Auckland NW motorway maaadnessss

[erik]

Far out the ride home this afternoon was fun!
Got on the motorway at the city and was following the cars, only to find the queue was backed up way further than normal (under the bridges and stuff). It was absolutely chocka.
Cautiously lanesplit between the cars, and there's a sign saying the motorway is closed after the Waterview/Gt. North Rd offramp!!!
No wonder it's so busy. Oh well, that's my turnoff...
Locked my back wheel up for a second when a white van decided to change lanes in front of me, but I was going slow enough to stop in time. That was the first time I've locked either of my brakes in traffic.
There were a few other bikers out there too, I guess the traffic congestion kinda squeezed all the bikers out of the traffic flow or something? More than I usually see.
Gt. North rd was totally blocked as well, worse than usual, because all the traffic was getting off at Waterview and heading towards Henderson I guess along Gt. North rd.
I let one biker go ahead of me, he seemed pretty keen. So I was lanesplitting carefully at my own speed, and there was this white car up ahead that was mostly in the left lane, but the guy was half in the right lane too (2 lane road). I guess maybe the previous biker had lanesplit past him and he'd decided he didn't want any other bikers going past.
No worries, I just went past him on the other side... :2thumbsup
I guess I would've liked to pull the fingers at him, but I was too busy concentrating on riding. Oh well, I guess being stuck in traffic is bad enough punishment... :devil2:

On Rata st, going towards Titirangi, a guy on what might've been a blue R6 caught up with me, and maybe there was another biker behind us too.
So I was kinda leading a couple of bikers for a bit lanesplitting (or holding them up... :whistle: ). Not that I was racing, just leading as in at the front of a group. I was being very cautious.

Was any of you other guys out there this afternoon?

I think I'm kinda a bit high from surviving the small rear wheel lock up, and getting past that car, and getting home safely ahead of all the traffic, and riding with some other bikers for a bit.
Oh, and from an electrical theory test going well today at uni.

Take care out there today folks, the traffic is craaazy (on the NW motorway and Gt North rd).

[Yamahamaman]

Far out the ride home this afternoon was fun!
Got on the motorway at the city and was following the cars, only to find the queue was backed up way further than normal (under the bridges and stuff). It was absolutely chocka.


I think that someone may have bought it citybound in the vacinity of the Te Atatu interchange at around 3:30 this afternoon.

I passed by at around 3:50 and there were Police and Ambulances everywhere and something covered up on the road surface. Didn't look too nice.

[6Chris6]

Just heard confirmation on the radio: Fatality on NW motorway

[Joni]

Yup fatality...

And for you guys driving home out west, expect delays... took me 2 hours to get home!!

[shandawg]

Poor bugger

Nobody wants to go in a car accident

I was out there heading up the southern, but I had a feeling I was getting low on gas and pulled off at market rd. Traffic was very smooth at that stage (4:45 pm)

Lucky I turned off, as I ran out of gas outside dilworth :Oops:
Thanks to the guy on the CBR250 who stopped and asked If I needed any help :spudbooge

By the time I coasted down the hill to the caltex and got back on my was traffic was getting pretty insane

Amazing how much the NW dictates the state of the whole Auckland motorway system.

[badlieutenant]

might be a bad rumour but the radio said it was a murder/suicide :(

[Motu]

I'm just about to leave for home,looks like I might head out west and drop the banking off at the Ma in Laws in New Lynn,then go out Glenn Eden and into Henderson the back way via sturges rd...I go that way often anyway.

[erik]

Just saw the news, it is terrible.
Some guy parked his car and walked out onto the motorway in front of a truck.
And then the ambulance workers found a murdered child in the back of his car.

[Jackrat]

I was 2-3 cars back from the truck that hit the guy.
The driver told me the guy just ran out in front of him.
From what I saw he just disindergrated and was spread over a large area.Most of what I was looking at was no bigger than a loaf of bread.
I stopped work early today. :spudwhat:

[aff-man]

yip just saw the news as well they don't have all the details but looks like the guy killed a young boy in his car and then stepped in front of a truck and trailer unit. :eek5:

Really sad :disapint: :disapint:

[jrandom]

My bike's still Failing To Proceed at the moment, so I caught a lift into work this morning with a colleague, and Mrs Random picked me up at 3:30 for a 4pm meeting at the bank in Henderson.

Needless to say, we never got there. We were west-bound, caught in the group just after they diverted traffic off the motorway at Rosebank, and before they closed it at Gt North Rd. I spent most of the three hours it took to get home philosophising (to Sarah's great annoyance) on the great advantages of commuting on two wheels.

That stuff about a dead kid sounds almost surreal.

[NC]

:( That's so sad :(

What a gutless wanker...

[Joni]

:( That's so sad :(

What a gutless wanker...

Yeah Its terrible Ruth...:ar15:

[NC]

Yeah Its terrible Ruth...:ar15:

I really feel for the truckdriver too :(

[Motu]

Holy shit Jack,how do you do it? Is your bike going? a ride is in order to settle your mind I reckon. I certainly wouldn't want to be any where near what happened.One on my daughters just came past,a fence was up and a couple of cops were holding up a tarp - and black back gulls were hovering around,obviously something on the ground interests them.I wonder if there will still be holdups in the morning.

I don't want to think about what really happened,obviously someone in the depths of dispare,but,but....

[Ghost Lemur]

Having seen enough "hit by train" situations (dad used to work part time at Ninesses(sp?) Funeral home, on between tawa and porirua, just down the road from the mental hospital, another words trainsplat central) the only people I feel sorry for are the truck driver and the poor bastards who have to clean up the mess.

I think as far as selfish suicides go, getting some one else to unintentionally do it (jump in front of their vehicle etc), has to rate right up there with going on a killing spree and getting the cops to shoot you. Hope the kid didn't suffer.

[Yamahamaman]

My heart goes out to the poor person who was driving the truck. It will be something that, that person will have nightmares for the rest of their life.

As for the suisidee - well, I could say he should have been put down at birth, but that wouldn't be very PC would it.

[Moffy]

My kids heard about it on the Edge radio station. Apparently one of their vans was there when it happened. Gruesome stuff. I feel for the truckie. Just minding his own business and this shit happens.

[shandawg]

Whoa

Can I get a refund on my poor bugger thing and transfer one to the kid and another to everyone else on the scene who had to bear witness to that madness.

Regardless of what goes on in your life, if you commit suicide somebody else has to suffer the trauma of witnessing your messy demise. That poor truck driver and everyone else who saw what happened now has to live with it.

To the bike cops on this forum, All the respect in the world to you and your colleagues for cleaning up these kinds of mess. I simply don't believe I could do it.

[Firefight]

One of the most selfish acts to commit, suicide by involving so many others.

The truck driver, the ambulance crew , who also found the young childs body, The brother fire fighters who washed the road and had to clean the under side of the truck& trailer of blood & body parts, the police, the other motorists who were close by when it happened, all will keep this memory for a long time...

Last year my crew attended a suicide by truck, the truckie had a nervous breakdown,and has since retired from truck driving, two of the veteran emergancy workers who helped at the job still go to counsling.

Words fail me to describe how I feel towards those people who chose to end there life in that manner and Fuck up so many other decent peoples lives.

Firefight

[Blakamin]

Nice to see the "Merikan Election" was more important on the "news" of the country than some poor childs life...TVONE this is for you :finger: .
CSL, maybe this is another reason I think this country is turning to shite.

my thoughts go out to the truck driver and the family of the child

[VivaVee]

it was a long while ago but I still remember the vist from a traffic cop ( in the days of black and whites .. ) to my high school. Two things have stuck in memory for > 20 years.

The cop describing the worst part of his job as scraping bits off the road and putting them in the bag with the other bits

And decribing motorcyclists as salmon pate waiting to be unpacked ...

I had the cage yesterday so I was more than a mite envious watching my usually fellow bikers drift past as I slow parked on the NW motorway. But then I did have Concert FM to soothe the soul. Hope a bit of the calmness wafted over to that truck driver. He will need lots of it.

[Posh Tourer :P]

Nice to see the "Merikan Election" was more important on the "news" of the country than some poor childs life...TVONE this is for you :finger: .
CSL, maybe this is another reason I think this country is turning to shite.

my thoughts go out to the truck driver and the family of the child

Get some perspective, people die tragically every day, and its not all over the news. This one was particularly bad, but is that any reason to put it at the head of the news? Voyeurism at it's worst, and the sick attraction that is death. Not somethign people "want" to hear about but it sells news. I'd prefer if we didnt hear in gruesome detail about tragic murders every week, but thats the way the media wants it. Full time reporters stationed at the major courts around the country and "embedded" in police front-line. Is this the stuff of a news organisation? Or should our news organisations be trying to bring us news that affects and interests a large number of people?
I think the media is turning to shite for exactly the opposite reason you do Blakamin.
I'm sure many of the relatives didnt want their story splashed all over the news, and my thoughts go out to them, as well as the truck driver.

[Motu]

My daughter who came past just after the north bound lane was opened said there were police cars everywhere,ambulances,fire engines - and TV ONE NEWS...as bad as the black back gulls hovering overhead.

(edit) no disrespct to black back gulls,a bird I admire - not so news gathering at the scene of a tragic accident (wrong word again,but you know what I mean)

[Blakamin]

Get some perspective, people die tragically every day, and its not all over the news.
I think the media is turning to shite for exactly the opposite reason you do Blakamin.
I'm sure many of the relatives didnt want their story splashed all over the news, and my thoughts go out to them, as well as the truck driver.
I dont think shit like that should be all over the news either, but as it had an impact on auckland traffic (and we know how important that is) you'd think it would on the news first... i watch news in NZ to find out things that are happening here... if i wanted american news i'd watch CNN or Fox or look on the net or.... you get my picture. why not cover the election after the national news? FFS it wasnt even over at 6pm!
this IS NZ not a frigging US state!

[EDIT] and the only thing the election over there will change for me is petrol prices... and i dont give a shit what they are as long as i can ride.... in fact this morning, I couldnt even tell you how much i put in the tank!

[Madmax]

i had to use the footpath to get home (carrington rd)
sat in the drive and watched the traffic,
one car did not move for ten mins!
people were getting out a walking around
was a strange thing to see :mellow:

[Paul in NZ]

Folks, this is a bloody shocker. The grief will be spread for miles in all directions.

I have to question the motives of the news media here. The old "People have a right to know" dead fish wrapped up carefully in the 'freedom of speach' flag does not cut it for me.

Ever wonder why these things, like crashes on the killer highway seem to happen in spates? I'll bet a pound to a penny several other poor sad bastards whose lives are not working out the way the advertising people assured them it would are sitting around wondering if this is the way to either:

1. make them all sorry they ignored me..

2. make my name live for ever

3. go out with a bang

Some things, the public really does NOT need splashed all over the headlines. what good does it really do?

None i suspect... Your mileage may differ

Paul N

I feel for the people involved. I've only been exposed to this kinda carnage a few times and it does have an affect! It's a tough job!

[Posh Tourer :P]

I dont think shit like that should be all over the news either, but as it had an impact on auckland traffic (and we know how important that is) you'd think it would on the news first... i watch news in NZ to find out things that are happening here... if i wanted american news i'd watch CNN or Fox or look on the net or.... you get my picture. why not cover the election after the national news? FFS it wasnt even over at 6pm!
this IS NZ not a frigging US state!

[EDIT] and the only thing the election over there will change for me is petrol prices... and i dont give a shit what they are as long as i can ride.... in fact this morning, I couldnt even tell you how much i put in the tank!

Fair enough, the traffic disruption should be prominent. But over and above the US election?
America is a world superpower with a massive army and economy. Bush has made threatening noises about Iran and an offensive in Fallujah, and the situation in Palestine/Israel is hardly likely to improve with him in office again. If the debt gets too big the American economy may crash, and that means we do too. There's a number of implications for the wider world. Would you prefer to be more inward looking and have less focus on the world? Thats what inland america is like, and it sounds pretty scary to me....

[KATWYN]

Well my heart goes out to all those other motorists as well asthe truck driver and ambos on the road at the time.

There would have been a lot of people severely affected by veiwing
this tragedy as it unfolded.

[Blakamin]

Fair enough, the traffic disruption should be prominent. But over and above the US election?

I'm not saying dont cover it. how much non-sport news do we get, 27 minutes??
6.14 on my clock when something besides the election was shown.... and that was when they slotted in a bit about a crooked kiwi politician!! surely that might have been more important??
NZ news is all i'm asking for... if they want an election special, by all means, put one on! i dont have to watch it... I went to watch the news because I heard rumours that the "accident" wasnt all it cracked up to be... ok, i was curious.. not morbid, not a voyuer... just fuckin curious...
you get that way about things that mention kids when you have kids
If humans werent "curious" we wouldnt be here!

PS
If america falls apart tomorrow because TVNZ didnt cover the election enuff, we may as well all be fucked now!
:calm:



[EDIT] glad to see i got a bad rep for my opinion! woohoo

[HanaBelle]

I'll bet a pound to a penny several other poor sad bastards whose lives are not working out the way the advertising people assured them it would are sitting around wondering if this is the way to either:

1. make them all sorry they ignored me..

2. make my name live for ever

3. go out with a bang



I know its daft to speculate on the thought processes of a highway suicide but call me daft, or rash, or rare..I just dont know if the guy did a lot of *planning*, ya know?? Makin sense of the nonsensical choice, feels to me more likely he just choked on his own horror and suddenly thought "I cant cope for one more second with who I am :shit: :shit: :shit: ", got out, and ended it fast...or at least fast-ish, given he waited for a truck?...Im not liking him, just...the sins of the fathers...I have a kind of bent for trying to understand and not judge...maybe Im a sucker for 'but for the grace of God', I could have been the girl...I heard she was 4... :weep: :angry: :sick:

Its good y'all mention the person in the truck and the other non-consensually involved folks...I guess I wont choose walkin in front of a bus, even though yes I have thought about that as a sudden and somewhat less painful way to kark it...its kinda certain? He coulda chosen the bridge I guess but thats more rational and was he really *there*?

Hana

dont flame me, Im a sookie...

[scroter]

imagining how the mother must feel(like thats possible), and the trucker, and the emergency services, and the people driving past, and the people that live close enough to see it. Sick.

I think this kind of thing should be on the news even it just makes us all feel a little bit more human, a little bit more vunrable. Plus hopefully it changes a few peoples minds who are thinking about topping themselves.

[Blakamin]

Plus hopefully it changes a few peoples minds who are thinking about topping themselves.
Considering most people who consider topping themselves just dont go and get the idea off the news, they have pretty much thought of a way already, it might have helped one person

"wooo coool, never thought of stepping in front of a truck!" <= dont think so...


my brother topped himself in 91 and he stuck with the old "rope in the gargre" method... most people would have too much time to think, goin out to a highway and then making that final step....
they are the same ones that slash wrists...
Personally, I'd go for a heroin overdose... (Not into pain much) :)

[HanaBelle]

Personally, I'd go for a heroin overdose... (Not into pain much) :)

Ahh, the VMax of suicide choices ("wild horses")...

[Blakamin]

Ahh, the VMax of suicide choices ("wild horses")...
:killingme :killingme :killingme

[KATWYN]

Ahh, the VMax of suicide choices ("wild horses")...

The latest R1......complete with brand new unscrubbed in tyres

[Posh Tourer :P]

I'm not saying dont cover it. how much non-sport news do we get, 27 minutes??
6.14 on my clock when something besides the election was shown.... and that was when they slotted in a bit about a crooked kiwi politician!! surely that might have been more important??
NZ news is all i'm asking for... if they want an election special, by all means, put one on! i dont have to watch it... I went to watch the news because I heard rumours that the "accident" wasnt all it cracked up to be... ok, i was curious.. not morbid, not a voyuer... just fuckin curious...
you get that way about things that mention kids when you have kids
If humans werent "curious" we wouldnt be here!

PS
If america falls apart tomorrow because TVNZ didnt cover the election enuff, we may as well all be fucked now!
:calm:

[EDIT] glad to see i got a bad rep for my opinion! woohoo

Wha?? :spudwhat: If america falls apart tomorrow we'll all be affected hence the coverage....
I have no quarrels about the order of things. Sure, they may have struggled to fit in everything with the election results too, but I reckon they have the balance of importance right. A changed american economy/political scene is more important on a global scale than John Tamihere resigning.....

[Blakamin]

I have no quarrels about the order of things. Sure, they may have struggled to fit in everything with the election results too, but I reckon they have the balance of importance right.
Hopefully not like the time NZ lost the mericas cup and the first 15mins of news was about that?

sorry...I think news about this country that we LIVE in should always be first... but thats just my opinion! :whocares:

[Posh Tourer :P]

Hopefully not like the time NZ lost the mericas cup and the first 15mins of news was about that?

sorry...I think news about this country that we LIVE in should always be first... but thats just my opinion! :whocares:

What if the world news affects the country we live in more than local news? Im not saying that it was definitely the case with the US election, but if, say Indonesia invaded Australia....

[Blakamin]

What if the world news affects the country we live in more than local news? Im not saying that it was definitely the case with the US election, but if, say Indonesia invaded Australia....
Yeah maybe... but doesnt everyone say "kiwis dont suck up to the USA"???
shame its bullshit....
oh well...time for a ride

[vmx1200nz]

:( That's so sad :(

What a gutless wanker...
i bet his breath smelt bad afterwards

[badlieutenant]

I know its daft to speculate on the thought processes of a highway suicide but call me daft, or rash, or rare..I just dont know if the guy did a lot of *planning*, ya know?? ............Im not liking him, just...the sins of the fathers...I have a kind of bent for trying to understand and not judge...

................He coulda chosen the bridge I guess but thats more rational and was he really *there*?

Hana

dont flame me, Im a sookie...

good call hana. Ive sorta been wondering the same thing about the situation this guy was in. What desperation would make you kill a child ?? might not have been desperate but then you would think thatd be premeditated and hed try to get away with it..............either way Ive barely ever found life to be a black and white thing, more shades of grey than anything else.

[KATWYN]

I wonder about a couple of senarios

1/ stinky hot and car breaks down on the motorway,
stress & more stress, kid whinning on?? he loses it and
kills the poor child

2/ he had already killed the child, was heading somewhere
to get rid of the evidence....car breaks down on the motorway
- with a dead child in the back, now he's going to get caught
if someone finally sees whats in the back...

I guess we will never really know, what with our trusty media
and all. I mean wasn't the child a boy instead of a girl for a
few hours according to the media

[Motu]

Two crosses were up already yesterday - who does that? is it government or a private thing....what's your thoughts on them.

[750Y]

What happened here was a terrible tragedy all round. I am more sad about this news than angry.
I have attended the funerals of 2 good mates in the space of 1 week, who killed themselves(separately). It is a very complex situation. things will never be the same for all involved.
my thoughts go to the families of all the victims here (motorists included).

[aff-man]

Does anyone know exactly what happened i missed the news yesterday and before that the information was sketchy at best???

[Blakamin]

Does anyone know exactly what happened i missed the news yesterday and before that the information was sketchy at best???
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3087617a10,00.html
fuckin sad

[Posh Tourer :P]

Two crosses were up already yesterday - who does that? is it government or a private thing....what's your thoughts on them.

Strange idea really......Dont seem to make sense any more, as there are so many of them, and so many from a long time ago. Perhaps at first they had an impact on drivers, but not any more...

[Hitcher]

Roadside crosses!!! [Hobbyhorse rears and strains at its leash]

Don't get me started! It's not pretty...

[Jess]

i think roadside crosses, if put there as memorials by the families/friends, are appropriate. it marks a very heavily weighted place, emotionally, for them. remembering where it happened may help some people to remember the person who died (anyone who was there that day will not forget exactly where it happened now, will they) and also perhaps wear the fact into their lives, each time they pass the crosses, and thus help them come to terms with it.


thats my opinion anyhow.

[Hitcher]

[Hobbyhorse breaks leash]

Roadside crosses are one of those recent societal indulgences that fall into the same category as cellphones, personalised plates, diesel-belching SUVs, and "baby on board" stickers. They're just self-indulgent twaddle on the part of surviving relatives.

Imagine if it was customary to erect a cross at the site anybody died for any reason. Aunt Ethel croaks in the La-z-boy recliner in your lounge. Next thing you can't use it anymore because it's got a cross in it. Hospitals would have to build whole new wings because of the crosses littering beds and operating theatres. Bugger being an ambulance company! Golf courses and bowling greens would have a whole new crop of hazards in the form of white crosses erected in memory of members who popped their clogs mid match.

Roadside crosses also assume that everybody who dies on roads is a Christian... Or is a white cross now merely a symbol of death?

Aren't there enough distractions to drivers anyway without more visual clutter? And why on the side of the road? And why erect a cross at the site of the accident if a person dies in the ambulance or in hospital?

And who puts them up? Is there some sort of nationwide franchise called "Crosses R Us"?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

[Madmax]

mabey we should burn them then
sounds like good sick fun :devil2:

[magnum]

Yeah Its terrible Ruth...:ar15:
whos this ruth character???? :msn-wink:

[Madmax]

and if we do burn the crosses
the bloody big one on Mt Roskill
is mine :devil2:
bloody crosses get them all

[Madmax]

Ban on motorway white crosses provokes anger

11.11.2004
1.00pm
A row is brewing over Transit New Zealand's decision to take down white crosses on motorway fatality sites around the country.

Transit New Zealand said today it was not safe for people to stop on the side of motorways to erect or maintain crosses, but Victim Support said the families of people killed on the motorways were being "revictimised".

burn them all
:devil2: