Cagers

In response to yet another story about a driver receiving a minor sentence for killing a cyclist, one of the regulars opined that the driver should never be allowed to drive again. This is quite mild compared to the usual suggested punishments, but one or two people spoke up for balance and giving the benefit of the doubt. Which raises the question: why are we, who are mostly drivers ourselves, so vehement in such cases?

I think the answer is explained in two parts.

First, we, as regular cyclists, feel keenly the risks posed by negligent drivers. We have right on our side, for the most part - studies of collisions involving injury to cyclists consistently find that the cyclist is to blame in a minority of cases (e.g. 27%, AA; 25%, 17% for adults, Oxford study; 31%, Metropolitan Police). So one quickly arrives at the following back-of-an-envelope calculation:


 * Number of cyclists injured or killed in car crashes where cyclist is to blame: 700
 * Number of drivers injured or killed in these crashes: 0
 * Number of cyclists injured or killed in car crashes where driver is to blame: 1,700
 * Number of drivers injured or killed in these crashes: 0

Which explains a lot...

Second, we know that we cannot in general let off steam about our fear and frustration in what might be termed "mixed company" because, as TRL 549 notes, drivers have a quite extraordinary capacity for pointing out the mote in the cyclist's eye while conveniently ignoring the small deciduous forest in their own. I have a theory that they are insecure, poor dears, because they know their mode of transport is just about the most inefficient around.

So cut us some slack, we've had a hard day.