Flecc I shall now refer to you as super-flecc, as you are clearly that much better than everyone else at riding that you will never have an accident
This is just like what came first, the chicken or the egg? I mean ok, its obviously better to not have an accident(incident, whatever you like to call it) in the first place, but seriously no one can guarantee that. So then is it better to prepare for the accident if the worst happens? I think the answer is both. There's no reason why you should have to pick?!?!?There doesn't have to be a primary or secondary.
Also, please can you tell me super-flecc what you would do in this particular situation to avoid this acci-incident.....
Super-flecc is cycling down a cyclepath, off the main road, during busy traffic, his sonar is switched on, vehicle speed sensors are activated, when all of a sudden a driver looses control and skids off the road onto the path from behind. Now god forbid this ever happened, but how would your super-abilities be able to stop you getting hit? Im not having a dig here, I seriously want to know, as there is clearly something you are doing that no one else is capable of here.
Do I detect some sarcasm here.
Seriously though, the answer lies in your first sentence. It's because that is completely the opposite of what I think that I am more successful at avoiding accidents than most. I've been driving for over 56 years but I still say I'm a learner, and likewise after 62 years of cycling I say the same, never regarding myself in any way as an expert. Something I've often been known to say is that for every one thing I know, there are an infinite number of things I don't.
The fact that you don't accept there needs to be a primary and secondary shows that you are more vulnerable, for primary and secondary are the universally accepted fundamentals of dealing with accident possibilities.
As you rightly say, no-one can guarantee not to have an accident, least of all me since I'm in no way a super being, just a learner at everything, but the accident possibility is not the start point of my thinking. How to avoid having it is.
And that leads me to your proposed scenario. How I would avoid it is simple, the answer being in my first post in this thread where I said this:
" - - having a good mirror and developing the skills of getting the best from that. Thinking out all the possibilities for both danger and avoiding actions with the ability and readiness to act accordingly in emergencies."
You see, both to the rear and the front I continuously monitor what's happening, so in that event I'd do what was necessary as usual, go into the hedge or swerve back out, our throw myself off the bike. Of course it's conceivable that it could be a car doing that in close proximity in a moment when I didn't see it and then I could get knocked off, but again that's not the start point of my thinking, fatalism is excluded for me.
A further illustration. Very early in my driving career I three accidents, two very minor and one just a little worse. In all three cases I was ruled completely blameless and the third parties paid out in full. After the last of those I did some serious thinking and decided that I was not blameless at all. Yes, the third party in each case initiated actions leading to the accidents, but I was a part to the actual accident, and in each case with more forethought and skill I could have diminished or avoided the accident altogether. That therefore made me in part responsible, and it's a responsibility I've accepted ever since.
And thats why I've never been hurt in well over half a century of driving, motor cycling and cycling, not because I'm an expert but because I'm always ready to learn more towards my inadequate knowledge and act upon it.
I leave others to think they're expert drivers, just as I leave them to have the accidents they think inevitable.
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