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motorcycling is an extreemly dangerous activity.I am astonished that this health and safety obsessed nanny state goverment hasn't banned it yet. Think of the cost to the NHS! They even encourage it (bus lanes , cheap road tax). Incompetence is rife though.
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snipquote
You're right, it should be banned, as should DIY, crossing the street, driving, listening to music, alcohol, eating and having children. All dangerous, stressful and expensive things.
Does sarcasm come across in posts? I do hope so
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garethj You forgot smoking
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Why is this educational? Having an accident can hurt, most people know this.
Anyone who doesn't already know isn't going to take any notice of this, or will have forgotten it by the time they get on the road tomorrow.
Just like all the other Crash / Havoc / Best Crash videos IMHO
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I've just done 2,700 miles on a tour of France and Germany on my bike (Pan Euro 1300) including a thrash around the Nurburgring with my wife on the back! The video shows some horrific scenes of what can happen in the event of an accident, but it doesn't put me off one bit.
Although there is no doubt that in the event of an accident on a motor bike you are very likely to be injured seriously, if not killed, in my job as a Paramedic and before Paramedics as "ambulance crew", a job I have done for 28 years now, I have only been to one fatal motorcycle accident. Whether or not this is just luck, I don't know, but I have probably attended 35 to 45 fatal accidents to people in cars, maybe more.
My point being, don't think that because you are in a car that you are safe, you are just safer. If you want to ride a bike, get trained and keep the red mist away, but alot of enjoyable sports, such as paragliding, flying light aircraft, skiing, all of which I have done/do all have an element of risk, but with the risk often comes enjoyment. Minimise the risk, that's what I say.
A film could easily be made of injuries and fatalities to people in cars in a similar fashion to "Requiem tfor a biker," would that stop you driving your car?
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Idon't know a lot of bikers but every one i have met has suffered some sort of bike related injury,and all can tell me of friends who have died or been seriously i njured on the road.Iknow its fun but it really is irresponsible ,think of all the orphaned children and widowed wives. Its just not sensible,when there are far safer alternatives,Imust stress I am not anti biker in any way I just think that it is a very dangerous way to travel given that there are much safer alternatives available
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I'm rather bemused by that. Life is a dangerous. Don't worry about us.
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I take it that your a biker then P, sure life is dangerous but why should the general population have to pay Through their taxes to support your family because you have killed yourself on your way to work by using a statisticly dangerous method of transport. You may not have a family but some of the dead bikers this week will.
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I don't understand the hypothosys, taxpayer won't be supporting my family......do you think they may end up on benefits or something ?
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We'd all miss your 'light touch' modding, PU.
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Thanks - I'm going for a bike ride now.
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Enjoy it while you can, I have no bike now (but I still enjoy a thrash on four wheels).
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your family may not but a lot of bereaved families will totally uneccasarily be. are you saying your rich enough to kill yourself on a bike
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sure life is dangerous but why should the general population have to pay Through their taxes to support your family because you have killed yourself on your way to work by using a statisticly dangerous method of transport.
I pay enough tax to support the next 4 generations.
It may be more dangerous, but I wouldn't have a family if I travelled by car. Journey to work by car: 2½ hours, so that's 5 hours a day. By motorbike it's 1 hour each way, saving me 3 hours a day, or 15 hours a week. That's 15 hours extra with my family.
I'm quite capable of judging risks for myself, thanks. Why don't you think that all adults can do the same?
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I just think that it is a very dangerous way to travel given that there are much safer alternatives available
It would be totally pointless to try to explain to someone with this attitude why motorcyclists choose this mode of transport. Those riders on the forum would understand that answer. Many motorcyclists do not use their vehicle as a "mode of transport" to get from A to B - it is the getting from A to B,C,D,E etc that is the reason.
Martin
(car and two bikes - 2 car accidents in 800,000 miles, no bike accidents in 200,000 miles. Only one injury in that time - broken finger slamming car door on it!)
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just for arguments sake, if the motorcycle was invented tomorrow it would never see the light of tarmac, not with the namby pamby pc brigade and the health and safety natzis running the show!!!
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"every one i have met has suffered some sort of bike related injury"
I hope that's a coincidence!
:-)
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isisalar wrote >> Idon't know a lot of bikers but every one i have met has suffered some sort of bike related injury,and all can tell me of friends who have died or been seriously i njured on the road.Iknow its fun but it really is irresponsible ,think of all the orphaned children and widowed wives.<<
I've had people say this to me and then point out that they know me, and know I ride bikes but haven't had an accident. People have selective memories.
What happens when you tell your life insurer that you ride a motorcycle ?
Absolutely nothing - they don't load your premiums to pay for 'your orphaned children and widowed wives'
I do agree that they are more dangerous - but it's much more complex than 'cars are safe and bikes are dangerous'.
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'...it's much more complex than 'cars are safe and bikes are dangerous'. '
too true, I know one guy who's written off his last three motorbikes and been hospitalised twice in the last 5 years but not had an accident in his car. Whereas another guy has been involved in several accidents (again hospitalised twice) in his car but not once on his bike. And then there's another guy who reckons he's had his R1 flat-out on the road but broke his leg in two places (wearing armoured boots) at 5 mph on his trials bike.
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I also recall that the great Mike Hailwood, who was World Champion on bikes when I was a lad, who won the TT repeatedly, who went on to F1 and famously rescued Clay Regazzoni from his crashed and burning car (for which he got the George Medal), finally met his end in an 'ordinary' car accident.
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According to the statistics, here in Lincolnshire 44 people have been killed on the roads this year. Over 25% were bikers but bikes are only 5% (or thereabouts) of road traffic. I can't say I'm surprised seeing some of the antics at weekends when bikers from the Midlands seem to congregate. I even saw a nutter the other day riding like he stole it wearing only a waistcoat on top. Madness. But I wouldn't ban them. It's usually bad riders that make bikes dangerous, not the bikes themselves. Often, the only person at risk when a biker drops it it the rider and that can often be due to pure bad luck (diesel, leaves, spilt grain etc. on the road).
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I think "they" should ban any vehicle on/in which you have any chance whatsoever of dying.
V
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So...motorbikes can be dangerous???? Goodness gracious! We must inform the church elders!
[sarcasm]
It must in fairness be pointed out that a lot of the crashes on that video made a pretty fine mess of the cars involved, too. And having driven in Belgium myself...well, enough said.
Those of us who ride bikes are, in general, well aware of the risks involved and don't need reminding. The ones who aren't tend to end up on videos like this.
Oh, and to the poster who feared we would leave our families destitute if the worst happened: many of us also tend to have pretty comprehensive life assurance of the mortgage-paying-off sort.
All road travel is dangerous to one degree or another. All of it. Personally (and without wishing to be unnecessarily ghoulish or morbid) if I had to choose, as the outcome of a given accident, between being killed outright riding my bike or being horribly disabled for life driving my car, I think I would rather be on the bike.
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Gaaahh! Only the word dangerous was meant to be in italics. Where's a moderator when you need one?
{You rang? Now sorted - DD}
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Reading this thread prompted me to look up Mike Hailwood on Wikipedia. What a remarkable man. Very sad to read that he and his 9 year old daughter were killed when a lorry made an illegal u-turn. I guess it is not what you are driving/riding but how sensisbly you are doing it which makes the difference.
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Every day on the road we see drivers executing manoeuvres that could be lethal. Many of us have been caught out by one at some time, usually with only body damage and increased insurance bills as an outcome.
Racing drivers can be caught out by them too. Indeed like the late Mike Hawthorn they sometimes overcook it all by themselves on the public road.
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Every day on the road we see drivers executing manoeuvres that could be lethal. Many of us have been caught out by one at some time usually with only body damage and increased insurance bills as an outcome.
Very true, the advantage with a car is that a little slide (front or rear) is easy to cope with, in fact we hardly notice it most of the time. However a slide on a bike is a lot more dramatic and you've got to be on the ball and pretty gifted to keep cornering after it. It's not necessarily down to speeds that you'd think are too high.
As for the helicopter patrol post at the bottom, it's well known that North Wales police would like to get rid of every motorcyclist and any road user who fancies doing more than 42mph.
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"prompted me to look up Mike Hailwood"
I must admit that I had to check my hazy memory, too. He was indeed remarkable, and it was humbling to be reminded of his achievements, especially in a era before gravel traps and cellular fuel tanks. To lose his life (and his daughter) in a road accident when he had hung up his racing gear was genuinely tragic.
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From the Chief Pilot, Air Operations Unit of the North Wales police.
www.north-wales.police.uk/en/dept/OSDairopsBlog.as...0
No-one's gonna stop me now.......
I'm looking out of the office window this morning and thinking...dozens of bikers will hit the road again today for a quick 'blast' through the hills.
"....It's a beautiful day
The sun is shining
I feel good
And no-one's gonna stop me now, oh yeah....." Freddie Mercury, Queen.
I'm looking out of the office window this morning and thinking...dozens of bikers will hit the road again today for a quick 'blast' through the hills. The overwhelming majority will return safely; wheel their high tech dream machine into the garage, remove their colour coded 'mad max' leathers / android helmets and morph into joe average again. For some of the rest, the fire crew will be peeling the space age bike frame off the front of a truck, my colleagues will be loading the twisted broken body onto the helicopter and I will collect the pulverised helmet (so that the trauma team can assess impact damage). Cause of accident: speed, with a capital "S". We once apprehended a speeder who was doing 92mph in a 60 zone. He didn't argue, in fact he was chuffed that it took the helicopter to stop him! After the paperwork was completed, I spoke to him about his mechanical 'work of art'. He proudly commented that it was capable of 122 mph...in first gear!
Bikes have advanced unimaginably. We often land at the Ponderosa (horseshoe pass) and mingle with the bikers familiarising them with our onboard equipment and our purpose. These bikes are a sight to behold: art in motion. They are coveted by their owners - even worshipped. A two wheeled testosterone overdose. Apart from progress with materials, the engines have been tuned to within an inch of their lives. Some models are now pushing out 190+bhp at the rear wheel, this is the equivalent of 650hp/tonne. A similar BMW M3 weighing 1.5 tonnes would have to produce approximately 950hp to compete!
9 motorcyclists died last year not to mention the dozens who were seriously injured. When you compare the number of bikes to cars, that is a quantum leap on car statistics for the same period. When you multiply the number of casualties by the number of persons directly affected by each death - it becomes a serious social issue.
The problem is two fold: The roads are not designed to cope with grand prix demands. Even though the force has encouraged major engineering improvements in partnership with the highways department, road conditions will never be able to compensate for this exponential explosion in bike progress. Secondly, the rider often isn't prepared for the role of cruise missile test pilot! In our experience, born again bikers [35+ years old / male / 15+ year layoff from previous biking] and the occasional hell raiser [Slick tyres / illegal number plate / modified exhausts] are by far the main culprits here. It's bad enough when these characters become statistics, but it's made much worse when they wipe out innocent motorists minding their own business. Land based police units can only cover some of the force area some of the time - we can cover the entire road network most of the time. We can patrol the entire A5 (100 road miles) in 30 minutes. Other arterial routes are patrolled in much less time. We film while we fly and look for white liners, speeders and illegal numberplates. This then provides evidential backup to the courts should the individual decide to contest the prosecution. Bikers by their very nature need to be quite alert, so to witness their occasional indiscretions we tend to stand off quite a distance reducing our sound and shadow signature.
Some may regard this as an extreme response to petty road regulations.
Extreme circumstances require extreme measures.
"What a beautiful day........." let's keep it that way.
Chief Pilot, Air Operations Unit
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