Hatred, stupidity or both?

[Tonyf33]

From ipayroadtax

Ms Way was quickly identified from her Facebook page and the police were sent other examples of her poor driving: she had taken taking photographs of herself tailgating other motorists, and even photographed her speedometer showing a speed of 95mph.

Is this just one bad egg or is it a social trend in young drivers?

I think tarring 'young' drivers is unjustified, sure they are a bit less experienced but we all had to start somewhere, if you check out the lenient sentencing thread and count up how many drivers who are over 30 & are killing/maiming you'll find it outweights the u30s by a fairly large margin.
The 'social trend' of abusing/admonishing/threatening cyclists has been going on for decades and it is more often the older generation who are mostly to blame as far as I can see..

[Geriatrix]

I think tarring 'young' drivers is unjustified, sure they are a bit less experienced but we all had to start somewhere, if you check out the lenient sentencing thread and count up how many drivers who are over 30 & are killing/maiming you'll find it outweights the u30s by a fairly large margin.

Well U25's seem to have a pretty well documented record for unsafe driving but perhaps due to inexperience they are better at wiping themselves out than others. There is however a general sense of entitlement in road users to break the rules. Cyclists take the flack with traffic lights and pavement riding (yes I know not all do it), but drivers are no different.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-22599596

[ankaradan]

Well she doesn't seem to be the brightest bunny, does she?

I look forward to seeing what, if any, action the police take.

[Ayesha]

Well she doesn't seem to be the brightest bunny, does she?

Can you imagine what her offsping will be like?

[Geriatrix]

I look forward to seeing what, if any, action the police take.

Credit where credit is due. The police were pretty quick off the mark on this one and I think that she is in deep do do with both the law and her employer. It's not a one off incident either. She has photographed herself breaking the rules on other occasions with her mobile phone. So that's deliberately breaking a rule, and then breaking another rule to record the event .

[kwackers]

A guy I run with fractured his skull when a woman pulled out of a side road on him. When the police turned up she admitted she'd seen him but claimed she thought she had 'right of way'!
This was a few months ago, I'm not sure what (if any) proceedings are being brought against her.

In my limited experience I find two groups of poor drivers. Young girls and middle aged/elderly blokes. The girls seem to do the most stupid things without thinking and the blokes are aggressive and have a sense of entitlement.

[pstallwood]

See here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-22602141

for latest.

Peter

[ChrisButch]

The belief that motor vehicles have 'right of way' over bikes at all times is, I've long thought, more widespread than is generally realised. It is 'innocently' shared by many drivers who in other respects have no particular malice, aggression or ill-feeling towards cyclists; and this mistaken belief is consequently, I suspect, the root cause of a much higher proportion of bike/car collisions than is generally understood.

[Geriatrix]

It is 'innocently' shared by many drivers who in other respects have no particular malice

I come from a profession which required government certification before a supervisory position could be held (not unlike the concept of a drivers licence). Part of the certification was proof of a sound understanding of the H&S legal framework in which the industry operated. It was not just requirement to pass the test, but to maintain the knowledge with ongoing legislation changes. (that's still the status quo, I just used past tense because I have left that industry).

Is that not also true of a drivers licence? If it is, then you can't be innocently ignorant of your obligations.

[mr_mark_sid]

I am concerned that the BBC report makes no attempt to correct the notion that the cyclist 'does not pay road tax'

As a factually incorrect statement - it is not 'an opinion' - I have suggested to the BBC that they need to make this clear in their story. This misconception is often cited as an aggravating factor in similar cases. Does anyone have a good contact with the beeb to persuade them to clarify this in their story?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-22602141

m

[Mark1978]

"I'm not angry, I would just like it known that her stupid comment that I don't pay road tax is not an excuse to treat cyclists like second-class citizens."

[mr_mark_sid]

thanks @ Mark1978 - I don't read the quote you paste as negating her comment about tax. It just says 'it is not an excuse'. The article needs to say that the comment from the driver is plain incorrect. The rider DOES pay tax which pays for the road.

m

[661-Pete]

In my limited experience I find two groups of poor drivers. Young girls and middle aged/elderly blokes.

Interesting bit of generalisation . Reminds me of the collision I witnessed whilst cycling, a few years ago. The car that overtook me (more accurately, tried to...) was driven by a young lady - in her early 20s I reckon. And yes, she was blonde, not that this is relevant. And the car she hit, almost head-on, was driven by a man in his 50s.

On that occasion there was no doubt in my mind as to the guilty party. As I told the Police when they turned up (but they weren't very interested). I later told the male driver's insurers the same thing, and I hope he got a favourable outcome. I heard no more from the police...

The only thing I said to the young woman (who seemed rather blasé about the whole thing in spite of the fact that her car - or possibly her Mummy's - was an obvious write-off) was this: "I'm reporting you: clear case of Careless Driving". She answered "what for?". End of conversation.

At least she didn't tweet about it. Not to my knowledge at any rate.

[kwackers]

In my limited experience I find two groups of poor drivers. Young girls and middle aged/elderly blokes.

Interesting bit of generalisation .

Yep - that's why I prefaced it with "limited experience".

Mind you the middle aged bloke thing has been a constant for several years so I'm minded to move it into my 'proven' category.
The young girls is fairly recent and based on several stupid overtakes including a few (amusingly enough) wrong side of the road overtakes on blind bends. It's also based on my last accident where the girl in question having failed to overtake simply side swiped me and then proclaimed "what am I supposed to do? You were in the middle of the road".

[danfoto]

Nice (and quite surprising) to see that that Beeb Norfolk story now has a little sidebar thingy explaining about road tax