Prankster uses plastic wrap as road trap

[Bob]

A prankster in Waukesha, Wisconsin tightly wound plastic wrap around traffic poles across a two-lane road, causing a motorcycle accident that injured two people.

Daniel Buckel, and his girlfriend, Theresa Brzykcy, were riding south of Waukesha on Tuesday when their motorcycle crashed into the plastic wrap set up 3 to 4 feet above the road -- wound thickly from traffic poles on opposite sides. The couple were within 10 feet when Buckel saw the makeshift barricade and hit the brakes.

"It's appalling, and it's really frightening"said Brzykcy "What was their intention? This should make people more aware that pranks like that are not as harmless as they seem."

[scumdog]

A prankster in Waukesha, Wisconsin tightly wound plastic wrap around traffic poles across a two-lane road, causing a motorcycle accident that injured two people.

Daniel Buckel, and his girlfriend, Theresa Brzykcy, were riding south of Waukesha on Tuesday when their motorcycle crashed into the plastic wrap set up 3 to 4 feet above the road -- wound thickly from traffic poles on opposite sides. The couple were within 10 feet when Buckel saw the makeshift barricade and hit the brakes.

"It's appalling, and it's really frightening"said Brzykcy "What was their intention? This should make people more aware that pranks like that are not as harmless as they seem."

Well that wraps that story up

[spudchucka]

I once worked for a plastic manufacturing company that specialised in stretch film. The stuff on its own is not all that strong but when you laminate multiple layers of it together and then "band" it together like a rope the stuff is incredibly strong. I have no doubt that if a biker hit it at speed they would have suffered shocking consequences, possibly even decapitation.

[moko]

True story this,and a bit spooky I suppose.I was going to work one evening years ago (8 o`clock start night shift)on my Z250.Saw a group of young lads obviously up to no good and slowed right down because of the little voice in my head.Bastards had tied fishing line across the road.I stopped,gave them the evil eye,one of them un-tied one end and I rode on cursing the little shits.Woke up the next afternoon,radio alarm was set to the local station and I always got the hourly news shortly after the alarm went off,turned out that just after my encounter the brick pillar that one end of the line was tied to had collapsed,one of the teenagers had been sitting on it and had lost both of his legs.

[sAsLEX]

evil comes to those that deserve it aye! what they had done could of seriously injured you but they got their own in the end!

[Lou Girardin]

I'm 'Glad' it wasn't me.

[Bob]

The $1,000 reward for information leading to those responsible for the plastic-wrap barrier that stretched across a rural road causing a motorcycle crash is to be increased to $5,000.

Attorney Michael Hupy contacted victim Daniel Buckel and offered to pay for the reward. A spokeswoman said Hupy is an avid biker and supporter of bikers' rights, prompting him to increase the reward amount.

[merv]

Having been to Waukesha a few years ago I can tell you it will have been the only exciting thing that has happened in that hick town for decades.

The risk in Wisconsin in the summer, as you've seen me mention on other threads too, is that the bikers wear next to nothing there in the heat of the summer. T-shirt, shorts and jandals at best and while its nice to see the chicks long blonde hair blowing in the wind and lots of flesh showing, not nice if they crash.

[Wenier]

that is really appaling to hear about i hope they catch the little buggers. And thats damn great that one of em lost their legs obivously there are some external forces out there that will harm those who try harm others

[toads]

horrible story, I hope the perpertrators are caught and dealt with appropriately, it's even worse that it happened in a small hick town cos the victims and perpertrators were most likely known to one another, so will have ongoing repercussions anyway.

[FROSTY:Me]

Whats even more apauling is that some dumb fuck reporter plastered the news everywhere so some P'd out idiot can coppycat the "great stunt"
Good onya newsboys

[Bob]

Whats even more apauling is that some dumb fuck reporter plastered the news everywhere so some P'd out idiot can coppycat the "great stunt"
Good onya newsboys

As a 'dumb f*ck reporter', I think I resemble that remark!

(I earn part of my income as newshound for a bike magazine - this is how I found this story. I came across it as part of my daily trawl through various sources.)

To my mind, this highlights the foolishness of the little vermin that did it - it also highlights the reward that has been put out there, so hopefully someone will be lured by the money and shop the scum. If they get caught, then it won't happen again.

Your reaction to what is an item of news is really interesting to me. I find all sorts of news when I am doing my daily hunt - I ignore all the "biker has accident" stuff as (a) it'd fill up a thousand pages a month on it's own (b) it is morbid reporting lists of accidents and (c) I know my editor would not use it and eventually not use me as I wasn't coming up with news, simply accident reports.

But I do find things that aren't all lovely and joyful - and it is often hard work getting my editor to print them as he wants to show an image of biking as all fun and laughter, with no downside. Personally, I think if it is bike-related news and has a potential impact on bikers in general, then it should be reported.

Your reaction to what is, to my mind, an item of news relating to bikers - and one that puts out a warning to others to watch out for this kind of thing - really interests me as you blame the press for reporting the incident, rather than berate the miscreants that did the deed.

Not going into the whole "freedom of the press" thing - but are you saying that the press should only report happy items? Or should the press be free to publish news as they find it?

If you look at a lot of news in here, it ain't pretty. So should the press pretend it doesn't happen?

To me, that is one step away from the kind of control over the media that exists in far too many countries - there are many places where the press can only report what their government wants them to. I'd hate to live in an Orwellian society with that kind of control.

I am NOT, repeat NOT, having a pop at you - or indeed trying to start an arguement. I am fascinated by the reaction and wonder what kind of editorial control you think should exist over the kind of news items that are released to the general public.

I'll be genuinely interested to hear yours - and everyone else's points of view.

[spudchucka]

The interesting thing about "journalism" these days is the filtering process of choosing which stories are sufficiently newsworthy. 99.9% of the time it is the gory, bizarre or quirky ones that make the news. Why? Because blood, guts, wierdness, crime and people coming to grief in many various ways sells papers and gains ratings for TV.

ANd Bob I'm not having a pop at you either, just making a comment.

[Bob]

The interesting thing about "journalism" these days is the filtering process of choosing which stories are sufficiently newsworthy. 99.9% of the time it is the gory, bizarre or quirky ones that make the news. Why? Because blood, guts, wierdness, crime and people coming to grief in many various ways sells papers and gains ratings for TV.

ANd Bob I'm not having a pop at you either, just making a comment.

No offence taken and never thought for a moment you were having a pop – personally I wish I could find more cheerful items to report. Sadly, more people buy the tabloid papers than the ‘serious’ press. And the tabloids survive by sensationalising their news. Where someone like the BBC (or indeed if I report something) would say “Motorcyclist Shot in Road Rage Incident”, the tabloid press would probably head it “Biker shot in gang war revenge killing” – even if the evidence to support the gang war part was spurious.

But do people go for sensationalism, which means a point of view has to be injected – over straight reportage (which is how I like to do things), where you get the news and put your own interpretation to the item?

Out of curiosity, I decided to see which items have proved most popular, in terms of ‘Views’ – these are all the items with over 100 views since I started this forum (with apologies to Quasidevil for missing his post out, but I wasn’t really sure “I posted the first post” really counted as a news item!):

NZ roads - do they need better signposts? 276

Gov't official says "biker training just means more skilled deaths! 262

Radio wave ‘zapper’ to aid UK police in ending chases? 235

Prankster uses plastic wrap as road trap 154

‘Help me’ carved into accident victim’s skin 124

Rider with nude pillion charged 110

CCM to close? 105

Will Smith suffers from nagging wife after motorcycle accident 104

What interests me here – and sorry this if this is sounding like a lecture – is that the top two are political items. Obviously, you guys in NZ have a better understanding and are more interested in biking legislation than is the case in the UK – report stuff like this on a UK forum (one in particular springs to mind) and you would get accused of whining.

Of the others? Well none of them – aside from Will Smith being nagged – are really cheerful or ‘fun’ items. Bear in mind the stuff I report is ‘pure’ news (sliced into neat 100-150 word items – as I said, you guys are getting this for free, my writing brief for the paying client is that article length and I have to do this after I’ve done the ‘day job’) and there is no sensationalist headlines to catch the audience.

But the fun stuff comes way lower down the list. If they had headlines like “Girl whips out gazongas – photos here!” as the heading, would more people read the items? More than likely.

More people read the items (translate into ‘buy the paper’) and the news direction changes to more and more of that kind of story. And once you’re down there, you enter the world of “we need more stories like that – jazz them up a bit, it is what our readers want”. So you end up with more and more of the sick, sad type of tale.

As you say 99.9% of the time it is the gory, bizarre or quirky ones that make the news. Why? Because blood, guts, wierdness, crime and people coming to grief in many various ways sells papers and gains ratings for TV.

From the time I’ve spent in here, you guys seem to me to be a decent, intelligent bunch who aren’t afraid to put forward their point of view. But even in here, the top items read – and this without ‘SHOCK! HORROR! TITS!” headlines – are more often than not the less cheery ones.

Human nature I suppose. But you have a pretty decent balance overall – out of those top items, there are two or three political ones (3 if you include the zapper article), one pure silly one about a nagging wife, one about a bike maker closing and a couple of more gore-related ones.

[spudchucka]

Perhaps the kiwibiker mob are simply a fraction smarter than your average bear?