In the news

Police test video shot in Tesco car park shows fixed wheel bike with front brakes could stop in 3.2metres

Court has heard accused Alliston - whose bike did not have brakes - saw pedestrian Mrs Briggs at least 6.65metres away

Doing it is putting ones own life at risk so the prosecution argument
for manslaughter to me implies that anyone riding brakless within the
"not applicable to non motorised traffic" speed limit is seeking to
hurt themselves and others incessantly. In that kind of an argument if
he listens to a lot of emo music sounds like it might be relevant.

This is wrong in law. The prosecution only needs to satisfy the jury that he was reckless as to any injury resulting from his actions, not that he was reckless as to whether anyone could be killed.

I just moved on from your reasonable theoretical question to suggest another one.

There's also the issue as to whether he actually attempted to slow down at all.

Prices for dia compe clamp-ons must be surging atm... From my own biased and subjective pov there's still a very slight difference between taking off a brake that was already installed and drilling vintage track forks (not that it matters in anyway in the context of such a tragedy)

Maybe it's the wording, but it seems to have gotten people's backs up.

Thanks. Justice system isn't my thing. That just looks wrong next to an 1861 charge that an 18 year old might reasonably think means cycling like a dumpling. Sorry, Driving. Are we really divers of bikes not cyclists in law?

I think the not wanting to self harm thing is still valid, helmet. We all have to be responsible for our own actions and stepping out in to busy road without giving it enough respect is reckless.

The court heard that Alliston was doing between 10mph and 14mph as he tried to avoid the collision.

Suggesting he scrubbed between 4 and 8 mph in 18ft. Somebody needs to do more squats.

Prison gym time coming up?

Don't forget he need some reaction time too 2.3 seconds for your average driver.

I'd be quite pleased to pull off a 12 metre skid. *

(* where safe and legal etc and so on.)

Gamble says anything up to five seconds to do something to avoid the
child who runs into the road is fine.

The Michael Mason case:

http://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/duncandollimore/mason-verdict

Some hint here of what the legal defence may be:

Mr Wyeth suggested that Alliston had the right of way as the lights on the stretch of Old Street were green.
And Mrs Briggs could have avoided danger by using a pedestrian crossing less than 10 metres away.
Mr Small agreed.
When asked if Mrs Briggs was looking at her mobile phone when she stepped into the road, the accident investigator said he could not tell "one way or the other" as she was partly obscured on the CCTV by a parked lorry.

One of my setups is brakeless. That wont be changing anytime soon.

Who did they get to ride the track bike for the testing, it's hardly a fair comparison if they've put your average police cyclist on the bike and asked them to stop it.

Yeah, the I've got mad fixie skilz defence

If this copper is travelling at 18mph or 8M every second and he can stop dead in 3.2M he's stopped dead in < half a second ? I think i need new brakes.

It's made me think to say the least.
In the most selfish possible sense if this guy's bike had a brake fitted and he had been unable to use it b/c he needed to change hand position etc, it would be tragic however more black and white in a court of law and would serve as self preservation in terms of him not getting a prison sentence.

Edit: how would this be different if he'd had a brake and didn't use it? - Is the question I'm asking

Gamble says anything up to five seconds to do something to avoid the

child who runs into the road is fine.
The Michael Mason case:

http://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/duncandoll­imore/mason-verdict

Mrs Briggs stepped into the road 3.8 seconds before the crash, Mr Small said.

Well, case closed, the defendant only had 3.8 second to react and stop in this case. Sounds like a front brake is moot point.

Just imagine if the deceased's family googled the case and came across this discussion…

Gamble is a copper, I should have pointed out. Crash investigator.

Additionally, according to Gamble, the lack of reflective clothing “could affect reaction times”

They'd hopefully be impressed by the overall level of respect and lack of vile remarks or name calling that usually accompany online discussions of tragedies.

V true, for a very impassioned debate there has been remarkably little name calling and Godwin's law not been activated.

Now we're on to whipskidzz:

Referring to Alliston's previous work, his lawyer hypothesised: "I'm an experienced courier. I've got two years' experience as a courier running around central London.
"I've been riding fixed wheel bikes since 2014 and whilst the bike is new to me, I'm very familiar with road bikes without front brakes.
"Would that put me in a better position to navigate hazards than a serving police officer?"
The witness said there would not be much difference without brakes.
Mr Wyeth said: "We have seen velodromes and seasoned athletes. One way the fixed wheel bikes can be brought to a stop involves getting up out of the seat and down pressure on pedals to get that kinetic energy to come to a sharper halt than just a free wheel."
He asked if Alliston could be seen doing just that, the Police Constable said he did not recall the defendant rising in his seat.

If you want to stop quickly you don't get out the saddle, that just makes the skid longer, you just wrench the pedals backwards.