On 6/2/04 3:24 pm, in article
[email protected],
"Marcgan" <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Well I'm quite amazed at the repsonses that this post is attracting. Thanks to those who appear to
> be in support. However, I only asked for a message to be passed on in the (longshot) event that
> you knew the man. I had not intended that the issue of fault would be debated particularly as it
> is clear that my account is not detailed. Also no one here has heard the other side of the story.
> However, I will say that my post doesn't say that I was crossiing TCR. I was actually crossing
> Chenies Street at the Tottenham Court Road end - hence my reference to TCR - and the cyclist came
> around the corner.
In that case it is quite clear that the cyclist is at fault. (yes this is completely opposite to the
impression from my previous post, but that was predicated on a different set of circumstances.)
Maybe teh shouting was a reaction to realising he had done something stupid. Maybe he really is an
arrogant so and so.
> What does impress me here - and which has been referred to a couple of times in this thread - is
> that it is quite true that if I had given a similar version of the events but had said that I was
> a cyclist and the man was a car driver, the contributors to this thread would overwhelmingly
> condemned the motorist in favour of the cyclist without asking for any furher facts.
Some would. I wouldn't.
> However, in this thread, where the alleged aggressor is a cyclist and even though the alleged
> victim is a pedestrian, most posts are at best equivocal.
That is because the situation was not well explained. Now you have described it more clearly (the
'round the corner' part is somewhat critical here) you will find people being less equivocal and
able to take a clearer stance.\
> I suppose that I will be flamed for this next bit but as a motorist, pedestrian and cyclist I have
> to come reluctantly to the view that while motorists tend to be sloppy and inattentive in their
> driving and their responsibilies towards cyclists, it is seldom deliberate. On the other hand,
> although many cyclists ride in a moderate, self-preserving and cooperative way, those who do not -
> and there are many of them - ride with a wanton disregard for other road users and seem to assert
> a right to behave in any way they wish regardless of the interests or welfare of others.
Those two statements are essentially the same content but with different emphases.
> I have only ever noticed a similar attitude amongst smokers (not all) who assert their right to
> smoke and seem to forget the right of others to enjoy clean air. But at least one can say of
> smokers that their attitude and their culture are gradually changing.
In every population there will be arrogant, self obsessed twits (for want of better phrasing.) who
do not give a toss about anyone else.
You met one this morning. I have met some before. Both on bike , on foot, and in cars.
..d
)
