boulder wrote:


as the outcomes are so unequal, I doubt that motorists will. Motorists
are likely to just note that the initial cause of the accident was the
action of the cyclist.

But as a motorist, and a cyclist....that must be most of us
surely???.....they would be correct in blaming the
cyclist IMHO.

When I saw it on the news last night, I was amazed the girl had been
treated so harshly...her
crime was using a mobile whilst driving....3 points and 60 quid fine.

Look, I agree that hitting the cyclist was unintended, and that the cyclist
was breaking the law. The sentence should not be harsher just because a
cyclist was where he should not have been and got himself killed. That's a
side issue.

But texting while driving should mean a severe sentence, whether you hit
anyone or not. So should doing 45mph in a 30mph zone. Doing 45mph in a
30mph while texting certainly ought to mean prison.

She may not have hit the
cyclist had she not been texting, but surely you cant ignore, completely,
the law breaking cyclist....had he stopped, as he
should, he's still alive.

Absolutely. But had she lost control of the car while texting and ploughed
through a bus queue at 45mph, there would have been a lot of deaths and
they would have been innocent ones. You simply can't have people texting -
or phoning - while driving.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; I'll have a proper rant later, when I get the time.