Adrienne M Jenn says... If you'd done your IAM before then, you could have backed it in whilst swerving around him.
Where did the lad appear from? Out of nowhere? Or from behind something? If the latter then I believe you should have anticipated that somone might emerge from behind it. It could have been a fork-lift truck reversing onto the road from behind a wagon - and while you'd have been "in the right" you'd also be fucking dead. My Dad's favourite quote is "The cemetary is full of people who had right-of-way". Surely passing close to a stationary object (vehicle/building/billboard etc) at 30mph when you can't be sure what's behind said object is akin to barrelling into a blind bend and being surprised when you slam into the back of a queue of stationary traffic at temporary ligths. (I've *nearly* done this) I'm not saying I'd have done anything different in your situation Adie - I'm sure I'd have hit him too. To a large degree I'm playing devil's advocate here - I realise it's not practical to ride/drive past every obstacle at 5mph - but would the excuse that you "couldn't have avoided it" really make you feel a lot better about maiming or killing a myopic pedestrian? Better sure, but better enough? It wouldn't make me feel better. Oh, and I'm not advocating slower urban speed limits - just common sense & good observation. (I don't claim to have much of either of these btw!) "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!" ;-)
When you're not there his favourite phrase is "I should have used a condom." Not the same at all. Only police drivers on training exercises are allowed to "barrel" into blind bends and run into the back of queues at temporary lights. **** 'em.
Damn right. -- Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3 Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply) Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 2.0 TS Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk
It wouldn't have made a difference either way - him not being my natural father. Did your mum know *your* natural father, Eiron? What are you on about you mong? Clearly you've never been one or raised one.
Not really. Passing near school the other day I had slowed down to a walking pace, which was fortunate as a mother (without looking either way) *pushed* her daughter in front of me across the road with less than two feet to spare. And I knocked her off her feet. Just as well I was on my bicycle and not in the car that morning, so she wasn't hurt... Alex
Your speed might have been appropriate - but clearly you were riding too close to the parked vehicles/kerb. You crazy maniac!! Did you manage to cop off with the mum?
ran straight out from the pavement of a side road, into a straight onto a wide open road. no parked cars, clear visibility, reasonabe weather on the main road. are you saying we should slow to 5mph for every side road? I'm sure you would. I really dont think I could have avoided it. I was going slowly enough not to hit the deck after I'd collided with him. At the end of the day there was nothing I could do to avoid him and I'm guessing my conscience could live with it, the same way it would if I ran over a rabbit who ran out in front of me and trust me, I care a lot more about rabbits than I do children. -- Adie (replace spam with nickname to reply) UKRM FAQ: http://www.ukrm.net/faq/ Triumph 955iSS / GSF600 bandit MRO#11 BOTAFOF#7 BOTAFOT#130 DIAABTCOD#17 MIB#24 YTC#16 BOB#15 ex-UKRMMA#22 BOMB#11
probably. I'll slap myself then. -- Adie (replace spam with nickname to reply) UKRM FAQ: http://www.ukrm.net/faq/ Triumph 955iSS / GSF600 bandit MRO#11 BOTAFOF#7 BOTAFOT#130 DIAABTCOD#17 MIB#24 YTC#16 BOB#15 ex-UKRMMA#22 BOMB#11
Aye this is what happened to me. I think that Sorby needs to have a child motorcycle interface himself to realise how unavoidable and invisible little scrotes can be.
Strange that I've managed to avoid running over a child in my 18 years and > 300,000 miles of riding/driving - and I bet I'm in a majority. Clearly the rest of you are child-hating, blind, careless cunts who'd run your own granny over if it meant shaving a few seconds off your journey to work.
Let's think about it logically: Kids are crazy, they're unversed in any useful degree of roadcraft, they're easily distracted, they barely have any concept of the future and they smell. Bikers are supposed to have aquired some degree of skill of observation and concentration, they can read roadsigns and describe some possible futures to some degree and they smell. If a biker DOES hit a child in a 30 mph zone then I'm thinking there's a strong possiblity that he/she made a mistake. I'm thinking possible lack of concentration, excess speed, failure to read the road and target fixation as possible contributory factors. I can't see how a mum pushing a pram off the pavement can be unavoidable at 30mph if you'd assessed the possiblities and taken a wide berth.
In I ran over a granny once .... she went to run out into the road, wet tarmac combined with her leather soled shoes meant that when she tried to stop (after seeing a GPz750 crossing her path) her feet slid from under her inches in front of me. She slid, I went over her shins. Its a sickening feeling knowing those are'nt bumps in the road you've just gone over but someones legs. Suprisingly despite the weight of me and my bike going over her frail pins they did'nt break! I felt awful but thankfully 20 witness's totally exonerated me. Even the RTA plod investigator said I was blameless. No doubt you're now going to tell me it was all my fault [1]? [despite not having been there and not seeing the sitation] -- Steve Parry http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk http://www.arrivedeprived.org.uk/ K100RS SE F650 (not forgetting the SK90PY)
So, presumably there was a corner building from behind which he emerged? I must admit if he was running your chances of avoiding him were greatly diminished - but was he running faster than a car? Wouldn't it be reasonable to anticipate a car overshooting / ignoring the Give-Way sign? And had it been a car and not a kid then maybe you wouldn't be sat there posting right now? Is it worth the risk? I don't think so. I *think* I would have treated that side-road as a significant risk and anticipated something emerging from it - perhaps slowing down a bit bit but definitely giving it a wide berth. (I'm not suggesting you didn't do either of these, btw) Yes - as both your safety and the safety of a potential emergent is an issue. We agree on something then. I'm sure there are lots of cases (yours included) where collision was unavoidable - but I reckon the majority of cases are avoidable if the rider/driver alone practices better observation, risk assessment and anticipation. It'd be great if pedestrians could practice the same, natch. "I don't know much about the Gold Standard - but I do love little fluffy kittens..." )
But if you ran over a kid it would be your fault? Don't be so emotional, ffs. We know you're part of the wet brigade who bang on about how life-changing it is to have kids, and all that boring shit. However, no-one has even remotely said anything near what you are paraphrasing: you say that if you hit a ped it partially your fault, and others are saying that's not right.
