Tbh, youre right in pointing out that the judge ruled correctly according to UK law. He, however, should have ruled in favor of the cyclist, as much as I hate to admit, as Oregon law just requires the cyclist to be able to skid, something you can do on a fix. Still, no grand injustice to the little velo-hippie.
a skid is not stopping the bike at the point of breaking though - the bike still has motion, if you are using the same meaning of skid as i am.
The judge was spot on, but the "skid" point is odd - skid refers to a loss of control in my opinion.