For once, my sympathies are with the cyclist

[aguero93:20]

I have to say that I find cyclists in the UK, and especially in London, extraodinarily aggressive. And I should add that I do not own a motor car and haven't done for something like fifteen years. On the contrary, I own a bike, and I love using it.
BUT: if all the details of this are correct, it is my considered opinion that the woman in question should be given a heavy fine, and possibly a suspended sentence. Anybody stepping off a kerb using a mobile phone and onto a road that is busy with traffic is totally out of order. As is anyone using one at the wheel. There is no conceivable conversation that anybody could be having that warrants it. Just possibly if someone were telling you that you mother were on her death bed, and you had to come at once. And even then, it's not easy to understand why you would want to prolong the conversation in the street without stopping for a few seconds, and then ending the call.

Pedestrian is the most vulnerable road user and is taken to be right 99.999% of the time by the courts.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Well, sorry, but that's just wrong. I am a pedestrian myself. I have a responsibility to be aware of what's going on on the road, like anyone else. Supposing it had been a car? Supposing that car had swerved to avoid her, gone up onto the pavement, and smashed into a woman with a pram?

 

[normskih]

I have been been working since I was 16, I'm now 57. During this time, I have used all methods of transport to get to work. More often than not by pushbike. I can honestly say, riding a bike these days especially during busy times (luckily I work shifts, so often I don't have to) is frightening, compared with how it used to be.
Pedestrians do walk out in front of you, more often than not these days while looking at their mobile, the problem is they don't hear a cyclist. I know of a woman who almost hit a man, he walked out in front of her, she swerved to avoid him only to catch the curb and she suffered a brain injury and severe back injuries.

 

[Fat Chance]

The female cyclist killed on oxford rd a few yrs back had a pedestrian busy on fone/electronic-game step off the kerb directly into her path, she never had a prayer, straight over the bars spilling into the road where the following car terminated her life. The fone useing j-walker was offmans like a dog in the fog.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

What probably worked against him was that he sounded his horn. That proved that he'd noticed her in advance, recognised the danger, and still continued. But yeah, someone walking out onto a road without looking doesn't deserve a lot of sympathy, and the fine seems like a piss take compared to, for example, the fine in the hundreds that someone got for deliberately ramming someone on a thread on here not too long ago (I know that there'll be insurance money on top of that).

 

[dickie davies]

What probably worked against him was that he sounded his horn. That proved that he'd noticed her in advance, recognised the danger, and still continued. But yeah, someone walking out onto a road without looking doesn't deserve a lot of sympathy, and the fine seems like a piss take compared to, for example, the fine in the hundreds that someone got for deliberately ramming someone on a thread on here not too long ago (I know that there'll be insurance money on top of that).

It wasn't just a horn, it was one of those air horns which totally startled the pedestrian, who jumped backwards into the path that the cyclist was now taking!


It would seem that the cyclist had an air horn rather than a bell so he could frighten pedestrians and although it was his right of way, he deliberately set off when the road was not clear

 

[DT King of all Geordies]

It wasn't just a horn, it was one of those air horns which totally startled the pedestrian, who jumped backwards into the path that the cyclist was now taking!


It would seem that the cyclist had an air horn rather than a bell so he could frighten pedestrians and although it was his right of way, he deliberately set off when the road was not clear

I think that his problem was that there were people crossing the road at the crossing and he did not stop. He has seen them and thinks he has right of way. He has continued to ride through and he has hit the girl. I think it happens hundreds of times a day but he's hit someone and is partly at fault. He needed to have stopped as the road was not clear but people don't stop and weave through or shout at people. i know I've not stopped in that situation and it's something to think about as to how the law requires you to behave and how peop!e actually behave. Some pedestrians see cyclists and just walk across when they know they shouldn't. I suspect the girl has just followed the crowd. It's unfortunate that he did not put in a claim and perhaps he should have got a lawyer sooner.

 

[Elbow beards]

Reminds me of a video I saw of a woman crossing a pedestrian level crossing at a train station, all the lights and bells were going to warn of an approaching train. Obviously she was far too important and in too much of a hurry to be bothered with this minor inconvenience. Needless to say, she wasn't in any fit state to sue anyone after that little tussle.

 

[Two Gun Bob]

Is this the time to introduce compulsory insurance for cyclists and other road users not currently obliged like horses. It would not be cost prohibitive and would have placed the cyclist in question in a more favourable position because at the moment being non insured he owes around 100k and could face bankruptcy.

 

[manchester blue]

Is this the time to introduce compulsory insurance for cyclists and other road users not currently obliged like horses. It would not be cost prohibitive and would have placed the cyclist in question in a more favourable position because at the moment being non insured he owes around 100k and could face bankruptcy.

What about the other road users you missed out? Pedestrians...