Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Who's to blame?

I came across this article about a tragic accident in England involving a careless pedestrian and e-cyclist.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-51647068


In short a cyclist was riding an e-bike at high speed and a pedestrian stepped out in front without due attention. He hit and killed her while suffering no notable injury himself. Despite the existence of CCTV footage the article does not specify how fast he was travelling. It implies he was travelling between 15 and 30 mph.

It seems to me both parties are at fault but the bulk of the blame lies with the pedestrian. Would we be having this conversation if she had stepped in front a motor scooter doing, say, 25 mph? On the other hand the driver of a motor scooter has had training and passed a test. E-bikes need no training or license to operate. I can see a good case for requiring training and licensing just like a motor scooter. Just because it's powered by electricity instead of gasoline makes no difference. I still need a license to drive a Tesla!

I am appalled the rider left the scene, though. I hope they nail him hard for that at least.

Update 3/2/2020: The rider was cleared of all charges. Probably correct although I'm surprised he wasn't charged with leaving the scene of an accident or driving without a license. I wonder if there will be a civil claim.

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