Smidgaf - video - would you report this

[400bhp]

Play nice children !

Don't be silly - this is commuting.

 

[dawesome]

One thing to bear in mind in the TRL report is that is only takes account of collisions reported to the police.

It is more than likely that car drivers were to blame for these types of accidents. You're more likely to end up dead or seriously injured as a result of an error of driving, rather than vice versa nd these are the types likely to be reported to the police.

This is true, and I bet loads of smidsies like this don't even get reported:

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co...brief-note-on-lifestyle-choices.html#comments

 

[400bhp]

This is true, and I bet loads of smidsies like this don't even get reported:

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co...brief-note-on-lifestyle-choices.html#comments

Like what?

 

[lukesdad]

Can you elaborate? I can't see how that would have any effect on who was to blame in a collision.

My last post on the subject. It s not who was to blame. The point is, cyclists would appear to cause more collisions per time spent on the road between the 2 modes of transport.

 

[dawesome]

The point is, cyclists would appear to cause more collisions per time spent on the road between the 2 modes of transport.

I have no idea how you've drawn that conclusion. It would certainly take some explaining to prove that cyclists, who kill on average half a person a year, are involved in more collisions than drivers, who kill two and a half thousand people a year.

 

[dawesome]

Like what?

Like the one in the link.

Hitchens takes on the trolls in the comments:

Some years ago I was cycling along a main road in broad daylight when suddenly without any signal, a car coming the other way turned right and ran into me head on. I was launched over the bonnet, smashing his windscreen with my back, then continued at speed over the roof, eventually landing face down in the middle of a busy road. A double somersault with a half twist would normally be quite a high-value vault but I lost a lot of points with that landing. (By the way, I was wearing a helmet and might not be writing this had I been bareheaded).​

As I lay there motionless, the driver, a young undergraduate was appropriately mortified at what he'd done, apologised profusely and quite properly accepted full responsibility for the collision. A crowd gathered and eventually the police and ambulance arrived. Before they hauled me off to hospital I asked the policeman if they would take my bicycle to the station or other place for safe keeping. He refused, suggesting dismissively that it would be simply left by the side of the road. As a member of the CTC I had been made aware of this disregard by the police for cyclists' property. Apparently it is a quite common attitude and bicycles abandoned like this are usually, surprise surprise, stolen. Adding insult to injury you might call it. Eventually a kind onlooker from a nearby house agreed to look after it until I was able to collect it (only the front wheel and forks were badly damaged).​

Later, in hospital I was visited by two policemen who delivered this speech to me at my bedside. "We've interviewed the driver and he seems to us to be a very well brought up and well-spoken young gentleman and in the light of that we don't see that any purpose would be served by bringing a prosecution". Apparently the fact that he was a millionaire's son was enough to impress them to take no action. I guess they'd come to the hospital just to make sure that I wasn't even posher than he was. I was still suffering from shock and in too much pain to tell them what I thought of their decision. ​

The attitude of the police made me wonder just what a motorist has to do to a cyclist to get prosecuted. I didn't want revenge I just feel that a summons for driving without due care and three points on his licence might have helped to ensure that he never made the same mistake again.​

 

[benb]

My last post on the subject. It s not who was to blame. The point is, cyclists would appear to cause more collisions per time spent on the road between the 2 modes of transport.

Then you clearly haven't understood the study.

 

[400bhp]

Like the one in the link.

Hitchens takes on the trolls in the comments:

Some years ago I was cycling along a main road in broad daylight when suddenly without any signal, a car coming the other way turned right and ran into me head on. I was launched over the bonnet, smashing his windscreen with my back, then continued at speed over the roof, eventually landing face down in the middle of a busy road. A double somersault with a half twist would normally be quite a high-value vault but I lost a lot of points with that landing. (By the way, I was wearing a helmet and might not be writing this had I been bareheaded).​

As I lay there motionless, the driver, a young undergraduate was appropriately mortified at what he'd done, apologised profusely and quite properly accepted full responsibility for the collision. A crowd gathered and eventually the police and ambulance arrived. Before they hauled me off to hospital I asked the policeman if they would take my bicycle to the station or other place for safe keeping. He refused, suggesting dismissively that it would be simply left by the side of the road. As a member of the CTC I had been made aware of this disregard by the police for cyclists' property. Apparently it is a quite common attitude and bicycles abandoned like this are usually, surprise surprise, stolen. Adding insult to injury you might call it. Eventually a kind onlooker from a nearby house agreed to look after it until I was able to collect it (only the front wheel and forks were badly damaged).​

Later, in hospital I was visited by two policemen who delivered this speech to me at my bedside. "We've interviewed the driver and he seems to us to be a very well brought up and well-spoken young gentleman and in the light of that we don't see that any purpose would be served by bringing a prosecution". Apparently the fact that he was a millionaire's son was enough to impress them to take no action. I guess they'd come to the hospital just to make sure that I wasn't even posher than he was. I was still suffering from shock and in too much pain to tell them what I thought of their decision. ​

The attitude of the police made me wonder just what a motorist has to do to a cyclist to get prosecuted. I didn't want revenge I just feel that a summons for driving without due care and three points on his licence might have helped to ensure that he never made the same mistake again.​

What's your point?

 

[dawesome]

That an awful lot of collisions don't get reported, the motorist drives off, or uses false plates like the one that hit me, the cops did nothing, or the driver digs his/her checkbook out and it's settled privately. So they're not included in the stats.

 

[400bhp]

Where a collision is reported to the police and there is an injury it is included in the stats!

 

[dawesome]

But not in the examples I've just give, under reporting is rife.

 

[400bhp]

Hitchen's is likely to have been included since he ended up in hospital.

I'm sure there are other accidents of the type you describe that don't get reported (i've no idea if it is rife or not), but there are lots of other types of accidents too. Remember-lots of accidents may involve little or no damage to property and/or vehicles.

I would say that we shouldn't extrapolate from the report to "accidents" in general.

I can provide a number of personal examples, but there is no point as it becomes a pissing contest (for want of a better term).

 

[dawesome]

Hitchen's is likely to have been included since he ended up in hospital.

Doesn't say that in the article.

 

[gaz]

My last post on the subject. It s not who was to blame. The point is, cyclists would appear to cause more collisions per time spent on the road between the 2 modes of transport.

You've probably spent the most time on a bicycle out of anyone on this forum. How many collisions have you caused?

 

[400bhp]

Doesn't say that in the article.

doesn't say what?