What's the pedestrian doing stepping out into the road infront of a cyclist who's got working lights and is wearing high-visibility clothing? You can go so far towards preventing accidents, but there's nothing to prevent stupidity.
What has any of that got to do with the potential for injury? Even were we to assume that there was no such thing as cyclist error, accidents would still happen.
Everything has potential for causing injury, both to yourself or to others, whether you walk, cycle when 100% sober, cycle after a few drinks, take a taxi, drive when 100% sober, or drive after a few drinks. Thus far, in this country, only the last of these has caused enough damage to result in safety campaigns, noticable social opprobium, etc.
Obviously different people draw the boundary between OK and not OK in different places though.
Personally I've noticed that I seem to be able to cycle while drunk without injuring anyone else, and that the same applies to lots of other people I know; that I do notice when I'm too drunk to cycle safely (in which case I walk); and that I've yet to see any particular evidence to the contrary (e.g. reports of large numbers of accidents caused by inebriated cyclists - or even a single such report, as far as I can recall). So I put it on the "OK" side; I'm curious as to why you're so vehemently anti.
I've yet to see any particular evidence to the contrary
I'm not aware of any figures either. I would assume that the effects on drivers' judgements are duplicated, though, and I'm as reluctant to trust cyclists saying they're safe and unaffected as I would be to agree with a motorist who said the same (of which, of course, there have been a great many).
I'm curious as to why you're so vehemently anti
I think cyclists take a far too lax view of road safety and discipline in this town. I was a regular cyclist for about 20 years before I moved down here, and I'm stunned by what quite a lot of people seem to think is reasonable. The same is true to a certain extent of drivers too, although the difference isn't as great.
I don't want to give the impression that I think cycling is The Problem here - it's not. It's not quite The Solution either, but it's a major part of it. This doesn't mean I don't have opinions about what standards should be kept.
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Everything has potential for causing injury, both to yourself or to others, whether you walk, cycle when 100% sober, cycle after a few drinks, take a taxi, drive when 100% sober, or drive after a few drinks. Thus far, in this country, only the last of these has caused enough damage to result in safety campaigns, noticable social opprobium, etc.
Obviously different people draw the boundary between OK and not OK in different places though.
Personally I've noticed that I seem to be able to cycle while drunk without injuring anyone else, and that the same applies to lots of other people I know; that I do notice when I'm too drunk to cycle safely (in which case I walk); and that I've yet to see any particular evidence to the contrary (e.g. reports of large numbers of accidents caused by inebriated cyclists - or even a single such report, as far as I can recall). So I put it on the "OK" side; I'm curious as to why you're so vehemently anti.
I'm not aware of any figures either. I would assume that the effects on drivers' judgements are duplicated, though, and I'm as reluctant to trust cyclists saying they're safe and unaffected as I would be to agree with a motorist who said the same (of which, of course, there have been a great many).
I'm curious as to why you're so vehemently anti
I think cyclists take a far too lax view of road safety and discipline in this town. I was a regular cyclist for about 20 years before I moved down here, and I'm stunned by what quite a lot of people seem to think is reasonable. The same is true to a certain extent of drivers too, although the difference isn't as great.
I don't want to give the impression that I think cycling is The Problem here - it's not. It's not quite The Solution either, but it's a major part of it. This doesn't mean I don't have opinions about what standards should be kept.
-m-