Woman fighting for life after 'e-bike' hit-and-run in east London
- Thread starter lectureral
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Unfair shock for the train driver is why I gave a Dislike.
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The taking of life threatening risks can all be viewed as being idiotic. But does that make us an idiot? Some risks taken are more deliberate than others, but we all take them. We all risk assess in everything that we do and 'luck' plays it's part. Sometimes we're lucky and get away with it. Sometimes we're just unlucky.
The unfortunate lady was just unlucky. Her risk assessment was inadequate and she probably thought that the risk she took was only limited to herself. Like the guy that jumped in front of the train, she clearly never fully considered the impact of her actions on others. Was she an idiot for not doing that?
That train driver was made to be a victim of a traumatic event. What if he'd hit the guy? His life would be put under the microscope. How much sleep has he had? Had he been to the pub the night before? Was he negligent in any way? Were the brakes efficient? When were they last checked? Perhaps he's had to deal with suicide by train in the past, who knows. The list of questions goes on and the bigger picture comes out when our risk assessments are tested by failure.
Does the taking of those risks make us an idiot? If you deliberately gamble with your life, or the lives of others, as we all do to varying degrees, in hindsight the answer must be yes. However, we don't ask ourselves those tricky questions until after the event. My opinion is that we all take idiotic risks from time to time and we can all be idiots for doing that.
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My friend David Zaruk https://risk-monger.com/ and I often wax lyrical about how awful we are at balancing hazard vs. risk. I'm just a Padawan really but it's remarkable how we concentrate on the little things while completely missing the big ones. The obvious one is fear of flying but there are many more insidious ones that we don't even consider, yet put our lives (or health) at risk every single day.
It's a fake video for Adidas (I won't give you the breakdown) but here's an expert dissecting a similar but much longer video.
The problem I have with these is they encourage children to take these risks in real life.
I should have guessed from those trainer close-ups!
Thanks for the information, my Dislike of that post is now for your given reason, that it could encourage emulation.
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My nearest dictionary has this:The taking of life threatening risks can all be viewed as being idiotic. But does that make us an idiot? Some risks taken are more deliberate than others, but we all take them. We all risk assess in everything that we do and 'luck' plays it's part. Sometimes we're lucky and get away with it. Sometimes we're just unlucky.
The unfortunate lady was just unlucky. Her risk assessment was inadequate and she probably thought that the risk she took was only limited to herself. Like the guy that jumped in front of the train, she clearly never fully considered the impact of her actions on others. Was she an idiot for not doing that?
idiot | ˈɪdɪət |
noun
informal a stupid person.
• archaic a person of low intelligence.
ORIGIN
Middle English (denoting a person of low intelligence): via Old French from Latin idiota ‘ignorant person’, from Greek idiōtēs ‘private person, layman, ignorant person’, from idios ‘own, private’.
For me, the action of the woman in the video clip was a stupid piece of misadventure which, if it had resulted in the death of an innocent child or elderly person, no-one would attempt to excuse her actions in any way. We could say that luck played a part, in that she didn't cause an even worse collision involving multiple vehicles and several casualties.
People who are not idiots do not run across traffic-laden city streets; they wait at the kerb till all is clear or they cross at a pedestrian crossing, at least those whose parents and teachers brought them up properly do.
The term 'idiot' in the case of the woman who caused this mess is well-deserved in my book.
Tom
That's a moot point Leigh! I have toured round lots of different areas of London in the company of other ancients, guided and informed by very professional guides so my history and geography of the capital is considerably better than it was when I was employed and found driving through the capital nothing but a chore.It still doesn't make London a village though Tom.
London is a collection of villages and I love the place, eternally ruing the day I decided to move out to the sticks - worst decision I ever made!
Tom
Feel for you Tom, but cannot agree.
London is in some senses not a city but a collection of villages.
For us yokels who need to arrange a national gathering, it is very useful, but to us, best avoided.
London born, it's still my place too, I was out of it for my teen years and army time for a total of 14 years, but been back here ever since.
Like so many I enjoy the best of both worlds by being in the fringe now with easy access deeper into both London proper and the surrounding country.
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They are also visually 'quieter' in that one need move less to make it go very fast, giving the impactee less chance or time to brace or mitigate
Not too sure about the weight thing.. Whats the difference? 8KG or so between an ebike and a normal bike? It seems a lot untill you add in the weight of rider, which can vary much more than 8KG, making the percentage increase in weight much less than you might think.
My bike and I weigh about 100KG wheras on a normal bike it would be 92, so at less that 10% heavier would it make much difference?
My maths lessons are long forgotten tho....
My bike and I weigh about 100KG wheras on a normal bike it would be 92, so at less that 10% heavier would it make much difference?
My maths lessons are long forgotten tho....
How many passes does the team in white make?
Besides the term 'idiot' there is another more scientific term which could well apply in this case.
'Inattentional Blindness', is the inability to percive something which is within one's visual field usually as a result of visual load.
I would say the rider was likely concentrating on the rider ahead of him. Whilst the predestrian may simply have missed the other bicycle. If she did notice the other bicycle, then she wasnt aware of its speed, perhaps having based her estimate on the first cycle..
You could well be right there 'Ajax' but the term 'idiot' rolls off the tongue much easier. I also use that term to describe those cyclists who choose to get up close and personal with the nearside of large vehicles as has happened, with fatal results, a number of times in central London in recent years.
Tom