Correspondance With an MP

[John the Monkey]

Agreed, but that's presumed liability, not strict liability.
Strict liability says you're guilty no matter what, such as in the case of speeding.

Gah, my mistake, hopefully the meaning was clear.

 

[Tommi]

I can travel 30 mph and that's enough to kill a person.

While I don't doubt that I don't believe that to be true for majority of person - bicycle combinations.

On related thoughthyperbole, maybe all cars drivers should be required to have pilot's permit and whatever the equivalent is for boats - after all, some cars can fly and others are amphibious. Come to think of it I'm sure some people on rollerblades can go fast enough to kill a person so I guess rollerblades should be classified as vehicles. No? I wonder why...

But more seriously did you notice you changed or refined your argument from speed to momentum? Closest explanation for why bicycles are treated the same as motor vehicles today I saw is because someone long time ago decided they were vehicles. Based on what criteria exactly, I've no idea. My best, totally unfounded guess, would be that at the time bicycles felt closer to horse carriages than pedestrians.