Cyclists cause 10% of car-bike accidents

[Biciclista]

I apologize to all for my bad attitude yesterday. I feel better this morning, thank you.

HOWEVER, I posted this article for a very important reason. There is a very strange phenomenon that occurs EVERY SINGLE TIME someone is KILLED by a car/bike accident and subsequently reported in the news. Immediately following one of these deaths is a host of letters to the editor AND on line forums that say "Cyclists should obey the law; etc, ad nauseum" This broadsides me every single time and puts me on the defense. While in fact, many of the cyclists I've known that were killed were SAFETY ACTIVISTS and were the last people I could imagine blowing red lights and all the other things that bad cyclists do. and sure, there's a possibility that they had a momentary lapse, but it's 90% more likely that it was the motorist!
I was happy to find that there was some scientific evidence that backs this up.


This is why I was surprised to hear all this other junk from you guys.
carry on.
and Thanks EDEN for taking the torch.

[witeowl]

HOWEVER, I posted this article for a very important reason. There is a very strange phenomenon that occurs EVERY SINGLE TIME someone is KILLED by a car/bike accident and subsequently reported in the news. Immediately following one of these deaths is a host of letters to the editor AND on line forums that say "Cyclists should obey the law; etc, ad nauseum" This broadsides me every single time and puts me on the defense. While in fact, many of the cyclists I've known that were killed were SAFETY ACTIVISTS and were the last people I could imagine blowing red lights and all the other things that bad cyclists do. and sure, there's a possibility that they had a momentary lapse, but it's 90% more likely that it was the motorist!

That's an excellent point, and it explains your sensitivity. The problem here is that you're preaching to the choir. Which leaves the question: How do we promote this information into the greater community?

[OakLeaf]

Everyone take a deep breath.

"Fault" and "responsibility" are not synonyms.

Rarely, there are collisions that one party was completely powerless to prevent. The fact that they're rare doesn't make them any less devastating when they do happen. Maybe even more so.

Because of the speed differential between cars and bicis, left-turners are probably high on the list. It's pretty easy for a motorcyclist to avoid getting hit by a left-turner. Not so much for bicis, who may have entered the intersection well before the left-turner even approaches it, and who don't have the power to accelerate fast enough to complete the crossing ahead of the car.

The fact that there is such a thing as a collision that one party was powerless to prevent, doesn't obviate anyone's responsibility for anything. The fact that one party is at fault in a collision, doesn't obviate the fact that the other party usually could still have prevented it. "Usually" is not the same as "always." But it's a long, long way from "never."