greyhoundtom wrote:If Strava is simply a place where you upload your rides, and one that simply places the fastest ride over a given distance at the top, no there is no way you could hold Strava responsible for the actions of riders trying to get the fastest time.
If however Strava emailed or notified a rider when they have lost their top spot, and encouraged them to better their time to regain that top spot, they then share some responsibility for the actions taken by that rider.
There's two angles here I think:
My view: I don't see how this logic stands up. If you were of sound mind and I say to you, "I did 4mins30 down Mt Pleasant on Saturday morning, I wonder if you could beat it?" there's no way I'd share the responsibility if you came off on the descent. For the same reasons that I wouldn't share the responsibility if I said to you "i wonder how many times you'd need to punch that bloke before he hits the deck" and you went and did it. Would we be splitting the prison sentence between us? Of course not.
My understanding of the example in law: while you can be convicted of encouraging/assisting a crime (in the UK at least), it's complex, is part of the Serious Crime Act so doing 31km/h in a 30 zone isn't really the target, and nigh on impossible to make it stick and is only ever used to make an example of someone. So while Strava can have all the disclaimers in the world, when they post leaderboards with average speeds that exceed the speed limit, they could be seen to be encouraging a crime.
Overall: jesus christ, how abstract do people want to get about this? Personal responsibility always has to reign. I cycled into work, workmate asked me how long it took me, made a joke, the next day i came off going too fast, i give him a bill for my medical costs? If he posted that joke online is he responsible? I he tells everyone the joke is he responsible? if he tells everyone in front of me is he responsible? what's the difference between Strava and clubmates?