to expect motorcyclists not to behave like irresponsible twats on the road...

[RedButtonhole]

especially as the emphasis seems to be on car drivers to "Think Bike".

Motorcyclist overtook me on a blind corner the other day, so close and at such a speed I swerved onto a verge to avoid him. I very rarely see motorcyclists who observe the speed limit and even witnessed one run a red light the other day at some roadworks, because there was room for it to slip through the oncoming traffic.

I know that this does not apply to all motorcyclists, but I drive the same road every day to work, its a nice open country road and popular with motorcyclists so I do see alot of this.

All the Summer Wankers are out in their Power Ranger suits.

I ride to work all year (about 20,000 miles a year) and hate this time of year. The roads are full of arseholes.

They can all go fast in a straight line, but are useless at anything else.

All you can do is hope it rains so they'll stay in & polish their preciouses.

I have just seen a post on facebook detailing a horrific accident where the driver and passenger of a car, and a motorcyclist were all killed, instantly.

The post says the motorcyclist was doing 85mph, then goes into great detail about how the car driver was on their phone, not paying attention and pulled out in front of the motorcyclist who was unable to react quickly enough to avoid colliding with the car.

Now, obviously the car driver was a complete idiotfor being on his phone and not paying attention, and i would certainly agree that the accident was caused my his carelessness. However there was no reference made whatsoever to the fact that if the motorcyclist had been doing the speed limit, instead of 25mph over it, he may have been able to react in time and the collision may have been less serious.

I have already said that I agree there are complete idiots out there driving cars, but the onus seems to be on car drivers to be cautious of idiotic motorcyclists, there does not seem to be anything aimed at motorcyclists to make them think about being more careful, and i think there is as much need for a campaign of that nature as there is for "think bike" etc.

Thankyou though, to the motorcyclists who have posted on my thread, it has been interesting to see things from your perspective and it also sounds like you are very safe and responsiblr, it is a shame that you may be tarred with the same brush as the idiots I have mentioned.

How awful for all concerned .

I understand from the police that any fatal collisions are now investigated as a murder (hence the £2.1 million price tag on a fatality), they are very specific that incidents are always attributable to someone's mistake and hence the reasons the roads are closed for so long after a fatality - they have to gather as much evidence as possible before allowing traffic back on the roads again.

I do wish people would leave their phones alone though when driving - is any call really that important? Isn't that what voicemail is for? Obviously the bike was going too fast as well, but it is up to the police to apportion blame.

There are things out there aimed at bikers and making bikers more aware, but it's more often in the biking press, or on biker specific sites, Facebook pages, etc etc where bikers will see it, but probably doesn't come to the attention of most other road users. The biking community is still relatively small. The problem is, the people who are responsible will listen to the messages, go on courses etc, but it's probably preaching to the converted. The rest come up with comments such as, "no point doing advanced training, I'd learn far more on a track day" and other such nonsense and those types won't be convinced no matter how many initiatives are out there .

jasper if it's high wind and you're overtaking a lorry, move to the right hand of your own lane and go diagonally to the left side as you come abreast of the front of the lorry. (stay within your own lane, just move from 2/3 to the right of it to 2/3 to the left of it if you see what I mean). For some reason riding diagonally into towards the lorry seems to help the buffetting.

Also never ever ever forget the lifesaver check over your shoulder before manoevering. It's named the lifesaver because it does just that.

the police used to do a great advice book called something like The Police Riders Handbook. It's about defensive riding and it's great.

overall yes, I think riders who ride all the time are sensible. Yes, I've lost friends to accidents, some of which really werent their fault :( The sunny sunday 20 somethings who see bike riding as a testosterone sport ... Im sorry but some of them died because they were stupid. No other way to put it. Sometimes there was nothing the car driver could do and they are left with the memory of a fatal crash haunting them.

riding diagonally in towards the lorry front as you come out from its lee* seems to help the buffetting.

also, don't ride in snow. it's a bitch.

Not all motorcyclists are twats... Some of us observe the speed limit and drive safely.

Yes, settling, I think that was adressed in the first post.

It looks horrific Magrat, there is a photograph of the aftermath that is stomach- churning. It's awful thinking that three lives could have been spared if those in control of the vehicles had behaved responsibly. So sad

I suppose what you have said makes sense if I think more about it. Having the campaigns specifically on pages etc. that the biking community will see is the best way to reach them so that will be why I haven't seen much of it.

Yy to snow meerka, I rode in snow once, it wasn't slippy (A road, lots of traffic and gravel so it was clear) but was very very cold and my hands were in agony despite having 2 pairs of gloves (proper ones and a liner).

Can't imagine how horrible it must be to witness an accident let alone be involved in one, I'm always mindful of that when I'm on the road.

redbutton most of the riding community are responsible, very. They know they're vulnerable. its the young-gods that there's a problem with. No idea how to get through to them :/

I just wish bikers and cyclists would also 'think car'. If I stop at a light, I seem to inevitably end up with some form of bike having filtered next to me. They just love sitting on the passenger side shoulder of my car. I have no visibility there. It's a big 4WD with this horrible blind spot, so I just wish they would consider where they stop. If they came forward another metre I'd at least know they were there before they went tearing off at the lights and scaring the shit out of me and potentially putting themselves at risk.

Oh they really are. I do lose patience.

If motorbikes have filtered past, they should be on the driver's side, not the passenger side (unless it is a double lane road, when filtering should be between the two lanes).