Woman fighting for life after 'e-bike' hit-and-run in east London
- Thread starter lectureral
- Start date
There's an American C&W song about a retiring trucker entitled, '18 wheels and a dozen roses' and trucks so equipped are fairly common there and in Australia. We have quite a few on our roads too, nowadays.
Tom
Maybe driving one for nearly 30 years made me more aware.
On the N/S I had two large heated mirrors and one split mirror but there were occasions when even that wasn't enough.
Yes, you're perfectly correct in that. It's all very well for the legislators to endeavour to make our roads and streets safer but while they may try to make systems foolproof, they cannot legislate for idiots.
The female victim of the collision under discussion comes into that latter category and one just wonders what was so important in her life that necessitated reaching the other side of the road in such reckless haste.
Tom
Alliston was charged with reckless cycling.
He was not charged with any offence relating to his bicycle.
The absence of a brake was used as evidence of his recklessness, as were many other things - witness statements, social media posts, etc.
Alliston would have been charged just the same had he been riding a bike with two brakes, but the evidence against him would not have been so strong.
None of us will ever know what weight the jury put on the absence of a brake, but I reckon Alliston's general twattishness - remember the social media posts - did him more harm.
It was the judge who put weight on both these aspects in his comments.
But my point was about any charge being brought in the first instance, not the court case that follows. Of course the police will generally bring the most serious charge, having one brake missing wouldn't have put Allison in prison. But it certainly did him huge harm in the first instance, leaving the police with no room for tolerance.
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Totally agree with you RobF especially on the social media issue, By the same rational if the bike proves to be an illegal Ebike will that contribute to the rider being charged on the basis his bike should not have been on the road and was therefore being ridden illegally, which in effect makes him at least partly to blame.
And (boringly) back to my original fears about our situation here.
At least there seems to be plenty of evidence and the police will have access to other cctv in the area so should have a clearer picture than any one else..
Is the first recorded incidence of an ebike v pedestrian?
Never seen one in here before in the almost 12 years of the pedelecs site.
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Woman isn't idiot just somebody in a rush who made mistake. I'd be surprised if you've never had accident or near miss doing the same thing.
One of the things I have noticed as I am getting older is that as a pedestrian, traffic comes fast and furious from all directions and its really easy to miss something so I always look twice and take extra care at busy crossings. I used to think my senses were just as they always have been.. denial!
People vary tremendously in how accident prone they are. I'm at one extreme in avoidance, clean licence, full no claim bonus, never come off a motorbike in over 50 years of riding them, hardly ever off a pushbike, not a mark on me from any accident.
While in here some members happily tell us how many times they've gone over the bars and the three helmets they've ruined, as if that's normal. What they don't seem to realise is that they are admitting to being very accident prone.
The police don't say accident prone, they say riding/driving without due care and attention. And as Gubbins rightly says, the care and attention need to increase as our faculties diminish if we are to stay safe.
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It's strange really cos I don't feel any different. My senses, reactions and instincts seem just the same but I know they are not so it's just as well that motorists tend to make allowances by stopping to let me cross the road...
It's not like I am "old".. I am 69 and am told I look much younger (that's not me talking to a mirror either).
But getting back to the case in hand, I can see myself running across the road thinking I can make the gap.
I just couldn't, it goes against all my lifetime instincts. When I was young I sometimes got accused of being scared, or even on occasions of being a coward.
For me they are just synonyms of cautious, and I'm the one who has never had a broken bone or permanent scar, unlike some of those accusers who I've seen as foolish.
I've taken part in many risky endeavours, including display stunting and trials on motorbikes, but always with due care to avoid accidental injury.
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No, but when I was in the army I jumped on slow moving trains a few times for a free ride to my destination when on leave.what none of you ever jumped in front of a oncoming train lol we did it all the time as kids.
Helped eke out national service pay.
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Starting to think I should check to see if my insurance has PL. I recall the guy mentioning it but I don't know if it was an option.
I've ticked "like" and that was because I would "like" to be free from irreparable body damage caused by incompetent management decisions.
Given the chance I would now gladly make him eat my blue badge.
So utterly careful for so many years then the stark realisation that my leg wasn't actually resistant to wayward H section steel.
Off topic perhaps but I now never miss an opportunity to assure folk that "It can actually happen to you".