A mother has allowed the release of a video shot by her motorcycling son; it shows in detail his last ride and his death.
tinyurl.com/ngl7x25 - links to www.eadt.co.uk/news
My 34-year old son rides his NC30 fast and I am debating whether or not to send him the link. Sure, it will upset him, but it may just make him think.
Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 5 Sep 14 at 12:53
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I had a good idea of what was coming but my heart stopped when I saw the impact.
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Wow!
Very thought provoking, knowing that he was doing 97mph at time of collision but car driver never saw him.
No real attempt to apportion blame, just a mother's plea for all drivers and bikers to be more careful.
Powerful.
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Tragic for the guy to have lost his life.
However in my book totally his fault. If you are going to ride/drive at such speeds you have to take full responsibility for evolving circumstances that put you and other road users at risk.... and in truth never do it around other drivers.
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That is a classic scenario. We know the causes so will not dwell on them.
All credit to the family who are prepared to make the footage public in the pursuit of road safety. It must be be heartbreaking to be able to rerun the last moment of someones life.
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I used to live down that way and know that strech. We had quite a few riders at work, several ended up in big accidents. No end of them having operations and long periods off work, one person had 12 months off, a few discharged because of injuries sustained. One bloke did similar in the car but was turning onto 'the 47'. Ended up in prison and got kicked out. It's a very dangerous road.
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I can't see how you can say it is totally his fault -yes he has a huge contributing factor with his speed but the car pulled in front of him and the driver admitted they hadn't seen him or the car behind him?
Also, my own feeling, the car seems to have slightly cut the junction as opposed to staying in the slip road and then cutting across.
It goes back to the biker issue of whether your fault or not, you will probably come off worse.
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>>>I can't see how you can say it is totally his fault
Excess speed carries with it a massive responsibility to be so aware of the actual and likely actions of others because you are putting them in the position of dealing with an unreasonable and unexpected rate of changing events.
Unless you accept this responsibility and allow for the actions of other then keep to the limits.
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>> I can't see how you can say it is totally his fault
Clearly the "fault" is with the car driver who turned across an approaching motor cycle. I wonder if there was a prosecution.
However, it is absolutely 'normal' for drivers to not to see other vehicles even when they look - as I am sure this driver did. This should be taught, along with more about how to look properly. There's an assumption that looking and seeing are simple. They aren't. I think most of us must learn that unconsciously and adapt, but when we allow our instincts to take over, or we snatch an opportunity and omit the second glance, we take a big risk.
A junction is a 'hazard', including for drivers who have right of way. Habitually approaching them at that sort of speed makes a big accident a strong possibility, even a likelihood if repeated often enough. The direct cause was not the biker's actions, but there was a lot he could have done to avoid it.
The trouble is, it's possible to drive with very little concentration, and in fact next to impossible for most people to drive with total concentration all the time. That's why identifying hazards and upping the concentration, as well as making appropriate adjustments to speed, gear and positioning is important.
All in IMHO of course. I don't mean to be in the least smug about this, having failed to avoid a couple of 'no fault accidents' myself.
I have posted this link before but make no apology for doing it again:
www.londoncyclist.co.uk/raf-pilot-teach-cyclists/
The link in the article to the original piece by an RAF fighter pilot still works.
The realisation that another driver can be acting perfectly reasonably and yet still not see you and drive into you is a sobering one. Anybody who looks at that and just blames one party or the other is missing the point.
Last edited by: Manatee on Fri 5 Sep 14 at 12:13
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That's an interesting read.
There is one part of road on my regular cycle route (pedal bike) that has high trees overhanging the road and when sun is shining, there are lots of shadows and blinks of bright sunshine.
I really don't like that stretch, albeit it is only 200 yards or so, as I think as a cyclist I am probably invisible to drivers or at best, appear as a shadow.
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I couldn't see any indication on the instrument panel that he had headlight on full beam or on at all. That might have helped indicate to the car driver his approach and speed.
He approached the junction way too fast. A car could have come out of the turning on the left, had a quick look to see the car in the distance, pulled out and he would have hit that. Also any pedestrian crossing at that point would have not stood a chance, especially estimating his speed when they see a car in the distance and him further behind but covering ground so quickly. Riding in that fashion, ignoring speed limits, signs and road markings to slow, it was luck he hadn't had a serious accident before.
He passed a sensible motorcyclist on his long overtake. A tragic loss of life, thoughts are for his parents and friends, but a warning to young motorcyclists to tone down speeds at junctions.
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Make me wonder why he recorded his trip.
Was he exceptionally safety conscious, in which case why was he doing 97mph or was he a speed freak menace who enjoyed watching the footage back and regulary broke the law on a public highway. Either way he has learned a hard lesson.
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Seems to be the fashion these days.
If you stop the film at the point where the rider realises his destiny there is still some distance from the point of impact but at nearly 100MPH that distance is not enough to react/brake/take avoiding action.
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And if you do that it would appear that the car front number plate is lit up which I am assuming is the reflection of the motorbikes headlight?
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Of course it was the bike riders fault, he was driving at utterly inappropriate speeds in totally inappropriate places and was in effect, showboating (the camera was a clue, he was clearly such a non risk adverse person it wasn't there for safety reasons). Drivers of others cars do not expect road users to be so blatantly in excess of the speed limit.
I don't see how you can look at it any other way.
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I viewed it last night (from the Staffs Police site) I had the volume turned down, so got none of the narrative. My initial impression was once of speed - I think he manages to spin the rear wheel after he firsts rides off - I'm not familiar with the make of bike and can't figure out exactly where the speedo is pointing - my guess is that he was riding quickly throughout the clip - at the start of the clip he's in a signed 40 area- the rest of the trip seems to be rural A class, approaching the site of the collision there is a "hazard" lane divider - he's still riding quickly...too quickly.
I witnessed two bits of bad riding today on a bimble out (Passenger in the Ka) - one was spectacularly bad - rider on the A55 in lane 2 - making progress - he was wearing a rucksac diagonally across his back - with a helmet in the lower compartment - an asymmetric heavy load - he came up behind a slower mover in lane 2 and overtook between him and the barrier....an outstandingly bad piece of riding - bordering on the reckless.
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Looks like a Gen 1 early FJR 1300.
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I'm with Fen and Z on this one.. Of course, the driver had some part of the blame but not all drivers, perhaps the more elderly, can work out quickly the speed of vehicle coming at them head on. I would imagine he thought he had time to make his turn and was looking up the side road to check it was clear to go. The closing speed of the biker meant he was on him in a second and didn't stand a chance of avoidance.
That accident could easily have happened at any point since the rider got on the road. Britain's A & B road are not suitable for 100 mph thrashes. Even hitting a pothole at that speed could end up with the direst of consequences on a bike. The guy rode like a knob....sorry he's dead but ' live and die by the sword ' Look at the damage to the car, he's not just hit the car and gone over his bars, he's taken the whole front off.
Constant scanning and anticipation....that's my key to keeping safe.
I think the driver was banned for a year....and this will live with him forever.
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Yes Horatio.
We've all had the experience of doing something near-lethal like that, having one of those very near misses out of the blue. Your blood runs cold after one of those, it's unmistakable unless you're a turnip or psychopath.
It can happen any time too. I like the fighter pilot's piece, but who can say hand on heart that they've never cut corners or been a bit overconfident at a blind roundabout on a well-known road say? You get cannier and cannier as you age, but your senses decline and loth as I am to admit it, you become a bit more faffing and less accurately decisive too. It's a little like getting very slowly drunker and drunker.
So far so good eh? I'm not dangerous yet by national standards, far from it. I hope I'll still have the sense to notice when I become a menace.
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Hmmm.
I think there's a sliding scale of fault here.
The bike rider is in charge of his own destiny and in this case takes a majority of the blame, because of his speed and more importantly not allowing for the mistakes of others, he being the most vulnerable one.
The car driver takes some blame for a lack of awareness and in that respect causing the accident.
The authorities in general must take some blame in a small way IMO, for dumbing down our driving so much for safety reasons, that a whole generation of drivers have no idea whatsoever about risk management, judging closing speeds and just being generally aware of hazards.
How many people do you all know who will happily sit behind a stopped bus and wait until it moves off again.... or who will not overtake down the world's longest straight if there is another car coming the other way as a minuscule speck in the distance ... or never overtake anyone, ever... because they lack the skills and judgement.
How many people do you follow, that you can see never look in the mirror.
You reap what you sow.
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I think for both parties - the standard of driving / riding fell significantly below the required standard but don't see much point in trying to apportion blame as that is just subjective and not useful.
The action of riding at 97mph is not the root cause and will not in itself cause a crash.
The root cause action here was pulling in front of a reasobaly close and visible motorbike which also had it's light on as you can see it reflected in the car numberplate before impact.
Last edited by: Shiny Tailpipes on Fri 5 Sep 14 at 18:13
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Indeed but Fenlander makes a really good statement:
"Excess speed carries with it a massive responsibility to be so aware of the actual and likely actions of others because you are putting them in the position of dealing with an unreasonable and unexpected rate of changing events."
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A similar thing happened to a friend of mine, he was driving a car in perfect visibility within the speed limit and someone turned right across his path. The someone was a school run mum with kids in the car. Fortunately everyone survived the considerable impact.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 5 Sep 14 at 18:22
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>> The action of riding at 97mph is not the root cause and will not in itself cause a crash.
Quite ST. Speed itself isn't dangerous when the vehicle is sound and the driver reasonably prudent.
That speed in that place wasn't prudent. I'd call it reckless.
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Me riding at over 100mph on an empty dual carriageway is one thing, doing it at "rush-hour" is another...
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As always the really clever bit is when and where to go fast.
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But... a sporting bike is very athletic properly driven, with the ability to get to 100 and back to zero in five to seven seconds. You can see how an arrogant young shaver might be seduced into going too damn fast in the wrong place.
Who hasn't been there or somewhere like it in their day? There but for the grace of God went many of us.
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True, I was one of the lucky ones who survived to become what I am sure the youngsters call a boring old f**t.
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True - What ON says.
Last edited by: R.P. on Fri 5 Sep 14 at 19:39
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"True, I was one of the lucky ones who survived to become what I am sure the youngsters call a boring old f**t."
Same here.
They say that there are old mushroom hunters, and bold mushroom hunters, but no old, bold mushroom hunters. I guess something similar can be said of motorcyclists.
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Motorcycle crash video... - wokingham
