How ironic

There's plenty more of them.

Grayling is currently top of my "minister most likely to resign" list. I'm no defender of cyclists, but his failure to give his details after knocking the bloke off his bike was bang out of order, and his failure to check before opening the car door was pure idiocy.

Coming at the same time as the Southern Region rail dispute is causing chaos in Tory heartlands, and the government's apparent desire to see RMT/ASLEF vanquished at any cost, he's making himself very unpopular indeed.

It's the reason I as a cyclist crawl very slowly through stationary traffic. Passengers are far more likely to do this than car drivers because they don't have mirrors, and they don't think it's their responsibility to check. They should of course but some don't. So it's sensible to cycle assuming it will happen.

Are the government unpopular because of southern rail? From what I've seen it is the guards that are making themselves unpopular.

I can remember from a childhood cycling proficiency course dire warnings about undertaking, and being warned to take extreme caution when overtaking parked cars at least a doors width if safe to do so.

Looking at the video it would appear the the rear passenger door opened up on a cyclist who was undertaking at the time.
The person getting out would have had no rear view and would have been unable to see if anything was undertaking.
so from that it would appear to be the cyclists fault.

The perils of undertaking made clear.

Commuters are now pointing their fingers at the government, the other night they took their protest to Chris Grayling's department.

The leaked letter to Boris Johnson where he rejected the idea of TfL taking over the trains in London, because he didn't want Labour possibly to have control, showed he puts party politics above what's in the public interest.

Haven't you heard of turning round to look out of the back window?
However, wasn't the line of traffic blocking a left turn just ahead that the cyclist was going down, so it would be safer to undertake than cut across a line of traffic which could start moving at any time? (from one report I read)
Probably a 50/50 fault thing.

Do children still take the cycling proficiency course? I know some do in my area, or something like it, but the standards of cycling on our roads is now so appalling I doubt many have had any training whatsoever. And I say that as a cyclist.

Well, look at it this way - most drivers have taken a driving test and all that that includes, that doesn't stop the standard of driving from some people being less than spectacular, so why a proficiency test would have any effect I do not know

I do think there should be a test *compulsory for cyclists - at least one that ensures they have had to read the Highway Code and prove they have learned some of the content, that they know the rules of the road and that they apply to them as well as to drivers.

Then they could ignore them as many drivers do

ETA: *added

Surely the reverse......the cyclist hit Chris Grayling

Grayling didn't hit the cyclist. The cyclist cycled into a car door.

There is a difference!

Too right. If Chris Grayling had been a cement lorry turning left then the cyclist would now be dead......

I blame the driver, he should have had his hazards on, then the cyclist would assume he was dropping off

I think all are equally to blame, which seemed to be how all parties involved took it.

the cyclist was probably not thinking straight, just been smacked to the floor and then he gets to meet a gorgeous celebrity like Grayling

What...........nobody is blaming Brexit

It was Thatcher's fault

Of course, Conservatives can do no wrong!

If an asteroid had come from nowhere and hit the cyclist, Corbyn would be to blame.
(that's why cement lorries now have lots of mirrors, and Grayling wasn't turning left, he was getting out of the car without looking)

His failure to be of any kind of help in the train dispute might guarantee his early resignation.

I disagreed on your first point. I think the standards of driving in this country are considerably higher than the standards of cycling. That's not to say there is room for improvement of course. But I've said this before on DS, by my estimate somewhere around a third of all cyclists I see around my town are cycling without due care or breaking the law at the time I see them. Fortunately most motorists drive better than that most of the time.

I do agree with you second point. In risk assessment terms, at work or whatever, we would never dream of allowing people to do something as dangerous as cycle on roads without training and possibly refresher training from time to time. OK you'll never stop the nutcases from cycling dangerously. But raising cyclists' awareness would probably go some way to improve standards of cycling. Many of the problems probably arise from ignorance and thoughtlessness.

At least we can say this one is not the car driver's fault. If Grayling had asked his chauffeur to move over to the kerb before getting out to walk rather than be delayed by the traffic this situation could have been avoided.

That said the cyclist should have been more observant.

Cyclists are just not observant they even knock each other off their cycles

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/po...dham_1_4819730

and one of them just cycled off without leaving his name

Not so sure about that. As the driver I consider it my responsibility to check it's safe for a passenger to get out of the car.