I wear an open-face helmet because I like the fresh(!)
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air, which meant that I could smell the diesel as it hung in the early morning stillness on the way Into that roundabout.
I spotted the tell-tale slick still wet on the tarmac and stayed clear. Quarter-way round I saw the police car and the policemen attending an injured rider ominously still on the verge by his mangled machine, a closedface helmet alongside; perhaps he was inexperienced, perhaps he hadn't smelt or spotted the slick, but it shouldn't have to be an extra hazard on today's crowded roads.
There were one or two lorries parked nearby whose drivers may well have had a firsthand insight into the potential results of negligence. Another police car hurrying to the scene and then an ambulance meant that it was serious. The slick was there again on the next roundabout, fresher on the road and even heavier in the air. Ahead were three or four lorries; it wasn't possible to spot the offender. If I had seen the fuel spilling out, I would have taken the number and the name of the owners and returned to the scene of the accident. I don't reckon to be that law-abiding, but criminal negligence against my own kind stirs strong feelings — there but for the grace . . .
How actionable is such an offence I have no idea, but I hope this letter might awaken designers and transport managers to the possibility. MICHAEL BOWLER, Rickmansworth, Herts.