Kizibu
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Sussex by the Sea
This headline (Report into DfT casualty stats says cyclists not to blame in 93 per cent of cases)
is rubbish. The 7% of accidents attributable to cyclists refers to those mentioned in the first sentence only, those involving "
Bike riders tearing through red lights, wearing dark clothing or riding at night without lights"not all accidents involving cyclists. .
Neither the headline nor the article accurately represent the findings of the TRL report it is supposed to be based on in my view.
The TRL report states in several places that responsibility for causing reported accidents in which cyclists are killed or injured is split "fairly equally" between cyclists and drivers by the police investigating the accidents.
The claim that the police attribute "blame to the driver in up to three quarters of collisions between a bicycle and other vehicle " is technically true but so highly misleading that its nonsense. Its based on the fact that cyclists of different age groups were more or less likely to be blamed for accidents. Overall for cyclists of all age groups blame is roughly equally apportioned between bikers and motorists though it says children might be blamed unfairly when its their word against an adult driver.
The only accidents where drivers were blamed 75% of the time were slight accidents involving the oldest riders aged 40-99. Where cyclists are killed, cyclists are blamed more often than motorists. But that may be a case of deadmen tell no tales. In serious accidents (where the cyclist survives to give their version) slightly more are blamed on motorists than cyclists - but only slightly more. In about 10% of cases both cyclist and motorist are held to have contributed to the accident. Edited to correct attribution of article and headline at 2312.
