Police killing us again!

[Ixion]

Was the biker behind the cop or travelling in the same direction as the ute?

Apparently, the cop was in motion , going up the hill (presumably, around 100kph, but that's an assumption). ute was going down the hill, bike was following the ute. Cop must have turned bewteen the ute and bike.

[Snap]

Very sad news.
R.I.P

[Crasherfromwayback]

Was the biker behind the cop or travelling in the same direction as the ute?

Opposite direction I believe...same way the ute was going

[Bikemad]

Ok - quick calculation.

Assumptions:
Cop driving at 100km/h got the ute speed reading of 154km/h at a distance of 150m.
Cop took 5 seconds to slow to turn and 3 seconds to turn.
Cop accelerated linearly to 200km/h in 15 seconds and sat at 200km/h.
Ute remained at a steady 154km/h (yeah, right!).

Total distance needed to catch ute (to a chase distance of 75m behind): 3.1km.
Total time of pursuit to catch up to ute from speed reading: 78 seconds.
The ute would be 300m away as the cop completes his turn to pursue.
The ute would be 520m away by the time the cop gets to 200km/h.

also you forgot to add in another 10 seconds for the excited cop to get his pants unzipped and his hand on it..........

[Indoo]

Given the rate at which careless driving by cops kills motorcyclists (and they don't appear to give a shit about it).

Got those figures yet Ixion? you should really produce them to expose the true extent of the problem.

[shrub]

I nearly had a similar experience on Easter Saturday. My son and I were riding down Marshlands Rd and a cop about 3 seconds ahead of us (my preferred following distance these days) hit his brakes and did a U turn to chase something. I have a paranoid distrust of all car drivers, including ones with disco lights, so the moment I saw him braking and pulling to the left i was on my brakes, so I continued on my journey and pretty much forgot about it until today. I was lucky, I had around 3 secs of space.

But the story has a twist. On the Thursday (2 days before) I got pinged by a cop for doing 63 kmh, and he had to do a U turn to get me because when he picked me up he was on the other side of the road. After he had told me how dangerously I was riding he spotted a dodgy looking boy racer car going the other way, jumped in his car and did another U turn and I remember at the time noticing that a car moved to the left of the road to avoid him.

I'm saddened by this news, but not surprised; in fact if I am at all surprised it's that more people aren't killed by Police errors.

[terbang]

This thread is about decision making. Clearly a very bad decision (a guy was killed) was made by a so called professional road user. One who should have known better, one who should have been employed, trained and remunerated to know better. But he obviously wasn't. So when is this stupid gummint of ours going to put our corrupt (remember Clint) and stupid police force onto a more accountable path (remember the 4.5mill kiwi Easter road toll compared to the 19mill Aussies). They are failing in their duties miserably and need a complete makeover.

[Str8 Jacket]

open road with your hand on a front brake in constant fear of death???

TBH, that's the way I have learnt I *have* to ride to survive. Even if I am just pootling down to the supermarket. Unfortunately sometimes we have to accept that we are much more vulnerable than most other road users and ride or take our chances accordingly.

What also scares me re the vulnerability thing is that this has happened to someone who had alot of skill on a motorbike and he obviously didn't have a chance.....

The 'baying for blood' and anger that people are feeling is understandable at the moment but for me it's the realisation that we are so vulnerable on our bikes and we should never take that for granted. And I am sorry but I feel as sorry for the cop as I do for Paul's family. It could have happened to any of us. Let's hope that a lesson may finally be learnt by everyone from this tragedy.

[Bikemad]

just seen good old Leo Tooman on the news................officer involved has 35 years experience and has performed this manouvre "thousands of times"................wanker

[twotyred]

I nearly had a similar experience on Easter Saturday. My son and I were riding down Marshlands Rd and a cop about 3 seconds ahead of us (my preferred following distance these days) hit his brakes and did a U turn to chase something. I have a paranoid distrust of all car drivers, including ones with disco lights, so the moment I saw him braking and pulling to the left i was on my brakes, so I continued on my journey and pretty much forgot about it until today. I was lucky, I had around 3 secs of space.

But the story has a twist. On the Thursday (2 days before) I got pinged by a cop for doing 63 kmh, and he had to do a U turn to get me because when he picked me up he was on the other side of the road. After he had told me how dangerously I was riding he spotted a dodgy looking boy racer car going the other way, jumped in his car and did another U turn and I remember at the time noticing that a car moved to the left of the road to avoid him.

I'm saddened by this news, but not surprised; in fact if I am at all surprised it's that more people aren't killed by Police errors.

This is what I was thinking,clearly this is happening on a daily basis all over the nation,but usually they manage to get away without slaughtering anyone...

[peasea]

Apparently, the cop was in motion , going up the hill (presumably, around 100kph, but that's an assumption). ute was going down the hill, bike was following the ute. Cop must have turned bewteen the ute and bike.

Which makes me think (right or wrong) that the cop got his fix (bad pun I know) locked on, hit the lights and siren and started his turn with his eyes looking in entirely the wrong direction. Probably transfixed on the ute while mentally rubbing his hands together to a 'ka-ching' noise in his head not too dissimilar to that of the intro to Pink Floyd's "Money".

[Fatjim]

Looks like a dumb place to pick to do a U-turn/3 point turn.
The cop's common sense went right out the window at the thrill of the chase.
Pity it wasn't one of those new big rigs the gubbmint is going to allow on our roads, instead of a motorcyclist.....

See, if a chick can figure out this is not a good place to do a utrun, why can't a freaking cop?

[peasea]

just seen good old Leo Tooman on the news................officer involved has 35 years experience and has performed this manouvre "thousands of times"................wanker

Agreed. If he's done it that often he needs rooting.

[98tls]

It has to be ripped apart like hyenas so maybe enough people get pissed off and something gets done so you or me dont have to die like this tomorrow, next week whenever....just like Mr. Brown did!!!! (may he rest in peace)

What exactly are you pissed off about the fact that the motorcyclist died or the fact that it was a cop doing a u-turn that caused his death?People in cars have been killing motorcyclists a long time and generally theres no "the sky is falling" reaction on here followed by pages of discussion in fact most times theres no mention.Cant personally see any reason for this thread other than the fact a cop was involved,given the number of cars driven by Joe Public compared to those driven by cops then methinks your barking up the wrong tree.Dead is dead,needless is needless no matter what the occupation of the car driver.

[peasea]

Opposite direction I believe...same way the ute was going

Thanks, see post 161.