Couple of interesting pieces in The Times the last few days for the "cYcLiStS dOn'T kIlL oR iNjUrE aNyOnE" gang:
www.thetimes.co.uk
"Brian Fitzgerald, a director at Credit Suisse, was in a “fast group” doing timed laps of Regent’s Park, London, when Hilda Griffiths, 81, crossed the road to try to reach a pedestrian island.....
.....Griffiths, from Marylebone, was hit shortly after 7am on a Saturday in June 2022. She suffered multiple fractures, vomited blood and had severe “bleeding on the brain”. Her death was not recorded in official data as a pedestrian killed on a road after a collision with a cyclist because it took her 59 days to die from head injury “complications”.....
....Fitzgerald, who expressed his “sympathies” to her family, said that he was “not sure” if there was a slow sign at the accident scene near Hanover Terrace [there is]. He said that he saw “an elderly woman” from about 20 metres away as he cycled between 26-29 mph before she got two metres into the road leaving a “split second” response time that “didn’t allow for evasion”....
....He denied having his head down as the third of four cyclists riding counter-clockwise, a metre apart in pace line formation to create a “wind buffer” to “travel faster” for a more “organised ride”. They monitored speed with GPS devices, showing an average speed of 25mph....
.....Fitzgerald said that the spot was on a slight downhill stretch, so the pace had quickened. Asked if the 20mph limit “applied to all”, he said: “I believe legally the speed limit doesn’t apply to cyclists [the same] as motorists.”"
Notice the complete lack of remorse, and the implicit admission that he saw her but barrelled on towards her anyway, and of course the "nah nah na nah nah you can't prosecute me LOL" defence.
A disgusting, but unfortunately not surprising, comment from a cyclist in the comments section, possibly from jank:
"Not one cyclist, a whole group of them. She walked into the road in front of them, and clearly they couldn't stop. She needs to take responsibility for walking into the road and clearly not looking." The bloody bitch, eh!? She won't do it again!
www.thetimes.co.uk
Big comment piece, well worth reading in full. Referring to the case above:
"Griffiths’s son Gerard said his mother had been killed by a “culture of cycling”, adding that the outer circle of Regent’s Park had become a “velodrome”. The hijack of London’s parks aside, such legal impunity for cyclists is infuriating. For pedestrians, too many cyclists have become a danger to life and limb.".
She seems to have bumped into RTBI:
"As I have found to my cost, if you remonstrate with a cyclist who has almost knocked you down, you risk getting abused and even threatened. Many cyclists display an arrogant assumption of moral superiority, apparently heroes to themselves for eschewing the combustion engine in order to protect the environment.
Those who criticise them are promptly accused of being the “right-wing” pro-car brigade — even if they’re liberals who don’t drive. This reaction suggests that, for the most militant riders at least, cycling isn’t so much a mode of transport for the active and able-bodied as an ideological cause."
Also covers an earlier case where (again) an elderly lady was killed by a cyclist (Charlie Alliston) riding an illegally modified bike:
"After Alliston’s conviction, he claimed that he had warned his victim to get out of the way. He wrote online: “I feel bad due to the seriousness of her injuries but I can put my hand up and say this is not my fault. People either think they are invincible or have zero respect for cyclists”, adding that Briggs’s death was hopefully “a lesson learnt on her behalf”."
Similar to the more recent case, this chap saw the victim but rather than, y'know, stop or change direction roared at her to get out of his way and chose to barrel straight into her when she didn't. Note the sneering attitude towards his victim, similar to the Times commenter above.
Last word to the widower of the 2016 victim:
"Briggs’s widower, Matt, who has campaigned for pedestrian safety ever since the court case following his wife’s death, has pressed for causing death or serious injury by dangerous or careless cycling to be incorporated into the Road Traffic Act.....
.....In 2016, he said, he was told by the cycling lobby: “This is not the priority right now, we need infrastructure”. Yet in a programme running from 2016 to 2025, £6 billion has been spent on cycling infrastructure, while there has been zero protection for pedestrians against cyclists. His conclusion, he said, was that the government has run scared from the cycling lobby."
Cyclist avoids prosecution after fatal collision with pensioner
Brian Fitzgerald, a director at Credit Suisse, crashed into Hilda Griffiths, 81, while cycling laps around Regent’s Park, London
www.thetimes.co.uk
.....Griffiths, from Marylebone, was hit shortly after 7am on a Saturday in June 2022. She suffered multiple fractures, vomited blood and had severe “bleeding on the brain”. Her death was not recorded in official data as a pedestrian killed on a road after a collision with a cyclist because it took her 59 days to die from head injury “complications”.....
....Fitzgerald, who expressed his “sympathies” to her family, said that he was “not sure” if there was a slow sign at the accident scene near Hanover Terrace [there is]. He said that he saw “an elderly woman” from about 20 metres away as he cycled between 26-29 mph before she got two metres into the road leaving a “split second” response time that “didn’t allow for evasion”....
....He denied having his head down as the third of four cyclists riding counter-clockwise, a metre apart in pace line formation to create a “wind buffer” to “travel faster” for a more “organised ride”. They monitored speed with GPS devices, showing an average speed of 25mph....
.....Fitzgerald said that the spot was on a slight downhill stretch, so the pace had quickened. Asked if the 20mph limit “applied to all”, he said: “I believe legally the speed limit doesn’t apply to cyclists [the same] as motorists.”"
Notice the complete lack of remorse, and the implicit admission that he saw her but barrelled on towards her anyway, and of course the "nah nah na nah nah you can't prosecute me LOL" defence.
A disgusting, but unfortunately not surprising, comment from a cyclist in the comments section, possibly from jank:
"Not one cyclist, a whole group of them. She walked into the road in front of them, and clearly they couldn't stop. She needs to take responsibility for walking into the road and clearly not looking." The bloody bitch, eh!? She won't do it again!
Protect pedestrians from these deadly cyclists
Cities have turned themselves inside out to cater for bikes yet some riders are dangerous and abusive
www.thetimes.co.uk
Big comment piece, well worth reading in full. Referring to the case above:
"Griffiths’s son Gerard said his mother had been killed by a “culture of cycling”, adding that the outer circle of Regent’s Park had become a “velodrome”. The hijack of London’s parks aside, such legal impunity for cyclists is infuriating. For pedestrians, too many cyclists have become a danger to life and limb.".
She seems to have bumped into RTBI:
"As I have found to my cost, if you remonstrate with a cyclist who has almost knocked you down, you risk getting abused and even threatened. Many cyclists display an arrogant assumption of moral superiority, apparently heroes to themselves for eschewing the combustion engine in order to protect the environment.
Those who criticise them are promptly accused of being the “right-wing” pro-car brigade — even if they’re liberals who don’t drive. This reaction suggests that, for the most militant riders at least, cycling isn’t so much a mode of transport for the active and able-bodied as an ideological cause."
Also covers an earlier case where (again) an elderly lady was killed by a cyclist (Charlie Alliston) riding an illegally modified bike:
"After Alliston’s conviction, he claimed that he had warned his victim to get out of the way. He wrote online: “I feel bad due to the seriousness of her injuries but I can put my hand up and say this is not my fault. People either think they are invincible or have zero respect for cyclists”, adding that Briggs’s death was hopefully “a lesson learnt on her behalf”."
Similar to the more recent case, this chap saw the victim but rather than, y'know, stop or change direction roared at her to get out of his way and chose to barrel straight into her when she didn't. Note the sneering attitude towards his victim, similar to the Times commenter above.
Last word to the widower of the 2016 victim:
"Briggs’s widower, Matt, who has campaigned for pedestrian safety ever since the court case following his wife’s death, has pressed for causing death or serious injury by dangerous or careless cycling to be incorporated into the Road Traffic Act.....
.....In 2016, he said, he was told by the cycling lobby: “This is not the priority right now, we need infrastructure”. Yet in a programme running from 2016 to 2025, £6 billion has been spent on cycling infrastructure, while there has been zero protection for pedestrians against cyclists. His conclusion, he said, was that the government has run scared from the cycling lobby."
