[David9694]

Came up on my Twitter today, appears to be genuine, linking DM article citing the Briggs/ Allinson case (2017) and that of Diane Walker (2016): that’s long-term energy. 

Does it bother Mr Briggs the sheer ugliness of the following he’s attained for his “campaign”? I don’t know what else he wants in terms of justice for his late wife. 

Where is the equivalent energy, sustained and concerted, for all the cyclists killed for whom there is no justice??

 

Topic

[brooksby]

I would imagine that Mr

I would imagine that Mr Alliston is doing his level best to keep out of the media spotlight for the rest of his life.

(I hope he still rides, though hopefully with two legal braking mechanisms this time).

[Simon E]

2021 preliminary figures –

2021 preliminary figures – estimated 27,300 KSI and 127,967 casualties of all severities. (source)

If Mr Briggs genuinely cared about road harm reduction he’d be talking about the most dangerous group of road users, not a vulnerable minority who cause a tiny number of collisions.

[AlsoSomniloquism]

Personally, nah. If he wanted

Personally, nah. If he wanted to do one he has had 4 years. I suspect he just wants to move on from this. 

[kil0ran]

I’m guessing Charlie’s out
I’m guessing Charlie’s out now. Would be good to track him down for an interview

[AlsoSomniloquism]

Incident or collision, not an

Incident or collision, not an accident as such. 

But you are correct that the person who had a hand in killing his wife was convicted under the law at the time by 12 of his peers, and let off the more serious charge by the same people. Yet Briggs is making a massive campaign out of it for the past 5 years against one set of road users instead of targetting the worst offenders.

[David9694]

This what I don’t get – Mr

This what I don’t get – Mr Briggs is walking past the 5 deaths a day to hammer on about these freak accidents. 

[IanGlasgow]

This thread?
This thread?

https://twitter.com/ormondroyd/status/910244326567006211?utm_source=pocket_mylist

[chrisonabike]

On the flip side – how to do

On the flip side – how to do the same kind of campaign but about the real issue.  I think the Dutch example from the 70’s (“Stop de kindermoord”) may show the way.  Though I’m not confident we’re in a great position to repeat it.

If running a campaign around negatives (like the Briggs one, like most politicians) they need to concern a majority.  “Stop killing cyclists” loses bite immediately because most aren’t “cyclists”.  Indeed some are suspicious of “them”!  Looking to the Dutch example can we ask “what about the children”?

I’m not certain.  The Dutch were reacting to a spike in children’s deaths as vehicle use rapidly increased.  In the UK, by dint of excluding kids (and everyone outside of a motor vehicle) from the roads and driving them around that number is lower.  Probably stable or even slightly falling.  While a child’s death is hugely salient probably not enough are dying.  So it’s (thankfully) unlikely to touch us directly.  However kids are still dying on the roads so we’re inured to “tragic accidents” when we occasionally hear about them.

There is another way to widen this – throw in the pollution.  Specifically the particulates.  However that is still a battleground over “cycle lanes and LTNs *cause pollution* because all the cars idling / driving further”.

One more possibility: “why can’t our kids walk / ride to school / their friends’ houses / the park on their own”?  (Is that right – do kids still go to the park…?)  We’ve lost this to the success of our motor vehicle infrastructure – mobility, connection (other than online) and independent movement for those without vehicles.  What about older people?  What about the disabled?

[chrisonabike]

Justice, not vengance.  A

Justice, not vengence.  A good principle (interesting book too…).

Assuming good faith all round (a big if…) isn’t this just a textbook case of how people “seize upon the outliers”?  A bit like “stranger danger”.  Something that’s very salient partly because very rare.  Also in both cases it allows us to keep our intuition (at least partly incorrect) that “it doesn’t happen here” / “it’s not people like us”.  Justified by the genuine righteous anger and grief of (checks notes) 2 cases in 5 years.

I’d actually have thought there would be one or two more but I imagine they would have been reported. I’ve tried to use the following article to suggest “proportion” but found it’s a lost cause when you’ve got something involving huge consequences caused by something “alien”.

[AlsoSomniloquism]

Not the only one. When I was

Not the only one. When I was looking up the Diane Walker case, the local rag was using the Alliston one on why did he get away with it. Then complained that the Police hadn’t told him the cyclists name and his sons spotted he was on Strava and came second on one recent segment. ( As it was a segment that was on the 2014 TDF, I suspect he had gotten his second fastest PB but a strava noob wouldn’t know that). 
Pretty sure there was a long term twitter thread where cars killed pedestrians including children and got away with it in response to the Briggs one only on cyclists (who didn’t get away with it). 

[brooksby]

Oh good grief

Oh good grief <face/palm>

[Author]

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