"drivers to be blamed for all cyclist collisions" proposal

[Johnny Canuck3]

Surely the principle is the same. If a powerful vehicle collides with a pedestrian or cyclist behaving unexpectedly it's because they didn't give them enough room to do so. People, whether they're driving or not, cannot be relied on to always behave in the expected fashion. drivers need to learn to give cyclists room to hit or avoid potholes, have a blowout or simply fall off. Saying 'they shouldn't have done that' doesn't really cut it.

The other day, my kid saw a woman driving her bike without hands, because she was holding bags of groceries. She swerved across the road into the path of a car, which veered and hit a parked car.

Was the car at fault?

 

[newbie]

Disobeying road rules on its own, like, failure to stop at a stop sign, is not a criminal offence, at least not in this country.

the way the Highway Code is framed here is that some provisions are highlighted as being backed by statute as criminal offences, including Rule 109 , stopping at traffic lights.

The other day, my kid saw a woman driving her bike without hands, because she was holding bags of groceries. She swerved across the road into the path of a car, which veered and hit a parked car.

Was the car at fault?

(as with most or all of the examples people keep coming up with) the cyclist was obviously disobeying the rules of the road irresponsibly or recklessly, and thus bears a heavy responsibility. In this case it sounds like she was trying to get a Darwin award.

But that doesn't necessarily absolve the car driver. Were they maintaining a proper lookout, had they put themselves in a position to deal with unexpected behaviour by a vulnerable road user? Personally, if I saw someone cycling like that I'd slow down, just in case.

I think it's worth asking if a different approach by the car driver could have changed the course of events. In many cases (though not necessarily this one), it could. What can be done to persuade drivers that protecting other, less powerful, road users trumps all other considerations, including getting to their destination on time or demanding equal/greater rights in going for a gap?

The HC starts "The most vulnerable road users are pedestrians, particularly children, older or disabled people, cyclists, motorcyclists and horse riders. It is important that all road users are aware of the Code and are considerate towards each other. This applies to pedestrians as much as to drivers and riders." This proposal strengthens that by stressing the primacy of protecting those people.