http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Vunerable Cyclists? Dangerous Cars? en Sat, 27 Jun 2026 23:41:27 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=8558#post-87017 Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:04:16 +0000 Kim 87017@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Why is it the so few people think about why we only allow people to drive by licence and that you have to pass a test which tests your ability to drive to a minimum safe standard (well for at least 30 minutes once in your life)? It is because motor vehicles are inherently dangerous and yet people are totally blasé about it. We don't treat shotguns this way, but both are equally dangerous if miss handled. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=8558#post-86941 Mon, 08 Oct 2012 14:19:22 +0000 Min 86941@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Very sad news. Short article on the EEN with the number to call for any witnesses.</p> <p><a href="http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/latest-news/us-man-dies-after-road-collision-in-edinburgh-1-2565531" rel="nofollow">http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/latest-news/us-man-dies-after-road-collision-in-edinburgh-1-2565531</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=8558#post-86925 Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:42:12 +0000 ARobComp 86925@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Horrible news. They are still looking for witnesses - If anyone hears of any please ask them to speak to the police.</p> <p>Sad times and yes I often wonder how fast a car has to go to cause serious damage. In that situation couldn't have been more than 20? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=8558#post-86921 Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:03:23 +0000 kaputnik 86921@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>That's tragic.</p> <p>Wingpig once tweeted a sketch he had done based on a modified version of Spiderman's Law - "with increasing power comes increasing responsibility" - and a line up of increasingly more powerful and heavy vehicles next to a cyclist and pedestrian.</p> <p>I really do not think that a good percentage of drivers quite appreciate exactly how much weight and power (and as a result, energy) they have at their disposal at the push of a pedal. Basic phsyics around accelleration and the E(k)=mv^2 should really be a prerequisite before anyone is allowed anywhere near the wheel of a car. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=8558#post-86906 Mon, 08 Oct 2012 10:55:32 +0000 SRD 86906@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Very sorry to have to report that he didn't make it. Prayers today at the mosque at <strike>3.45</strike> 1.30pm. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=8558#post-86266 Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:46:18 +0000 ARobComp 86266@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>That is horrible SRD - This reminds me though</p> <p>I was walking through nicholson square with my bike on Saturday, saw there had been a nasty crash. Based on my knowledge of these things (my own introduction to the front of a car) It looked a lot like a car had smashed into a pedestrian. Was a VERY big car and the accident was right outside the toilets on the square. </p> <p>I thought about the ambulance/police car duo I'd seen heading to little france 20 minutes earlier and it made sense that it was a head injury.</p> <p>Anyway fast foward to when I got home. I thought I'd scan twitter, and in my #edinburgh feed there was indeed a panicked request from a few hours earlier asking for help as her cousin had been hit by a car in edinburgh (nicholson sq) and had no family in town etc.<br /> I contacted her to see if I could help but there was not much I could do apart from get her numbers if she needed them.<br /> Anyway fast forward to today and seems he's out of surgery and not dead, so I suppose that's a bit ok. However still pretty bad considering how heavily pedestrianised that area is. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=8558#post-86265 Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:25:39 +0000 SRD 86265@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>too right. spent much of this afternoon dealing with student who rang up from hospital bedside of another student fighting for life after being 'run over'. horrible, horrible, horrible. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=8558#post-86263 Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:18:57 +0000 ARobComp 86263@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I was at a dinner last night, shortly before I cycled home and tried to use my shorts to top myself by accident, and cycling came up as it's what I spend alot of time doing (cycling not talking about it).</p> <p>Discussion came up about who should have right of way in certain situations, why it is ok for us to take primary position etc, and most were fairly accepting and in fact downright on my side. However.... there was a note that cyclists were being a bit sanctimonious, that we "expect" too much.</p> <p>My answer was to pull out my phone and show them a picture which I'd taken earlier in the day or some railings that were absolutely mullered by a car and suggest that "well, if I lose concentration for a moment riding a 10kg bike, this doesn't happen" </p> <p>It actually I think opened some eyes to the damage that a car can do, something that most would not take into account because they see the damage and just think, oh my I hope the car/driver is ok (absolutely this should be the first thought) however what about the raw weight and power that caused the damage. That is rarely, I imagine, a second thought.</p> <p>Picture was something like this: <img src="http://www.fixmystreet.com/photo/267987.full.jpeg"></p> <p>Anyway - just a wee note. </p>