Driver fury over Euro cycle laws

Steve

I got this bit out of the Guardian.

"Motor vehicles cause most accidents. Whoever is responsible, pedestrians and cyclists usually suffer more. In some member states the cyclist is covered by the insurance of the vehicle involved in the accident irrespective of whether the driver is at fault."

It is referring to France, Belgium, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Germany where the motorist is almost always liable for damages or compensation regardless of who caused the accident. Brussels wants the rest of the EU to adopt that system within two to three years.

Sounds good to me. Couldn't imagine Australia having the foresight to pursue a similar line. The money would get poured into developing the reasons for why it would never work. 8) 8)

 

Shit ! first day back in work today and what a day.

I've been several heated arguments today over this subject,being the only cyclist in work made me an easy target for people to vent their feelings, (unfortunately for them I don't put up with fools gladly).

I pointed out to them that so long as the did nothing wrong then they would have nothing to worry about, but I also pointed out that if they did do something wrong then they would probably end up with a scratched car and higher insurance premiums, whilst a cyclist would be severly injured. This didn't seem to go down very well.

They mentioned the higher premiums and I said that whilst nobody is sure that it would be an increase as stated, if they drove with more consideration around cyclists then the accident rate would fall and also the premiums.

There were several other topics of discussion(shouting) but you cannot change somebody's mind if their mind is closed, so mostly I left them there.

Round two tomorrow.

 

For some people nothing will ever change. For others it's a case of "in the land of the brain dead the half wit is king".

For Governments it's a football ... just kick it around. 8) 8)

 

sounds good to me. It would make drivers more aware so they would look for objects smaller than cars .

 

What people tend to forget, here, is that it's actually very easy for a driver who is actually following the road rules to prove their innocence in such a situation. After all, things like speed limits, red lights, allowing enough space for cyclists and so on are actually stated in very black and white terms in the legislation.

 

Thanks for posting that article - very interesting - just what we need here in Australia.

We've recently had a number of hit and run pedestrian fatalities in Melbourne also.