Bike bans from national parks ...

It appears my brother started an RTA trend in the region. Since his death on
17th Oct there's been a number of incidents resulting in three men and one
woman being killed, and many others seriously injured.

In the latest incident

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/nor...-killed-in-horror-smash-named-55578-20061361/

a Polish sports bike rider from Berkshire failed to negotiate (what I know
to be) a very fast corner. Unfortunately a group of HD riders from
Staffordshire were coming in the opposite direction. As a result of the
ensuing carnage north Wales plod are having a field day.

Discuss ...

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/2007/11/06/could-bike-ban-in-national-parks-save-lives-55578-20066152/


http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/nor...r-over-call-for-snowdonia-ban-55578-20072486/

Would it be legal for the authorities to ban all motorcycles from the
National Park, and if so would it not set a precedent for the banning of
bikes from all such Parks etc?

 

It's nice to see that the report says the Polish rider was on a sports
bike. According to Catman he was on a Lead Wing

 

Unfortunate? One suspected terrorist down and how many hardlies did he
take with in a single moment? He deserves a posthumous award for
services to society.

It might well be legal but as a means of ridding our roads from A below
middle C it is short sighted to say the least. I think we should extend
the hand of friendship and invite more of our immigrant community to
join with the rest of us and work towards a Britain free from the taint
of the DH factory.

 

<snip>

Politely, and leaving your brother out of it, **** these idiots. I'm fed
up with reading about people, on two wheels and four, who ride/drive far
in excess of their abilities.

Let Darwin sort 'em out.

 

That is utter shite. The Pole was a colleague and mate of mine (and at
least two other occasional posters on UKRM), and riding a a Wing. He
was in the group of riders. Nowhere in the article does it suggest he
was riding the sports bike.

Read accurately first?



--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
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Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

It doesn't, unless I am being spectacularly blind.

According to Catman he was on a Lead Wing

He was


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Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 156 TS 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

In

Sorry for the error I'd been told that by a colleague who was obviously
mistaken.

Either way it's a tragedy all around for all concerned. Please pass on my
condolences.

 

No worries.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 156 TS 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Sadly it was hardly darwinism. Although the idiot did die, so did Jarek.
He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 156 TS 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

So the female pillion passenger who used her phone to break the news that
her brother-in-law had died - was she in the group or was she on the back of
the idiot's bike?

Why does it say "Two motorcyclists, killed on a mountain road in North Wales
at the weekend have been named by police... Stephen John Rowley of Stoke on
Trent and Joroslow Ryszaid Owczarek of Maidenhead", and then "The victims
had not been named by police last night and it is not known if they were
local"

 

The police already have powers to practically do as they please, but I
suspect this may require legislation.
I would encourage anyone to resist such a development, and would call
for some high level sackings in the police force, and a re-evaluation of
the structure of police authorities to remind them that their primary
role is to enforce existing law, not lobby for new restrictions that are
ill-conceived and reactionary.
Recent heavy lobbying by the police in relation to terrorist, and to a
lesser extent, traffic legislation, suggests to me blinkered vision,
arrogance and a lack of objectivity that should exclude them from any
debate.

As we have no real say on the amount of police precept[1] snatched along
with council tax each year, I resent even one second of some senior
police pen-pushers time (my money) spent on lobbying to further restrict
a citizens (my) highly regulated behaviour, particularly, my right to
travel on roads that we all pay for.

And another thing. Just how do you pronounce Chief Supt. Geraint Anwyl's
surname?

[1]or a word somewhat similar

 

Jarek's brother's wife

Cos the media is shit?

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 156 TS 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Well, I wasn't thinking of Jarek, either.

Is it any wonder that Bike magazine is running more and more pages on
"how to ride"? It's because the DAS-boys and the born-agains, who are
within their readership demographic, are fucking up, big time.

 

Yeah, I know.

You're not wrong. I am surprised by two thing round here (as in the
office) is
a) Very experienced riders confiding in me that they are now worried
about riding.
b) The lack of people asking when I will be stopping / selling my bike.
Normally there are plenty of the latter.



--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 156 TS 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

snip>

It just proves that their parents were 100% correct when they wouldn't
let them have a motorbike when they were 17. Perhaps anyone doing DAS
should have their parents permission before starting?

 

Oi. Most things I do are far in excess of my abilities.

 

So it's not just me...

 

What I'm wondering about is if they're fucking up /more/ now than they
used to do or if it's also the consequences of today's traffic that
make any fuckup more dangerous.

For once, bike and cars are now faster than ever before - OK,
theoretically you can also stop faster than you used to, but I would
say that the time between you _noticing_ you overcooked it and the
subsequent embrace of something heavy and immobile has shortened
considerably, simply because bikes and cars are better at this handling
lark than they used to be.

Throw in people who think that 2k/year is "high mileage" and hence are
out of practise riding, but still need a Gixxer thou. Take their bike
out on the only sunny Sunday morning of the year, think they're Rossi
and then take out a few more people.

And then we have people in their clouds of cotton wool formerly known
as cars, which are well insulated from anything that goes on around
them and more importantly, don't give two hoots about that anyway
because their five airbags will protect them and their useless brood.
*They* also have no idea when they overcook it - I've just seen some
"interesting" pictures of a Lancer Evo driven by a brother of someone
in the RX-7 club that now has a few scratches that won't polish out
quickly. According to said member, his brother "didn't do anything
silly" - at which point one of the other guys (who I know works for
plod and pointed out that he sees a lot of RTAs a year) suggested that
if the drivers door ended up where the driver's seat used to be and the
car overall is about half-width compared to the "before" pictures, then
they well as damnit did something silly.

But in the end what really pisses me off is that good people like Jarek
end up on someone's political agenda - because that's all it is, plod
playing politics and showing that they're "doing something" by trying
to ban stuff - instead of lobbying against the causes of the whole
thing. "Ban them from National Parks" because they're subhumans anyway
(they'd drive a people carrier if they weren't) and more importantly,
then go crash on somebody else's turf.

And as I've just seen even getting up from your computer these days is
dangerous, so I wonder when they'll ban that inside a National Park.

 

In

Anwill

 

This all all interesting conjecture. In this month's Bike, they point
out the disparity between bike fatalities in the 1970s and fatalities
now (a lot fewer).

As you will certainly appreciate, most bikes back then gave ample
warning that you were doing something stupid - usually well before you
broke the speed limit, or on the first bumpy bend. A lot of modern
bikes handle and stop so damn well that the problem has shifted from
the machine to the rider: the bike *will* get round the corner, but
the rider doesn't think it will, and so picks it up and runs wide. Or
the brakes *are* fantastic, but if you jam them on hard on a greasy
road, you'll find yourself on your arse.

There's also the performance factor. I don't think anything related to
four wheels, absolutely no production car beyond something like a top-
end Ferrari or Veyron, can prepare one for the way a modern superbike
accelerates. For all that, though, the casualty rate has fallen from
the 1970s.

So maybe a lack of training back then contributed to the casualties?
And the test was a joke....

As for cars, agree utterly with what you say. They're safer, quieter,
faster, loaded up with ABS, stability control, traction control and
the rest and give little warning that you're on the edge (this is an
assumption, mind, because I've never driven a really fast modern car).
And you're cossetted, surrounded by airbags and a steel bars, and you
feel invulnerable. here we're getting into the "risk compensation"
thing, aren't we?

Finally, there are a lot, lot more vehicles on the road now, and road
rage is commonplace. I don't remember it being a phenomenon 30 years
ago, except among bikers who'd nearly been killed, of course. But jams
breed irritation, and irritation breeds stupid driving, IMHO.