Car cop's lethal death toll -- The Welsh Traffic Talban speaks..

Is that right - because if so ...

Your assertion of "more than a third", whilst technically pointing the
right way, as it were, is less than accurate. 1,185,921% apparently,
according to my calculator. Not worth going out, really.

I used to be in a Motor Club in North Devon. During this time, we ran
two or three officially-sanctioned road rallies each year, as well as
many other, smaller events. We had the local friendly Traffic Super
round for a natter one evening and he mentioned your point of view -
"If you drive down a North Devonian lane at a speed which would allow
you to stop should the road be blocked around the corner, you would be
quicker walking".
He didn't expect anybody to adhere to this principle, unsurprisingly.

 

You did (33^2)^2 right? That would be correct for an increase in speed
of 33 _times_ but 33% is (1.33^2)^2 = 3.12900721 or ~312.9%

 

I think that's rubbish and I'd love to see some figures to back it up.

If it does have any basis in research I suspect it is based upon fatalities
to pedestrians when hit by cars, rather than fatalities to bikers.

Great, so I'm riding along in a NSL at 60mph.

About 70m away I see a junction, where I have right of way, but a car is
approaching the junction and should stop to give way to me. I brake a
little, just in case.

Once I am 50m from the junction, according to the highway code, I need to be
down to 50mph in order to stop in time. Should the driver not have seen me
and pull out.

At 25m from the junction I need to be down to 30mph to give me time to stop
in an emergency.

With only 10m to go to the junction I'm down below 20mph ... just in case,
you know.

Has the car driver seen me now? I'm only 5m away and doing 10mph along an
open NSL road. There's an articulated lorry 3cm behind me, tooting his
horn. The car driver wonders why I'm not indicating if I'm going to turn.

I draw almost level with the junction and I'm down to walking pace. The car
driver decides I'm insane and pulls out. The lorry, which was about to
overtake me, now has to swerve to avoid the car driver, batting off a
cyclist coming the other way before ploughing into the car anyway and
overturning.

Unfortunately the lorry load of builders rubble is now flying everywhere. A
large chunk of masonry breaks my arm in 3 places as a conclusion to its
brief flight. Fortunately I'm going so slowly then when I fall over due to
this the bike lands on top of me, thus sustaining no damage.

Because of my badly broken arm I can't lift the bike off, there's no help
from the car driver, who was killed in the impact with the lorry, or from
the lorry driver who is trapped in their cab, or from the cyclist, who is
lying on the road with crushed legs.

Thus all four of us are still in place when the car's petrol tank explodes
and kills the lot of us.

The official police accident report marks the whole thing down as,
"Inappropriate speed for the conditions".


--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1
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The speccy Geordie twat.

 

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 18:29:56 +0100, "AndrewR"

Bummer - GWS

Cunts - all of 'em.

 

"Andrewr At Work" wrote in message

941,000 motorcycles with 609 deaths to riders in 2002 (17.75% of all road
deaths). 27,165,000 cars with 1,747 deaths to occupants (50.92% of all road
deaths). 30 times more cars but only 2 1/2 times more deaths. I know which
type of vehicle I would rather use, although I did ride a motorcycle for
more than 10 years when I was younger, mostly over 500cc.

Ian

 

'her'? Is that just an assumption on your part or do you know something
that wasn't mentioned by the OP?

 

And that's your choice, but you can't complain about the cost and suffering
caused by motorbike deaths without complaining about the cost and suffering
caused by car deaths.

<Old hippy mode>

Oh man, you used to be cool, but you sold out.

You're worse than a pig, man!


--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
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The speccy Geordie twat.

 

So when someone is hit and killed at 40mph, we can can be thankful it
wasn't 53mph where they would have been killed an extra 2 times.

 

A gyroscope won't cope with hills.
You need a third wheel on a lever behind the back wheel
(like those on wheelie school bikes that cut the ignition
when the front wheel gets too high) either mechanically
linked to the headlight or electrically linked to a motor.


Roger.

 

Depresion wrote

MOT?

You are implying that some of these cars need them. When you don't have
insurance why bother with the MOT? And even the North Wales police
acknowledge the increasing number of /cars/ on the roads without such
things.

 

steve auvache says...

Are they doing anything about it? Because all I get to read is the crap
about the bikers/speeding/dying/killing themselves yada yada yada.

--
Lesley
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Not a chance, the statistics reveal that 100% of bikers will die,
that's frightening isn't it?

 

SP wrote

Of course they are. Didn't I read something the other day, about some
Chief Inspector I think it was, who chased a dozen or more scrotes up
the motorway at over a hundred miles an hour? Statistically at least
one of them was uninsured, probably.

You have got to learn to chill out a bit babe, you take it all far too
personal.

You know as well as I do that 9 out of ten of them haven't got a clue
what it is like having something hot and throbbing between their legs
and never will do. They could no more understand the pleasure it gives
you than they could that given by your motorbike.

How can I put it in terms you will understand? I got it. Perspective
it what it is all about.

I don't know for sure but I am fairly confident that you also drive a
cage occasionally and consequently you know what the view of the road is
like from both that and the bike. Now take it a bit further and I am
sure you will freely admit that the same road is a totally different
experience depending on whether you ride or drive. A matter of
perspective again, right? You have it and they don't. Feel superior,
it works for me.

 

joe parkin says...

Oh. So I've died at least three times then. This regeneration is
rather good, innit?

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steve auvache says...

That's one of the reasons I stopped buying MCN, because any legislation
that was passed was deemed by them to be against the bikes, rather than
purely legislation for vehicles speeding or whatever.

Git. That fair put a smile on my face.

--
Lesley
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I am a bit bothered by the dying, but not the being dead.

 

SP wrote

Well, if we are being fair and I don't see why we should but there you
go, the biking fraternity has it's fair share of idiots with their heads
stuck firmly in the sand. MAG for example or Harley riders.

Although, continuing in the spirit of good will and fairness, MCN does
have its circulation figures to think about and just agreeing that
legislation is a good idea because it actually is might well have
alienated some of their readers enough to go off to other publications
like the Beano or the Dandy. There may have been sound financial
reasons why they might not have actually meant what they published.

Not as big as the one you will get when you next ride your bike.

 

steve auvache says...

Granted, but when you read something that they publish relating to road
safety that you previously read in the Times or some such, relating to
all road users not just purely bikes, it hacks you off a little bit.

<checks watch>

Not long now, baby.

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Lesley
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SP wrote of

Oh c'mon. ukrm of all people know how much MCN are nothing but cheap
plagiarising bastards. They got suspected, they got set up, they got
caught and they have paid the price of humiliation in the rest of the
trade press. I seem to recall reading not so long ago that they are at
it again, this time though they didn't take the bait.

You just have to accept the fact that their magazine is really only a
vehicle for the advertisers interests and any editorial comment is just
so much utter bollox to give the rabble a hard on.

Well actually you have haven't you? Because you said you don't read it
any more, which is a step in the right direction. Without a doubt there
are more votes to be had in your purse than you can get at any polling
booth.

 

I commute 120 miles a day on most days on my bike. I stand by what I
said. I have rarely seen more than five bikes a day since about
October/November.

I'd suspect that >50% of them are 'sports' bikes; i.e. they've got a
fairing but are not tourers.

I can only go by what I see on my daily commute.