> Nice rant. Now back in the real world, if you are virtually invisible > in the dark you certainly have yourself to blame if someone fails to see > you and runs into you. Responsibility is shared, and if you're wearing > nighttime camouflage -- dark clothing, no lighting, no reflectors, dark > gloves, black balaclava pulled down over the face -- as so many cyclists > and pedestrians seem to do, blame yourself if you aren't seen. Drivers > are neither demigods nor demons. They're you and me.
I agree to a point. (Same as NewEnglander, I am not a car driver). A recent study of New York City car / pedestrian and car / bike accidents show that the highest percentage of serious fatalities involved male drivers turning left and hitting cyclists and pedestrians travelling in the direction opposite to the driver before the driver made the turn. I seem to recall the article nearly 70% of the time the drivers were male. The authors of the study made no conclusions - perhaps wisely. I am less so. I suspect the results show in urban areas anyway, impatient drivers are overestimating their ability to account for all the possible consequences of taking a left turn in an admittedly crowded environment. The cyclists proceeding through the intersection with the light, and the pedestrian in the cross walk both need to exercise due care. But the majority of care rests with the driver of the several ton machine making the more complex maneuver. I suspect female drivers are more willing to wait one more light when uncertain of the consequences than male. Driver agression and impatience are not the fault of either the pedestrian or the cyclist. On Dec 10, 1:36 pm, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote: > On Fri, 2010-12-10 at 11:20 -0800, newenglandbike wrote: > > I'm all for riding with lights and reflective gear, and do it myself, > > but take umbrage to the blame-the-victim attitude that puts the > > responsibility for not getting hit by a car on all on the cyclist. > > What about pedestrians, should they be all ablaze too? What about > > people who can't afford to keep CatEye in business trying to make > > themselves look like a bipedal quasar? > > Nice rant. Now back in the real world, if you are virtually invisible > in the dark you certainly have yourself to blame if someone fails to see > you and runs into you. Responsibility is shared, and if you're wearing > nighttime camouflage -- dark clothing, no lighting, no reflectors, dark > gloves, black balaclava pulled down over the face -- as so many cyclists > and pedestrians seem to do, blame yourself if you aren't seen. Drivers > are neither demigods nor demons. They're you and me. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
