"Tommy" <@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
> Jeremy Clarkson that ignorant right wing bigot once (just once) said
> something that might make us think.
>
> If instead of bigger and bigger cars (for safety!) you drove a car with a
> spike on the steering wheel instead of an airbag people might drive more
> carefully and with consideration rather than assume they are going to be
> safe in an accident
>
> Could be why death rates for drivers are coming down whilst death rates
> amongs cyclists/pedestrians are going up
I'm not familiar with the statistics so I'll give you the benefit of the
doubt. If death rates amongst cyclists and pedestrians is indeed going up,
on the evidence of my own eyes I would have to say they have no-one to blame
but themselves. My short drive home from Kingston to Epsom tonight
demonstrated this very well. Twice I encountered pedestrians using mobile
phones, oblivious to what was going on around them, step straight off the
pavement into oncoming traffic without looking at all. At the approach to
the Ace of Spades roundabout, a cyclist swerved straight across the traffic
coming up behind him without even the most cursory glance behind. And when
I got to Hook Parade, pedestrians were darting across the road between fast
moving cars even though the crossing lights were against them.
I find myself increasingly offering up a prayer that today's journey won't
end up with some nutter pedestrian or loony cyclist throwing themselves
under my car, because I know that as the biased laws stand, I'll be
immediately treated as the guilty party unless I can prove my innocence
beyond question. And just to rub salt into the wound, I'm the only one out
of the three "protagonists" that is paying road tax for the dubious
privilege of being put under this threat!
--
Dave (Sgt. Pepper) Epsom, England
Nikon D2H / D100 / Coolpix 5700 / Canon Ixus 400 / Paintshop Pro 8
My photo galleries at
http://www.pbase.com/davecq
