A barrister

[dellzeqq]

's tale (sorry, heavy fingers)

http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com/2009/11/cycling-against-car-culture.html

I'll not attempt to summarise it, other than to say that Martin Porter, barrister and cyclist, considers the application of the law to motorists and cyclists. None of this will be a revelation to most of us, but it's sobering reading nonetheless.

 

[thomas]

It is a good article...but it will only really be found (and possibly interested in) by some cyclists.

 

[snorri]

Good stuff deservng of a wider audience.

 

[Perfect Virgo]

I thought one of the commenters raised a good point, 'Can we get this sort of message on Top Gear?'

 

[Cab]

Well reasoned. I've posted the link on one other (not very cyclist) forum already, I'll be sure to give it a nod elsewhere too.

 

[Crankarm]

Hopefully this barrister will some day become a judge and on his journey he will have influenced many others to consider the inequalities of the current legal system where the motorist, in what ever vehicle, is often let off with a slap on the wrist for committing serious mistakes that in other areas would have afforded him a long term of imprisonment or huge fine. How many more people - cyclists, pedestrians and car passengers have to needlessly die because the current system of detection, enforcement and punishment is pathetic. The law is an ASS. 9 people die on the roads everyday and not a murmur from Government (based on 3,500 people killed annually).

How many more WILL have to die before the system genuinely changes to protect the vulnerable and less strong road user against the weight of motorised traffic?

How many more deaths?

Tommorrow, another 9 people will die whilst using the UKs roads. Then 9 the next day, the next day, and so on .............. When will the carnage be stopped?

 

[MacB]

Tis a good read and well balanced though, worryingly, it contains almost nothing that cannot be deduced by common sense. It really is a case of getting it into the public awareness and I'm not sure how it's done. I view driving very differently, my own included, now that I cycle, but it took cycling to bring me to that point.

I like the comparisons to the operation of other heavy machinery etc. If the car were introduced now there's no way people would get licences as easily, or operate with such few controls.

My great uncle has recently stopped driving, mid 80's, his motivating factor was an accident. He almost lost his leg when a fellow 'old codger' put his foot on the wrong pedal and pinned my GU against a bollard. He was aware that his own driving had deteriorated but this brought home to him the damage a small slip like that could do. So he's voluntarily taken himself off the road. The right move, but I'd say a few years later than it should have happened. Without the accident he'd probably still be driving.

 

[Cab]

The first response to this from motorisrs; too boring to read, or giving up on the first point where the author mentioned that the same regulations that apply elsewhere don't apply to cars..

And that, I'm afraid, is what we're up against. Attention spans so atrophied as to be a waste of time. Still, not everyone was so negative.