Two bikes down near Akaroa 27/12 (fatality)

[AllanB]

I think learning is the key here. I don't see why people here are too PC to just sit back and say, wait a minute, this should never have happened, there's absolutely no excuse for it and innocent lives were lost. ...

THERE WAS NO ACCIDENT HERE

Having ridden the road this morning, and doubling back to figure it out, I can only conclude that the Triumph rider had thoroughly left his brain on holiday.

Unfortunately at the point of impact (blind corner, wrong side of the road) the poor innocents did not stand a chance - regardless of speed or type of bike. It could just as easily been a bunch of cyclists (those buggers take up all the road around this area ) he plowed through.

I also say spare a thought to the families of lost ones killed this summer in car-car crashes. Often an entire immediate family is wiped out.

I'll repeat.
THERE WAS NO ACCIDENT HERE

[Sparrowhawk]

I also say spare a thought to the families of lost ones killed this summer in car-car crashes. Often an entire immediate family is wiped out.

I agree Allan - I saw a funeral round the corner from me yesterday. I always find it really sad the amount of needless tragedy at this time of year, that's supposed to be a relaxing family time.

My thoughts are with all the families affected over this last weekend, especially the kids involved with this one.

[danchop]

so i have been on not many kb rides,but on the ones ive been on i have seen double yellow line passing,blind corner passing etc,no accidents yet!but what do you do?do you walz on up to them at a stop and tell them the stupity of it,let it ride or what?

[riffer]

so i have been on not many kb rides,but on the ones ive been on i have seen double yellow line passing,blind corner passing etc,no accidents yet!but what do you do?do you walz on up to them at a stop and tell them the stupity of it,let it ride or what?

Unfortunately very few people like to be told they ride like muppets. The right thing to do is, of course, to point it out and suggest ways they could improve their riding.

Trouble is, you're likely to get a smack in the teeth or a reputation as a holier-than-thou creep.

Which of course is a good reason to avoid a lot of organised rides, so you either:

a) don't have to tell others they ride like muppets with a death wish; or
b) have someone point it out to you.

[Titanium]

so i have been on not many kb rides,but on the ones ive been on i have seen double yellow line passing,blind corner passing etc,no accidents yet!but what do you do?do you walz on up to them at a stop and tell them the stupity of it,let it ride or what?

Vote with ya feet, let them go ahead and be temporary NZr's.

Telling them about it will do diddly squat, because they are so good.

My first and last large group ride was the 2nd December 2006, nuff said.

[AllanB]

so i have been on not many kb rides,but on the ones ive been on i have seen double yellow line passing,blind corner passing etc,no accidents yet!but what do you do?do you walz on up to them at a stop and tell them the stupity of it,let it ride or what?

Just get out of their way - the tossers will probably come onto KB and start bitching about your bike having chicken-strips.

[FJRider]

Ride with those you can trust to be behind, or in front of you. If you can't... dont.

[FJRider]

yeah - because if you get hit by a Jap bike weighing 200 kg doing 80km head on you are going to just get up and walk away?

Using that logic - you wont get hurt by riding into a tree - after all thats stationary.

The speed you travel at is not as important as impact speed... your speed plus speed of oncoming vehicle... the numbers build up rapidly...

[humphrt]

very sorry for all families involved.

have nothing to say about his riding because i'll be the first to admit that there have been times when ive not done the smartest things on a bike. so lets let it be a lesson to all to think before twisting your wrist that little bit further.

[Patrick]

No point focusing on who was at fault, cant take back time. All we can do is remember and learn.

RIP

Learn from the faults and mistakes then... The whole point in a fatal crash investigation is on focusing who is at fault and what was at fault, so others can learn from it.

My dad was 1 minute behind this crash and very well could have been him. Im angry......160 passing on blind corner 5 cars. Result is children fatherless and possibly motherless.

It appears we have to now prepare for riders coming towards us on blind corners at high speeds.

Unless they are some certain KBers, coz that shit will never happen to them....

THERE WAS NO ACCIDENT HERE

Having ridden the road this morning, and doubling back to figure it out, I can only conclude that the Triumph rider had thoroughly left his brain on holiday.

Unfortunately at the point of impact (blind corner, wrong side of the road) the poor innocents did not stand a chance - regardless of speed or type of bike. It could just as easily been a bunch of cyclists (those buggers take up all the road around this area ) he plowed through.

I also say spare a thought to the families of lost ones killed this summer in car-car crashes. Often an entire immediate family is wiped out.

I'll repeat.
THERE WAS NO ACCIDENT HERE

"Accident" is a crap term. Most "Accidents" are "crashes" caused by shit riders/drivers.

so i have been on not many kb rides,but on the ones ive been on i have seen double yellow line passing,blind corner passing etc,no accidents yet!but what do you do?do you walz on up to them at a stop and tell them the stupity of it,let it ride or what?

Always a tough call.

Seen a few "moves" myself which are unlawful, but nothing to make alarm bells ring enough to have words. When that happens, they will not only get words, but also pieces of paper, delivered personally, of course....

But then again, those I ride with know me and wouldn't put me in that position.

[scumdog]

"Accident" is a crap term. Most "Accidents" are "crashes" caused by shit riders/drivers.

True.
An accident is like when a tree falls suddenly on front of your bike, not when somebody takes a mental free-turn and starts passing cars on a left-hand bend...

[Cross Rider]

That is exactly what I thought when I saw the crash site on the news last night. Regardless of whether he had enough visibility and thought the overtaking manoeuvre was safe, he obviously crossed into the oncoming lane at some point. Double yellow lines ARE there for a reason and it's a real tragedy that this was not taken into account by this rider.

Someone said something about the speed of the oncoming riders - which I feel is totally irrelevant. If they were replaced with a truck and trailer unit doing 80kph the overtaking rider would still have been killed. It would not have been easy for the riders he hit to avoid something in THEIR lane that was probably going faster than them in any case.

I don't want to get into the blame game either, but the facts appear to support one rider overtaking in a spot he shouldn't have been overtaking in and unfortunately taking out innocent riders at the same time.

Rider error, you can live the life of a saint but do one really dumb thing and thats what you will be remembered for. I am so angry and sad at such senseless loss of life.

[Gizzit]

True.
An accident is like when a tree falls suddenly on front of your bike, not when somebody takes a mental free-turn and starts passing cars on a left-hand bend...

I totally agree with you there SD. This was avoidable.
I'm not big on pointing the finger at people, but from the details available so far, this is obviously one rider's fault.

We all need to take a serious look at how we ride, and learn from this tragedy, to have anything positive come out of it.

My heartfelt condolences to those family and friends affected by this sad event.

[Beemer]

Guys, there are no double yellow lines there. If you want to see the crash location point Google Earth to 43 deg 41 min 49 sec South and 172 deg 33 min 54 sec East.

Apologies if this is correct - they showed a sweeping left-hand bend on tv last night with debris all over the road, and there were double yellow lines down the middle. Maybe where he started his overtaking manoeuvre there were no yellow lines but they obviously weren't that far away.

As for living the life of a saint and being remembered for one mistake, spare a thought for the innocent parties he took with him. I think I'd be pissed off with anyone who killed my loved ones through stupidity, even if they were 'a really nice guy' most of the time.

AllanB, Patrick and Scumdog are right - accidents are unforeseen events, not ones where the possibility of something going wrong could reasonably be predicted and avoided.

[Armitage Shanks]

Anyone know what model Triumph was involved ? Not that it matters , I read he was overtaking a line of 8 cars with a corner coming up, not 3 cars .

What a bloody shame....for everyone, car drivers included .