Yes, I noticed a familiar name had taken the spot that was reserved for me, dagnamit!
Subject: Jail threat for cyclists
By the police's own admission, 2 cyclists have killed a 3rd party in the past decade in Australia (both being pedestrians).
Meanwhile, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau say that about 85% of all cyclist deaths in Australia had been recorded as being due to collision with a car in that time (although there's probably hit and runs in there where vehicular involvement was not correctly found), resulting in about 400 cyclist deaths (the proportion of cyclists at fault has been unreliably determined to be about 50%, but given that it is hard to ask a dead person's version of events to compare against those of a self-interested person who had just killed someone and is now defending their own hide, I would not be surprised if cyclists were breaking the law and at fault much less often than recorded). And motorists have killed roughly 17000 people all up.
Tell me again why we are spending so much effort cracking down upon cyclists and giving them the same punishment for offenses that in practice are /far/ less serious than similar offenses in cars? It couldn't be a reaction to a media beatup earlier this year, could it, and they have to be seen doing something? Given my own experience with police investigative abilities, I'd hate to be fined $284 for leaving a small dent in someone's vehicle if they changed lanes into me without looking, but later claimed that I pulled out in front of them. Something that leaves a small dent in someone's car is far more likely to lead to the cyclist lying on the floor, but good luck getting the police to prosecute that (last time I was hit by someone when the police did actually act upon the driver's admission, they got away with a $110 fine, and not a scratch to their headlight, and I got away with an ankle injury).
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-19 07:18 am (UTC)Subject: Jail threat for cyclists
By the police's own admission, 2 cyclists have killed a 3rd party in the
past decade in Australia (both being pedestrians).
Meanwhile, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau say that about 85% of
all cyclist deaths in Australia had been recorded as being due to
collision with a car in that time (although there's probably hit and runs
in there where vehicular involvement was not correctly found), resulting
in about 400 cyclist deaths (the proportion of cyclists at fault has been
unreliably determined to be about 50%, but given that it is hard to ask a
dead person's version of events to compare against those of a
self-interested person who had just killed someone and is now defending
their own hide, I would not be surprised if cyclists were breaking the law
and at fault much less often than recorded). And motorists have killed
roughly 17000 people all up.
Tell me again why we are spending so much effort cracking down upon
cyclists and giving them the same punishment for offenses that in practice
are /far/ less serious than similar offenses in cars? It couldn't be a
reaction to a media beatup earlier this year, could it, and they have to
be seen doing something? Given my own experience with police
investigative abilities, I'd hate to be fined $284 for leaving a small
dent in someone's vehicle if they changed lanes into me without looking,
but later claimed that I pulled out in front of them. Something that
leaves a small dent in someone's car is far more likely to lead to the
cyclist lying on the floor, but good luck getting the police to prosecute
that (last time I was hit by someone when the police did actually act upon
the driver's admission, they got away with a $110 fine, and not a scratch
to their headlight, and I got away with an ankle injury).