What's Your View?

[TWR]

On the news last night, Motor bike rider travelling at 100MPH on a Trunk road get killed by an oncoming driver turning right, who's at fault?

[Mamyalynne]

A tragic end to a young life and no doubt the car driver is scarred mentally too.

The video sends out two clear messages - Bikers kill your speed and Car drivers , always assume the biker is speeding.

Dreadful outcome.

[TWR]

With respect Mickey, what about the car Driver, that has to be with him / her for doing nothing wrong for the rest of that driver's life.

[mikey4444]

Alas I think you are right Mamy...whenever I see a motorbike in my wing mirror, I ALWAYS assume he is going to cross the white lines, hatched lines, and/or be travelling too fast and I act accordingly. To be frank, if one of these idiots loses his life because he takes such risks, I can't simmon much in the way of sympathy, because it happens so often. But when it comes to preserving my own car and life, that is another matter indeed !

[mikey4444]

The point that some of us are making TWR is that the speed of the motorbike was a crucial factor in the ultimate seriousness of the offence. At 100mph, other road users have very little chance of avoiding a collision, as the speed is far too great. If the bike was going at the maximum speed that was allowed, its possible that less damage would have been done. Even if the didn't hit the van, the would have hit something else, as happens every day in Britain. Google A55 and motorcycle accidents...its all there.

[EDDIE51]

Mikey ^^ if the bike had been traveling at the max legal speed of 70 mph the car driver could have pulled out and have been about 80 yards down the road by the time the bike reached him.

[Baldric]

Use that Road often, it's a 60 limit there

[mikey4444]

Thanks eddie...some common sense !

[SlackAlice]

Single carriageway speed limit for cars and motorcycles is 60mph. Motorcyclist was almost at twice that.

[kvalidir]

We lived near the A5 in north Wales and every weekend nearly there was a serious or fatal accident always involving motorbikes. It's a horrible treacherous road but that last time I used it to go to the ferry at Holyhead, they were still up there 'tonning' it. I do feel sorry for them because obviously riding too fast makes them feel so alive, with often the opposite consequence. My real sympathy goes to the car drivers who so often they hit and then who have to live with it.

[mikey4444]

That road has become a killing ground for stupid motorcyclists kvalidir, over the last few years. The Police, to be fair to them, have tried to curb some of the madness but if people want to drive dangerously, its very difficult to stop them altogether. Bigger fines and longer bans might work I suppose.

[mushroom25]

//Bigger fines and longer bans might work I suppose. //

I doubt it. north wales was for years the fiefdom of chief constable richard brunstrom, who believed speeding was more heinous than child abuse, rape, or anything else you can think of - here's a report of one of his "initiatives" from a few years ago:-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1549846/Decapitated-motorcyclist-used-in-speeding-campaign.html
and as kvalidir can probably attest, the road deaths did not abate.

[kvalidir]

I was quite little when we lived there but I remember my parents talking to someone who'd witnessed a motorcyclist hitting a car head on outside the little garage in Corwen that day and being dragged underneath the vehicle for about 50 m. They apparently had to literally scrape him off the road. That person's distress has always stuck in my mind and although I will take my motorbike test for the sake of completeness, I'm not over keen on them.

[mikey4444]

Well, that is very depressing news then mush. As I have aid I find it difficult to summon up much in the way of sympathy for these stupid motorcyclists, although the Mother in the clip deserves some I guess. But these idiots nearly always cause damage and loss of life to other innocent road users. There must be some way of curbing this surely ?

By the way, nobody is more critical of the Police inaction when it comes to child abuse but is it too much to expect that the Police can walk and chew gum at the same time ? There didn't seem to any lack of "resource" this week in South Wales...what a pity our boys in blue can't be as proactive on a regular basis ?

[joeluke]

Bikers like him who treat roads like a racetrack and end up paying the consequences only have themselves to blame