The big question is why wasn't the cyclist looking past his front wheel.

Presumably for this NG, the big question is can you do a rear screen on a golf DIY, or would it be easier to replace the entire hatch?

It is unlikely the damage is confined to glass. I hope the cyclist has insurance.

Like this story:

An inquest into the death of Norman Brooks, of North Street, Leigh-on-Sea, heard that the pensioner had failed to give way at a crossroads before emerging into the main carriageway on his Trek bike and being thrown across the bonnet of the car.

Hedges and a dip in the road obscured visibility, meaning that Mr Cooper, driving the Mercedes C200 had "no realistic opportunity to avoid the collision", according to accident investigators.

Once again, is there a car maintenance relevance here?

None at all, I accidentally posted the original here, immediately cancelled it, but that never works. With the dearth of posts in this group it has generated more traffic than anything else for a good while. But I do apologise for posting it at all.

What's that MrC? 'Dangerous driving, driving without due care ...', after all, if you are driving sufficiently fast that you can't avoid *any* obstacle you aren't driving responsibly eh? ;-)

And I'm guessing the car was traveling pretty fast as it was said the cyclist, "Norman Brooks failed to give way at the junction and it seems the cyclist was not aware of the Mercedes because of the restricted view".

So the car entered an area at speed that had a 'restricted view' for anyone trying to cross the road at that point (say a cyclist or person pushing a pram) and just ran into them? I mean, that could have been bright sunshine or oncoming car headlights or any other 'excuse' eh.

So, better signs needed ... lower speed limit for *motor vehicles* on that bit of road, a speed camera ... I doubt most parents pushing prams would be wearing hi viz gear (like the cyclist was).

"The Mercedes driver applied braking and some steering. The evidence is that he swerved and tried to avoid the incident".

I wonder if that was an example of the 'target fixation' I mentioned elsewhere in this thread?

Cheers, T i m

p.s. Jibing aside, the above simply reflects my point that if you experience the 'buttery effect' at it's worst then this is what can happen. Had the car been going slower, had the driver reacted differently (swerved in the opposite direction maybe), had the cyclist been going a bit faster, had the car been a sports car with better brakes, had the cyclist left home 30s earlier or later ... he may still be alive today?

The real / big (genuine) question is 'what changes could be made to minimise the risk of that happening again in the future' ... ?

But to be fair, whilst it may have been posted here in error, it does have nearly as much 'car related' content as some other posts as many aren't discussing 'car maintenance' at all (and especially if it hadn't been posted as a rant against cyclists etc). ;-)

'Think bike' ... or 'Speed kills' if nothing else (said as a pedestrian, cyclist (solo / tandem), motorcycle rider and car driver).

Cheers, T i m

I blame the car driver as much as the cyclist, but, technically, according to the inquest, it was the cyclist's failure to give way which is blamed for the crash. (for some reason I cannot see the post that prompted me to point out this story, there was one, but it seems to have disappeared)

In article , T i m scribeth thus

Well at least this ng hasn't gone of on BREXIT issues as yet;)...

I don't think that'll fly everyone. A Two part test taken at a set interval perhaps for younger new drivers, and re tests every 3 years or so for say the over 60's or 70's

For older drivers, I think the best system would be that once you are 70, you have to take an assessment within the next 12 months. If the assessment indicates your driving is below par, you must re-take it as many time as you like, but can continue to drive in the meantime. You could undertake training if needed.

After 12 months your licence would be suspended unless you have had a satisfactory assessment. After that, you would need to take a full test as if you were a new driver in order to regain a licence.

I say that as someone who is 70.

Chris

Quite, however, had the cyclist been pushing his bike or just been a 'pedestrian', how might things have been different (at all)?

In that case ... is it like 'power gives way to sail' and I'm not sure there is a crime as 'jaywalking' in this country, whose fault would it have been then?

As I said, I would be more interested in seeing if some good could come out of the whole sorry mess than pointing fingers as such.

Haven't I seen 'Caution, queuing cars ahead' or 'Blind entrance' type signs? I wonder if there is one more suitable that could 'help' at this location?

Cheers, T i m

I'll bet there was advanced warning of a junction already in place.

Most probably don't, but they rarely, if ever, actually drive near them, modern cars are capable of so much more than 'ordinary' drivers experience.

I think you are right.

I took my mates Mini Cooper round a rounabout the other day at a speed (within the limit etc) that would have probably rolled the Meriva and it still felt like it was on rails!

I was quite comfortable with driving his SL63 AMG and *not* pressing the AMG button though. ;-)

I'm not sure if I'll be allowed to test my limits (let alone the cars) when I take up my 60'th birthday present from my daughter and that's an 'Extended Rally Experience' at Brands? Anyone here done it?

Cheers, T i m

When I moved here a few years go, I was driving along a country road that has one of those double 90-degree jogs. I approached the first one far too fast, not anticipating the sharpness of it, and was amazed that my car, a Renault Laguna Estate, just took the bend without any real drama. It made up for my mistake, all I had to do was steer it in the right direction. I took the second bend far more sedately.

And that's the thing isn't it, it's at times like that (even a competent / experienced driver) actually finds out things like how good the tyres actually are.

I did exactly that with an old Rover 218SD I bought off a mate for £100 and when towing our folding caravan (only about 350kg). We had to quickly brake and pull over give way to an oncoming vehicle and the crappy nylon tyres just wanted to go straight on. We changed them as soon (for Avons I think) as we got home and there was a massive difference, especially in wet weather grip. ;-)

As you do. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Why? You got round the first one...

;-)

Chris

Similar thing happened to me once, when driving a customer's car, it had near-new cheapest tyres you could buy, all round, wet grip was close to none, as I found out when a learner car swerved in front of me approaching amber lights and slammed on her brakes. I just slid gently into her with the ABS chattering away, the average car on good tyres would have been able to stop on the handbrake !! Luckily there was only a scratch on the learner's bumper, nothing visible on the customers car, the driving instructor said not to worry and away we went.