and another one....

[buggi]

http://www.solihullnews.net/news/so...er-solihull-street-collision-105074-23862810/

felt a tear prick my eye when i heard it on the radio. this is near my flat. feel like going down there and dropping off some flowers, i think i might tomorrow.

 

[Shaun]

Really sad.

 

[buggi]

do they still do training for kids on bikes at school? remember when we did cycling proficiency in the school playground around cones? well, i was moaning at my mum how, with all the near misses i have due to bad driving, then kids don't stand a bloody chance, and how they should be taken out on the road, in one2one sessions, and shown how to ride, not just around cones in a playground and that i'd even volunteer for it myself. and she said, well why don't you... and it got me thinking. how would you get involved in that?

 

[jonesy]

do they still do training for kids on bikes at school? remember when we did cycling proficiency in the school playground around cones? well, i was moaning at my mum how, with all the near misses i have due to bad driving, then kids don't stand a bloody chance, and how they should be taken out on the road, in one2one sessions, and shown how to ride, not just around cones in a playground and that i'd even volunteer for it myself. and she said, well why don't you... and it got me thinking. how would you get involved in that?

It has been updated: http://www.bikeability.org.uk/

Much more focus on on the road skills.

 

[Maz]

What a tragic story.
My nieces go to the same school. I wonder if they knew him.

 

[Mr Pig]

do they still do training for kids on bikes at school?

Not at all schools. None of my kids have had cycling proficiency.

When I was a kid I rode around on the roads all the time. These days I tell my kids to keep off them.

 

[Sittingduck]

As an Ex-Lyndon School pupil myself, it's saddending to see this story

 

[Keith Oates]

It's always sad to read something like that but it must be devastating for his parents and other family members!

 

[ColinJ]

It's always sad to read something like that but it must be devastating for his parents and other family members!

Yes indeed - really awful.








I'd run out of milk one Christmas morning, but our local supermarket is always open at lunchtime on Christmas Day for a couple of hours so I decided to stroll down to the shop.

I'd just set off when a child aged about 8 overtook me on a brand new bicycle, obviously his Christmas present. I watched in horror as he shot off the pavement at the end of the street and straight across a road without looking. Fortunately, no cars were coming when he did it. He either wasn't paying attention at all, or he was relying on his hearing to tell him that it was safe.

I was thinking about that for weeks afterwards. Imagine giving your young son a new bike, letting him loose on it unsupervised, and then something terrible happens to him a few hours later on Christmas Day...

If I'd known where he lived, I'd have gone and told his parents what I'd witnessed.

 

[buggi]

yea it's awful and i realise that kids can make a mistake but...

once i got done by a speed camera and they offered me a chance to go on a course. everyone was the usual reluctant suspects when i got there, you know how it is "this is SO unjust" but by the end of the course i can honestly say we all had different attitudes.

one of the things they taught us was that you should be clocking pedestrians and cyclists (especially children) when you see them and anticipating them to make a mistake when you pass them and you should be driving slow enough to stop (i.e. within the limit... "it's 30 for a reason" and all that malarky). After all, you are the one driving a potentially lethal weapon.

Everyone without exception could see their point. How long it lasted after the course i can't say, but for me... i can't say i would never find myself in that awful position and i pray to God i never injur anyone, but i do tend to clock cyclists way before most other people i know.

 

[Headgardener]

It is sad when these things happen and the report didn't say who was to blame. With all the renewed intrest in cycling then the government should bring back the cyclying proficency test in schools for a start, making it compulsory for those wishing to ride to school. Also they should make awareness of cyclists and motorcyclists a major part of the learner drivers lessons and tests.

 

[MichaelM]

do they still do training for kids on bikes at school? remember when we did cycling proficiency in the school playground around cones? well, i was moaning at my mum how, with all the near misses i have due to bad driving, then kids don't stand a bloody chance, and how they should be taken out on the road, in one2one sessions, and shown how to ride, not just around cones in a playground and that i'd even volunteer for it myself. and she said, well why don't you... and it got me thinking. how would you get involved in that?

But that's the problem, the bad driving. I'm not for one moment suggesting kids shouldn't be shown how to ride, but cars take out cyclists regardless of how well the cyclist is riding.

Difficult one....

I seem to remember reading/hearing that a judge took into account that a cyclist had not been wearing a helmet when killed by a vehicle, I don't think there's any need to offer up any more excuses to irresponsible drivers.

dear god, 'i've come over all political and self-oppinionated - I think I'll go and have a lie down.

 

[MichaelM]

With all the renewed intrest in cycling then the government should bring back the cyclying proficency test in schools for a start, making it compulsory for those wishing to ride to school. Also they should make awareness of cyclists and motorcyclists a major part of the learner drivers lessons and tests.

Definitely disagree with that. Would give the driver a "but he wasn't a qualified cyclist and shouldn't have been on the road" excuse.

I really should go for that lie down... or maybe a ride even!

 

[buggi]

Definitely disagree with that. Would give the driver a "but he wasn't a qualified cyclist and shouldn't have been on the road" excuse.

I really should go for that lie down... or maybe a ride even!

yea you've got a point. it's like the argument about the judge taking into account the cyclist wasn't wearing a helmet. it would just give insurance companies another excuse not to pay out and another get out for irresponsible drivers.

i'm fully in support of the other option... making something compulsory in the driving test about how to act responsibly around cyclists, thereby raising awareness of cyclists and embedding it into drivers attitudes.

does anyone know what the exact laws are in France about drivers behaviour around cyclists?

 

[buggi]

the other day i was riding home from work, i was just down the road and there was some kids on the pavement. one had a bike. when i stopped at the lights the kid on the bike crossed over the pedestrian crossing. Then his as his mates walked past, they said to me "he wants a race". i looked at them and laughed and said "i've just ridden 23 miles!" and they asked where from and i said where and they seemed really nice. The lights changed and their mate was on the path down the road, he kept looking back"

So i said to the lads "he wants a race?"
they said "Yea!"
so i said, "he's on!" and took off. They started cheering and laughing

He saw me coming and started to pedal like mad (he was on the pavement). Obviously, he didn't stand a chance (well i wasn't gonna let him win, was I?! o the shame of being beaten by a kid on a mountain bike would be too much!)

The whole thing made me laugh as i overtook him and waved goodbye, and i could hear his mates laughing at him.

But then i was thinking today it might be the same kid, and that made me feel really sad.