Crash prompts sanity plea?

jemmy: your comments show exactly why you’re a temporary Australian (as someone said above) when you ride a motorcycle.

You obviously got your licence from the wheaties box if you seriously believe it’s legal to ride between two lanes of traffic. I’m not sure how you think it is safer either when the driver is less likely to know you were there seeing you weren’t there to begin with (the driver may have not been paying attention anyway).

As for gunning it, it usually relates to illegaly travelling between traffic.. I have no problems waiting back in the queue at the lights, I’m likely to get through the lights either way, so perhaps you better save the tests for the motorcyclist who believes they’re better than everyone else speeding away at 120+kph 🙂

And sure you might think it’s better for the riders to be away from cars, the fast you go means a driver is less likely to see you if you’re on a motorcycle and speeding past(and yes there are plenty of car drivers who do the same) You’re just more likely to become road kill when a driver does a head check (if anyone in canberra actually knows what one is??) and doesn’t see you you when they go to change lanes.

and LOL w3st0nFTW.. you forgot a few

* Head checks when changing lanes are not necessary, as there is never anything in the lane beside you.

* no matter how dark it is or how hard it is raining there is absolutely no reason to turn your headlights on, especially if you are driving a grey or gold car, as I can kinda see everyone else they might be able to see too.

* My car has one headlight, it’s perfectly fine to drive it as I will never get stopped.

* The fog/driving/second headlights lights on my car make me look really cool. It’s ok if I blind all other drivers with them by driving with them on all the time. I get extra points if I am driving a Ford Falcon, Commodore, or a wannabe 4WD.

* Give way does not apply to me, it is perfectly fine and legal to pull out from any T-junction in front of the on coming traffic as the car coming will always stop for me. I am then permitted to roll along going 15kph under the speed limit holding up the 4 cars who had to slow for my entry.

* No matter how far the car above the speed limit is going (in Canberra style), it’s still not fast enough and I will sit 1 metre behind you until I can overtake without colliding with the oncoming traffic (the closer the miss the better)

Doctor Evi that great to know. what about the indicators, brake light. I am getting the point im just saying dont think u know everything that happend just cos u looked at a pic of a smashed up bike.

VY did i say bcos he has a hard life that he should of been givin a pass from god?

Good point trilobite so true.

Stole this from a forum.

BASIC RULES FOR DRIVING IN CANBERRA

1. Indicators will give away your next move. A real Canberra driver never
uses them.

2. Under no circumstances should you leave a safe distance between you
and the car in front of you, or somebody else will fill in that space,
putting you in an even more dangerous situation.

3. Crossing two or more lanes in a single lane change is considered
“going with the flow.”

4. The faster you drive through a red light, the less chance you have of
getting hit.

5. Never get in the way of an older car that needs extensive repairs.
The other guy doesn’t have anything to lose.

6. Braking is to be done as hard and as late as possible to ensure that
your ABS kicks in, giving a nice, relaxing foot massage as the brake
pedal pulsates. For those of you without ABS, it’s a chance to stretch
your legs.

7. Speed limits are arbitrary figures, given only as suggestions and
apparently not enforceable in the metro area during rush hour.

8. Please remember that there is no such thing as a shortcut during
rush-hour traffic in Canberra.

9. Always slow down and rubberneck when you see an accident or even
someone changing a tyre.

10. Everybody thinks their vehicle is better than yours, especially 4WD
drivers.

11. Learn to swerve abruptly. Canberrais the home of High-Speed Slalom
Driving thanks to the Urban services, which puts potholes in key
locations to test drivers’ reflexes and keep them on their toes, not
forgetting the ‘Test your skill’ chicanes in suburbs.

12. It is traditional in Canberrato honk your horn at cars that don’t
move the instant the light changes.

13. Seeking eye contact with another driver revokes your right of way.

14. Never take a green light at face value. Always look right and left
before proceeding.

15. Remember that the goal of every Canberradriver is to get there
first, by whatever means necessary.

16. Real Canberrawomen drivers can put on pantyhose and apply eye makeup
at 75 kph in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

17. Real Canberramen drivers can remove pantyhose and a bra at 95 kph in
bumper-to-bumper traffic.

18. Heavy fog and rain are no reasons to change any of the previously
listed rules. These weather conditions are God’s way ensuring a natural
selection process for panel beaters, junkyards, and new vehicle sales.
It is an acceptable practice to increase your speed in comparison to the
rate of rain fall, i.e.: the harder it rains, the faster you go.

19. There is a commonly held belief in Canberrathat high-speed
tailgating in heavy traffic reduces petrol consumption as you get sucked
along in the slipstream of the car in front.

20. It’s OK to cut off fully loaded semi-trailers, road trains and buses
because, hell – they have brakes.

21. It is an essential duty of the driver to preserve the life of his
passengers. Hence no matter how much of an inconvenience it may be,
always find a detour around The Causeway, Lower Kambah, Lower Wanniassa,
Scullin, Areas of Ainslie, and Oaks Estate.

22. Always anticipate oncoming traffic while driving down a one-way
street.

23. It’s O.K when driving in Belconnen’s suburbs to air your grievances
at bad drivers by giving the “one finger salute” while screaming out
“#%*#”. However, it is imperative you are driving at least a 5-litre V8
with a crow bar in your lap.

24. Canberra drivers are experts at merging, when in two or more lanes
travelling in the same direction, ensure that if you see someone
politely indicating, waiting slowly trying to merge into your lane, show
them that they must ‘Wait their turn’ to use your lane. Speed up, try to
cut them off, should they succeed and get into your lane never mind that
it was actually legal for them to do that, ensure that your flash your
lights, honk your horn, use extreme hand gestures, even tailgate them,
just to let them know, IT WAS YOUR LANE.

25. Ensure that when merging into traffic travelling at any more than
40kph that you stop in the merging lane, backing up traffic for miles
behind you, ensuring that you have given yourself or no-one else that
opportunity to merge. Again, forget that the traffic handbook states
that you should speed up to meet traffic speed then merge. If you are
travelling in a lane near a merge lane, don’t changes lanes to make it
easy for them, instead see rule 24, after all they deserve it.

26. While using Canberraroundabouts, particularly two lane roundabouts,
ENSURE that you are in the left lane to turn right, or the right to turn
left, hell lets keep those people in those other lanes on their toes.

27. If you are an Action bus driver, you must win at all costs, getting
to your destination prior to any other driver is life and death. Never
worry about your passengers bouncing round in the back like tennis
balls, hell it’s a cheap form of theme park, in fact Canberra’s very
own.

28. Canberra Cabs, see rule 27, except you are now qualifying for the
GMC 400.

29. Pedestrian crossings – What are they?

30. If you are a cyclist, remember YOU ARE INVINCIBLE, you are stronger
than ANY vehicle travelling at speed, MAKE SURE you take the whole lane
for yourself, and at night NEVER use lights, remember They Will See You

Well, I ride a motorcycle almost every day and I also drive.

Things I see (where X is any car or motorcycle):
X waaaaaaaaaaay too close to the vehicle in front.
X lane weaving and lane splitting, with or without indication.
X running amber lights or reds. A red is a red is a red.
X not giving a tinker’s cuss about anyone else around them, or where other people might be trying to go.
X not noticing the speed limit near schools (and I have to admit to having done this).

Car specific:
Mobile phone, drinking coffee, using a laptop or fiddling with an iPod.
Being in charge of an SUV at any time.

Motorcycle specific:
Accelerating too fast in urban/suburban zones.
Fat pipes are clearly compensating for an inadequacy elsewhere.
Not wearing safety gear.

Scooter specific:
Not wearing safety gear! Coming off a scooter at 60km/h is like slamming your body into an angle grinder. No skirts and singlets, you dopes!

Bicycle specific:
“Now I’m a car, and now I’m a pedestrian, and now I’m God.”

And every single one of us is far too impatient.

Right. Time for a beer, a Bex and a good lie down.

Peter Major (whom I have met on several occasions) is a sensible guy who rides responsibly. It is unfortunate that many other local riders can’t do the same. I have no issues with riders moving up through stationary lines of traffic – it doesn’t slow me down, and they get to ride more safely away from the general traffic groups. What I do dislike is driving along a major road (eg Monaro Hwy), where both lanes are flowing along at or slightly below the speed limit, and you see motorcyclists weaving in and around cars, ignoring lanes and turn signals, at perhaps 30km/h over the speed limit. It get’s kinda hard to see what a motorcyclist is doing when they appear from behind a car, traveling substantially faster than you, when you’re half way through a lane change.

Of course, some people will say that ‘this is a small minority’, but I disagree – I see lots of riders doing this. Frankly I’m suprised there aren’t more accidents.

In response to w3st0nFTW’s comment above about how the kid ‘had a hard life’, that’s well and good but it doesn’t change the laws of physics. If you are traveling on a small bike (especially one which is unregistered and unsuitable to be ridden on public roads) and get in the way of a car, you are going to have a bad day.

No, I figured it out by clicking on the picture and zooming in using the magic of the internet.

It looked orange in the picture, hence the KTM guess. If it’s actually red, then yes it’s a Honda CR or CRF.

I think you’re missing the point – it’s still an unregistered dirt bike.

And just for the record, riding a motorcycle between two lanes of traffic is illegal in the ACT.

Dr evil you say that

“On closer inspection the bike is a late model KTM motocrosser, probably an SX 125 or similar.

Unregistered, no headlight, no indicators, no brake light, running on knobby tyres . What on earth is this thing doing on Hindmarsh Drive?”

Did you figure this out zooming into the pic on MS PAINT? i think the pixles lied.

some unroadworthy vehicles ive seen on hindmarsh should not of made it out of the front driveway let alone going 80.

The report does not tell the full story does it not!? There were no witnesses it looks like only the driver and the rider know wat happend..

I know the rider of the bike(honda) he has been riding motos since he was little.
This kid has had a hard life he has no family ive heard and @ one stage he was living in his car, he was back on his feet untill this, now he wont ever walk or be the same person again. poor guy

But obviously he should not of been riding on the road or riding around there at all but thats the risk people take.

imo when most drivers see a moterbike comming they turn into tards and panic, this is how these crashes happen.

bd84 think they have the right to slip down the middle of two lanes of traffic at traffic lights

What’s dangerous about doing that? I was taught to do it as being safer than staying back and mixing it with the cars. It’s perfectly legal where I come from.

so they can gun it and beat everyone else

Ah, the real issue. How dare anyone get in front of you, eh, even though it costs you nothing at all. Psychological tests needed for prospective drivers, I think.

You know why it was banned here right? Nothing to do with safety, everything to do with placating people like bd84. (It’s actually safer for a motorcyclist to be in front of traffic and away from cars.)

Rego doesn’t generally go on the front of a bike, but anyway…
People like this don’t do the rest of us any favours – they make car drivers characterise us all as insane idiots with a death-wish (and therefore whenever anything bad happens, the default assumption is that it must be the rider’s fault). Of course, when someone in a car behaves in a similar manner, somehow the same argument doesn’t apply to all car drivers – go figure.
I agree with you jase! – my small dark Lancer gets very few people changing lanes into it – my bright silver bike, on the other hand, seems to be a magnet for them.

well spotted, except it looked more like a honda than a KTM. It grabbed my attention when I saw the picture in the paper and was surprised that the article didn’t mention that the bike wasn’t registered, the next unanswered question regarded the licence of the person riding at the time.

BD84: I can count the number of people who have tried to change lanes on top of my dark silver (kinda road coloured) ute in the 2 years I have owned it on 1 hand. I would have at least 1 or 2 a week try and do the same thing on my bright orange motorbike. the sad thing is that holds true even though I ride the bike less than I drive the ute.

yes there are some clown riders out there but they are the minority. drivers who don’t give a crap about anything outside their soundproof box make up a far higher percentage of road users.

When I saw the photo, I noticed it was a trail bike. I hate trail bikes. Some neighbours here have a bunch of them, and the racket is horrible.

Knobbly tyres wouldn’t have great grip on the bitumen, he might have lost it trying to take the turn too fast.

And yeah, when I see motorcyclists being silly on the roads, I just think to myself “another temporary Australian”. If they are sensible and all the other things you hope for in fellow road users, then they are a fellow road user and entitled to every consideration and courtesy. but when they behave like pork chops, it’s hard to be concerned about what might happen to them.

I think it’s more the problem that the motorcyclist, despite their two wheels and absolutely no pretection all think they’re Casey Stoner and can weave through the traffic doing 30kph over the speed limit, think they can use the shoulders of roads to pass traffic, think they have the right to slip down the middle of two lanes of traffic at traffic lights so they can gun it and beat everyone else and ride 1 metre behind the car infront waiting for the chance to pull the dangerous massive overtaking move.

Sure there are people out there who don’t look when changing lanes when there are motorcyclists in the lane, they do the same thing to other car drivers too, and add in the tailgating drivers.

But I have absolutely no sympathy for these people, 90 % of these riders are a death wish waiting for happen, it just is more likely to happen to them if they encounter a car.

Looks like the guy in the story above tried to turn across and beat the traffic coming down hindmarsh drive, guess he lost. Fool

I’ve been a long time supporter of the concept No Fear = No brain.