YOU report (Examiner February 1) on the tragic events at Dronfield where a cyclist was knocked down and killed by a local van driver, at a roundabout, notoriously unhealthy places to negotiate by bicycle.
At the inquest, the Deputy North Derbyshire Coroner, Catherine Mason recorded accidental death and went on to observe: “It’s a well-known fact that motorists sometimes don’t see bikes as their mindset is to look for four-wheel vehicles.”
As someone who doesn’t always take to the road using the required four-wheel vehicle, I find these comments breathtaking.
Ms Mason seems to be suggesting we accept that drivers do not need to consider any road user below a certain size. As if size determines importance, when we all know that in reality it usually determines vulnerability and thus a wholly different “mindset” is required.
Unfortunately the Great British driving public do not, and never will, have the mindset enjoyed by our European counterparts, where two wheeled travel is not a constant scrape with death, it is a joy.
Andy Whitworth
Longwood
