{"id":9676,"date":"2015-02-13T07:06:12","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T15:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/?p=9676"},"modified":"2017-07-20T20:44:10","modified_gmt":"2017-07-21T03:44:10","slug":"traffic-fatalities-addison-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/traffic-fatalities-addison-lee\/","title":{"rendered":"7-Year-Old Boy on Bike Run Over by Cab Should Have Been More Careful!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture this: seven-year-old Ronan Williams gets a red bike for his birthday. He\u2019s riding it on a sidewalk right outside his own home. A cab driver has been parked half on the sidewalk and suddenly pulls off, clipping Ronan\u2019s bike and sending the little boy flying. The cab driver flees, leaving the crying boy lying half in the road and half on the sidewalk, his new bike on top of him.
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But here\u2019s the really<\/strong> sick part. The story is published in the Edinburgh Evening News<\/em>. Within twenty-four hours there are ninety-four comments on the story \u2013 and many of them blame the little boy<\/strong>! Here are some of the most disgusting comments:<\/p>\n

\u201c… let this be a lesson to the older cyclists who use their bike on the pavement rather than the road where they should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it is illegal to cycle on the footway unless it is a designated cyclepath?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder if the whole area would be in uproar if this boy had struck and injured an OAP (old age pensioner) whilst cycling on the pavement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHas the child looked where he was going before going on his bike?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kid probably wasn’t paying attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be fair, some of\u00a0the posts were more humane. In fact, one of them nails it<\/strong>, in my opinion, when he says:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a thin line between cynicism and unreasonableness<\/strong>, and several people are way on the wrong side of it here. When your immediate reaction to a child injured by a motor vehicle is to suggest reasons why the child might be blamed and the driver exonerated, you need to take a good look at yourself<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed. We do need to take a good look at ourselves. What is wrong<\/strong> with human beings that so many\u00a0of us\u00a0will take the side of an anonymous motorist who flees the scene, rather than the side of an injured child?<\/p>\n

\"Cyclists