Very nasty looking RTA this morning

[Jezston]

Ok, look - I apologise for any unintended offense caused to any lorry drivers by my speculation on the cause of the accident. My speculation was not based on any preconceived negative views I have of lorry drivers (as the link to the post showing my generally favourable views of lorry drivers was to demonstrate) but simply based on the positioning in the road (or rather off it) of the two vehicles.

Of course I shouldn't have really been speculating on the cause at all, especially considering how serious it turned out to be, but I feel that it is unreasonable to expect that lorry drivers would be offended just because I speculated an accident might have been caused by one - "I find the assumption that a lorry driver was to blame as irritating as the rest of you would find the assumption that all cyclists are RLJers or pavement riders" - but this was just one case and again the assumption was based purely on road positioning. Had I said something like "it was probably the lorry drivers fault as you know how they are all reckless idiots" then comparison with idiots saying all cyclists are RLJers would be fair. But I didn't. I didn't say anything near that level of generalisation.

Lee's response however was deliberately designed to cause offense and cause conflict. If he had just said something polite like "I don't think it's fair to assume the lorry driver was at fault" and explained why then also, fair enough. But he didn't, he just called me a moron.

There seems to be a growing hostility developing in this forum recently, and I'm sure I've been guilty of it on occasion. Agrowing level of people seemingly happy to deliberately cause offense and react agressively to anything that they feel causes them offence. I think we need to step back a second and realise this behaviour isn't acceptable, that we're all here because we like cycling, and that we're all entitled to our own opinions and to be treated with respect.

 

[dondare]

Where everyone agrees and gets on. Trust me Dondare if everyone agreed with each other and had no difference of opinion then this place would get boring very quickly.

As for my abrupt responses to some people imo they deserve it. I take offence to people that say I speed (because I was on that road five weeks ago). Ho hum

Nothing wrong with a bit of flaming now and then, there'd be much less fun here without.
I reserve serious abuse for posters who have lost my respect completely which doesn't happen often but I'd not want this place to become too well mannered.

As for "everyone speeds on that road" it's much the same as "all cyclists go through red lights"; a generalization that borders on prejudice and is bound to get a reaction out of those of us who don't.

 

[Norm]

Please excuse those that get a little bit irate when they take offense to something that is unsubstantiated.

If you were that offended by it, you might have thought to ask why Jez came to the conclusion that the lorry driver was at fault in this specific incident.

You didn't, though, and you still haven't, which makes your comments appear very troll-like.

There seems to be a growing hostility developing in this forum recently, and I'm sure I've been guilty of it on occasion. Agrowing level of people seemingly happy to deliberately cause offense and react agressively to anything that they feel causes them offence. I think we need to step back a second and realise this behaviour isn't acceptable, that we're all here because we like cycling, and that we're all entitled to our own opinions and to be treated with respect.

Funny enough, I could have written exactly the same words last night.