| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Tree Murdered for 'experimental' cycleway. | |
| Posted by: | Ed Saper | |
| Date/Time: | 06/12/21 19:46:00 |
| Oh dear Michael. I said the rather uncontroversial: " Yes - sometimes we need laws to get people to do sensible things - like wear seat belts, not use a phone while driving, not drive at unsafe speeds, ensure their car is properly maintained or carry lights on their bikes after dark." You disagreed and said that only eccentrics saw the need for seat belts: "quite sensible people were driving around in motor cars for 60 years before *anyone* bar eccentrics anyway, saw any need for seat belts" (you didn't mention the 1960's, but that's the least of your confusion). You also disagreed and said that there are worse distractions than using a mobile phone: "As to phones, potentially there are in fact far worse sources of distraction, animated James O'Brien conversations on the radio, talkative passengers who can't be ignored..." etc. You further disagreed and said that rules to maintain cars were largely unnecessary: "above a certain basic level, mainly brakes and lights the need for a lot of car maintanance is totally unnecessary" You even appeared to disagree that we need lights for bikes because only truly stupid people would do that - or maybe you were agreeing, you seem confused: "on all moving vehicles, from trains to bicycles people have always seen the need for lights after dark. Except for the *truly stupid*." So you are being rather contrary about things that most sensible people agree on - laws to improve road safety tend to improve road safety and cut injuries and deaths. You maintain that drivers are "quite sensible people" and have no need for these laws. But that cyclists are *stupid* - and I don't think you have a wider point than that, you just like saying it. I mentioned the drink driving laws and the appalling road safety statistics from the 1960s as evidence that such laws are required to keep everyone safe - particularly from *stupid* motorists who drink and drive their poorly maintained cars while using a mobile and not wearing a seat belt. Oh - and the same laws that govern lights on bicycles are applied to cars - and of course are mainly intended for the *truly stupid* motorists who don't turn their lights on when driving. |