Quote:
Originally posted by andyb With regard to that programme,give it a rest! At the end of the day the bloke on the bike was riding at a totally inapropriate speed for the location(immaterial of the speed limit), was overtaking against solid white lines(remember the more paint, the less speed) and had no brakes. Whether its a 160mph bandit or a 100mph bandit, i would suggest the only difference is a matter of how much you want to mash your girl friend by, and probably more importantly, innocent members of the public, that could so easily of been you or I! |
Actually, they never said what speed he was doing, so he may well have been within the limit for all we know.
I agree that the guy was as stupid as you can be - drink, drugs and bikes DO NOT mix.
But in all honesty, unless you've personally travelled that road you cannot say whether those solid white lines are justified.
The problem with many councils that mark up the roads, and the speed limits, do so in such a nannying way that where there is sometimes plenty of opportunity and vision to overtake, you will still find solid white lines.
Also it was never explained exactly where the car and bike were when the collision happened - for all we know the bike had been overtaking perfectly safely, but had then pulled in as other cars approached. The guy in the car may have been changing a cd, lighting a fag, picking his nose even, and swerved into the bike. Again, this was never explained in the program so much of it is left to us to assume.
I also found it interesting that the accident investigator talked about witnesses putting the speed of the bike at "about 80mph" when any good investigator should know that smaller objects appear to be travelling faster, especially motorcycles with much greater accelleration than a car. It's funny how the police will take witness words for estimates of speed in cases like this, yet when it comes to estimating your own abilities we're always told that we're in no position to do so because we're not trained observers.
All I'm pointing out are the inconsistencies in the "fully qualified and experienced" accident investigator's comments - Bandit 600s do not do 160mph nor do they need brake shoes.
There are also far too many un-answered questions in relation to the facts of the accident for anyone who had merely watched that program to understand exactly what happened on that day and who was at fault.
This doesn't negate the seriousness and terrible outcome of the accident, but we must remember to keep things in perspective.