On 03/05/2013 20:34, Dave- Cyclists VORC wrote:

On 03/05/2013 11:53, CJB wrote:

Labour MP Margaret Hodge accused of flooring cyclist with her car door
while talking on mobile phone

Cyclist clearly failing to use observation, anticipation & hazard
awareness skills.

He should have been charged with criminal damage to the car door.

It *is* odd that cyclists expect sufficient clearance when being
overtaken that they can perform a deviation in course as wide as they
choose (the "wobble") and still not be hit even when they suddenly veer
into the path of overtaking traffic, whilst on the other hand, they (or
some of them at least) cannot be trusted to do a simple thing like stay
a few feet away from the offside of a stationary passenger vehicle where
disgorging of its occupants (with always at least one alighting from the
offside) is easily prdictable and whose occupants can actually be seen
(by those who can be bothered to look).

I typically travel along highways faster than a cyclist would and could
therefore claim that I need even more notice of a vehicle door being
opened in my path, yet in probably something approaching a half million
miles of driving in urban areas, I have never even come close to hitting
a vehicle's opening or opened door, or an emerging vehicle occupant.