Zebra Ethics

This has happened before but it’s worth recording again.

I was cycling along when a twenty-something girl from the Hillsong Church, on a bicycle, was about to cycle across the pedestrian crossing in front of me, from footpath to footpath.

I could have stopped or kept riding whereupon a direct hit might have got her in some soft spot and killed her.

Would you kill the skinny chick?

Firstly you should note that in half of Australia’s states and major territories – Queensland, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory – adults are allowed to ride on the footpath.

In the other states, including NSW, it’s illegal unless you are accompanied by someone under 12 years old. Usually that’s written the other way around but same-same.

Legally, the skinny chick on the bike was breaking the law. But so may I be if I take her out.

Then there’s the ethics of the thing.

Do you just stop for everything at a pedestrian crossing on the basis of the common good.

Or does it have to be a certified ID carrying human ambulator that is obeying each and every one of the two hundred laws that could be broken at a pedestrian crossing?

Then there’s the morals.

Should all skinny chicks from the Hillsong Church on bikes at pedestrian crossings be taught the lesson that they need to be taught? Your bike is not better than mine, luv.

Or do you go with the vibe and observe ‘Be Nice to Tweeting Millennials’ week?