Originally Posted by
JeremyLC
So, if I were driving and hit someone head-on because the were on the wrong side of the road it would still be my fault for going to fast? (this is basically what happened here) I already feel bad enough, I don't need J. Random internet guy beating me up over it. >
Don't try to change the situation. You were unable to stop in time. That was your fault. Replace the pedestrians with a fallen tree and the issue becomes much clearer. Whose fault would the collision have been, yours or the trees? Just because the speed limit is posted at 20mph doesn't mean that traveling at that speed is safe. Like in a car, even when traveling at the speed limit, failure to avoid a collision can be evidence of unsafe driving.
Originally Posted by
JeremyLC
You're not my mommy, so come off it already. How are they not, at least, equally at fault here? They KNOW there are other fast cyclists (and I mean skin-suit wearing roadies who could drop me like a bad habit, and sometimes do) on the trail (they would've seen them for sure.), they KNOW there are people coming towards them.
I agreed that the pedestrians had a share of the fault ("
Sure the pedestrians contributed to the accident, but so did you."), but that doesn't change that you were operating unsafely.
No I am most certainly not your Mother (or anyone else's), but couldn't help to point out an apparently childish attempt to avoid accepting responsibility.
Originally Posted by
JeremyLC
You mean FIGHT or flight. In this case, self-preservation would dictate a "flight" response for most people.
I stand corrected it is Fight; however, the point is still valid (fight or flight is a fear response), that standing stunned is still a common reaction. Especially given that at the speed you were going (~30 fps) they only had a few seconds (at most) to respond. There lack of response is not why they shared fault, but rather the manner in which they were standing in the MUP. Your fault was in the speed you traveled that forced neither party to have time to avoid the collision.