Thursday's Dominion Rd crash killing a biker

**The Pastor** · 10th December 2010, 22:39

Originally Posted by Drunken Monkey

Multiple eye-witnesses report the bike going down the median and hit the car so hard, the car spun around and back into it's lane. Ignoring any estimates of the bike's speed, surely you'd have to be doing something extremely silly for a 200kg object to shunt a 1200kg object that far - irrespective of whether the car pulled out to make a turn without checking. What was that mangled mess anyway, an FZ/R 1000 or similar?

Sorry mate, that's bullshit.

**baptist** · 10th December 2010, 22:40

Originally Posted by danchop

ive not read the posts,but ive seen the pic on the website and this accident is the direct result of a biker,too cocky for his worth as a biker and more so for his pillion..
the impact of shattering his front rim suggests speed in well excess of 50k per hour
sadly he deserved what he got but peace be on the pillion

You really think that? no one deserves to die like that, regardless of what the cause was ( and we do not know what did happen yet)... very sad and distressing for all involved

I pray the pillion rider recovers fully.

**The Pastor** · 10th December 2010, 22:45

Originally Posted by Drunken Monkey

I think my customer would be offended by you calling him a "fat bloke down the pub" and "numpty". In the years I've worked with him, I have found him to be a credible person. He also rides himself, so when he makes a guesstimate to the "great rate of knots" the bike zoomed past moments before impact, I don't have any grounds to think that he is lying.

He is obviously self-respecting enough to not bother wasting his time on this site, and with the inane crap that's been posted over the last couple of years around this place I'm inclined to think it's a good philosophy. If it wasn't for some of the good friends I've made in meatspace through using this service, fools like yourself would have driven me off years ago.

Too be fair, everyone has a bias and estimating speed is really hard to do accurately.

**danchop** · 10th December 2010, 22:47

yep he deserved it alright,i ride that road a fair bit as a courier and its always chocker at that part,i didnt see it but one of of our car guys did
he was a fuckin idiot and deseverd to go down and thats what he did,sadly he had a passenger

**MaxB** · 11th December 2010, 00:19

I had an accident in the late 80s. A cage turned right across my path and I hit it between the headlights at a angle. I stopped the car in its tracks, pushed the engine block into the firewall and landed 15m from the impact.

I broke 17 bones, ended up in A&E.

The bike snapped its frame at the headstock. Both vehicles were written off and I was pretty fucked up for 2 months.

The police verified crash speed that caused all this....45kmh and the car was doing 10kmh. The bike was a BMW and the car was a Camira.

You don't have to be travelling that fast to do a lot of damage.

**Brian d marge** · 11th December 2010, 01:37

Originally Posted by Katman

Or the lane splitting motorcyclist that fails to see the gap in the traffic ahead that would allow a car to turn across their path.

I new I should have a dollar on every time that happens

Id be rich "!!!

Takes 2 to have and accident , and accident ~ noun rare
1. an unfortunate mishap; especially one causing damage or injury
2. anything that happens suddenly or by chance without an apparent cause
winning the lottery was a happy accident; the pregnancy was a stroke of bad luck; it was due to an accident or fortuity

we screw up , we dont have accidents

feel sorry for the driver on this one , and hope the young lass pulls through

Stephen

**doko** · 11th December 2010, 02:10

Dominion road is the first road I ever drove on and I was on a scooter.

The scooter is now ridden off after being rear ended on dominion road by a bus!

I ride there... Sometimes I speed. Both drivers are at fault. But shit happens. He could have be struck by lighting if he didn't crash his bike.

Why do we always need to blame someone? The road is just badly laided out with those bus lanes and side streets.

I hardly use the bus lanes for this reason... so many near misses on dominion and a few crashes.

**DMNTD:Me** · 11th December 2010, 05:03

Originally Posted by renegade master

always ride with the assumption no one can see you, and you'll never give a cager the opportunity to say "sorry mate didn't see you".

The rider should always give way to the car. Might has right - and it will always be this way.

This is my attitude to riding, and it has served me well, despite all my tickets, wheelies, burnouts, stunts and general being a dickhead.

While the accident may not be your fault, 90% of the time you could of avoided the accident if you were paying attention to your surroundings.

Who's got RM's login??
Best post I've ever seen 'you' make

**hellokitty** · 11th December 2010, 06:45

Originally Posted by danchop

sadly he deserved what he got but peace be on the pillion

No one deserves that - he has friends and family who are hurting right now.

**pc220** · 11th December 2010, 08:07

Originally Posted by DMNTD

Who's got RM's login??
Best post I've ever seen 'you' make

Better frame that post. A rare moment of maturity from RM, thats worth gold.

**Pascal** · 11th December 2010, 08:34

Originally Posted by renegade master

always ride with the assumption no one can see you, and you'll never give a cager the opportunity to say "sorry mate didn't see you".

The rider should always give way to the car. Might has right - and it will always be this way.

This is my attitude to riding, and it has served me well, despite all my tickets, wheelies, burnouts, stunts and general being a dickhead.

While the accident may not be your fault, 90% of the time you could of avoided the accident if you were paying attention to your surroundings.

My two year old daughter is normally a bit of a monster when it comes to bedtime. She rarely wants to go to sleep. The other night I just told her, "Go to bed now, please". And she stood up, toddled up the stairs with disbelieving parents following her, clambered over the side of the cot, grabbed her teddy and was down and asleep within a few minutes.

I'm convinced she was just fucking with my head. You're not, I think. That was an awesome post.

**The Pastor** · 11th December 2010, 09:33

Originally Posted by DMNTD

Who's got RM's login??
Best post I've ever seen 'you' make

suck my dick!

**rastuscat** · 11th December 2010, 09:51

Originally Posted by Neon

There is a very interesting book called "The Invisible Gorilla and other ways out intuitions deceive us" by a couple of cognitive psychologists Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons. They are the brains behind the famous 'Invisible Gorilla" experiment with the basketball players passing a ball, and the gorilla that walks through the shot while the observer is busy counting passes. Very few people notice the gorilla despite the fact that it is in the centre of the screen.

Chabris and Simons dedicate most of a chapter to the phenomenon of motorcyclists being practically invisible to other road users. The major problem has already been alluded to by others, that people do not expect to see motorcycles, so do not see them. Our brains must receive and process such a massive amount of visual information while in control of a motor vehicle, that the brain economises on processing power by constructing 'models' of the environment which it calls up as required. These models are based on experience and also to an extent our survival instincts (other's comments regarding 'threat' detection fit here nicely).

The real problem is this: That because these perceptual models are based on experience, no amount of hi-viz, lights-on policies or loud pipes are going to have any real impact on getting drivers to see motorcycles. Educational campaigns such as 'Look out for Motorbikes' have limited effect because they are quickly forgotten and are therefore never fully implemented into these subconsious perceptual models.

In truth, the only solution that is likely to have any real lasting effect is to significantly increase the number of motorcycles on the road, so that drivers of other vehicles have evidential visual experience of motorcycles every time they set out, and integrate the expectation of motorcycle-like objects into their subconcious programming.

This also explains why as motorcyclists we cannot understand why other drivers do not see us - because WE would. We automatically notices motorcycles because we expect to see them.

What does this mean for us? That we cannot expect drivers of other vehicles to see us. And if we want to ride motorcycles on the road, our survival rests solely with our skills of defensive riding and the anticipation of hazardous situations. No amount of berating other drivers for their incompetencies or threatening them with harsher penalties will magically make it so.

Sadly, you are correct. It's virtually impossible to cure this problem, given it's psychological nature.

**Maha** · 11th December 2010, 10:08

Originally Posted by rastuscat

Sadly, you are correct. It's virtually impossible to cure this problem, given it's psychological nature.

He is correct and that post explains the whole scenario very well.
Motorbikes are at best, 1/4 of the size of a car (except for goldwings

) and to add to that, every bike rider has to be proactive in keeping themselves safe/alive. Riding in a built up and busy area needs way more attention than if you were on the Desert Rd. Queen St is a prime example, buses dont give a shit, cars dont give a shit. I saw a car doing a three point turn on Queen St a few weeks ago, they had missed thier street, there were fucken arms going in every direction from other drivers. Point is, there are those out there that dont give a shit about any other road user, its all about them.
We're on bikes, we have very very good vision on whats happening around us, use it.