Road toll - Police stupid obsession blaming speed

[Akzle]

If "WE ALL" crash again it is not entirely up to us if another party causes it. This is something some on here can not get their head around. Maybe you can't either?

you're a fuckwit

[Jeff Sichoe]

cassina ez ignore link;

https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/p...t=ignore&u=620

don't quote the beast

[Akzle]

By bening involved in a not at fault crash you will gain an understanding that shit does not always happen at a constant speed and that thereis a luck factor.

you're a fuckwit

[EJK]

By being involved in a not at fault crash you will gain an understanding that shit does not always happen at a constant speed/timeframe and that there is a luck factor. Sorry I did not waste my time reading all your ramble but hope this comment covers most of what your ramble is about.

[granstar]

cassina ez ignore link;

https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/p...t=ignore&u=620

don't quote the beast

.......................

[Viking01]

By being involved in a not at fault crash you will gain an understanding that shit does not always happen at a constant speed/timeframe and that there is a luck factor. Sorry I did not waste my time reading all your ramble but hope this comment covers most of what your ramble is about.

Not a problem.

Only asked a few simple questions on your favourite topic of "not-at-fault accidents" to
prove (yet again) that you lack all ability to offer anything that remotely resembles an
intelligent response. And I wasn't disappointed.

No further reply required. Back on Ignore.

[caspernz]

Not a problem.

Only asked a few simple questions on your favourite topic of "not-at-fault accidents" to
prove (yet again) that you lack all ability to offer anything that remotely resembles an
intelligent response. And I wasn't disappointed.

No further reply required. Back on Ignore.

Oh well, you tried aye?

I have better things to do with my time than write long ramblings on here unlike you.

If you're that friggin busy, feel free to stop spouting your garbage in the first place

[riffer]

Well,

getting back to reality for a minute. If I may talk about something with real, verifiable, accurate facts. Last weekend I spent a lot of time with Peter Sowter, Sergeant in charge of the Special Crash Unit, Wellington region. We are giving talks at the Shiny Side Up bike fest as part of the Survivor series talks, along with Brittany Morrow. Come along and hear what we've got to say if you like. We are in Hamilton weekend after this one (Feb 17), then Kapiti (Feb 25), then Auckland (March 4).

Anyway, I made the mistake of asking him if he knew anything about the motorcycle fatalities this year. And he does. In fact, he shared the special crash unit reports with me. And it doesn't make good reading.

Leaving aside the accident on the 4th Feb, there have been 12 fatalities this year. I think I can remember what they all were. My apologies if I don't remember exactly. My memory is not perfect. In three days it will be five months since a significant motorcycle accident, one the Police determined to be completely not my fault and which the other party is being sentenced in eight days for. One of them was a genuine "not at fault" accident, where a rider was taken out by a vehicle coming around a blind corner by someone on the wrong side of the road.

Three were loss of control on a corner with the rider going off the road and hitting a post or other road furniture.

One was a German tourist who had borrowed a motorcycle from a friend to ride to Castlepoint. He left near the end of the day, with not much traffic on the road. And rode 2.5 kilometres before slamming head on into a truck. He was riding on the right hand side of the road.

And seven were due to poor decision making in an overtaking manouevre, with a disconcerting amount of these being due to riders coming up to a line of cars going slowly, and making the decision to gap it past the line at speed, only to impact with the car at the front of the line, which had started to turn. In every case, other witnesses stated that the car at the front was clearly indicating their intention to turn - something not seen (it is speculated) by the motorcyclist.

I asked him if these statistics were indicative of not just fatalities, but injury accidents. He believed, subject to the information that he had from both many years in the Special Crash Unit, but also from 35 years as a motorcyclist on New Zealand roads, that there was a similar percentage of serious crashes due to the same factors.

We can argue that there are not-at-fault accidents. These are rare, despite the fact that I was involved in one. But what remains is that the line between a fatal or serious accident, and a near-miss is very very thin. I have experienced numerous near-misses in my 39 years on the road. If I look back at my accident, there were fifty things I could have done different which would have meant that the accident would have been a near-miss. I am no angel. I ride an Aprilia. Well, I did, until I slammed it at moderate speed into the drivers side passenger door of a Nissan Navara and ended up in hospital for a month, and five months later I'm still not riding due to a brachial plexus injury. I'll get there, don't worry. If you see me at the Shiny Side Up, come and say hi. I'll tell you all about how learning emergency braking through RideForever training saved my life.

Let's get off this whole derail about not-at-fault accidents. It's a rabbit hole.

The reason why the Police rabbit on about speed is because the truth of the matter is, that if you are going to crash, and it might just happen, the more speed that you're carrying the higher the kinetic energy that has to be released in the crash. Kinetic energy is the energy that all bodies in motion have. And the formula is Ke = 1/2 mass times the speed squared. So the impact of speed is hugely more than the impact of weight. So the more you can slow down in a crash situation the more likely you are to survive. I was doing 100 or thereabouts when I saw the car pull out. I was doing just on 60 when I hit the Navara. If I'd been doing 110 when I put the brakes on, I would have been doing 70 when I hit the Navara. That would have most likely put me in a wheelchair. If I'd been doing 120 when I put the brakes on, I would have been doing 90 when I hit the Navara. That's not survivable.

Not a good thought. They told me that in the hospital. And I thought about it a lot.

My ward mate had crashed his Hayabusa when he spun out and highsided into a truck parked on the side of the road. He hit it doing about 60. He broke his pelvis, and bruised a whole load of his body. I broke my left fibia just below my knee, my tibia was cracked half way down and I broke the rear malleolus (broken ankle) of the tibia too. I cracked my sternum and cracked the acromion (back of the shoulder socket) and tore the ligaments in the rotator cuff. My head was forced nearly on to my left shoulder, stretching the nerves C5-C8, paralysing my right arm. Subsequent to the accident I have regained (through sheer bloody mindedness and pain) the use of my left leg and left ankle, gradually (in this order) the fingers of my right arm, then the hand, then the lower arm (mostly), then the bicep, then part of the tricep, then the teres minor, the supraspinatus, teres major and triceps brachii long head.

Students of anatomy will say "what about the deltoid and the infraspinatus?" Well, I'm not so lucky there. It would appear that the axillary nerve ain't coming back. Despite the MRI saying there is no reason why it shouldn't come back, I'm in that not-so-nice position of having time run out on waiting dfor the nerves to grow back... wait too long and the muscle simply won't work once the nerves start to fire. When a nerve is stretched but not torn in two, it dies back from the point of injury back to the spinal cord, then grows back about a millimetre a day. An inch a month. I have a bit to go I suppose. Next week I talk to the plastic surgeon and we may have to make a decision. Sacrifice a working nerve to try and get the deltoid back, or wait for the nerve to come back... and if it doesn't, then it may be too late for nerve graft surgery. And there's no certainty that a nerve graft will bring back the deltoid anyway.

So, in the meantime, I keep doing the exercises. Because I may have to face the reality that I may never have that muscle again. And that's okay. I can live without being able to swim, to throw a ball, to bowl overarm, and to lift my arm above shoulder level. Because I will still be able to ride. And there's plenty of people more fucked up than me riding around.

And I'm still alive. A lot of people who crash into things at 60km/hr don't survive. Only 60 km/hr. I couldn't believe it. What kind of pussy gets hurt falling off at 60! Ones like you an me it would appear. Trouble is, I like going fast. I love the feel of a fast motorcycle with great handling. But will I do it on the road again? I'll be thinking real hard about that. Probably do it on rare occasions. But not daily like I used to. Because it fucking hurts when you get it wrong. Even though I'm doing really good it still hurts.

I'm not trying to convince anyone not to have fun. Not to have a great ride. Fuck I hope you all do until the day you die. But I do want you all to know that when it goes wrong (and it sometimes does) you had better be ready - through training, good choices, and maybe stupid dumb luck - and I hope you get through without having to experience the pain I have.

See you all at the Shiny Side Up this month. I look like this. Come say "Hi Simon."

[caseye]

Will catch you up here in Dorkland Rif, still bloody glad yer still walking and talking, take the time to heal good mate.

[Honest Andy]

Cor that was a bit to read... But worth it Hard to argue with the hard stats

[Akzle]

I have better things to do with my time than write long ramblings on here unlike you.

no you don't.
you're a fuckwit

[riffer]

no you don't.
you're a fuckwit

Sorry about my long ramble then...

[EJK]

Well,

getting back to reality for a minute. If I may talk about something with real, verifiable, accurate facts. Last weekend I spent a lot of time with Peter Sowter, Sergeant in charge of the Special Crash Unit, Wellington region. We are giving talks at the Shiny Side Up bike fest as part of the Survivor series talks, along with Brittany Morrow. Come along and hear what we've got to say if you like. We are in Hamilton weekend after this one (Feb 17), then Kapiti (Feb 25), then Auckland (March 4).

****Snip****

See you all at the Shiny Side Up this month. I look like this. Come say "Hi Simon."

Wow. Thanks for sharing. If I was in Auck/ Hamilton I'd definitely drop by and say hi.

[Jeeper]

Sorry about my long ramble then...

I don't think Akzle was saying that to you. It is a sobering reality that a lot of people don't realize. Its simple things like braking in front of a heavy vehicle, a bike or a car might stop but the truck needs so much more distance to release that kinetic energy.

[awayatc]

Sorry about my long ramble then...

That was anything but a ramble.......

It was a bloody good read.

Thanks