I'm a bit peeved, no I'm cross, no I'm annoyed, no let's face it I'm furious! This tired government of ours is now openly displaying signs of utter senility. The issue is cyclists.
Although I am a motorist, I have nothing but admiration for cyclists. It is a great way of keeping fit. It is also a very green form of transport. I have no problem with cyclists jumping the lights when there is nothing coming - even though motorists can't. However, I do have a problem with new proposals by the government to 'improve' things for cyclists.
Firstly, they are thinking of making it legal for cyclists to cycle against the flow of traffic - to go in the wrong direction in one-way streets for instance. It's not hard to imagine myself happily driving my car down a one-way street when suddenly, a cyclist swings round the corner directly into my path.
As if this weren't crazy enough, the second idea they've come up with is that in any traffic accident, regardless of who is actually at fault, to assume that the most powerful vehicle involved is legally responsible for costs. A few examples... a pedestrian steps out in front of a cyclist who doesn't have a chance to avoid the collision - the cyclist pays. A cyclist swerves in front of me giving me no time to miss him - I pay.
This is utter lunacy! The law normally blames the person who is at fault but is now expected to ignore the issue of who is at fault and blame the most powerful vehicle involved. How would this translate to other areas of the law? Let's see.... diminutive wife stabs beefy husband to death for his money - his fault because he's the bigger person!
So cyclists, if your bike is a bit old and rusty, just swerve into my car and I'll have to buy you a new one!
Is it me?
OH MY. That second law is just lunatic! I can't imagine that the members of any law-making body actually sat and discussed this and came to this decision! Where are their brains? This also begs the question of someone doing something on purpose to collect insurance money - of course, a pedestrian stepping out in front of a car for such a reason better cross his fingers he even survives to collect the $$!!!
ReplyDeletesome of the arterial routes into the centre of Belfast are very narrow and whilst most cyclists are fine there are others who are wholly arrogant who do not obey the traffic lights and who pull out in front of you and do not use the cycle strips. Worse still some decide to give the road a miss altogether and cycle on the pavement and I have personally witnessed people being injured by bicycles people wearing headphones and people like me who don't have perfect hearing are vulnerable.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't Amsterdam but there is the potential for Amsterdamage
Moving to England and taking up jaywalking. Good morning Tony
ReplyDeleteJoe just cracks me up sometimes! :-D
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