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Time for one of the [[JC]]’s patronising little parables. | Time for one of the [[JC]]’s patronising little parables. | ||
A fellow was out on his bicycle, thundering down Cranley Gardens, as you do, enjoying the rush of wind through his thinning thatch and generally revelling in uncommon gratitude for the affordances — usually so depressing, for a man his age — of gravity. Cranley Gardens is steep, has a dogleg and a few intersecting crossroads that come at it from oblique angles. But straight-through traffic has the right of way — of that there is little doubt. | A fellow was out on his bicycle, thundering down Cranley Gardens, as you do, enjoying the rush of wind through his thinning thatch and generally revelling in uncommon gratitude for the affordances — usually so depressing, for a man his age — of gravity. Cranley Gardens is steep, has a dogleg and a few intersecting crossroads that come at it from oblique angles. But straight-through traffic, such as our intreprid fellow, has the right of way — of that there is little doubt. | ||
Now imagine that, notwithstanding that, a jalopy careened from one of those junctions without looking. What comfort will it be, as he tests iout its crumple zone, for our cycling hero? So he takes a measure of caution, constantly scanning the intersections, standing ready to slam on the brakes should some damn fool pull out in front of her. | |||
Behaviour only a young lad, still convinced of immortality, would query | Behaviour only a young lad, still convinced of immortality, would query. | ||
And it seems to be stating no more than the bleeding obvious that the psychological satisfaction a fellow might derive from ''knowing'' he was in the right, had been all along, and that the other driver was utterly to blame — ''liability'' entirely his, without question of mitigation or [[contributory negligence]] — runs a distant second to the inconvenience of the six months you’ll spend in traction recovering, yes, at that careless tortfeasor’s sole and unlimited expense, and the painful therapy you’ll need of you’re ever to walk again. | |||