LETTER: On highways the race is for survival

Moments after a 50-mile cycle road race, I suffered brain injury. Also, a cycling pal nearly lost a leg.

Both victims of negligent drivers, he would certainly qualify as a para-cyclist.

In both men’s and women’s 100 metres, where Richard Whitehead won bronze and Sophie Kamlish won gold, athletes were disqualified for false starts. No matter that athletes spend years of pain and suffering, false starts aren’t tolerated.

On running tracks and cycling tracks, the race is for medals. On public highways, the race is for survival. Milli-seconds can both win races, and cost lives. If we can have zero tolerance for false starts and drug cheats, why can’t we have zero tolerance of speeding drivers?

To get up to speed, both runners and cyclists have to put lots of power down. The amount of leg power needed to drive wouldn’t burst a balloon. It also requires no effort to stick to speed limits. By ‘injecting’ more fuel than the law allows, speeding drivers should be labelled cheats in the human race, and face the same disqualification as false starting/drug cheating athletes.

The surgery and equipment needed to help disabled athletes is born out of war. In fighting terrorism, the so called civilised world knows no limits to the technology it uses to beat it.

From truthful children, we have proof that speeding drivers terrorise vulnerable road users.

With global warming threatening to ‘kill off’ a great deal of humanity, ie intolerance of immigrants, it’s surely time to unite and become totally intolerant of lawless drivers. In 20mph and 30mph zones, drivers should not be allowed to overtake cyclists who are fit enough to ride at speed limits, any more than 1,000cc motorbikes, at speeding limits, should be overtaken, and certainly not by blue badge holders with disability born out of overeating, smoking and alcohol abuse.

If not for all drivers, speed limiters/black boxes should surely be compulsory for drivers with blue badges. This should surely be fought for by disabled athletes, if not all athletes.

Can I invite the sports world to support both RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims, and Vision Zero?

Allan Ramsay

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