In his response to the article “Case of lopsided justice” (March 4), it was very presumptuous of Jerry Launders to speculate that anybody who is concerned about pedestrian safety on our roads must be a stuffy old bore who “rarely, if ever, drives a car”. This deserves the counter-speculation that Launders belongs to the school of thought that anybody who drives a car has a licence to kill pedestrians who dare to attempt crossing an open road less than half a kilometre from a pedestrian crossing.

Instead of addressing the issues raised in the article, Launders indulged in the usual knee-jerk patter about non-vehicle road users “ignoring common sense and the rules of the road” and that pedestrians “should take personal safety precautions” (and, if you please, “not put extra stress on drivers”).

He went as far as to declare his astonishment at pedestrians walking on the road, “even when there is a perfectly good pavement”. This really takes the biscuit when it is plain to everybody that our urban pavements are mostly narrow and such a disgrace that people are often obliged to walk on the roadway; this is especially true for people in wheelchairs and those pushing prams.

At the same time, the main points raised, namely, biased public statements made by magistrates in our law courts, absence of presumed liability legislation and the introduction of urban 30km/h limits to reduce death and injury, were ignored by Launders. Having missed the point, all that Launders could offer was the tired platitude about “need to fully respect all other road users and to take far greater responsibility for our own safety” which has been used for so long that it is starting to sound Victorian. It offers little solace to pedestrian victims of road accidents who still await justice.

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