Old 08-11-06, 02:22 PM
  #20  
royalflash
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HH has a point in so far as blaming individual drivers for errors will never solve the problem of accidents in the long term (or even the short term). More severe punishments may make the survivors feel a bit better and may reduce accidents slightly by making people more aware that if they hit cyclists then there will be consequences. But most people don´t hit cyclists on purpose anyway so I would guess that the deterrent factor will not be so great in reality.

The basic road traffic system concept is inherently flawed but it is realistically almost impossible to rectify. Therefore accidents have to be accepted as normal and part of the cost of doing business. We just have to hope that we are not the next ones and try to maximise our chances of survival. If we carry on cycling long enough there is no doubt that we would ALL die a violent death from an automobile at some stage.

Taking this all into account, obviously the thing that we have greatest control over is our own behaviour. So HH is correct from a pragmatic point of view to focus on this as the best survival tactic.

If he could just come across as being a little less smug and dogmatic then he would get his message across better
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