Cyclist at fault, says Nottingham police

[Mark1978]

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... list-video

[kwackers]

Perhaps it's the accent but that woman shouting "arr yoo stupid yoo" makes me want to

I think the cyclist missed out on some good rebukes to "we're going to a funeral"...

[661-Pete]

Perhaps they enjoy going to funerals so much, they were looking to create another one to go to....

[Mike Sales]

Perhaps it's the accent but that woman shouting "arr yoo stupid yoo" makes me want to

I think the cyclist missed out on some good rebukes to "we're going to a funeral"...

Under the circs this is forgivable. I find myself that the snappy, crushing retort does not readily spring to mind in these situations.
What should he have said?

[kwackers]

Under the circs this is forgivable. I find myself that the snappy, crushing retort does not readily spring to mind in these situations.
What should he have said?

Usually I find I'm so dumbfounded by the obvious stupidity that it just numbs my senses and later kick myself for failing to see the obvious...
As a third person observer in this case as soon as she said it I wanted to say "Whose? The last cyclist you ran over?"

[Postboxer]

Think I'll email Nottinghamshire Police to ask how to give way once I see a hearse, clearly turning off the road is not acceptable, neither is staying on it, as it would obviously still be my fault if I'm hit by a car, perhaps jump off my bike and dive into someone's front garden?

[Mark1978]

Think I'll email Nottinghamshire Police to ask how to give way once I see a hearse, clearly turning off the road is not acceptable, neither is staying on it, as it would obviously still be my fault if I'm hit by a car, perhaps jump off my bike and dive into someone's front garden?

If you look at the video at the point he's knocked off, the fact he's turning right isn't relevant as he was approaching a traffic island, where he would have needed to be in primary anyway.

In any case it's not like he saw one of the funeral cars come along and then pulled out of a junction, he was just cycling along the road and the cars went by. As it was there was a large gap between the obvious funeral cars and the private cars which followed, but even if there was not, is the cyclist supposed to miss their turning?

[cjchambers]

You clearly hear the horn before the cyclist goes down . . . so why was the driver busy honking his horn instead of braking?!

[kwackers]

You clearly hear the horn before the cyclist goes down . . . so why was the driver busy honking his horn instead of braking?!

Come on - you *are* a cyclist aren't you? Surely you know the first rule is to use the horn and only brake if you really have to at the very last second!

[Audax67]

As far as I could see they weren't travelling as a cortège. There was the hearse and a stretch limo following, then about 50 yds behind that another sober-looking car, and other 50 yds back a white effort and then another good gap. That's not a cortège, it's ordinary traffic.

The people who knocked the victim off his bike were possibly so far back that they were trying hard to keep up and not paying attention to anything much else. They were obviously het up before the accident happened, as evidenced by the woman's reaction.

I'd put them 100% in the wrong and shoot off a blast at the peeler.

[Mark1978]

As far as I could see they weren't travelling as a cortège. There was the hearse and a stretch limo following, then about 50 yds behind that another sober-looking car, and other 50 yds back a white effort and then another good gap. That's not a cortège, it's ordinary traffic.
.

I would argue the limos weren't travelling as a cortège either, they were proceeding as normal traffic. If it were a cortege I would expect them to be travelling slowly and close together.

[DaveGos]

I thought cortege were supposed to travel at a sedate pace.

My mother had a favourite expression about me - "You will be late for your own funeral" . if it was the lead car that could of become true in this case

[661-Pete]

I will say this, though don't read this as a plea for mitigation on behalf of the driver! From my own experience, people travelling to a funeral can get rather 'edgy'. Doesn't excuse dangerous or even careless driving, of course. I remember many years ago (1970s) driving to a funeral - not as part of the cortege - and getting stuck in a jam on the North Circular, I briefly 'lost' it, started swearing and leaning on the horn. At least I didn't run anyone down or get out of my car. I'm not proud of that recollection...

[snibgo]

In the video, at 49 seconds, the cyclist is in primary approaching a pinch point. This is a good position, as it makes it obvious that a following driver shouldn't attempt an overtake.

But the following driver doesn't like this, and sounds the horn then drives into the cyclist. 100% the driver's fault.

The sergeant draws a parallel between emergency vehicles and a funeral cortege. This is totally stupid. The sergeant's ignorance is also shown by "Whilst you had the right of way ..."

I can see the sergeant's point that a cyclist might decide in many circumstance to cede priority. But if a cyclist doesn't, I doubt that "This is also something that the court would consider as mitigation were we to prosecute the driver in your case."

[661-Pete]

I thought cortege were supposed to travel at a sedate pace.

A common practice is for the cortège to set off at walking pace - with an undertaker dressed in black coat and top hat walking in front - for a short distance, usually when setting out from the house of the deceased. This was what we had for my mother's funeral. But when he reached the end of the road, he slipped into his seat in the hearse and we then continued to the crematorium (about 5 miles away) at normal road speed, only slowing back to walking pace as we passed the gates of the crematorium. I wouldn't expect even the undertaker to do a 5-mile walk on a busy main road! We had two limos following the hearse for immediate family, but everyone else was asked to follow in their own transport. I don't think anyone was bothered about other traffic overtaking or getting between the cars of the cortege. Why should they? Everyone knew or had been told the way.