Disgraceful driving!

[Pennine pedaller]

Two extremely worrying hit and runs in the space of a week!The first near Naburn Marina,York has left a friend of mine badly injured:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-y ... e-52825213

The second a few days later in Bradwell Derbyshire(sorry can’t find the link) left two more riders injured.
Driving seems to be worse at the moment and both drivers must have known they’ve hit someone!
Then there’s reports of a white transit type van throwing eggs at oncoming riders near Selby.Absolutely disgraceful behaviour.

[Cugel]

In Bokumland, everything is just a joke, including GBH & murder with cars, hounding the poor until they expire of harm and forcing lethal diseases into care homes. Even now, gangs of yobs and hooray henrys will be back-slapping, guffawing and feverishly imagining further jokes to play on the "not-one-of-us".

Full Fexstit is yet to come! The most damaging-so-hilarious wheeze so far.

And don't forget Melt-the-Icecaps, a farce soon to be playing in seaside resorts everywhere.

Meanwhile, cyclist-squashing may alleviate motorist-angst with a bit-of-a-larf, even if just for a minute or two.

Cugel, not laughing.

[reohn2]

There are those who enjoy antagonising cyclists not usually to the degree of the OP granted but it's obvious to anyone who rides a bike,it's become the norm in a land where policing is practically extinct.

PP
I hope you friend mends well and gets back on the bike otherwise the morons win.

[peetee]

Alas, bad attitude is not a prohibited substance in the driving licence application form.
A few days ago I has to avoid a motorist who was determined to get out of a side road in front of me. He was clearly aware he had cut it fine and probably saw me shaking my head in his mirror as he drove towards a queue of traffic about 50 yards away. At the queue there were multiple lanes and I passed him as he waited to turn right. As I did he operated his windscreen wash/wipe and gave me a spray of soapy water.

[fastpedaller]

Alas, bad attitude is not a prohibited substance in the driving licence application form.
A few days ago I has to avoid a motorist who was determined to get out of a side road in front of me. He was clearly aware he had cut it fine and probably saw me shaking my head in his mirror as he drove towards a queue of traffic about 50 yards away. At the queue there were multiple lanes and I passed him as he waited to turn right. As I did he operated his windscreen wash/wipe and gave me a spray of soapy water.

I know someone who got the 'windscreen washer treatment' from some laughing lads many years ago - when he caught them up at the traffic lights they got the full force of his orange juice through the opened window! Karma

[brooksby]

Driving seems to be worse at the moment and both drivers must have known they’ve hit someone!

I've had a couple of "My driver's seat is past them so it's fine to pull in again"-type passes, by large vans, in the last couple of days.

Maybe people have forgotten how to drive?

[atlas_shrugged]

Sympathies with those who have these run-ins. It has been really nice cycling with the reduced motor-vehicle traffic. I can add to the list (and this is by a driver who did not stop):

7 year-old run over in Granchester:

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/c ... r-18338167

It seems we can go in two directions:

1) The big brother approach
All drivers broadcast a driver ID (a la Bluetooth LE) which allows determination of proximity, velocity, and possibly direction. All road users can then use an app that tracks this information. In addition we have 3rd party insurance cover charged to fuel.

2) Ultra light vehicles
This is my favoured approach. Cycles from 10-50kg carrying 1-2 persons and/or cargo. The cycle would allow only limited electric assist. The maximum velocity is limited by the power output of the human rider. There would be special greenways available so the limited velocity would be more than compensated by continuous speed resulting in much shorter journey times than current motor vehicles. The design speed out of town should be limited to 50mph but the route quality would be excellent.

The problem is that we have dinosaur politicians in the UK who want power without responsibility. If a few kids are thrown under a bus here and there then they don't care.

[Peter F]

The answer will be with us eventually, driverless/autonomous cars.
Poor driving is a feature of riding on the roads. Yes you meet a number of idiots or careless drivers but for the most part I find the majority to be fine. You also see idiotic cyclists too, it's just that the 1.5 tonne metal box can do a lot more damage.

[atlas_shrugged]

IMHO The autonomous cars do not solve congestion, energy consumption, or emissions. So they are not a solution to the climate crisis. The human race needs to tread with a much smaller and gentler footprint.

Why do we need to travel around in vehicles which consume many kW of power weighing thousands of kg when a vehicle consuming only 100 watts will get us to the destination more quickly and produce less pollution, and need much less road maintenance and have much cheaper infrastructure.

AND because of the lower kinetic energy (~100kg and 80km/h max velocity) there will be fewer road deaths and serious injuries.

[Peter F]

IMHO The autonomous cars do not solve congestion, energy consumption, or emissions. So they are not a solution to the climate crisis. The human race needs to tread with a much smaller and gentler footprint.

Why do we need to travel around in vehicles which consume many kW of power weighing thousands of kg when a vehicle consuming only 100 watts will get us to the destination more quickly and produce less pollution, and need much less road maintenance and have much cheaper infrastructure.

AND because of the lower kinetic energy (~100kg and 80km/h max velocity) there will be fewer road deaths and serious injuries.

Autonomous cars solve the fatality problem to a significant degree.
The environmental question is a different issue and not really the subject of the OP. Yes, in an ideal world we'd all stop driving as much and move to bicycles etc, but can you really see it?
For me electric cars and sustainable power generation are going to help solve that one. Unless there is a sudden catastrophe that pushes people into radical change. Even then half the worlds would believe it was made up or a conspiracy and not change anyway.

[Jdsk]

No single change will solve any of the current problems. An integrated transport policy would be a start.

Autonomous cars solve the fatality problem to a significant degree.

I agree. It looks likely that the current implementation of Tesla Autopilot is already safer than not using it.

And that technology will continue to get better and cheaper very quickly. I'd like to be reassured that we're going to get independent analyses of performance.

Jonathan

[fastpedaller]

Autonomous cars solve the fatality problem to a significant degree.

You are stating that as a fact - we do not know if it is true! An autonomous car with a non-attentive driver may be more dangerous than a car they have to drive without any aids.

[[XAP]Bob]

Autonomous cars solve the fatality problem to a significant degree.

You are stating that as a fact - we do not know if it is true! An autonomous car with a non-attentive driver may be more dangerous than a car they have to drive without any aids.

Autonomous - there are no autonomous vehicles on public roads yet.

The current breed of vehicles are not autonomous, they have sophisticated driver aids.

[Peter F]

Autonomous cars solve the fatality problem to a significant degree.

You are stating that as a fact - we do not know if it is true! An autonomous car with a non-attentive driver may be more dangerous than a car they have to drive without any aids.

I am stating it as fact because it is. An autonomous car is one that doesn't require a driver and they don't yet exist. Once they do they will eliminate all accidents caused by human error, so the majority of them.

[Postboxer]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... m-52834471

Traffic down 70%, accidents down 10%

Seems all the bad drivers still had somewhere to be. Maybe they were all testing their eyesight.