OP
OP
BlackPanther
Hyper-Fast Recumbent Riding Member.
- Location
- Doncaster.
Taken out by another cyclist.
- Thread starter BlackPanther
- Start date
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Boris Bajic
Guest
I was feigning the pedanticism.....if that's a word.
It's pedantry..... shoot!!!!
I mean "My mate told me it's pedantry. I've never heard the term myself".
Phew.... I nearly looked sad or stupid or both just now....
BentMikey
Rider of Seolferwulf
- Location
- South London
Except he wasn't at the crossing, he was riding along the pavement at a reasonable speed. I think it's a step too far to expect a sudden swerve across the road like that, at least not with that much speed and that suddenly.
There's no need to shout. I acknowledge that following traffic is easier to manage when you're travelling at speed, but unfortunately it's a trade-off - it makes you, from the point of view of someone crossing the road, part of the problem. The shouty bit doesn't follow, although no one is disputing that it's worse to be hit by a car than by a bike. I don't think you were doing anything particularly reckless or made a mistake that any one of us might not make - I'm just pointing out that, as fast-moving traffic claiming a priority, you become part of what makes it difficult for the kid on the bike to get from A to B.
If we are starting to think of ourselves as the "victims" of 11-year old children trying to cross the road, then we probably need to get a grip.
Hawk
Veteran
- Location
- Glasgow Southside
[QUOTE 1826227, member: 45"]He was at a crossing point. Or did you miss that? .;-)[/quote]
I would've missed it as well, could've just been a traffic calming feature as the path the kid was on appears to go off to the left.
The point is YES, the cyclist missed it (this doesn't the incident his fault in my opinion but this is irrelevant fortunately).
So thankyou, BP for posting this clip and contributing to the following discussion.
I consider myself an inexperienced cyclist and it is great to be able to see in real time how quickly a situation that looks fairly normal can turn in to a dangerous one, particularly when children are involved.
I now don't need to go out and make the same mistake before I pick up the experience required to avoid such a situation :-)
I would've missed it as well, could've just been a traffic calming feature as the path the kid was on appears to go off to the left.
The point is YES, the cyclist missed it (this doesn't the incident his fault in my opinion but this is irrelevant fortunately).
So thankyou, BP for posting this clip and contributing to the following discussion.
I consider myself an inexperienced cyclist and it is great to be able to see in real time how quickly a situation that looks fairly normal can turn in to a dangerous one, particularly when children are involved.
I now don't need to go out and make the same mistake before I pick up the experience required to avoid such a situation :-)
BentMikey
Rider of Seolferwulf
- Location
- South London
Here's another child who'd also done something like this before:
Paul, you're doing a Lee here. If you really think you could have avoided that, then I'm laughing at your arrogance.
Paul, you're doing a Lee here. If you really think you could have avoided that, then I'm laughing at your arrogance.
No, more likely thinking of ourselves as victims of a mother who's let her child out without adequate supervision and with insufficient cycle skills, who has a history of writing off bikes.
And personally speaking as a parent of 10 and an 8 year old lads who both have bikes.
Boris Bajic
Guest
I have to be careful here, as I always say before being the opposite of careful.
As a parent who encouraged cycling, I went to great lengths to drum roadsense into the young minds of my offspring. There will be dreamers on this forum who will claim that either they or their children had perfect roadsense before they could walk.
All my children ate from the cat's dish as toddlers. All of them have offed themselves from bikes at speed through their own inattention or the desire to turn round and chat on a fast descent. I was pretty Draconian as a cycle-teaching parent and they didn't ride alone on the roads until they were in year 6. But there are no guarantees.
Nonetheless... for all the kamikaze lack of reck in allowing unguided missiles onto the public highway, at least the lad was on a bike and using it.
Little old ladies, AIM members, Senna-wannabes and stressed sales reps have all pulled out on cyclists without looking.
Yes, the little chappie was a prize turnip. We all have been at one time or another on the highway.
I don't think BP was a victim of the mother of the chappie he hit. I have schooled mine in road riding to an almost absurd degree, but there is no guarantee that they won't get T-Boned by a passing artic through their own inattention. I'd still much rather they were cycling among 10-wheelers than glued to an X-Box screen.
BP was not at fault for the incident, but he'll be watching like a hawk for kids riding on the pavement from now on. The turnip kid caused the collision and he'll be a little more careful stepping or riding off the pavement next time.
As a parent who encouraged cycling, I went to great lengths to drum roadsense into the young minds of my offspring. There will be dreamers on this forum who will claim that either they or their children had perfect roadsense before they could walk.
All my children ate from the cat's dish as toddlers. All of them have offed themselves from bikes at speed through their own inattention or the desire to turn round and chat on a fast descent. I was pretty Draconian as a cycle-teaching parent and they didn't ride alone on the roads until they were in year 6. But there are no guarantees.
Nonetheless... for all the kamikaze lack of reck in allowing unguided missiles onto the public highway, at least the lad was on a bike and using it.
Little old ladies, AIM members, Senna-wannabes and stressed sales reps have all pulled out on cyclists without looking.
Yes, the little chappie was a prize turnip. We all have been at one time or another on the highway.
I don't think BP was a victim of the mother of the chappie he hit. I have schooled mine in road riding to an almost absurd degree, but there is no guarantee that they won't get T-Boned by a passing artic through their own inattention. I'd still much rather they were cycling among 10-wheelers than glued to an X-Box screen.
BP was not at fault for the incident, but he'll be watching like a hawk for kids riding on the pavement from now on. The turnip kid caused the collision and he'll be a little more careful stepping or riding off the pavement next time.
OP
OP
BlackPanther
Hyper-Fast Recumbent Riding Member.
- Location
- Doncaster.
Just wanting to really bang home the point. If I had been riding slower, and hadn't been in primary, then I'm 99% sure that one of those cars lined up behind my bike (as seen in the video immediately after the collision) would've hit the lad instead of me, as they'd have overtaken me. They would've been travelling 20% faster, and whereas I travelled only a metre or so before I came to a rather inelegant stop on the road, a car would've travelled.....23 metres (that's thinking and braking distance). Maybe the kid would've been flung over the bonnet, maybe he'd have been thrown to the side, maybe he'd have gone under the car, who knows. All I know is that it's lucky I didn't set off from work 30 seconds later.
Hindsight has been mentioned (or implied) dozens of times in this thread, but I think the majority of posters have been honest to admit that this would have been very difficult (but I'm not saying impossible) to avoid. Maybe, just maybe on a different day, I wouldn't have had a line of cars behind me to watch, or a side road coming up on the right (where cars regularly pull out in front of me) and maybe I would've pre-empted the lad swerving out into the road at the last second, but I doubt it. My human brain is designed primarily to keep it's host safe, and therefore focuses on the most imminent danger. Drivers brains are the same, and that's why they're more likely to pull out on a cyclist.....we're just not a threat!
I'm not saying that the way the brain works is ideal in this day and age, but it's difficult to override millions of years of evolution. Of course, now that I've had this new experience knocked (almost literally) into my human brain, next time maybe I'll be focused on the very slight possibility of a rider suddenly swerving across me without any indication.......I just hope that me being focused on that doesn't mean that I miss the car pulling out of the side road......it's all a balancing act.
BentMikey
Rider of Seolferwulf
- Location
- South London
[QUOTE 1826369, member: 45"]Nor am I suggesting that I would have avoided the collision. [/quote]
Good, that's all we need to know. You clearly do agree with my point.
Good, that's all we need to know. You clearly do agree with my point.
Excellent! Another social problem to lay at the door of mothers! Just what we need, instead of making streets safer for children. Has anyone yet suggested that the road might be better with a 20mph limit? Or have we all been too busy slagging Mum off? But not Dad, of course...
ultraviolet
it can't rain all the time....
- Location
- Hythe, Kent, UK
where theres blame, theres a claim :-)
Hip Priest
Veteran
Well done on highlighting the sexism theclaud - some very unfair comments have been made about the lady in the video. Personally I can't see what the parents have done wrong with regards to safety. Human beings make mistakes, and that's all the young lad on the bike did. Are his parents meant to have him strapped into a papoose until he reaches the age where he'll never make a mistake? No such age exists.
