G'day Bob,



14 Feb 97 14:50, Bob Lawrence wrote to Rod Gasson:



 PE>> Any time you get out from under your bed and venture outside,

 PE>> you decide that the risk of losing your life is not as great as

 PE>> the convenience you get of being able to go to movies etc.



 RG>> Risking your own life is one thing. Risking the lives of others

 RG>> is a whole new ballgame.



 RG>> As a bike rider, my greatest fear isn't when I'm riding, but

 RG>> when I'm stopped at traffic lights and there's a car behind me.

 RG>> This is when I'm most vulnerable. If the cars brakes don't

 RG>> work, and ploughs into me I'm totally rooted.. Either run over

 RG>> by the car itself, or pushed into the oncoming traffic...

 RG>> neither is very nice.



 BL> Hi Rod,

 BL>         this was the reason I finally sold the bike and kept safe

 BL> inside my tin can: car drivers. A bike rider is so vulnerable to

 BL> dickheads in cars, either shaving you in your lane, slipping past as

 BL> if you're not there and then braking hard so you run into them, or

 BL> simply missing sight of you and leaving you to dodge them as best you

 BL> can.



I consider this as "acceptable risk" and for the most part I can take

steps to minimise such risks (pulling up between cars at the lights

is one such example.. I've never yet seen a car go sidewise under

these conditions).  However, when stopped at traffic lights (with

no cars to shelter between) there is nothing I can do to protect

myself from the cars coming from behind...  and when I realise that

PaulE can't be the only dickhead that thinks its safe to drive without

brakes it does start to make being on the bike being beyond acceptable

risk.. It *will* be a dickhead like Paul that finally wipes me out..

and I won't even have the satisfaction that he'd have a guilty

conscience over it. :-(



Cheers,

Rod



___ QWKRR128 V4.50 [F]



--- FMail 0.94