Cyclists! Why do they ride in the middle of the road?
Discussion
will_ said:
I love driving and take great pride in doing it as well as I can - which is why I roll my eyes at supposed "enthusiasts" on a site like PH who evidence their incompetence via their apparent inability properly to deal with cyclists who usually provide no particular difficulty on the roads.
Well said. PH should not become the "car" camp in what the media would like to present as a two-sided debate. A lot of us love both driving and cycling, and have compatible attitudes to both. Mr SFJ said:
All i'm going to say is out of a red light-running cyclist and car driver going across a green light at the speed limit and the cyclist plows into said car driver, the car driver is somehow liable? Who made the illegal move? I wonder....
How about if the car driver plows into the cyclist? Have you never heard of joint or proportional liability? Just because a traffic light is green, you don't have the legal right to just go through it without taking due care to ensure it's safe to do so.Mave said:
Mr SFJ said:
All i'm going to say is out of a red light-running cyclist and car driver going across a green light at the speed limit and the cyclist plows into said car driver, the car driver is somehow liable? Who made the illegal move? I wonder....
How about if the car driver plows into the cyclist? Have you never heard of joint or proportional liability? Just because a traffic light is green, you don't have the legal right to just go through it without taking due care to ensure it's safe to do so.Serious question as surely a red light is doing the job of a Stop sign?
TheFungle said:
What's the difference between that and if a car pulls out from a side road?
Serious question as surely a red light is doing the job of a Stop sign?
Well, if someone pulls out from a side road, you're not allowed to just drive into them, and if visibility of the side road is limited you might be expected to slow down below the limit...Serious question as surely a red light is doing the job of a Stop sign?
TheFungle said:
What's the difference between that and if a car pulls out from a side road?
Serious question as surely a red light is doing the job of a Stop sign?
Well, if someone pulls out from a side road, you're not allowed to just drive into them, and if visibility of the side road is limited you might be expected to slow down below the limit...Serious question as surely a red light is doing the job of a Stop sign?
Mave - you are talking rubbish.
If some half-blind old lady walks across the road while I have a green light, I am perfectly entitled to run her over. Nay, I am obliged to. It's the only way she will learn.
In fact, if I am below the limit I should be encouraged to accelerate into her.
If some half-blind old lady walks across the road while I have a green light, I am perfectly entitled to run her over. Nay, I am obliged to. It's the only way she will learn.
In fact, if I am below the limit I should be encouraged to accelerate into her.
Mave said:
Well, if someone pulls out from a side road, you're not allowed to just drive into them, and if visibility of the side road is limited you might be expected to slow down below the limit...
Clearly no one is stating that you 'have a right to drive into someone'. Slowing down for a side road every time just in case smacks to me if the ridiculous. On a major trunk route for example with numerous side roads would you slow down for every one? Can you imagine the chaos if every driver did that?
TheFungle said:
Clearly no one is stating that you 'have a right to drive into someone'. Slowing down for a side road every time just in case smacks to me if the ridiculous.
Equally clearly no one is stating that you have to slow down for every side road. But you can normally see if someone is approaching or waiting at a side road, and depending on their 'body language' it may be appropriate to ease off or cover the brake.TheFungle said:
Clearly no one is stating that you 'have a right to drive into someone'. Slowing down for a side road every time just in case smacks to me if the ridiculous.
On a major trunk route for example with numerous side roads would you slow down for every one? Can you imagine the chaos if every driver did that?
Indeed, but its a matter of honing your roadcraft skills to be able to determine whether an approaching car on a side road poses a threat or not. A couple of years ago I approached a junction where I could see a car pulling up to join "my" road but I couldn't see the drivers face so I covered the brake. I was doing 50mph (in a national speed limit) as I saw him accelerate out in front of me and I only had the width of the junction left to brake. Sure I T-boned him severely resulting in 5 grands worth of damage to my car but I reckon when I finally made contact with his rear wheel I was doing twenty. If I hadn't have been covering the brake at the time the car and I would've been really f#cked up. 12 months later 2 OAPs (in the back of a taxi) were killed in circumstances very similar at the same junction.On a major trunk route for example with numerous side roads would you slow down for every one? Can you imagine the chaos if every driver did that?
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