Not only in SA.

[gummibear]

Five British cyclists hit by car in Belgium.

 

Five British women cyclists, being groomed for the 2012 Olympics, have been injured in a collision with a car while training in Belgium, the British Cycling Federation said on its website on Saturday.

Hannah Mayho, Lucy Martin, Katie Colclough, Emma Trott and Sarah Reynolds were involved in the accident which happened between the towns of Brakel and Oudenaarde on Friday morning.

Mayho, who came into direct contact with the vehicle, broke both her legs, her right arm and wrist and was undergoing surgery, the cycling federation said.

Colclough suffered concussion and was staying in hospital overnight, Martin cracked a vertebra and has been advised to rest over the coming weeks, Trott suffered a broken collarbone and a black eye and Reynolds hurt her hand and split her chin.

The cyclists were accompanied by Olympic Academy Programme coach Simon Cope.

? AFP 2010

 

[mudda]

This is my biggest cycling fear, which is being taken out by a driver not paying attention to the road.

 

If the punishment for knocking over a cyclist with a car could be made extremely off putting for a motorist, then I think some kind of change could be made to drivers attitudes. This could increase road awareness and cycling safety. Perhaps this is something the cycling unions to which we pay our fees can be addressed at government level.

 

The punishment for a driver who knocks over a cyclist could be something like, direct to jail, until circumstances have been determined by an investigating authority, then various levels of legal punishment. i.e. if under the influence of alcohol, 10 years jail time, etc, etc

 

 

 

[AndreZA]

Yes not only in SA but in SA it happens every month, in Europe it's once in 5 years.

[Herman V]

My sympathies to the riders and their families.

I admit that being hit by a car is my biggest fear as well.

But, do remember that cyclist are just road users. Nothing more special than pedestrians, drivers or motorcyclists.

Maybe if cyclists stop thinking that they are a special kind of road user, we will realise that a good many pedestrians, motorcyclists and drivers die on the roads every year.

Traffic rules should be enforced and guilty parties punished. Period. No exception and no special treatment.

 

 

[HairyLegs]

And in Europe, there are serious consequences for the driver, not just a slap on the wrist.

[Slave]

I now have the dubious distinction of knowing whaat it's like to be knocked down by a car. Happened to me last Tuesday. At least the damage is slight and I managed to get up and cycle away afterwards.

Have some road rash on elbow, knee and hip with a now severly bruised hip and shoulder.

 

The problem is that you can change all the laws you like. Until someone actually goes out there and enforces them (SAPS / Metro) they (the laws) mean jack ****.

 

The chances that people will get away with a traffic violation today are better than 95%. So, do you think that this will help prevent any more road carnage?

 

While I agree that speed is a cause of many accidents, speed checking is the only part of Metor's job that they are doing and IMHO, it is only to generate revenue.

 

Asking for tougher penalties will do nothing. The road rules have to be enforced before there is likely to be a change in driver attitude. Until this happens, nothing will change.

 

Oh, and BTW, it doesn't only happen monthly in SA, it's more likely to happen weekly or even daily. (I'm referring to Mamparras comment about people being knocked off bikes.) I was very luck to have only minor injuries and nothing that will keep me off the bike. How many does this heppen to daily that are nowhere near as lucky?

 

This doesn't just apply to accidents and bad driving / riding, it applies to being held up at knife or gun point and having your bike / motor vehicle / valuables taken off you.

 

 

[slowpoke]

well said slave and harry - every single day in SA AT LEAST one cyclist or biker or pedestrain gets killed and countless other road users in general. unfortunately our officials only care about enforcing income-generating laws, not life saving ones

[Danger Dassie]

The stats in the UK (not Europe) are far higher than many assume.

Still, the whole argument of where else it happens vs it happening more here etc etc etc .. really is a stupid one on both sides. If anything it just gives people ammo to feed their particular stereotype as opposed to any pro-active points. IMO anyway.

[Slave]

Ah but Slowpoke, guv-munt will have us believe that by enforcing the speeding rules, that they are in fact enforcing life saving rules.

 

The way I see it is this, I have travelled too many Km to recall. A fair number of them have also been at high, and even very high speed (long time ago). Speed in and of itself, doesn't kill. It's the sudden stop that does. I can use the argument that on the Autobahn, there is no speed limit. The accident rate as far as I know is very low so the death toll is also very low.

 

Here in the good ol' RS of A, we have speed limits imposed but most people totally disregard them. The driver skill borders on utterly incompetent, yet they drive well outside of their capabilities and in excess of teh speed limit.

 

I have zeeeeero doubt, that an accident at high spped will be more likely to be fatal than one at a low speed, but at low speeds, you have time to react. At high speed your reaction distance is much higher, and you run out of options fast. So it is actually the coming to a very sudden stop when you run out of options that causes death on our roads. NOT the speed.

 

Chances are great that some tjop in a taxi is going to jump a red light, or be travelling at speed in the emergency  lane when all the other traffic is at a standstill.

 

This is just some of the stuff that causes accidents, and what contributes to our massive death toll.

 

Our officials will have us believe that the Easter Death toll was the lowest in years. Is this because there were less accidents because there was less traffic? Most likely. Do they tell us this? NO.

 

They will only tell us how well their campaign worked. And maybe having a zero tollereance on sppeding is not a bad thing, but why stop there? Why not have zero tollerance for all road rule violations?

 

And most importantly, why not get the officials out there and get them to do what they get paid to do. Keep us safe. Probably, because they too, are scared of being shot for their trouble.

 

And how can we expect guv-munt to do anything when they themselves are corrupt, or at best, a bunch of theives and renegades? But then again, this is merely my opinion of the useless lot.

[Danger Dassie]

Slave I pretty agree with you say, just to add though... One of the other major factors is ourselves and our attitudes on the road as well.

As road users in general, South Africans must rate as some of the most inconsiderate and aggressive out there, whatever the excuse.

I notice it myself, and actually feel embarrased that I have to make a concious decision in traffic to not fall into that trap, and it's nothing to do with roadworks, ineffective traffic policing etc ... it's how I choose to act, and observing people's behaviour around me, many should start pointing fingers at themselves as well.

[Slave]

I agree.many people out  there on the road have a bad houding.

 

I know I tend to be like that too. I will rethink my position on that and try to be less agressive on the road.

 

I just get highly annoyed though, when the gap I leave as "my margin for error" gets stolen by some **** who thinks it's the gap I left for him to take so he can be in front of me.

 

I ALL road users were more polite and friendly, we would have far less carnage.

 

It's just a change in mindset really.

[shaunh]

We are not babies or children and don't need to be baby sat by cops!! (OK, you can flame me)

 

 

 

What we need is attitude adjustment. I see prominent cyclists clearly breaking the rules of the road in their cars and are the first people to complain when something happens. The other day I traveled to the Cradle to clean the signs and the speed limit from Camoro to William Nichol is 80km due to road works and it is amazing at the people that fly past in excess of 120 km's/hour. I stick to 80 and only a handful will see me and also slow down. If we all start by doing the right thing which is obey ALL road rules whether we are on our bike or in our cars, then others will feel guilty and also start obeying. I know there is a lack of visible policing but we are not kids!!

 

 

 

We cannot change the world unless we change ourselves!