycling which offer superb 3rd party insurance so he & his employer were able to claim against drivers insurance for injury & loss of earnings.

Police, on informing his wife of situation wanted to know if he was wearing hi-viz which I find pretty appalling but there you go.

So, driver admitted responsibility, police were at the scene etc. What do you think is a far outcome in terms of criminal action? Here are 3 options:

A) 6 points, fine
B) Driving Ban, fine
C) Driver awareness course, no fine

 

That’s good to know fatboy, I now understand the verbiage in your avatar, another dick on the ignore list, try your humour on my mate who has one less leg thanks to a hit & run.

 

I touched one of those emogii symbol thingy s on another forum and it went completely Tits up, lol... Its embarrassing being me

 

Without knowing what caused the diver to hit the cyclist or anything else presented in mitigation, it's very difficult to answer.

 

Depends on circumstances, obviously. When it was me in the unfortunate position of the cyclist you describe here, 2 years off work etc, the driver was prosecuted for without due care, fine, 3 months ban. The police told me later that they'd delayed charging the motorist while they waited to see whether I'd live.
My sympathies to your friend, I've been there.

 

The driver turned right across the oncoming cyclist, in effect pulled out of a junction. Cyclist had right of way obviously. Hope this helps in your deliberation.

 

Any visibility issues at the junction? Badly sited trees, parked vehicles, whatever? Was the sun in their eyes? We’re they distracted by squabbling kids in the back?

Not making excuses for them, just pointing out that we don’t have a complete picture so it’s difficult to judge. Obviously you’re on the side of your friend, and the driver was at fault, but pulling out of a junction having not seen an obstacle is a very human thing to do.

 

Not really. Was any reason given by his defence as mitigation, ie what was taken into account before sentencing?

Was the trial in crown or magistrates court?

 

It was a she.

 

With the wording and intention of physical harm in his statement I consider my reply entirely justified

 

OK, but what was offered by *her* legal representation to the judge /magistrate in *her* defence? As you know, that has a material effect on sentence.

 

In the firing line....

No, I don’t. Maybe review the posts? I informed you of my belief someone else was joking.

Would you now and are you? I guess you need to review the posts too.

Yes, it was amusing.

What a coincidence in your anecdote. At least you didn’t know the woman, fella. 10 years ago a colleague/friend of mine was killed by a cement mixer while riding his bike in London. The driver of the cement mixer walked free. Despite this, I still somehow manage to know when someone is joking.

 

It never went to court. The police decided that a driver awareness course was sufficient.

Apparently she did a lot of crying & wrote a gushing self serving letter to my friend, he refused to see it or meet her for obvious reasons. To rub salt in his wounds further the police also sent him a patronising letter as to how ‘driver education’ was more important than ‘prosecution’.

I am sure even some of the pathetic jokers on here can probably understand why this subject is still very raw. Cyclists getting parity with motorists ultimately means getting off, be careful what you wish for.

 

1000 points if you drive through a puddle just as Woodyface and Sodadunk pedal past