Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Hampshire Police statement

[skidlids]

Originally posted by Rushjob
it will be interesting from 1.1.05 as there will be a National RTC form used by all Forces and all recording criteria wil be the same.

A positive step forward me thinks

[andyb]

Ive returned to this thread several times, but resisted commenting....but,
The fact is YOU are in charge of your own destiny. YOU have to ride accordingly, not only for yourself, but for everyone and everything else. If you do not you could term it rider error.

"wer'nt local riders that I would consider knew the road very well." You can fall into a trap of false security here. You should be able to stop in the safe distance you can see, regardless of what road you are on!

"does that take into account allowing oncoming drivers to cut the corner causing motorcyclists to take avoiding action" You would not be suprised to know the word 'suddenly' appears in the majority of RTC statements. That particular hazard didnt just drop there from outer space, the signs are there. Act rather than react!

"And what other circumstances were involved, mud, gravel, very poor roads, potholes." again, observation links will give clues to reduce your speed.

"So your riding at speed.....120mph short spert............ clear plenty of vision..............and a speed camera van, 12 month ban + £600 fine"
Hmm,...so clear vision, what were you looking at then not to see the van? The faster you go the further ahead you need to look, and the more you need to scan back and forth!

I know it maybe not what you want to hear.

[Bill O]

The key to all this is as Andy says “the rider should be able to stop in the distance he knows to be clear” I am genuinely interested in understanding why so many riders I meet have such difficulty with this.

[Dementor]

Originally posted by everton
From yesterday..........this should start a debate!

Sent: 10 January 2005 10:24
The number of people killed in motorcycle collisions across Hampshire and
the Isle of Wight has fallen to the lowest level in six years.


Hampshire police targeted motorcyclists last year after the 50 per cent
increase in deaths in 2003.

A police spokesman said: "Focussing on known motorcycle casualty routes
across the two counties, high visibility patrols were put in place at weekends
along priority routes including the A339, A272 and the A32 in an attempt to encourage people to take more care."

and ride their bikes in another County

Wonder what the stats are like for the surrounding Counties

[andyb]

Hey Dementor, come up here and speed, same shhhht different location........

[bradders]

Originally posted by Bill O
The key to all this is as Andy says “the rider should be able to stop in the distance he knows to be clear” I am genuinely interested in understanding why so many riders I meet have such difficulty with this.

is this ALWAYS possible?? 30mph corner with tree and lots of other things to keep an eye on and a lump of mud/gravel etc half way round, like to see you stop before you hit it....

[andyb]

Loss of vision ========= loss of speed!

[monstermob 998]

ANTICIPATION+PERCEPTION=SURVIVAL
or am i just a nervous rider?

[Loz]

Originally posted by bradders

is this ALWAYS possible?? 30mph corner with tree and lots of other things to keep an eye on and a lump of mud/gravel etc half way round, like to see you stop before you hit it....

Paul, it's a percentages game. The slower you take a blind bend, the more chance you have of avoiding unforeseen / unforeseeable hazards lurking just beyond your vanishing point. You cannot eliminate every possible risk, but you reduce your risks the slower you go (at least, until you are going so slowly that you become the unforeseen hazard! ).

Almost every road-user I have ever seen is going too fast to avoid every conceivable risk - it's a question of doing enough to avoid 90+% of all possible risks (or 99+% of them, if you are particularly cautious).

I'll settle for 50%, myself

[Bill O]

Bradders

If I thought it were not possible to stop in the example you give I would try to consider other factors and would be at a speed that I accept the consequences of. So if I can not reduce the probability of the risk I try to reduce the consequences if it occurs.

I'm fairly slow though in group rides and some of the very quick riders accept that if they loose it its big.