Two cyclists killed

[addictfreak]

More sad news.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-12201439

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-12201871

 

[Fab Foodie]

The death-toll this year is rising very rapidly indeed...

As usual , words fail me.

 

[krushavik]

What can I say at the news of more cyclist killed, my thoughts and prayers go to the families. When are the motorist going to learn to give us more room, and slow down.

 

[skudupnorth]

Lets hope proper justice is given for the sake of the cyclist and their families, RIP

 

[Keith Oates]

It's always sad to read of a cyclist being killed on the roads, two in one day makes it doubly so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[betty swollocks]

So very sad.
More lives needlessly destroyed.

Horses and rider too.

 

[Davidc]

There will be no improvement while courts (and much of the mass media and possibly many ordinary people) view cyclists, horse riders, pedestrians, and anyone else killed by a motor vehicle, as just one of those things, and inevitable.

 

[krushavik]

There will be no improvement while courts (and much of the mass media and possibly many ordinary people) view cyclists, horse riders, pedestrians, and anyone else killed by a motor vehicle, as just one of those things, and inevitable.

What amazes me and I'm sure I'm not the only one, horse rider get more consideration than cyclist and pedestrian. Every one slows down and gives them a wide birth. Its apity we don't get the same consideration, at least the riders are a few feet off the ground.

 

[Arch]

What amazes me and I'm sure I'm not the only one, horse rider get more consideration than cyclist and pedestrian. Every one slows down and gives them a wide birth. Its apity we don't get the same consideration, at least the riders are a few feet off the ground.

I suspect that even some of the more brain dead drivers out there are capable of imagining the consequences of a couple of hooves with half a tonne of horse behind them coming through a windscreen. That and the fact that horses are routinely thought of as unreliable and easily spooked.

(Being a few feet off the ground is no help for the riders really. If your horse is taken out from under you, you have a long way to fall. It can feel like very high up just sitting on one, I wouldn't fancy an unintended dismount at speed).

I'd like to see (well, I prefer no deaths, but you know what I mean), every road death reported on national news. I think people simply don't see the magnitude of the problem. One death in a train crash, and everyone is wailing that something must be done about it, while on the same day, 10 people probably died on the roads.

Add in making it harder to pass your test, retesting on a regular basis*, and some shock tactic road safety TV campaigns (like real images of death), and we might get somewhere. The difficult bit is changing attitudes though - like with drink driving, you have to make bad driving socially frowned upon.

*also, random retests. You get a letter, like jury service, and have to take both theory and practical. I can't decide what would be better - a very short notice period to catch people out, or one that gave people the chance to brush up a bit. Pass, fine, you've probably relearned a few things in the process, fail and.. well ideally you can't drive again until you pass. To be very soft, you get a stern talking to and have to attend an improvement course. But it would cost a lot. But then so does dangerous driving.

 

[Moodyman]

It sad and often makes one think about doing away with this cycle commuting lark, but then....one might as well never leave the house.

So I shall continue.

 

[ComedyPilot]

What is it with this country?

We lost a champion boxer, 2 other people on bikes, 2 horses and 1 rider in the space of a week, and the motoring community feel little or no remorse?

I truly believe there would be hell on in Holland if that happened.

How are we so out of kilter?

 

[Chromatic]

All these deaths are indeed exceedingly sad.
Coaley is very close to where I live and I didn't know of this until I read it here. Arch is right in what she says about reporting of road deaths, one death in a train crash and it will be national news and much wailing and gnashing of teeth and 'something must be done' type reaction will ensue but things like this just seem to be ignored.
+1 to Davidc and ComedyPilot too.

 

[ohnovino]

There's a video somewhere on t'internet of a cycle race coming across two horses in the road. The horses get spooked and start rearing up, and a few of the cyclists get knocked over and trampled on. Ever since I saw that I've given horses a very wide berth.

Also, +1 to Arch on compulsory re-testing. Not only do people pick up bad habits, but just think how much the Highway Code has changed in recent years. A driver in his/her sixties can hold a valid licence despite never being tested on any theory that has changed in the last 40 years (which presumably explains the number of little-old-ladies I see in at ASLs).

 

[ComedyPilot]

I am currently registered on a Dutch cycle forum. My jaw hit the floor when they told me an average of 140 cyclists are killed per year in the Netherlands!!!

 

[Paulus]

, one death in a train crash and it will be national news and much wailing and gnashing of teeth


If the level of death on the railways, airlines, and shipping were the same as on the roads, those types of transport would be closed down. But, as this is now a car cultered country it is tollerated by govenments in the name of personal freedom.