Ultra_Nexus

DD is automatic 12 months ban minimum plus he'll have to retake all his driving tests again, advanced ones at that. That's 6 tests these days for both.

Oh, and since he's under 24, he'll be limited to class A2. He'll then need to do another test for A1.

Shiskine

Helmet-cam footage of a rider's fatal crash, controversially released by the Police and with the family's blessing.

They're hoping it will remind both riders and drivers to take more care ...

(BBC version excludes the actual impact but if you're that way inclined, you can find it on YouTube)

j8mie

Just been reading about this.

It's a shame that so many people's knees are jerking at the idea of someone rider at 95mph, when I think the act of bad driver is the thing we need to focus on. That's not to say the rider isn't without fault, but he'd still be alive had that driver not pulled across without looking.

A waste of a life.

Daytona-Dave

You could also argue that the other way, That if the rider had taken note of the on coming road conditions and reduced his speed to suit the car would easily have being across the road before he had got there and he would have had plenty of time to take avoiding action

loftust

50/50 IMHO - lessons need to be learnt on both sides of the camp - I think a lot of bikers will take notice, but the car driving community is too vast for this video to have a real effect. I bet there's loads of OMG comments on Facebook about it, but simply put, many of us turn into competitive, in a hurry twunts behind the wheel.

blue monster

You could argue that but even travelling at the legal limit I came very very close to being taken out this morning on a piece of dual carriageway where the speed limit is 70 mph. I was doing 70 mph and it still didn't stop a complete arsehole not looking / not seeing me even though the headlight light is permanently on one my bike & I have a bright yellow helmet.

Thankfully I'm still here to tell the tale but it was a big brown trousers moment!

Sent from my SGS4

Welshman

2 years, 300 hours community service, suspended jail sentence and almost £2k in fines and compensation:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...rous-road.html

Welshman

You could also argue that the other way, That if the rider had taken note of the on coming road conditions and reduced his speed to suit the car would easily have being across the road before he had got there and he would have had plenty of time to take avoiding action
[/quote]

It was a waste but he wasn't riding defensively.

Any junction is a potential hazard even if you can't see any vehicles.

When you can see vehicles the issue is have they seen you.

If you're not sure then at least back off the throttle if not brake. Weave across your lane to try and get their attention.

Be prepared to take evasive action.

All of which was impossible at the speed he was travelling.

RIP.

cheggers

I had a pretty horrific crash 5 years ago which nearly cost me my life (intensive care for a week followed by 4 months as an 'in-patient'). Unlike this accident, there
was no one else to blame, no other parties involved, simply me going too fast for the road I was travelling on.

After watching the full clip (including the collision) in this instance it's a case of both parties having to shoulder responsibility, however, I do not see it as 50/50. Even though the car driver is at fault for turning into his path, the rider was travelling at an excessive speed resulting in his inability to either brake or avoid the car.

No matter who is to blame, RIP to the biker. Hopefully some good will come from this if it makes people reconsider their riding/driving habits especially with regards to speed and observational skills.

Having recently got back onto two wheels (bought a Street Triple a few weeks ago) I feel fortunate to have survived what I did and that my attitude to riding was changed for the better for good.

Ultra_Nexus

Being a car driver, I have been a white van man, I cycled to work for several years (where I have been knocked off my bike four times whilst wearing hi-vis in a cycle lane), I now ride my motorbike to work. I have watched my best mate get killed when we were out riding together four days after passing my motorbike test the day before I was due to start work with him. He was doing half the speed of this incident, but it was his fault (RIP Dev).

So what do I think was the main cause? It was the Toyota he overtook. I really think that was the lynch pin.

Do I think the car should have seen him? Yes. However it, IMHO, has been unfortunate that the driver has looked up the road at the time the bike was behind the car and at that moment has decided to go through with the maneuver. Timing it from the overtake until impact is about 5 seconds in which the bike traveled over 200m. During the time frame the Aygo would have been about 65m away or ~2.5 seconds. The Aygo would have passed the junction about 1.5 seconds after the Clio would have cleared. I'd call that borderline in terms of safety and I think that is why I apportion some blame to the car.

The Biker should have slowed down. As a motorcyclist there are two things that scare the life out of me when I ride:
1) U turning traffic in traffic jams when I'm filtering
2) Junctions

I don't think there is such thing as a slow bike. Even the A2 class do 0-60 in 5 seconds. My commuter 600 is sub 4 seconds easily. Because of this, I slow down regardless at junctions because despite my bright lights, hi-vis and exhaust purposely put on so that deaf people can hear it, I understand that car drivers generally don't pay attention (I'd say 2-3/10 are genuinely with it, 4/10 half cocked and the rest driving is an inconvenience behind the wheel). This is because they are in a comfy box, listening to the radio, not unusual for them to be on the phone (usually texting), or dealing with anything other than driving (Make up, checking hair, thinking about work etc etc). So as a biker you know you are going to come off worse if there is an accident. Compounding the situation is that bikes don't stop as fast as cars and cannot use the circle of grip like a car can either! You have to plan ahead like mad. You can not afford to miss a check (9/10 bikers I notice do not perform lifesaver checks) or assume anything positive.

Personally I don't think 100mph is a crazy speed at all, even on single carriage ways. However there are times in a NSL zone when 40mph is too fast. The good thing is that the road planners offer up plenty of warning signs that allow you rider/driver/pedestrian to be proactive and usefully minimise risk. Oh and before you say doing 100mph is silly/irresponsible and everything else, if my mate had have been breaking the speed limit, he'd still be alive because he'd have been thrown over the car instead of into it.

I really think the following should become standard:
1) The CBT should be made part of the UK driving test. Nothing makes you look out for a bike when you know how vulnerable it feels to be on one
2) Every 5 years people should be forced to complete a theory test (My motorbike theory I did 6 months ago with 5 minutes revision because I know the rules - as a road user should). If they fail, the should be forced to take a practical test.

This would definitely raise the standard of driving instead of people kidding themselves that every accident is down to speed.

Will this ever happen? Of course not! People will never agree to be retested on anything because they think they have the right to drive.