| Topic: | Re:Cycling on the pavement | |
| Posted by: | Richard Hodges | |
| Date/Time: | 27/07/10 18:20:00 |
| And the point I'll make again is that there is an equal, perhaps greater responsibility on the pedestrians to take reasonable action. They are not taking it, and you seem to be denying it. RRCGB is the definitive data. It is a lengthy paper published annually by the DfT. It says repeatedly and however you cut it that pedestrians are their own worst enemies. Disabilities are noted and barely register in the data. As for children, well I knew the Green Cross Code by the age of six - if I could learn it so can every other kid. Morally and legally, the motorist (or motorcyclist) is required to take reasonable care. As is the pedestrian. And the data says overwhelmingly that the latter don't. This isn't no-fault (where a party's actions contributed to the accident but were still reasonable, and therefore there is no blame), it's sheer recklessness. Recklessness deserves no sympathy. You act stupid, you have to live with the consequences. Whether that's stepping in front of an artic, or or killing your girlfriend because you were drunk and crashed into a lamp post. If your parents didn't teach you the Green Cross Code, then blame them for being irresponsible parents. If you learnt it but don't follow it, blame yourself for a chronic lack of common sense. Don't blame other people for your failings. But we now have this dogma. It must be the car driver's fault (most often it isn't), they have to stop (no they don't, you're not supposed to place them in that situation), they must have been speeding (actually not that likely in ped accidents). It's wrong at every level, in science, law and ethics. And it's dangerous. Because whilst the lie is peddled that we shouldn't accept personal responsibility - which I'm sorry to say, you seem to support - there will be no improvements. The key opportunities, particularly regarding education to respect the road and designing safer road layouts at blackspots and risk points, are ignored in favour of "speed kills" and all the other lines that place soundbites above fact (and too often are completely false). How many lives have been wasted this way? Well it may be quite a lot. There are signs that improvements in road safety over the past decade are first and foremost due to better vehicle survival cells, followed by new roads & bypasses, and then... not a lot, really. Not speed cameras, not mobile phone laws, not aggressive targetting of drink drivers, and not lower speed limits. Meanwhile, the lessons we learnt from Dave Prowse (and Kevin Keegan and Alvin Stardust) and have ignored for two generations are still as relevant. In fact more so, because it is one of clearest areas for improvement. But until we get real, and accept that we are as much the problem as those nasty drivers, people are still going to place themselves in danger of their own making, accepting no responsibility. Hiding from the truth won't make it go away. And yes, I practise what I preach. I still remember and follow the Green Cross Code. And I haven't been killed yet. Walking daily arond Putney, I haven't been injured, I haven't been grazed by a motorcyclist's helmet, and I haven't caused a car to swerve or lock its brakes. When I wait at the zebra crossing by the Star & Garter, they always stop for me (unlike the cyclists). And when I have made mistakes, like one foot in the gutter before stopping, I have accepted responsibility, and more often than not I apologise. All this is unlike so many pedestrians i see every day in Putney. No self awareness, no responsibility. So I say it again and again - pedestrians are failing to take responsibility for their actions and their safety. This is the primary cause for the majority of ped accs, they are instigated by the pedestrian and most often victim. Until this is accepted, they are going to continue to be squished. This should be as self-evident as not pointing a loaded gun at your face. I do not understand which part of this you cannot appreciate. Or would you blame Smith & Wesson? |