Today's Independent

"Phil Clarke" wrote in
How many occurances of wing mirror snapping have
really occured? I think it's an urban myth.

I've tried it (on a scrap car. ) Pop-on mirrors have to be hit
bloody hard, you could only realistically do it with foot or heel of
palm. They tend to have sacrificial tabs in them to avoid damage to door
etc, but they're still tough.

A mirror could be broken away if a moving car clouted a cyclist.

On bolt-on mirrors, nevergonnahappen.

You could thump the mirror off my old car, because the sacrificial
retaining tabs were already broken where someone drove too close & it
was relying on its steel springs.

As a driver I've bust/ had bust for me many wing mirrors by other vehicles.
Never, ever by a cyclist.
Neither have I heard of this happening to other drivers.

--
John Clayton
www.ossettmouldings.com

John Clayton wrote:
"Phil Clarke" wrote in
How many occurances of wing mirror snapping have
really occured? I think it's an urban myth.

I've tried it (on a scrap car. ) Pop-on mirrors have to be hit
bloody hard, you could only realistically do it with foot or heel of
palm. They tend to have sacrificial tabs in them to avoid damage to door
etc, but they're still tough.

A mirror could be broken away if a moving car clouted a cyclist.
On bolt-on mirrors, nevergonnahappen.
You could thump the mirror off my old car, because the sacrificial
retaining tabs were already broken where someone drove too close & it
was relying on its steel springs.

As a driver I've bust/ had bust for me many wing mirrors by other vehicles.
Never, ever by a cyclist.
Neither have I heard of this happening to other drivers.

I've broken a nearside wing mirror off a car that turned left across me.
Sadly the driver had worked out that it really was his fault and driven
off before I realised my wheels were buckled or thought to get his
registration.

(I did have a car with a wing mirror that might have been knocked off by
a cyclist coughing hard in its general direction until I patched the rust
its screws were resting in.)

"vernon" wrote in message


There *are* cyclists who who bring the actvity into disrepute. I am
no saint and have been known to wave a fist or gesticulate

cont. p94

Yeah, but you think Daniel Cadden was bang to rights. I bet you even think
the Winlow Boy did it.

Tim
--
Sent from Birmingham, UK timdunne at blueyonder.co.uk
'God's electrician sparked up the heavens once again, heading northbound
on the 7:10. And the lord said let there be commuters...' - Thea Gilmore
Look, mum, an anorak on a bike! Check out www.nervouscyclist.org

Yeah, but you think Daniel Cadden was bang to rights. I bet you even
think the Winlow Boy did it.

'Winslow', numpty...

Tim
--
Sent from Birmingham, UK timdunne at blueyonder.co.uk
'God's electrician sparked up the heavens once again, heading northbound
on the 7:10. And the lord said let there be commuters...' - Thea Gilmore
Look, mum, an anorak on a bike! Check out www.nervouscyclist.org

"Tim Dunne" wrote in message
. uk...
"vernon" wrote in message


There *are* cyclists who who bring the actvity into disrepute. I am
no saint and have been known to wave a fist or gesticulate

cont. p94

Yeah,

I take it that you agree ;-)

in message , Alan Braggins
') wrote:

John Clayton wrote:

As a driver I've bust/ had bust for me many wing mirrors by other
vehicles. Never, ever by a cyclist.
Neither have I heard of this happening to other drivers.

I've broken a nearside wing mirror off a car that turned left across me.
Sadly the driver had worked out that it really was his fault and driven
off before I realised my wheels were buckled or thought to get his
registration.

I've done the same, but on the offside, when a car in a line of queueing
traffic which I was passing on the offside decided to do a U turn without
signalling. No damage to me or the bike, but I'd put myself at least 60%
to blame for that one. The driver did not stop.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

I'm fed up with Life 1.0. I never liked it much and now it's getting
me down. I think I'll upgrade to MSLife 97 -- you know, the one that
comes in a flash new box and within weeks you're crawling with bugs.

In article ,
(Toby Sleigh) wrote:

http://news.independent.co.uk/people...cle1953681.ece

From a short interview with AS Byatt.

"wish people would take more notice of...
Cyclists. I really hate them. I wish they would not be so
self-righteous and realise they are a danger to pedestrians. I wish
cyclists would not vindictively snap off wing mirrors on cars when
they were trying to cross in front of the car at a danger to
motorists and pedestrians.

To be fair, what is published in newspapers often diverges significantly
from what was actually said, even in the so-called quality press.

David Lloyd wrote:

"Tony Raven" wrote in message
...
Toby Sleigh wrote on 04/11/2006 14:10 +0100:
http://news.independent.co.uk/people...cle1953681.ece

From a short interview with AS Byatt.

"wish people would take more notice of...
Cyclists. I really hate them. I wish they would not be so self-righteous
and
realise they are a danger to pedestrians. I wish cyclists would not
vindictively snap off wing mirrors on cars when they were trying to
cross in
front of the car at a danger to motorists and pedestrians.


The long arm of the cyclist - able to snap off wing mirrors when
crossing in front of a car ;-)

I'm not a book burning facist, but I feel a strong exception coming on. I
hate people telling me how self-righteous I am, especially people I've not
met. How do they know my opinions? I think this 'self-righteous' label is
applied to us by people who are guilty at not helping the situation. If we
can't ride, there will be more cars for mothers to loose their 11-year-old
sons to.

How many occurances of wing mirror snapping have really occured? I think
it's an urban myth.

A friend of mine was taken to court for snapping both wing mirrors off
a motor car. His defence was going to be that the car menaced him and
was lucky to lose only its mirrors. His lawyer managed to persuade him
that it would be better to plead guilty and apologise.

--
Chris Malcolm DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

On 05/11/2006 14:15, Chris Malcolm said,

A friend of mine was taken to court for snapping both wing mirrors off
a motor car. His defence was going to be that the car menaced him and
was lucky to lose only its mirrors.

Not perhaps the best defence :-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Paul Boyd wrote:
On 05/11/2006 14:15, Chris Malcolm said,
A friend of mine was taken to court for snapping both wing mirrors off
a motor car. His defence was going to be that the car menaced him and
was lucky to lose only its mirrors.

Not perhaps the best defence :-)

"The car got too close, I instinctively threw out my arm to defend
myself, and knocked off the wing mirror" ?

Has an element of truth, but can hardly explain knocking off both mirrors!

IMO a driver who comes within arm's reach of a cyclist is deliberately
endangering both the cyclist and his wing mirror. In these
circumstances it may sometimes be appropriate to hit the car, but
never to damage it.

Colin McKenzie

--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at
the population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as
walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.