However! The one cyclist I have been centimeters from killing or causing grievous bodily harm ought not to have counted against me, even had I been a tad less dexterous with brakes and steering. Some young woman, ears plugged into some iDevice, running a red light at full speed. Not joking about the centimeters. She would have been toast under the Toyota HiAce I was driving.
The girl continued, apparently without even registering the close scrape she just had. I chased her down and delivered the shit sermon of the century. She appeared non-comprehending and utterly indifferent.
Not claiming this to be typical cyclist behavior, but alas, it's not all that uncommon either.
I am a sometime truck driver, and believe me, I know the terror of crowded city traffic, right turns, and cyclists. Some drivers are squarely to blame when the shit hit the fan, or the front wheel the cyclist, but some are most certainly not, and may suffer undeservedly for the rest of their lives.
No, I am not reckless. I have done an awful lot of professionel driving, and haven't had an accident since 1983 when someone from a sideroad disregarded a stop sign.
By the way, I am in full favour of also potentially criminalising hitting an animal. Most roadkills would be easily avoided, if people would just pay some goddamn attention to driving while driving.