As I write, 62 cyclists have died on our roads in 2015 already. See. A section of our community, mostly cyclists, will always seek revenge and punishment of the drivers involved. Any suggestion that road cycling itself is dangerous brings outrage and claims of 'victim blaming'. It's an attitude that assumes from the start that accidents involving cyclists are deliberate so thus require justice and revenge. But cooler heads are needed if we are not to overlook the obvious just so that a dangerous scenario may be promoted with the peculiar belief that jailing drivers when it all goes wrong, will somehow make things better. Perhaps by jailing drivers the public conscience can be slaked.
Just look at these stories: Here and Here and Here and and here OK so a driver did something wrong. Ok a driver is on trial. But does that undo the loss? Does that bring the dead back? Worse does that stop it happening again?
In one story the road is to be closed for many hours to 'investigate' the accident. Why? It's too bloody late; the horse has bolted, the cyclist is dead. In any case the facts of how and why are already clear as in most road accidents. See more about that here.
Part of the justification is to treat road accidents as murder now. That may well be in the vested interests of those in The Accident Investigation business, but in the public interest who does it actually serve? How many millions will today's closure cost the community?
So just look at the four cases I have posted and the other 58 this year. What is the common denominator? Humans mixing and mingling with heavy moving machinery and that it wasn't intended either. Of course it will kill people.
Trying to make this into a 'war' between two factions is irresponsible and avoiding reality.
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