Biker down Auckland CBD (27 August)

[PrincessBandit]

Perhaps the point there went over your head. It wouldn't be the first. (Seems to be a family trait?)

I haven't commented on your riding ability, Dan's riding ability, on whom or where fault might lie for this accident. My comment regarding independent witnesses was made with no ill intent or bitchiness as to the reliability of either rider or driver. The tone of your reply left me in no doubt that you took it as some kind of slur on your friend, when that is not what I meant.

I am not my brother, and I don't appreciate you flinging your pissy comments about family traits just because you're in a shitty with Katman. Grow up.

[Brett]

I am more and more staggered by the amount if trivial, BS, pissy bickering and shit flinging that takes place in KB threads.

Surely, I mean SURELY in real life none of us show this level of arrogance, have such a readiness to pre-judge a situation without full exposure to the critical facts and surely this level of 'arseholeness' is largely absent?

How mundane does life become when everything is about critiqueing and fault finding?

Dude crashed, sux to be him. Whether he was at fault or not he has still been hurt. If he was doing something stupid that caused this, then he has undoubtedly learnt a hard lesson that some of us have had to learn as well and that others got away scott free of at some point and now think they get to sit atop ivory towers. If he was doing nothing wrong, then he unfortuanately copped the grief for someone elses error.

Either way, give it a rest.

1 year of riding of 50 years of riding, none of us are immune, Remember that.

[MSTRS:Me]

1 year of riding or 50 years of riding, none of us are immune, Remember that.

Too bloody true.

Without absolute facts, all claims being made by certain posters in here (as usual) are just so much ego-driven bullshit

[Zim_Invader]

I heard about this from kyle yesterday... yea, it kinda sucks that my first post on kb after such a long time has to be when something like this happens. I'm thinking of going bye to visit him tomorrow. When i Saw the pics of it on the herald website, i had 2 thoughts about whether or not is was actually dan's bike.

[PrincessBandit]

Absolute bullshit. Or would I be totally in the clear if I pulled out of my driveway when you pass my house doing 120?

Guilty until proven innocent eh?

That would depend on a number of circumstances. I had a high school kid smack clean into the front of my car bonnet as I slowed by my letterbox before "entering" the footpath to the road. He cut clean across the corner of our drive and plowed head on into me "because he thought my driveway was the one that goes to the back of the church" i.e. no-one would be exiting there at that time of the afternoon.

Does that put him in the wrong because he was riding at a good clip and didn't look to see that it was in fact a private driveway he was rushing headlong into complete with resident's car in the way? or me, because a car driver is automatically assumed to be the one at fault?

Could be argued either way. As far as I'm concerned he was completely at fault; I'm sure he sees it the other way (judging by the squirming and defiance I got even when trying to check that he was ok - he did squash his nuts pretty hard into his handlebar).

Either way, each side has their own version. I'm sure the Police will sort it all out. Of course, there will always be some who won't be happy with the outcome of that either because it won't suit their agenda.

[musicman]

Damn I can't believe what I read on KB sometimes. Why do people feel the need to argue about who's right or wrong, who's to blame, what happened, etc. whenever we get a biker down thread?

Dan is a skilled rider who can be a bit of a hoon sometimes, but seriously, which person on KB can honestly say they have never ever exceeded the speed limit while in operation of a motorised vehicle? And does it really make a difference in this instance whether he was right or wrong? So what if he's right, are you all going to give him a medal? So what if he's wrong, are we going to ostracise him from the "motorcycling communtiy" and ban him from KB?

What's important here is that we have a guy who is in hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries, so why don't we just leave all the bickering to the children and let's all wish him a good recovery?

[MSTRS:Me]

Why? Because maybe it's time we all started calling a spade a spade.

Every motorcycle accident that is casued through stupidity is another black mark against our name.

There are times when it's a good thing to be blunt. I don't think this is one of them.
There are only 2 known facts in this case...
1. The truck did not give way
2. The rider suffered serious injuries

Did the rider contribute to the outcome? WE DON'T KNOW!!
Could he have avoided it altogether? WE DON'T KNOW!!

If the facts are known, and the motorcyclist was being a cock, then I agree with you. However, casting aspersions as you are doing, and calling them fact, is never going to help.

[DMNTD:Me]

That's right.
It's up to the motorcyclist though to ensure that they ride in a manner that enables them to avoid other people causing them harm.
There's no value in a headstone that says "But it wasn't his fault".

Yep....got hit by a truck in January when he failed to give way to me...I failed to read his mistake which ended up being my mistake.
I was the only physically injured person there

[DMNTD:Me]

Your safety is never anyone elses responsibility but your own.

Bang on...

[dipshit]

Easy to talk about it now, but not as easy when you have a split second to react and make a choice...

No it's not easy when you only have a split second to react.

This is why reading ahead and anticipating possible scenarios gives you a head start with your reactions... rather than the first thing you know about it is when the half asleep car driver starts to react.

You possibly could have started to set things up in your favour before the car jumped on its brakes.

[short-circuit]

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but I personally wouldn't be too happy if I ended up in hospital because of someone pulling out in front of me and someone starts says it was my fault.

No sarcasm. I've been T boned coming through a roundabout from someone's right hand side....

Shoulda anticipated that some retarded bitch in a 4x4 would be too busy plucking her eyebrows

If someone had suggested that that was somehow my fault that day they might have lost their front teeth

Nice to have the chance to learn from the experience

[PrincessBandit]

No sarcasm. I've been T boned coming through a roundabout from someone's right hand side....

Shoulda anticipated that some retarded bitch in a 4x4 would be too busy plucking her eyebrows

If someone had suggested that that was somehow my fault that day they might have lost their front teeth

Nice to have the chance to learn from the experience

Sure sounds like a hard lesson. No, that is not being patronising - it is stating fact. Hopefully though you did learn that any motorist (regardless of number of wheels) can do dipshit stuff which you might not rationally expect.

So often we ride (or drive) working on the assumption that other road users will behave in a way we expect. Usually they do. But for the occasions they don't riders (as the ones most likely to come off second best) need to have a constant mental state of alertness which is a few notches above the norm.

Oh, btw, I haven't read through a few of the last posts, but judging by some of the comments has it been officially established in the police report that the truck driver was at fault? Just asking as that's the message coming through loud and clear.

[Nasty]

This thread is about a biker down. This was a serious accident - a reminder from the site rules -

Discussion of accidents

• Accident resulting in death or serious injury
  
  1. Please show respect and consideration for the bikers, friends and family involved
  2. Names and details are not to be discussed for 24 hours after the accident unless they are already public (in the media) or are posted by family, close friends or Moderators
  3. Should an accident result in deaths A RIP/Biker Down thread will be started once the names and details are public knowledge (in the media)
  4. A RIP/Biker Down thread is for condolences only; speculation and general discussion about the circumstances should be in a seperate thread
• The Administrators and Moderators reserve the right to remove a thread or posts
• Any accident that happens at a public gathering is fair comment, subject to the above stipulations
• Discussion of any accident not involving death or serious injury should be kept to a single thread. Respect for those involved should be shown at all times.
• Fictitious or malicious speculation will be removed without notification and the person that posted the comments will be strongly censured

The next lot of crap posted here will be infracted - the last 70 posts moved mostly fit within this subset of the site rules.

Dan - Hope you get better soon mate - accidents suck and I know how painful skin grafts and broken bones can be.

[Gwinch]

An update regarding Dan:

He had more surgery on his arm yesterday and has been quite sick, sore and nauseous all weekend from his injuries and all the drugs they are feeding him. Hospital staff have requested that visitors be kept to an absolute minimum or preferably, don't visit at all for the time being so he can rest and heal as best he can. Please respect the wishes of the surgeons and his mother.

Will update when I hear more.

[Gwinch]

Another update on Dan:

Received a TXT from his mother that he's still in a lot of discomfort from lack of sleep, his third lot of surgery and all the morphine he is being given. Rest and quiet is exactly what he needs right now so she requests that no-one visit him until he makes an improvement. Another update will come on Friday morning and if all goes well with his neurosurgery then he'll hopefully be moved to Ward 77 - Orthopedic.