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My attitude has always been, with a car the metal is outside you, but on a motorbike, you is outside the metal so who is gonna come of worse in a bump? Tis obvious.I said bicycles are venerable on the road. You said 'no'. Consider my hippo side swiping a bycyclist and later on a car. Said bycyclist is more venerable than a car. Its not really an arguement. Bicyclists have no protection against a machine like a car. On a bike yer fall oft and get smashed up. The swiped car would have eggspensive damage to repair. Same for ma hippo.
Eye had a bike from an early age and road on the road during me teens. Did me cycling proficiency wiv me junior school anorl. Eye was never unaware of the law of the road... keep away from fings biggerer than you. That's motorised vehicles. Eye always gave way to cars. Looked over me shoulder before pulling oot to overtake a parked car. Somefink eye have noticed over a number of years bicyclists dun't do. Eye took the lead in my own safety as eye knew it would hurt if eye got caught oot.
When learning to drive eye was still aware of how venerable bicyclists were. When seeing my own mistakes during learning, and during the many years eye have driven on the road thereafter, it has confirmed me forts that bicyclists are venerable and a slight mistake or lapse of judgement when driving can take oot a bicyclist too easily. Eye have pulled oot on bicyclists before. Never hit one but it taught me how invisible they is behind the A piller. Eye changed me driving method to look oot for them more because of this.
Eye often get bicyclist video's popping up on youtube. They're funny but there's a serious side to them. Eye would say the vast majority of bicycleists on the road today, dun't have the forsight eye had as a nipper. The way they pull oot in traffic and snuggle up against other vehicles (read trucks and busses) makes them more venerable. Somefink eye would never have done myself. Whilst yer can blame the driver for an incident that they caused, its pointless when yer legs are broken. Being scared and venerable of other road users made me more alert on me bike.
I had a student who after she left school worked as a barmaid in a country pub, down a lane that was more or less a dead end. She got knocked off her bike and killed by a hit and run on her way home from work. Luckily they found out who it was and did him.
She was a terror at school but when I went for a drink in the pub she worked in, never knowing she was there, I was pleasantly surprised to see that she somehow seemed to have found a role in life. She was polite and business-like, much more grown up and sure of herself.
Then this happened a month or so later.
Such a shame.