Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Originally posted by: ExarKun333
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Originally posted by: PlasmaBomb
Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Don't forget, however, that even if this were law, it would not prevent a Cyclist from being to blame when an incident was his fault. I don't know why posters keep pissing and moaning about drivers getting 100% blame, because they wouldn't. They would simply be considered to be to blame unless evidence proves otherwise. If you drive safely and courteously, you have nothing to worry about. Whats the big deal?
Government advisers are pushing for changes in the
civil law that will make the most powerful vehicle involved in a collision
automatically liable for insurance and compensation purposes.
Being automatically liable suggests that the car drivers insurance will be forced to pay out. With it being civil law all the cyclist has to do is cast doubt that they were completely at fault to get some compensation. They may well have blown through a junction, but if they say "I think DivideBYZero was speeding and if they hadn't been they wouldn't have hit me", and since the law assumes you are guilty, the onus is on you to prove you weren't speeding. Good luck with that.
There are no details of any safeguards to attribute blame to the cyclist if they are in the wrong.
Insurance companies have said that it is a bad idea and that premiums will skyrocket... what does that tell you? (other than insurance companies are out to make money).
The more I hear drivers bitch about this legislation the more I support it. I've been driving for nearly 30 years and over half a million miles and have never even come close to hitting a cyclist.
As a cyclist I've been nearly hit a number of times by inattentive motorists.
In short, you guys are so full of shit it makes my jaw drop.
Sounds like you are doing something wrong. Just because your on a bike, it doesn't mean you have to cease to watch out for cars. It's just like driving, you can do everything right and still get in an accident.
Avoidance skills are sometimes just as important as good driving skills when it comes to avoiding accidents.
No shit sherlock. :roll: It's my avoidance skills that saved me from those idiots.
Here are two incidents I was in not to long ago, you tell me if I did something wrong...I can't wait for this...:roll::roll::roll:
1st incident: I was riding down a major road near my house on my way to work one morning (2 lanes each direction with a wide median and bike lanes on both sides). I'm going about 21-22mph and there is zero traffic going either way. I see a car pulling out from a side street way off to my left, she is heading for another side street down the road 100' or so from the one she pulled out from so she is just going diagonally across this major road and we are heading for a collision. I am wondering what this oblivious driver is doing becuase I notice her wheels aren't turning to merge into the southbound traffic, she's heading for a collision with me. I see this unfolding and start slowing dramatically to avoid plowing into her. I avoided the accident and she never even saw me or realized how close she had come to potentially killing someone.
2nd incident: Riding down same road farther up on different day. There is a construction zone in the right lane and there is no bike lane in this stretch of road anyway so I'm riding in the right most part of my lane. An old lady in a Toyota Corolla passed me and then immediately made a right hand turn in front of me. It was all I could do not to plow right into her as she cut me off.
I'll even give you another incident: Riding down (same road again), coming up on a school zone. I'm in the bike lane and traffic is backed up on the road, crawling along. I'm coming up on an SUV and get alongside, I'm going slightly faster than traffic at this point, when I notice she's coming over into the bike lane which will force me into parked cars so I start banging on her SUV with my open hand to get her attention. She notices me finally and backs off. This one would have been really bad because I would have either hit parked cars or her SUV as she cut me off.
In all these incidents I was riding down the road with complete right of way.
