Raise the Hammer

Unfortunately horrific accidents are a part of the price we all pay for the society we live in. We will never stop accidents from happening. All we can do is try to minimize their frequency and their toll. We don’t stop flying when an airliner crashes. We don’t even make them slow down. We don’t even paint them as horrible killing machines. We take reasonable steps to try and improve flying.

Cars are a huge part of our culture and of our everyday lives. Some of us don’t like cars and take every opportunity to bash cars and drivers in the most biased possible way. Many of the trappings of our lives we owe to the automobile and trucks and yet it seems there is a small vocal outspoken minority who take it upon themselves to slam cars and drivers with the utmost prejudice.

Cars are continually being improved for both the people on the inside and on the outside. Even more improvements are being introduced with every model year. Drivers today are better educated and better trained than ever before. Drivers are more closely scrutinized than they have ever been before. Fines and punishments are higher and more severe than they have ever been. Bad drivers are forced off of our roads by a combination of the legal and insurance systems. Now let’s take a look at cyclists and pedestrians. Anybody can walk any way they want without any fear of getting a ticket or paying higher insurance premiums. I see more people ignoring signs, lights, markings and common sense than I have ever in the past. Anybody can go to the nearest store and buy a bike and instantly they get to be a vehicle on our roads. No training, no insurance, no courtesy and no common sense. Some of the cyclists are idiots, they have no sense of courtesy or obligation to play nice with others inside the rules. Just look at their posts. Can you imagine the outcry if a car driver had the audacity to say “If there are no vehicles approaching a four way stop and no pedestrians approaching (as a cyclist I am far more aware of my environment than a vehicle driver) what is the point in stopping?” That’s a quote from Brandon right here on RTH under The Economist Discovers Cycling .Really “What’s the point of stopping? “

g asks “the issue here is that we have set up a system where if a vehicle driver makes a mistake they might dinging up their car. if a pedestrian makes the same mistake, the pedestrian can die. is this fair?” The answer is no. Just like a lot of other things in life it’s not fair at all. I am very aware of that every time I walk anywhere near traffic. I don’t stand at the very edge of the sidewalk with my toes hanging over the edge when I wait for a green light. I see people doing that all the time. I don’t cross the road against the light. I see people doing that all the time. I don’t walk down the road when there is a perfectly good sidewalk to use. I see people doing that all the time. I don’t cross the street without looking. I see people doing that all the time. The list goes on and on. I know life is not fair; I know that any accident with a car is a really bad thing; I know I don’t want to be in an accident. I know all these things and always walk, cycle and drive bearing that in mind. The first step in safety must lie with the actions of the individual not with legislation. I don’t expect anybody to pay for little mistake like stepping onto the road at the wrong instant with their life but I know it can and does happen. That’s why I taught my kids the rules I did for crossing the street. And it’s why I worry about them whenever they’re out.