UK TV Show: Emergency Bikers

[MarkH]

Just checking out this program - some interesting stuff.

The show follows motorcycle police & motorcycle paramedics *googles* here it is: http://www.five.tv/shows/emergency-bikers

From 101:
Flymo earned his nickname for trimming a verge during training.
Flipper earned his nickname for flipping his bike into a canal.
Bike paramedic guy talking about the risks - one of his colleagues was killed by a car turning right, all of them have been knocked off by cars at some point.
I'm not too sure if they get a choice of bikes but they seem to be on different ones - Flymo on an FJR-1300, Flipper on an R1. (Edit - Flipper's dream bike is an R1, they all ride FJR-1300 bikes)
Bike paramedic evaluating a guy in pain, needs gear in the ambulance, but that takes 10 minutes to arrive - bikes are way quicker for getting around busy cities!

I can't find 102 to download, but 103 coming down now. It looks like they made 9 episodes in season one and it is currently up to episode 3 in season 2.

[firefighter]

Cannot watch from your current country or location........

How do you get around that?

[MarkH]

Cannot watch from your current country or location........

How do you get around that?

Download from usenet or torrents - same as all TV I watch. I have a subscription to www.easynews.com that lets me download up to 60GB per month. Basically I just don't watch broadcast TV at all, consequently I don't waste my life watching ads.

[MIXONE]

Cannot watch from your current country or location........

How do you get around that?

Move...:innocent:

[MarkH]

Watching Emergency Bikers 104:
A biker had crashed on a corner (brand new K1300 he was test riding), but wasn't hurt. He got charged with careless driving but instead of a penalty he gets a chance to do a bike safe course. This was very interesting - it is something that could make a positive difference and save lives, big ups to UK police!

Fuckin' NZ law enforcement sucks! All they ever do is dish out penalties, they never help drivers/riders to improve their skills and avoid future accidents.

[breakaway]

I know the grass is always greener and all, but I've always wondered why there seem to be well-produced, more frequent "Think Bike" PSAs on TVs etc in the UK, but nothing of the sort.

[MarkH]

I'm finding this program quite interesting, partly for the policing differences between the UK and NZ. On s2 e4 a driver is pulled over for using a mobile phone and will lose his license for no offences other than mobile phone usage - it was his 4th offence within 3 years at 3 points each taking him over 10 points. His car was also uninsured because no one had paid the insurance bill so the car was immediately impounded and the driver got taken to a safe location from where he would have to make his own way home.

Are there demerit points in NZ for using a cell phone? Personally I would like to see cell phone usage while driving policed more - people not paying attention to their driving are a risk to the lives of motorcyclists.

[SMOKEU]

Cannot watch from your current country or location........

How do you get around that?

Proxy server?

[Muppet]

Watching Emergency Bikers 104:
A biker had crashed on a corner (brand new K1300 he was test riding), but wasn't hurt. He got charged with careless driving but instead of a penalty he gets a chance to do a bike safe course. This was very interesting - it is something that could make a positive difference and save lives, big ups to UK police!

Fuckin' NZ law enforcement sucks! All they ever do is dish out penalties, they never help drivers/riders to improve their skills and avoid future accidents.

What's stopping you improving your own skills? Why should Police do it for you?

[Muppet]

I'm finding this program quite interesting, partly for the policing differences between the UK and NZ. On s2 e4 a driver is pulled over for using a mobile phone and will lose his license for no offences other than mobile phone usage - it was his 4th offence within 3 years at 3 points each taking him over 10 points. His car was also uninsured because no one had paid the insurance bill so the car was immediately impounded and the driver got taken to a safe location from where he would have to make his own way home.

Are there demerit points in NZ for using a cell phone? Personally I would like to see cell phone usage while driving policed more - people not paying attention to their driving are a risk to the lives of motorcyclists.

Yes there are demerits for that offence, but hold on a minute. On one hand you want police to stop dishing out penalties and help drivers improve their skills but when it comes to mobile phone offences you want them to hand out tickets! Using your menatlity why don't police help drivers do a course on how to set up Bluetooth/hands free technology in their cars then?

[MarkH]

What's stopping you improving your own skills? Why should Police do it for you?

I never said that riders/drivers shouldn't improve their own skills!

Why should police do anything to up-skill drivers?
Well, they are they one's that claim that their aim is to lower the road toll. Why shouldn't they do whatever the most effective thing is to achieve their stated goal?

[MarkH]

Yes there are demerits for that offence, but hold on a minute. On one hand you want police to stop dishing out penalties and help drivers improve their skills but when it comes to mobile phone offences you want them to hand out tickets! Using your menatlity why don't police help drivers do a course on how to set up Bluetooth/hands free technology in their cars then?

Why would the police care if someone can set up Bluetooth/hands free technology in their cars? Surely you don't need to know how to do it in order to have it done. I don't know how to install an alarm in a car, but I've had alarms fitted into 3 different cars over the years.

Hmmm, do I have a problem with advocating punishment for some offences and training for others? *thinking* *thinking* NOPE!

But making someone that has been caught using a mobile phone do a defensive driving course that includes being told to pay attention to potential dangers and NOT talk on the phone while engaged in the potentially dangerous activity of driving a motor vehicle - I don't recall saying that I thought that was a crap idea.

Actually what I said was: "Personally I would like to see cell phone usage while driving policed more". I never said that I believed that giving penalties was the only option that I wanted to see. Maybe getting the offenders into a road safety class and going through the tragic results of not focusing on your driving might be a much better solution. To many drivers having spend a day in traffic school would be a more severe punishment and they may decide that they will get a hands-free kit instead of getting caught again and having to waste another day in traffic school.

[Gibbo1]

It seems you can go to http://tv-dump.org/shows/Emergency.Bikers/ to download episodes.

[MarkH]

It seems you can go to http://tv-dump.org/shows/Emergency.Bikers/ to download episodes.

Damn, the episodes that I am missing are missing there too.

[Ocean1]

being told to pay attention to potential dangers and NOT talk on the phone while engaged in the potentially dangerous activity of driving a motor vehicle - I don't recall saying that I thought that was a crap idea.


It is a crap idea. Do you seriously think that anyone is unaware they shouldn't be using a phone while driving? So what possible goosd is to had from "educating" them about it?

They did it knowing full well they weren't supposed to. Punishing them probably ain't going to work either. What to do? Fucked if I know, maybe require these hardened criminals to show proof of purchase of a hands free kit?

Except there's no difference in the risk in using them...

[breakaway]

The whole "using phone while driving = bad" ideolgy is flawed.

The thing about using the phone that causes a negative impact on driving ability is the actual conversation part, where you are thinking about what the other person is saying. It has nothing to do with the act of holding the phone up to your face and driving.

So by using a 'handsfree bluetooth' you're still paying fuckall attention to the road. Just because you have two hands on the wheel doesn't automagically make you a better driver even though you are concentrating on something else.

There have been studies that have proven this. The police are just gathering revenue. Fuck saftey.

[MarkH]

Punishing them probably ain't going to work either. What to do?

Maybe it getting to the point where a driver loses his license and has his car impounded might make a difference - for that one driver anyway.

I agree with what your are saying though - can we REALLY make people drive more responsibly? I would guess that there will always be people driving cars while doing stuff that they shouldn't be doing and that there will always be motorcyclists killed by those drivers.

My idea of making wayward drivers attend traffic school is only partly for education purposes. There is also the deterrent factor - most drivers don't want to be inconvenienced by being made to go to a course, especially since they already know everything. People use their phones while driving because it is convenient, so why not inconvenience them when they are caught? This might nullify some of the convenience and some may stop yakking on the phone instead of paying attention to their driving. It may not work, but I think it stands a better chance than giving the driver a fine and letting them carry on.

[Ocean1]

The thing about using the phone that causes a negative impact on driving ability is the actual conversation part, where you are thinking about what the other person is saying. It has nothing to do with the act of holding the phone up to your face and driving.

And is almost exactly as dangerous as talking to your passenger. Outlaw that too?


can we REALLY make people drive more responsibly?

In a word? You can guess, can't you?

Fact is it's never going to be safer than it is now. Well, not until they get to the point where switching off your auto-pilot is a hanging offense.