Originally Posted by
JeremyLC
I NEVER believed this. This is your strawman argument.
There may be, but you're certainly not suggesting what that might be, you're just wagging your e-finger at me and saying "naughty naughty".
And now you're being snide and attacking me. This is uncalled for and unproductive.
I'll point out again, since it seems to be ignored, at 20MPH I am not, was not, and will never be the fastest moving cyclist on the path. There are a LOT of fast riders on this trail. It is, therefore, reasonable to expect that the other users of the trail will be aware of this fact and act accordingly.
This should be 4
This is my contention with you, and your fellow finger-waggers, you seem to stubbornly refuse to assign any fault to the entire group of people who stopped across the entire trail.
Wow...so not an attack. And I am quite aware of logical fallacies and did not attempt to use any of them on you. And you conveniently did not answer any of my questions.
Of course the 7 year old was at fault. Of course the entire group was at fault for taking the whole lane. That has been established. No one is denying that. No one is saying that you are 100% at fault. But you are responsible for your behavior and your behavior alone.
Since you cannot change what others on a MUP will do. And since it is almost a given that others on a MUP will at times not follow the rules, or swerve in front of you, or be walking slowly on a blind curve, what can YOU do to avoid a similar accident in the future?
There is a stretch of road that I frequently travel in my car. At dusk there is about a 5- 10% chance that I will encounter a deer crossing the road. It is pretty heavily wooded on each side and a deer darting out will happen with virtually no time to react. Therefore, despite the fact that it is legal to drive 50 mph on this road, I slow to 30-35 mph when traveling at dusk. I put my high beams on and scan the sides of the road carefully. It doesn't matter who is at fault. Blame isn't the issue. It is about altering your behavior to mitigate risks as you are aware of them so that you avoid accident and injury either to yourself or others.
I also carry pepper spray to deal with chasing dogs. Just because it is 100% the owner's fault if their dog chases me down and bites me, doesn't mean there aren't things I can do to help avoid this fate.
The issue is that you keep harping on who is to blame not on what you can do to minimize the risks.