The utility cyclist wrote:fastpedaller wrote:But one observation (pun not intended) of RFRYERS' words ...
Making a presumption on where something or someone is based on the last thing they saw is dangerous driving, what if they had fallen off from the last sighting, that's right, made a presumption that they were still travelling along and crashed right into them. it's the expectation of x being lit or having some reflectivity and not allowing oneself enough time to stop in the distance you can see to be clear that is one of the major problems that face cyclists due to drivers inability to grasp that not everything is going to have a day-glo sign above it pointing out the vulnerable user, and nor should it for the reasons I and others have mentioned previously.
people on bikes also fail to observe this far too often, especially sports cyclists, that's why they crash a lot and/or have near misses more than most.
It does not sound at all like rfryer made assumptions about where someone was, only that he took extra care having seen a cyclist ahead.
rfryer wrote: Due to bends in the road, etc, the cyclist has been temporarily hidden at various points until I eventually caught up and passed them, but the early warning meant that I was expecting them, and taking extra care with blind corners and dazzle from oncoming traffic. Did this make any difference to the cyclist? Probably not, I'm generally a pretty careful driver anyway, and don't make a habit of careering round corners into the unknown. But my reaction to the cyclist did make me especially careful, and persuades me that being conspicuous in those conditions has value.
I don't see any argument that he was assuming he knew where the cyclist was, other than (probably) ahead of him. Nor that he was driving too fast to stop in the distance that he could see to be clear. Nor that he expects cyclists to wear hi viz. Only that it has some value.
I can possibly see an argument that he should be *that* careful all the time because there might be a cyclist ahead who isn't wearing hi viz.
But that still isn't an assumption about where anyone was, or whether they should wear it.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom