Hitting a pedestrian

[.stu]

And how can your speed ever be irrelevant in avoiding a collision?

In that I was far too close to stop and braking whilst swerving is not a good idea.

 

[Cyclopathic]

A few metres. 3 to 6 depending on the variables.

You say that but when a car turned right in front of me I went from about 17mph to stop in about 6 inches. Well my bike did. I carried on a ways until I bounced off the bonnet of another car until eventually the floor broke my fall.

 

[KneesUp]

I was going to work out the force involved in stopping the average bike with the average rider from 20mph to 0mph in 6 metres, but then I remembered I've forgotten the little I ever knew about Calculus

 

[GrumpyGregry]

In that I was far too close to stop and braking whilst swerving is not a good idea.

And your speed played no part in getting you and your bike to the point where you were far too close to stop at that particular point in time. I see.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I was going to work out the force involved in stopping the average bike with the average rider from 20mph to 0mph in 6 metres, but then I remembered I've forgotten the little I ever knew about Calculus

There you go. The average rider that rides at 20mph in the direction of, and in close proximity to, pedestrians might want to consider their

bike handling skills
judgement
-and-
insurance cover

 

[GrumpyGregry]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton's_laws_of_motion

I'll take your link to wikipedia and raise you

http://www.exploratorium.edu/cycling/brakes2.html

 

[Dan B]

v^2 = u^2 + 2as
0 = 8.9*8.9 +2a*6
a = - (8.9*8.9) / 12
a = -6.6

6.6 m/s^2 is about 0.7g. Please check my working becuase I haven't

 

[broadway]

I've been taken out twice by south Londoners.

Pedestrians step off the kerb without looking all the time.
You know this.
They've been doing so since long before the invention of the mobile phone.
You know this.
The onus is on you ride in a way so as to avoid the things you know pedestrians do.
You know this too.

Same as you drive expecting the cyclist up ahead to swerve to avoid the pot hole or wasp or whatever.

Must have been the South London Ninjas

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Must have been the South London Ninjas

I should have avoided both. Today I probably would.

One was horrid. I knocked her clean out.

 

[spen666]

If you would care to express your opinion more usefully perhaps?

I expressed my opinion clearly enough thank you



If you don't like the fact I express my opinion, not your opinion, then tough

 

[spen666]

So @spen666 what is the legal stance here? I'm very interested to know, thanks

The legal position is..........something I couldn't tell you without all the facts of the incident.

I am not going to advise on the law without knowing what actually happened, unlike some barrack room lawyers on here

 

[GrumpyGregry]

v^2 = u^2 + 2as
0 = 8.9*8.9 +2a*6
a = - (8.9*8.9) / 12
a = -6.6

6.6 m/s^2 is about 0.7g. Please check my working becuase I haven't

What factor does mass play versus speed?

 

[ClichéGuevara]

Just reading this http://www.bikehub.co.uk/featured-articles/cycling-and-the-law/ and I never knew ;


"...according to Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 the courts have the power to disqualify a cyclist from driving a car for any offence: "The court by or before which a person is convicted of an offence committed after 31st December 1997 may, instead of or in addition to dealing with him in any other way, order him to be disqualified, for such period as it thinks fit, for holding or obtaining a driving licence.""

Seems a bit silly to me, as presumably you'd still be allowed to use the bike you caused the problems on in the first place.

 

[John the Monkey]

I was thinking about this thread today, after an incident on the road between Handforth & Wilmslow.

I was riding, in traffic, and saw a group of male teenagers (4 or 5 of them) by a pedestrian crossing. They were doing the sort of larking about that age group is prone to, so I kept an eye on them, slowed a bit and covered my brakes.

All of them made a sudden run across the road (at a pedestrian crossing that was still green for traffic on the road).

Four of them stopped short of crossing completely (remaining across the carriageway on my side) and one narrowly made the other side of the road in front of a non-articulated LGV, which didn't seem to have braked or slowed (if the miss was by more than a metre, I'd have been surprised).

I'd seen them and adjusted speed &c in advance, but I don't *think* any of the other traffic did. There's not much doubt as to who would be at fault, I think, but in hindsight, it seemed fairly obvious that shenanigans were impending, and pretty easy to avoid them. I'm not sure why no one else did, unless the added incentive of not losing (more) skin to the tarmac tends to make cyclists more careful.

 

[screenman]

Why not have him beemed down from the starship Enterprise? It would be a less ludicrous example.

I take you know the exact circumstances then.