tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post4481855926854644685..comments2024-03-18T23:52:31.939-04:00Comments on The Invisible Visible Man: A chance remark, a horror attack and why cars and violence are so closely linkedInvisible Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15942359504874275065noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-55794520026328274802017-04-15T13:48:50.902-04:002017-04-15T13:48:50.902-04:00Ever notice how the speed limit is 50 MPH+ on the ...Ever notice how the speed limit is 50 MPH+ on the residential side streets, in the alley, and through the parking lots, same as on the main drags?Tal Hartsfeldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05077424958233740898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-87613606395503242102017-04-04T01:20:07.042-04:002017-04-04T01:20:07.042-04:00Dear Robert,
I believe that Stevie was not referr...Dear Robert,<br /><br />I believe that Stevie was not referring to "deliberate malice," but to a belief that one's political goals are more important than human life. <br /><br />British planners know full well that implementing their plans will result in a large number of dead people. But they do it anyway. <br /><br />Consider the following two scenarios:<br /><br />1. A British government organization deliberately chooses not to use the latest Dutch traffic designs; each person involved knows full well that this decision will result in several deaths.<br /><br />2. A terrorist organization decides to plant a bomb; each person involved knows full well that this decision will result in several deaths.<br /><br />Quite frankly I see little moral or ethical difference. In each case, the people involved see attaining the goals of their organization as more important than human life.Kevin Lovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13186428862833389619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-86009369538474265982017-04-03T14:33:43.215-04:002017-04-03T14:33:43.215-04:00With respect to the 2nd Amendment (or any other pa...With respect to the 2nd Amendment (or any other part of the US Constitution): our founding fathers, in their wisdom, provided a means to do that. Hint, it is the same means by which Prohibition was repealed, not by chipping around the edges with activist judges. I'm heartened that your comment cites the 2nd as a "repeal" issue rather than as a simple making rules one. That being said, I'm not sure it is a good idea for even "well regulated milita" to have atomic weapons or even biological WMD. In between we reach some "gray" area (grey to you).Steve Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13650405341304401203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-39800821442431713382017-04-03T08:02:37.321-04:002017-04-03T08:02:37.321-04:00The bottom line, of course, is the little girl sho...The bottom line, of course, is the little girl should have been safe walking on the pavement. The danger was introduced by the van driver. Last Thursday I was walking up Crwys Road (busy, lots of shops and people) in Cardiff and in front of me a small child was walking slightly ahead of her mum. A large parcel delivery van pulled up and mounted the pavement ahead of us, swung across almost the pavement's full width and then parked halfway across it. He was no further than 10 feet from the little girl and clearly couldn't give a rat's arse about anyone apart from his urgent need to deliver his goods. The similarities between this incident and the one that killed the little girl struck me hard at the time. I was tempted to say something - I sometimes do - but was in no mood for the verbal assault that would undoubtedly have been flung my way. <br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />Russell Russell Dobbinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-41651061611113391392017-04-02T12:15:01.758-04:002017-04-02T12:15:01.758-04:00Russell,
Thanks for your comment. I agree that on...Russell,<br /><br />Thanks for your comment. I agree that one gains an entirely different perspective on the state of the roads when one tries as a cyclist to share them with drivers. Even though standards in the UK are far higher than in many other countries, people behave shockingly dangerously. Future generations will struggle to understand how anyone put up with it.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Invisible.Invisible Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15942359504874275065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-20213033721752791362017-04-02T12:03:25.700-04:002017-04-02T12:03:25.700-04:00Steve,
Thanks, as ever, for your comment. I'd...Steve,<br /><br />Thanks, as ever, for your comment. I'd certainly like to think it would be very hard for anyone who's on the no-fly list to rent a car. In common with many of the recent horrors, the Westminster attack was carried out with a rented vehicle. It could be challenging, I imagine, to prevent anyone who hasn't been convicted of a crime from ever getting into a vehicle. I certainly think it should be harder to get a driver's license in the US. I say that as someone who's sat both a UK and US driving test: http://invisiblevisibleman.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/a-driving-test-mistaken-questions-and.html<br /><br />On the constitutional point, meanwhile, I think you're slightly underselling your own country. While I would gladly repeal the 2nd amendment, it seems to me that your checks and balances are currently doing a pretty good job of reining in Donald Trump's extremes. In the UK, by contrast, we're in the course of blowing up a key cornerstone of our constitution and there seems to be very little anyone can do to limit the damage.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Invisible.Invisible Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15942359504874275065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-66047822064297444842017-04-02T11:32:09.325-04:002017-04-02T11:32:09.325-04:00Andy,
Yes - I was aware of that and didn't ge...Andy,<br /><br />Yes - I was aware of that and didn't get into it because it's just a piece of stupidity by a man who was once very sensible but seems to have gone a bit off track lately. I decided to concentrate on the real issues instead.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Invisible.Invisible Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15942359504874275065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-66688682131728314442017-04-02T11:28:22.407-04:002017-04-02T11:28:22.407-04:00Wanderlust,
Thank you for your comment.
I think ...Wanderlust,<br /><br />Thank you for your comment.<br /><br />I think I've already discussed this issue with you on Twitter. While I don't like Britain's high degree of car dependence and don't like many of the attitudes that it encourages, I'll reiterate two points I made on Twitter in response to this neat piece of equivalence.<br /><br />The first point is that, as someone who lived four years in the United States, I can assure you that Americans express their rage with cars even more than people in the UK. The US last year suffered more than 40,000 road deaths, compared with 1,810 in the UK. Since the US's population - around 320m - is around five times the UK's 65m, that's a far higher death rate per head of population than the UK's. It's also a far higher death rate per mile driven.<br /><br />The other point is that, while the UK's record isn't as good as it should be, particularly for vulnerable road users, the UK still boasts some of the world's safest roads. I wish, of course, that the UK's roads were safer. But it's also worth bearing in mind that the UK's roads are, shockingly, relatively civilised compared with those of somewhere like Germany or, worse still, eastern Europe and the developing world.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Invisible.Invisible Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15942359504874275065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-71030843451292657232017-04-02T11:12:45.218-04:002017-04-02T11:12:45.218-04:00paz,
It so happens that I'm very familiar wit...paz,<br /><br />It so happens that I'm very familiar with Neston, since my wife's parents live on the outskirts of the town, and I know exactly where that awful incident happened.<br /><br />I'll repeat the point that I've made in response to another post. I believe there are terrible shortcomings in how road death cases are prosecuted. I wasn't in court for the case in question so don't know all the evidence, nor why the prosecutors didn't pursue the lines that Russell has already outlined. It's clear, nevertheless, that the system should do a much better job of instilling in drivers a full sense of their responsibility for their vehicles' terrible killing power. Prosecutors should be more forthright in pursuing cases against drivers who fail to recognise that responsibility. Most important of all, of course, is that roads should be better designed to guard against the risk of this kind of tragedy, which is all too predictable when drivers are routinely allowed to park on both sides of a street that's too narrow for it.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Invisible.Invisible Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15942359504874275065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-72352918803826973642017-04-02T11:01:08.566-04:002017-04-02T11:01:08.566-04:00The English (and Scots) legal systems certainly ha...The English (and Scots) legal systems certainly have many shortcomings when it comes to the treatment of death on the roads. There is certainly scope for improving its handling of such issues. I'm not sure it makes sense, however, to point to two individual, extreme cases and suggest that they paint a picture of a system that justifies killing.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Invisible.Invisible Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15942359504874275065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-19156719238866951812017-04-02T10:56:48.243-04:002017-04-02T10:56:48.243-04:00Anonymous,
Thanks for the comment.
I was careful...Anonymous,<br /><br />Thanks for the comment.<br /><br />I was careful in my use of language. A single institution in Sparkbrook - the Darul Ihsaan Islamic and Fitness Centre - has been at the centre of two separate terror trials in the last five years. One trial led to the conviction of six men planning a gun and bomb attack on an EDL march in 2012, while the second led to the conviction of 11 men in 2013 on charges of planning a rucksack bombing campaign against UK targets. I don't think these are the only recent convictions of people associated with Sparkbrook. So, while it's clear that the vast majority of Sparkbrook's Muslim population finds the beliefs and actions of such people abhorrent, the area has produced more than its fair share of violent would-be attackers.<br /><br />You also queried the use of the term Jihadi. I'm aware, of course, that jihad means only "struggle" in Arabic. But Jihadi is by now an accepted term to describe those who view violence as an integral part of their religious obligation to jihad and who seek to use violence to further their islamist ideology. While any term to describe ideological violence inevitably falls short, I prefer this one to loaded terms such as terrorist and I certainly prefer it to ones that link the islamists' ideology to islam as a whole, rather than strictly to their marginal and tendentious interpretation of the religion.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Invisible.Invisible Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15942359504874275065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-29769476315588053752017-04-02T10:46:31.208-04:002017-04-02T10:46:31.208-04:00Stevie,
Thanks for the comment. The ultimate purp...Stevie,<br /><br />Thanks for the comment. The ultimate purpose of this blog is to reflect on the moral philosophy issues behind use of the roads. It makes no sense at all to me to claim that poor road design and a deliberate, ideologically-driven attack are the "exact same thing". The UK has one of the world's best road safety records. It's deeply regrettable that the record for vulnerable road users is far less good than that of many other countries. But, while I wish that record were better, the failure stems from nothing like the desire to kill for ideological reasons that seems to have driven Khalid Masood. I've laid out in the piece some of the many ways that I think British planners have got these issues terribly wrong over the last 70 years. But it helps no-one, it seems to me, to pretend that there's deliberate malice of the kind you suggest.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Invisible.Invisible Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15942359504874275065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-27606170991975067052017-04-02T10:39:43.710-04:002017-04-02T10:39:43.710-04:00Chris,
Thank for your the comment.
The point abo...Chris,<br /><br />Thank for your the comment.<br /><br />The point about future autonomous vehicles is an interesting - and I think rather fraught - one. It's certainly true that autonomous vehicles will be programmed to drive more safely than human drivers. They'll pay attention and keep working reliably in a way that humans don't. It's noteworthy, for example, that the death toll in last year's Berlin Christmas Market attack was limited because the truck had an automatic braking system that stopped the driver from carrying out more than a small fraction of the attack he apparently attended. But I was at a meeting recently where someone raised the possibility that autonomous vehicles might in future be used to deliver car bombs. So I suspect that, as in many fields, there will be swings as well as roundabouts as this technology matures.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Invisible.Invisible Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15942359504874275065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-69399445150455887312017-04-02T10:35:56.416-04:002017-04-02T10:35:56.416-04:00Charles,
Thank you for your kind words. We're...Charles,<br /><br />Thank you for your kind words. We're all indebted to people like you who've been looking at this issue since it was even less fashionable than it is now.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Invisible.Invisible Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15942359504874275065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-20606873249143479132017-03-29T11:29:39.191-04:002017-03-29T11:29:39.191-04:00My love affair with the car ended seven years ago ...My love affair with the car ended seven years ago when I took up cycling to commute to work. The fog lifted and I began to see the thousands of cars parked up and littering our streets and dominating our roads. I cannot bear to drive in the city now and despair at the poor standards of driving shown by far too many drivers. I used to think these drivers were out to get me but now realise most are simply distracted by the toys in their car, mobile phone or desire to get somewhere quickly. They do not see me because they are not paying attention. I am not on their radar at all. Russell Dobbinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-68460930413179878392017-03-29T11:14:42.754-04:002017-03-29T11:14:42.754-04:00That's a very sad, and sobering, story. What&#...That's a very sad, and sobering, story. What's clear is that the driver was driving dangerously by the very act of using the pavement as a convenient place to park his van. Pavement parking is, as we know, all too common in the UK and seen as perfectly acceptable by many drivers. So I'm not surprised the jury saw nothing wrong in it and found him not guilty. They completely missed the point - or chose to miss the point - that he shouldn't have been driving on the pavement in the first place. If he'd parked properly - on the road - the little girl would not have been killed. Thoughts to her and her family. Russell Dobbinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-91295095653135570452017-03-28T12:00:41.039-04:002017-03-28T12:00:41.039-04:00Your post is timely, though forlorn. My wife think...Your post is timely, though forlorn. My wife thinks my suggestion of a "not allowed in cars" list (starting with those on the no fly list), along with extreme vetting of drivers, will not fly politically, even though riding/driving in cars is a privileged subset of the right to travel, unlike the explicit, stated guarantee of the right to bear arms. Certainly my suggestions might reduce car-related violence, which would make all of us safer. You in the UK don't benefit from a proper, written constitution. We in the US do, though it's more ignored than observed...Steve Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13650405341304401203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-84778848198117132022017-03-27T09:44:48.009-04:002017-03-27T09:44:48.009-04:00Have you seen this? Apparently, the cycle lanes ar...Have you seen this? Apparently, the cycle lanes are to blame for the incident.<br /><br />http://www.bikebiz.com/index.php/news/read/peer-blames-cycle-lane-on-westminster-bridge-for-terrorist-attack/020958Andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07221537769343338514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-27361101535314179422017-03-27T08:10:26.740-04:002017-03-27T08:10:26.740-04:00An excellent read. I've recently come to the v...An excellent read. I've recently come to the view that, where America has guns, we have the car as our outlet for primordial rage. Wanderlusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088057232917167663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-38501764891612363372017-03-27T08:10:25.955-04:002017-03-27T08:10:25.955-04:00The very same day as the London terror attack, a d...The very same day as the London terror attack, a driver on the Wirral was cleared of death by dangerous (and careless) driving, even though he drove his truck onto a pavement, killing a four-year-old child. Dehumanising indeed.<br />http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/delivery-man-cleared-causing-neston-12781152pazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05046465906739615327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-71755275372115248172017-03-27T06:52:25.976-04:002017-03-27T06:52:25.976-04:00...and our legal system appears to justify the kil......and our legal system appears to justify the killing of others with motor vehicles by punishing people more for damaging a van wing mirror (£800 fine) than for running someone over with a car (£30).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-15758776303355693072017-03-27T06:09:08.597-04:002017-03-27T06:09:08.597-04:00Good read, thanks, though "... poorer areas s...Good read, thanks, though "... poorer areas such as Sparkbrook that have produced many of Birmingham’s jihadis ..." reads as being harsh on Birmingham which isn't actually a 'jihadi-factory' - and doesn't 'Jihad' mean only 'Struggle' rather than the more ominous connotation it picks up along the way? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-2535199129406786762017-03-27T05:58:34.334-04:002017-03-27T05:58:34.334-04:00There is a closer link between Masood's act an...There is a closer link between Masood's act and the daily death toll on our roads than you care to admit. Someone *has* decided that vulnerable road users are expendable - the government and other authorities who persistently refuse to make roads safe for us.<br /><br />So it's the exact same thing, just a different ideology - the primacy of motor transport, 'smoothing traffic flow' and the willingness to ignore the danger it poses.StevieDeenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-55120335267608649422017-03-27T04:31:09.451-04:002017-03-27T04:31:09.451-04:00Compelling thoughts. In the past there was no prac...Compelling thoughts. In the past there was no practical solution to this dilemma. With the advent of computer-controlled cars, a solution may be on the horizon.<br />@cwhope@cwhopehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15089965957761683040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002171964909690430.post-23788817481380253412017-03-26T22:05:28.207-04:002017-03-26T22:05:28.207-04:00I'm grateful for this post. As one who for a q...I'm grateful for this post. As one who for a quarter-century has campaigned against killer-driving, I've wrestled with the simultaneous similarities and differences between "normal bad driving" that kills innocents and "deliberate premeditated terror attacks" carried out with cars. This post is helping me understand the likenesses and the distinctions, without trivializing any of the horrors. <br /><br />I tweeted it: https://twitter.com/Komanoff/status/846176746730913792. Apologies for mangling a quote to fit it in. Komanoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13627390826455390182noreply@blogger.com