A thoughtful article

A thoughtful article.

http://blogs.birminghammail.net/isitjustme/

In the past week I have seen a pair of cyclists ignore red lights and carry
on across a busy junction forcing traffic to stop, a cyclist going the wrong
way down a one way street and another a carrying on along a road through a
red light holding up traffic turning on a green right filter light.

I have also seen them ride the wrong way around islands, over islands and
even the wrong way down a dual carriageway.

Now I have nothing against cyclists, at least the responsible ones, and have
a bike myself but what has happened to road sense? There are a breed of
cyclists who do not think rules of the road apply to them.

I know there are a lot of accidents involving cyclists, and many are the
result of poor driving by other road users, but seeing the way some cyclists
ride on the roads it is a wonder there are not more, they are accidents
waiting to happen.

Time to make the roads safer, methinks. For a start perhaps there should be
some compulsory test to ride on the road to ensure cyclists know the basics
of road craft, then, as we seem to be funding cycleways, boxes and all the
rest, perhaps a modest road fund licence for any cyclist who wishes to ride
on the road. A tenner a year seems reasonable.

Finally every cyclist on the road should have to have insurance. As it
stands if cyclist cause an accident with a car then the driver's insurance
company ends up paying for repairs to the car, the motorist pays his own
excess and, more often than not, the cyclist who was responsible for the
whole thing runs off to a no win no fee firm of lawyers to stick in a claim
for damages against the motorist.

If a cyclist riding in a shopping centre, not uncommon, or pavement, both
illegal, ploughs someone down causing serious injury or loss of earnings
then the victim currently has no redress apart from a claim against the
individual. At least with compulsory insurance there would be a third party
redress.

In a simple example a friend was edging out of his drive in his car when a
cyclist, riding on the pavement, which is illegal remember, against the
direction of oncoming traffic, ran at some speed into the side of his car
and bounced on his bonnet causing damage which, with the cost of panels and
respray is into four figures - yet the cyclist, who was acting illegally at
the time, is claiming damages!!!!

If you were a motorist speeding the wrong way down a one way street and had
an accident, which is not that different a scenario, how far would you get
claiming damages?

If my friend and his insurers wish to counter claim they are claiming
against an individual with little of no chance of ever seeing any money.

Time to redress the balance in favour of motorists.

On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:25:03 -0000, "Mr. Benn" wrote:

A thoughtful article.

http://blogs.birminghammail.net/isitjustme/

snip


Time to redress the balance in favour of motorists.



Excellent article

On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:25:03 -0000, "Mr. Benn" wrote:

A thoughtful article.

http://blogs.birminghammail.net/isitjustme/

In the past week I have seen a pair of cyclists ignore red lights and carry
on across a busy junction forcing traffic to stop, a cyclist going the wrong
way down a one way street and another a carrying on along a road through a
red light holding up traffic turning on a green right filter light.

I have also seen them ride the wrong way around islands, over islands and
even the wrong way down a dual carriageway.

Now I have nothing against cyclists, at least the responsible ones, and have
a bike myself but what has happened to road sense? There are a breed of
cyclists who do not think rules of the road apply to them.

The government encourages them in the same way it encourages
homosexuals.

"Judith" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:25:03 -0000, "Mr. Benn" wrote:

A thoughtful article.

http://blogs.birminghammail.net/isitjustme/

snip


Time to redress the balance in favour of motorists.



Excellent article

Indeed.
Years ago my wife was driving out of a driveway when she was broadsided by a
cyclist on the footpath.
Okay, she did not see him.
Off his bike he falls, gets up, shouts "**** off" and pedals away.
Damage to car was £400.
I would like to meet him one day.

On Mar 10, 7:59*pm, "Mr Pounder"
wrote:
"Judith" wrote in message

...

On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:25:03 -0000, "Mr. Benn" wrote:

A thoughtful article.

http://blogs.birminghammail.net/isitjustme/

snip

Time to redress the balance in favour of motorists.

Excellent article

Indeed.
Years ago my wife was driving out of a driveway when she was broadsided by a
cyclist on the footpath.
Okay, she did not see him.
Off his bike he falls, gets up, shouts "**** off" and pedals away.
Damage to car was £400.
I would like to meet him one day.








It is surprising that the cyclist did not stop & exchange details of
his freezer insurance.

On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:25:03 -0000, "Mr. Benn" wrote:

Time to redress the balance in favour of motorists.

Hilarious! The balance has never tipped away from them, as even the
most cursory study of the politics of motoring will readily reveal.
And the reason is obvious: early adopters included police, doctors,
magistrates, and of course MPs.

Lawbreaking is endemic among all road users. It always has been. I
have absolutely no problem at all with all road users being prosecuted
for all offences committed, I think the roads would be vastly safer if
every single lawbreaking road user was prosecuted. For example, red
light jumping drivers kill more cyclists than are killed through
having themselves jumped red lights.

Prosecute everybody who breaks the speed limit, jumps a red light or
any other offence, *every* time. Nothing would give me greater
pleasure than to see the Government do this, but of course that would
be the end of any prospect of re-election for them!

Guy
--
Guy Chapman, http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
The usenet price promise: all opinions are guaranteed
to be worth at least what you paid for them.

francis wrote:
On Mar 10, 7:59 pm, "Mr Pounder"
wrote:
"Judith" wrote in message

...

On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:25:03 -0000, "Mr. Benn"
wrote:

A thoughtful article.

http://blogs.birminghammail.net/isitjustme/

snip

Time to redress the balance in favour of motorists.

Excellent article

Indeed.
Years ago my wife was driving out of a driveway when she was
broadsided by a cyclist on the footpath.
Okay, she did not see him.
Off his bike he falls, gets up, shouts "**** off" and pedals away.
Damage to car was £400.
I would like to meet him one day.








It is surprising that the cyclist did not stop & exchange details of
his freezer insurance.

I would have followed and apprehended the criminal cyclist.

On 10/03/2012 19:59, Mr Pounder wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:25:03 -0000, "Mr. wrote:

A thoughtful article.

http://blogs.birminghammail.net/isitjustme/

snip


Time to redress the balance in favour of motorists.



Excellent article

Indeed.
Years ago my wife was driving out of a driveway when she was broadsided by a
cyclist on the footpath.
Okay, she did not see him.

There is no good reason why she should be watching for him on the footway.

Off his bike he falls, gets up, shouts "**** off" and pedals away.
Damage to car was £400.
I would like to meet him one day.

I dare say. Does he pass by regularly, especially on the footway?

QUOTE:
Two coroners – one in West Yorkshire, the other in Northamptonshire –
who presided over separate cases this week involving the deaths of
cyclists have called on highway authorities to amend road layouts that
they believe were a factor in those riders losing their lives.

The first case related to 40-year-old nurse Sarah Burwell, killed in
Kettering in August last year when she apparently lost control of her
‘motorised bicycle’ – presumably an electric bike – as she rode along
a footpath along Rothwell Road, causing her to fall into the path of a
passing car.

The court heard that at the point where Miss Burwell came off her
bike, where Rothwell Road passes underneath a railway bridge, the
footpath was just 97 centimetres wide, reports the Northamptonshire
Evening Telegraph.

The second, in Leeds, concerned the death last October of 28-year-old
mature student Paul Papworth on Elland Road. No other vehicle was
involved in that incident, which happened when Mr Papworth clipped a
kerb while riding his new Carrera Banshee full suspension mountain
bike.

The Yorkshire Evening Post states that after coming off his bike, Mr
Papworth struck his head against a bollard positioned to prevent
vehicles from cutting through a nearby estate, and died of head
injuries.

In each case, the coroner concerned recorded a verdict of accidental
death, but both said that they would be writing to the relevant
highway authorities to ask them to take measures to prevent the
possibility of similar incidents in the future, as they may do under
Rule 42 of the Coroners Rules 1984, which states:

“A coroner who believes that action should be taken to prevent the
recurrence of fatalities similar to that in respect of which the
inquest is being held may announce at the inquest that he is reporting
the matter in writing to the person or authority who may have power to
take such action and he may report the matter accordingly.”

At the inquest into Miss Burwell’s death, her sister Helen Plowman
described how the pair had been riding in single file underneath the
railway bridge on Rothwell Road when the fatal incident occurred.

The location, just yards from the Kettering General Hospital where
Miss Burwell worked, is not marked as a shared use path on Kettering
Borough Council’s cycling map, which does however highlight a
“significant” downhill gradient. Google Street View suggests the road
itself narrows as it passes under the bridge.

“I saw her cycle begin to wobble and her front wheel went off the
footpath and into the road,” Mrs Plowman explained.

“I saw her try to stop it but the back wheel came off the path and she
went tumbling into the road.”

Mrs Plowman said that her sister’s fall took her into the path of a
Ford Fiesta, and that while driver Kayleigh Gee managed to swerve a
little, she could not avoid hitting Miss Burwell, who died as a result
of the fractured spine and broken ribs she sustained in the incident.

“I would like to say the car driver was not at fault for this tragic
collision,” she added. “It happened because there was nothing to stop
Sarah’s wheels dropping off the footpath and on to the road and the
footpath is so narrow.”

Miss Burwell’s partner, Neal Campbell, called for railings to be
introduced at the site where she died, highlighting another footpath
underneath a nearby railway bridge that does have them.

“I observed the other day a little one in front of an adult on a
bicycle go under the bridge and he was riding a bit wobbly,” he
explained. “I would hate for any other accident to occur.”

While railings may have prevented Miss Burwell’s death, the problem is
that they could also create a danger for cyclists riding on the road,
a particular hazard at junctions where lorries may turn left – indeed,
a roundabout a little further along the road from where she died is
equipped with the type of railings that some local authorities have
removed.

Kettering coroner Anne Pember, recording a verdict of accidental
death, said that she would be asking the highway authority what action
could be taken to make the footpath safer, explaining that “If another
life could be saved then any action taken would be worthwhile.”

Meanwhile, at Wakefield Coroner’s Court, assistant deputy coroner Mary
Burke, also recording a verdict of accidental death in the case of Mr
Papworth, commented: “Issues have been raised as to the position of
the bollard. I intend to write to the highways authority... and invite
them to review the layout. I cannot stipulate what steps should be
taken. But if facts come to light that can prevent incidents like this
happening then I am happy to do it.”

During the inquest, the court had heard that a variety of factors may
have contributed to Mr Papworth's death.

It was revealed that he had a “significant” amount of cannabis in his
bloodstream, which according to a toxicologist was “likely to have
had a significant and detrimental effect on Paul’s motor and cognitive
functions.”

The inquest was also told that he had recently seen his GP about pains
in his upper arms and thigh which may also have been a factor in the
incident, and that while he his bike, which he had acquired the
previous day, had no defects, the responsiveness of the brakes may
have caused him to make a misjudgment.

It was revealed that cyclists were in the habit of cutting across the
footpath where he died to avoid having to use a busy roundabout
nearby, and his mother and stepfather, who said that Mr Papworth had
been riding since he was six years of age, was a ““competent and safe
road user.”

They added, however, that the bollards that he struck were “useless in
doing the job they were intended for.”

http://road.cc/content/news/54498-tw...es-review-road

--
Simon Mason

On 10/03/2012 22:33, Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:25:03 -0000, "Mr. wrote:

Time to redress the balance in favour of motorists.

Hilarious! The balance has never tipped away from them, as even the
most cursory study of the politics of motoring will readily reveal.
And the reason is obvious: early adopters included police, doctors,
magistrates, and of course MPs.

Lawbreaking is endemic among all road users. It always has been. I
have absolutely no problem at all with all road users being prosecuted
for all offences committed, I think the roads would be vastly safer if
every single lawbreaking road user was prosecuted. For example, red
light jumping drivers kill more cyclists than are killed through
having themselves jumped red lights.

Prosecute everybody who breaks the speed limit, jumps a red light or
any other offence, *every* time. Nothing would give me greater
pleasure than to see the Government do this, but of course that would
be the end of any prospect of re-election for them!

Guy

It's amazing that a cyclist trots out the old mantra "red
light jumping drivers kill more cyclists than are killed through
having themselves jumped red lights.", but ignore the danger to
pedestrians of RLJ cyclists.