"Terry Collins" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
> John Doe wrote:
>
> ...snip.....
>
> > What about this scenario. The person driving the car with the bike rack
> > makes a bad judgement (and this happens at one time or another to EVERY
> > driver - even professional race car drivers will admit this). Which
causes
> > someone to rear end you at 40km's an hour... the bike rack kills them.
Sure
> > the person following you might have not given you the textbook clearance
but
> > once again... penalty for this should not be death.
>
> ROFL. You really don't get it do you. In both your examples, the person
> who crashes is at fault. Speeding is defined as going too fast for the
> conditions. They were obviously going too fast.
>
> It is that old story. Make something fool proof and only a fool will use
> it. All you are doing is allowing more fools to survive and breed.
There is no reason for people to die due to this. Everyone makes mistakes.
I bet you have made a mistake from time to time in your life but not regard
yourself a fool. Turning on the radio. Anytime you take your eyes off the
road it is a mistake that could be costly.
Why do think things like Airbags were invented? ABS Breaks? Crumple zones?
Seat Belts? Not for fools so that they continue to propogate but because
humans make mistakes at times. There are drivers out there that are not
including me. I have made many mistakes driving a car. Changed radio
stations. I am a bit older and wiser now but during the peak "fool" years
of 17 through 30 there are many mistakes to be made due to lack of
experience.
You are too focussed on the driver of the offending vehicle at any rate. I
have been a passenger in a car with bad and speeding drivers. In any one of
those scenarios it is possible for an innocent passenger to be hurt. It
takes a big man to be able to tell his friends or even strangers to slow
down to match the conditions of the road. I have to admit that I have been
uncomfortable at times when a passenger in a car. The vehicle may have been
doing the limit or less but the road was wet and he was going to fast.
> I have finally worked out your problem. You must walk around backwards
> and drive your car the same way.
Well yes you are right. There is occasions for me to have to use the
reverse gear on my car. In fact I have to reverse out of my driveway also
in shopping centre car pars and the like. There in itself you have another
scenario where the person with the bike rack maybe at fault for maming or
killing another faultless person. I have seen people drive WAY too fast in
reverse down a stretch of road.
> > Funny how cyclists ***** about bullbars on street cars/4wd that are
> > dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists but are quite happy to drive
around
> > with a sharp pointy thing strapped to their car.
>
>
> The problem with bull bars is that they are on the front and motorists
> are not held culpable for the damage they do. I am yet to see a bicycle
> rack on the front of a car. (Bus yes, car no).
Yes some buses do have front racks. I have worked a fair bit in the US, and
Europe and found that they are quite common in some parts. The racks are
the folding type that fold in behind the front crash bar. The drivers
always fold them up when not in use. Obviously it is illegal for them to
drive with them down without a bike. I have never seen a bus with a rack in
Australia although I have been told they have been trialled here and there.
Are these racks driven while empty? Or are they retracted or maybe somehow
some other way of protecting occupants of other vehicles from damage in
collisions.
I think the only place where we have disagreement here is that you believe
people should pay any price as luck may have it for making a mistake. I
hope you are not as hard on your children if you have them.
regards
Peter
