Taranaki Toy Run crash

[Paul in NZ]

Bit more info this morning.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10851403

Not good for anyone involved. Hope they throw the book at the van driver.

I hope they will throw a bit more than a book at him.... Something leaden would be nice...

Sounds bloody horrific... I just cant imagine...

[James Deuce]

I hope they will throw a bit more than a book at him.... Something leaden would be nice...

Sounds bloody horrific... I just cant imagine...

There's very little likelihood of anything being thrown. A gentle pat on the head and a, "There, there dear", is much more likely.

[YellowDog]

FFS - Some bikers supporting an outstandingly good cause end up dead an maimed.

Let's hope the authorities take this manslaughter of innocent bikers very seriously.

RIP and condolences.

[Road kill]

On the wrong side of the road passed three other cars already stopped and straight into the group of riders.

WTF is wrong with these bloody people.

[Maki]

On the wrong side of the road passed three other cars already stopped and straight into the group of riders.

WTF is wrong with these bloody people.

Dunno. The police does not seem to care about that kind of behavior unless they happen to be a k or two above the speed limit or kill someone. I wish there was a real traffic safety campaign and the police really policed dangerous behavior on the road.

You think speed kills?

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/28/2840.asp

"Up until 2007, rural roads in the Northern Territory, Australia had no speed limit. Claiming that speed limits were essential to saving lives, the state government imposed a 130km/h (80 MPH) limit on the Stuart, Arnhem, Victoria and Barkly highways and a 110km/h (68 MPH) speed limit on all other roads, unless otherwise marked lower. Despite the best of intentions, however, the number of road deaths actually increased 70 percent after the change -- despite worldwide drop in traffic levels"

They actually killed people by imposing speed limits.

Anyway, I have never been on that kind of group ride and it seems to me like I never will be. Too dangerous.

[strumpet]

Dangerous driving causing death? Possible 10 years in jail.

[nzspokes]

What amazes me is the other riders finished the run. Good on them. I cant imagine how hard that was.

RIP

[placidfemme]

This is terrible, my thoughts and prayers go out to families and friends.

No matter what punishment is handed to the driver, it will never be enough to even come close to fixing the damage he/she has done to those left behind.

[Ocean1]

You think speed kills? <>
They actually killed people by imposing speed limits.

Yes. Almost all before / after comparitive evidence from such changes indicate either better results from fewer speed restrictions or change below what's statistically relevant.

And yet not only is policy and enforcement headed in the other direction but we're faced with on-going publicity campaigns to match.

And the sad fact is that for a majority they work.

[tamarillo]

Agree with comments about police campaign. This is classic example of bad driving and our cops just don't target this. But what do we do about it? Complaining here won't to a thing to change it.

[Ocean1]

Agree with comments about police campaign. This is classic example of bad driving and our cops just don't target this. But what do we do about it? Complaining here won't to a thing to change it.

To be fair you can't enforce that type of behaviour from a kilometer away, you're success rate isn't going to be very high even if you focused on it.

Wall to wall cameras is and a small army of watchers is about the only way.

[Naki Rat]

To be fair you can't enforce that type of behaviour from a kilometer away, you're success rate isn't going to be very high even if you focused on it.

Wall to wall cameras is and a small army of watchers is about the only way.

From this news article in our local daily newspaper yesterday morning:

Taranaki highway police would be on alert at the weekend after being informed that boy racers were converging on the region to attend a skids event at Ferndene Raceway, Mr Richardson said.

Many boy racers were expected to travel in convoy from Wellington and Palmerston North.

Guess the focus of the "alert" might have been spread a bit thin.

[george formby]

On the wrong side of the road passed three other cars already stopped and straight into the group of riders.

WTF is wrong with these bloody people.

Too many people treat the white line as a suggestion.

I missed a head on by inches a few days ago. A person pulled out of a junction from the right hand lane into the right hand lane as I approached. I was in the car, not sure if I could have stopped the bike as quickly & nowhere to go.

Sad & chilling accident.

[cheshirecat]

A couple of weeks ago travelling south on the Welly MW there was the usual cop car with radar gun on the overpass. 5 cars ahead of me dropped their speed from 105/7ish to 95 and of course tail gated up to within a couple of car lengths. Cars behind me tail gated up as well. All this was totally ignored by the cop car yet we know tailgating is far more dangerous than light speeding on a wide three lane carriage way.

Sad times for us - my thoughts to the bikers, and those clearing up the mess.

[Scuba_Steve]

Too many people treat the white line as a suggestion.

Thats only gonna get worse.
We all know the crazy with the yellow paints been running round the country painting up the lines. Well what you may/may not have noticed is his mate, insane guy with the white paint, has also been been making the rounds painting "guide" lines everywhere...
This can only be a bad thing in the long run, as people start thinking white lines mean nothing more than guide or suggestion & treat them as such.