On 16/08/2012 22:00, Squashme wrote:
On Aug 16, 6:18 pm, "Mrcheerful" wrote:
http://road.cc/content/news/63414-la...-another-sharp...
I wonder what explains this rise in pedestrian deaths?
There were 453 pedestrian deaths in 2011, 12% more than in 2010.
Seriously injured pedestrian casualties also increased - by 5% to
5,454. (DfT)
The number of people killed annually on the roads in Britain has fallen
below 2,000 for the first time since records began in 1926, government
statistics show.
The death toll for 2010 was 1,857, as against 2,222 in 2009, a 16% drop
and the seventh consecutive annual fall, the Department for Transport
statistics showed. There was an 8% reduction in the broader statistic of
people killed or seriously injured, which stood at 22,660 last year.
Although deaths and injuries fell significantly for motorists,
pedestrians and motorcyclists, the number of cyclists killed rose for a
third consecutive year. Deaths rose by 7% from 104 in 2009 to 111 last
year, although the DfT says the number of cyclists rose by just 0.5%.
The cycling casualty rate is, however, well down on the average annual
death rate of 186 during 1994 to 1998.
Assuming that cyclists, when they weren't being killed themselves,
killed c.2 of these pedestrians, then just maybe motorists killed the
remaining 451 pedestrians. So, if the number killed has risen, could a
smidgen of blame attach to motorists, at all, do you think?
10 cyclists doing 10 mile per annum, killing 2 people? Disgraceful!
Or have the numbers of pedestrians increased, maybe? Are they
approaching critical mass?
No, pedestrians don't deliberately meet to hold up traffic.
Or maybe there are a lot of new, inexperienced pedestrians now?
Perhaps, as a result of the recession (I blame that Gordon Brown you
know) there are a large number of people giving up their cars and
trying to walk, and they are perhaps over-confident, maybe a bit
embarassed, and not very good at it. After all many people regard
walking as only fit for children and not a legitimate mode of
transport. As Mrs Thatcher said:- "Any man who finds himself on foot
over the age of 30 can consider himself a failure in life."
----------------------------------------------------
As Mrs Thatcher might have said:- "Any man who finds himself on a push bike
over the age of 30 can consider himself a failure in life".
--
Dave - Cyclists VOR. "Many people barely recognise the bicycle as a
legitimate mode of transport; it is either a toy for children or a
vehicle fit only for the poor and/or strange," Dave Horton, of Lancaster
University, wrote in an interim assessment of the Understanding Walking
and Cycling study. "For them, cycling is a bit embarrassing, they fail
to see its purpose, and have no interest in integrating it into their
lives, certainly on a regular basis."