Pit bull owner jailed after cycle commuter seriously injured in "vicious attack"

Sarcasm aside its depressingly telling that the law punishes failure to properly handle something with its own mind (a dog) far more than failure to properly handle a machine that nearly 100% (mechanicals and freaks incidents aside) is entirely dependent on the drivers input.

Especially (not to dimish it, but to contrast) there were 22 deaths from dog attacks 2013-2019 vs ~1400 road deaths* in 2021 alone.  Thats what happens when you have a "something must be done" mentality.

*All Road deaths, dont have the breakdown but we know from previous years the majority will be vunerable road users.

Secret_squirrel wrote:

Sarcasm aside its depressingly telling that the law punishes failure to properly handle something with its own mind (a dog) far more than failure to properly handle a machine that nearly 100% (mechanicals and freaks incidents aside) is entirely dependent on the drivers input.

Especially (not to dimish it, but to contrast) there were 22 deaths from dog attacks 2013-2019 vs ~1400 road deaths* in 2021 alone.  Thats what happens when you have a "something must be done" mentality.

*All Road deaths, dont have the breakdown but we know from previous years the majority will be vunerable road users.

There's little world-wide investment in dog ownership and associated infrastructure (parks and litter bins). Meanwhile, there's lots of rich (and thus influential) people, businesses and lobby groups that have made a concerted effort to ensure that car drivers are not sufficiently held responsible for the harm that they can cause.

Wonder how many dogs are killed by motor vehicles? Genuine question, probably less than the thousands of cats and uncounted numbers of other creatures.  However could there be a useful intersection between rich people who have influence on motoring and rich people who feel very connected to their pet?

chrisonatrike wrote:

Wonder how many dogs are killed by motor vehicles? Genuine question, probably less than the thousands of cats and uncounted numbers of other creatures.  However could there be a useful intersection between rich people who have influence on motoring and rich people who feel very connected to their pet?

 

It's their own fault of course. Should have been wearing a helmet /s.

He sounds like a really, really stupid bloke. It might be more appropriate if he was banned from ever owning a dog again. Being chased by a huge American Pitbull would be absolutely terrifying. There's a guy in my local park who has two that he walks off lead and while one is quite docile and slow, the other most certainly isn't. I was riding some laps at the BMX track and his dog started growling at me. I had to tell him to put it on the lead. Big, fierce fighting dogs like that are often bought by the sort of people who are least to be trusted with any sort of animal and they're a danger to everyone around, adults, kids and other pets. I could well understand if the victim took the offender to court to sue for damages later on.