Victim Blame

When I read this, I was in a

When I read this, I was in a country pub and had a quick read.

On leaving the pub car park, I pulled up at the exit to find 3 drivers from my left all ignoring the new 20 mph sign, on the wrong side (due to parked cars) of the narrow road, ignoring the junction ahead (danger of drivers pulling out with reduced visibility) where there were lots of cars parked in and around the junction. They carried on in excess of 30 mph I’d say.

I don’t think any of them were thinking of other vehicles (as suggested in the link) or displayed any hazard perception.

You just know from the start

You just know from the start when the term “bicyclist” is used that it’s a rant, and not a very good one.

No surprise that this isn’t a paper in a peer-reviewed journal, in part due to the the enormous unproven assumptions (eg that we all fall into one of two groups, all bicyclists violate the law). I can’t find out where this person’s PhD came from, but in my personal rankings of doctors, I  place him just above TV’s top poo analyst Gillian McKeith.

There’s also amazing contradiction:

• Cases of bicyclists killing elderly pedestrians are becoming fairly common.
• In a few cases, the bicyclist even killed the pedestrian.

Fairly common or a few? Or actually close to zero when considered alongside the numbers killed by car drivers (whether those victims are pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, or other drivers)? He suggests “reverse onus” when pedestrians and cyclists are in collision, but fails to spot that the same might be an idea for bicycles and motor traffic.

Some of the assertions (eg driving in heavy traffic consumes all of a driver’s attention) are just 100% wrong. When walking past cars in heavy traffic, most solo drivers I see are looking at their phones. 

The sad thing is that he raises some questions in my mind to which I would like to know a real, unbiased answer. Given that police pursuit drivers and rally drivers are more trained than the rest and seem able to deal with a faster flow of information than the masses, is that something that can be trained in the wider population? Can a pilot’s level of observation (and observation routines) be made normal? Is there a type of vehicle from which is harder for the driver to observe*, and if so, what should be done? (*I know, vast Audi SUVs and all Vauxhalls).

Sadly my main question now is why I wasted some of my Saturday in doing my own rant…

TLDR, the beginning bit

TLDR, the beginning bit sounded biased and judgemental so I skipped reading the rest.

He’s probably right about drivers only looking out for other motorised vehicles, so my advice is to cycle in an unexpected manner to surprise and shock drivers into paying more attention. Of course, you need to exercise some judgement in not putting yourself into a position of danger.

Ultimately, if you’re in charge of a fast moving mass of metal then the onus is on yourself to not endanger other people. It’s unacceptable to put the onus onto cyclists and pedestrians because drivers only look for other drivers.