| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Cycling on the pavement | |
| Posted by: | Richard Hodges | |
| Date/Time: | 28/07/10 13:16:00 |
| And you immediately fall back on the mantra you have used repeatedly - speeding. Speeding - both over the posted limit or inappropriate for the conditions, is much less of an issue than you keep claiming. I've just returned from a walk to the North End Road, and knowing what you were likely to say, I kept an eye what the problems were: Cars, Vans, etc. One car using excessive speed. Two failed to indicate. Motorcycles No issues spotted Cyclists Several failures to indicate, one undertaking a lorry at a zebra crossing. Pedestrians Over 60 problems. That includes four people who stepped into a junction past me even as I stopped to look (a car was coming in two). The woman on her mobile phone, pushing a pram in the middle of the road. The ones attempting to cross a road with moving traffic, not 30' from a zebra crossing. I was actually surprised by how considerate the drivers were, even the white van man who drove considerately through the roadworks in Parsons Green, or the guy who gave me a courtesy wave for not stepping into his path at a side junction. I followed the GCC religiously, worked with the drivers (choosing the better moment to cross, making it clear to them that I had seen them) and we got on famously. As did everyone else who made the effort to folllow the rules. Try it yourself. You'll get similar results. I'll keep saying it - the Number 1 danger to pedestrians is pedestrians. Act responsibly and you increase your chances of survival 10-20 fold. You say you accept this, then your sole solution is to slow down the cars. Is your solution to level-crossing jumpers to slow down the trains? Is your solution to people drowining in the river to drain the river? Where do you stop? 30mph? 20mph? The risks of 20mph zones are noted - the stupid quotient goes up and pedestrians can become even less self-aware. We already have reports of of this - kid runs into road outside school, plants themselves on the bonnet of a car correctly doing 20mph. Does the mother a) admonish the child and apologise for failing to act as a responsible parent, or b) Shout "Look where you're going'" "Stop Speeding" at the driver who's actions saved their kid? It's already happening, and it's because we have had a generation of this mantra, at the expense of nearly every other issue. I save my sympathy for those who deserve it - those who took reasonable precautions but through fate, luck or other peoples' actions suffered. I call stupid when I see stupid. That's not harsh, it's honest. And I apply it everywhere, as friends and family will attest. Most of all, I apply it to myself. If you're serious about road safety, and I am very serious about it, you have to address all the issues. If you don't do that, please don't try to convince me that you are serious. The overwhelming is lack of attention by all road users, and the solution is to teach respect by all road users. We already have the right tools, all proven. But dogma prevents attention and funds going to some of them. And people are dying as a result. Now that really is stupid. |