2008-11-08 - Rider Down, Oxford Street

great to hear you're ok, amy.

ok, now that we know that amy is ok and can all breathe easily again...

Now that we know Amy is ok I will explain. You use the term RLJ so you must be familiar with the debate. One point, often made, is that jumping red lights is not necessarily the same as dangerous riding.

often true, but it is illegal and does increase the risk. in this case it sounds like the original information was incomplete and the driver was at least partially at fault, but if a rider is at fault then a rider is at fault. sorry if that sounds insensitive to you, but it's true. this accident has happened. if other riders see this and realise the consequences of poor decisions on a bike, and it helps prevents a future accident, then i'm willing to look a bit insensitive to help reinforce the message to be safe.

Had Amy been seriously injured, or worse, your contribution would have been quite offensively ill judged. It just sounded tactless, insensitive and out of place.

Also I don't really think any of us need 'reminding' to ride safe.
When accidents are reported on here I think it's best not to enter in to any speculation or discussion of general safety issues until the facts are known.
Iam sure you meant well and are sincere in your concern but I stand by what I said.

there are many many inexperienced riders reading this forum who i think do need reminding. i see so many cyclists do ridiculously dangerous things every day, the more people read about the consequences of making poor decisions on the road, the better IMHO.

i'm equally sure that you are sincere in your views as i am, we just seem to have a slight difference of opinion over this. you cherrypicked part of my original post to dissect, but i repeatedly and sincerely expressed my heartfelt concern for amy's health. i think it's unfair to accuse me of gross insensitivity over something you just disagree with.
maybe it's my antipodean nature to call a spade a spade, but i have strong reasons for my beliefs, it's not just that i'm an unthinking cunt.

anyway, nobody was seriously hurt this time, and that's great news. sorry to get all bikeradar.