Murder maybe not, but gross neglect of your responsibilities as a human being should carry a very severe penalty, it is not an accident to drag someone along under your van, anyway I don't believe in accidents, when a vehicle hits a pedestrian or cyclist the driver was not travelling at an appropriate speed for the locality, in my opinion 10 to 15 mph is plenty in urban areas. I personally do not feel that I could stop if someone ran out in front of me if I drive at higher than 20 mph. Cars and vans etc just don't fit easily easily into the residential/urban environment ( unless they are at a respectful speed ) - the statistics speak for themselves -- 646 pedestrian deaths in 2007, Killed or serious injured casualties fell by 2 per cent to 6,924. The all pedestrian casualty figure fell to 30,191 in 2007, 3 per cent lower than 2006. The number of children killed or seriously injured in 2007 was 3,090 (down 6 per cent on 2006), Of those, 1,899 were pedestrians. The number of pedal cyclists killed fell by 7 per cent from 146 in 2006 to 136 in 2007. The number of seriously injured rose by 6 per cent to 2,428. The total casualties among pedal cyclists remained at the same level as 2006. These figures from the DofT. John Foresters work showed in the US that approx 20% of the cyclists stats were down to car -cycle collisions , this is still 25-30 in the UK per year. Lower traffic speeds would reduce this considerably.
For interest 50% or so of the cyclists stats are down to cyclist error. Road defects also contribute 15-20%, a similar figure is attributable to collisions with dogs etc.
If anyone wants the references please let me know.
Yours in cycling,
Kevin.
