Two bikes down near Akaroa 27/12 (fatality)

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Guys, there are no double yellow lines there.

Just because there is no yellow doesn't mean its an automatic reason that it is ok to pass on a corner, (especially one you can't see around it)

[Jantar]

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.

The pics on TV and the ones in the paper show double yellow lines with motorcycles on both sides of the road.

[FJRider]

Google Earth is a few years old...

[munterk6]

This whole event has brought home to us all how every time we swing a leg over our bikes, it could be the last...
I went past the site this morning and a fire truck was parked up with several firepeople in it. Dunno what they were doing there, but it made for an uneasy feeling as I slowed up to checkout the situation.
I was mindful of the tragedy that had taken place two days ago while I was riding towards Tai Tapu at legal (sensible) speed, when suddenly a guy on a Harley flew past me at approx 140kmh and passed a line of cars....yep
Sad thing is, these wake up calls we have are short lived, and the memories fade, and we go back to the same shit before long
Its the people we leave behind that hurt for soooooo long

[Muppet]

This whole event has brought home to us all how every time we swing a leg over our bikes, it could be the last...
I went past the site this morning and a fire truck was parked up with several firepeople in it. Dunno what they were doing there, but it made for an uneasy feeling as I slowed up to checkout the situation.
I was mindful of the tragedy that had taken place two days ago while I was riding towards Tai Tapu at legal (sensible) speed, when suddenly a guy on a Harley flew past me at approx 140kmh and passed a line of cars....yep
Sad thing is, these wake up calls we have are short lived, and the memories fade, and we go back to the same shit before long
Its the people we leave behind that hurt for soooooo long

Yes I was on a trip a few years ago with a group of like minded dudes riding towards Takaka having just come over the hill. Suddenly an idiot on a Harley rode past me at about 120 km/h, his handlebar missing mine (according to those behind me) by a centimetre. I never knew he was there until he passed me. Then as we came up to a blind right hand corner, he was going too fast over corrected and ended up riding on the wrong side of the road. You can behave yourself on the road, but it's tossers like these that can ruin your day

[Gremlin]

I read he was overtaking a line of 8 cars with a corner coming up, not 3 cars .

I wouldn't believe much... From my own experience, stories grow, people spout bullshit without actually being there/knowing facts...

I'd take the yellow lines with a pinch of salt as well. They're plastered everywhere, plenty of reasonable places to pass (but you'd break the law). Also plenty of places with yellow lines you shouldn't pass.

Since I don't know anything about the circumstances, I'm not passing judgement, but I do feel for the innocents.

[jrandom]

I never knew he was there until he passed me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_awareness

[Ms Topo]

My thoughts are with the families at this hard time.

[T.W.R]

The pics on TV and the ones in the paper show double yellow lines with motorcycles on both sides of the road.

??? they do ???

The footage where yellows were shown was the Paekakariki Hill prang

Where the accident happened would be the stupidest place to pass anything on that stretch of road irrespective of yellows or not, particularly when heading towards ChCh because of partially obscured vision of the on-coming traffic by a motley hedge & randomly spaced trees, plus the corner prior to where the prang happened (heading towards Akaroa) is one of the tightest and is completely blind so there's no view of on-coming traffic till they're on the short straight before the sweeper.

Having talked to a person who knew both parties involved they're pretty much are scratching their head as to why, it's a WTF moment that caught innocents in the carnage

It could have been avoided, a moments ill discipline & poor judgement has caused a lot of grief and pain for plenty of people.

[Jantar]

...
The footage where yellows were shown was the Paekakariki Hill prang.....

Well that pic certainly shows no yellow lines. It just shows how the media can give a false impression because on TV1 they were talking about the Canterbury crash and flashed up an image of bikes on both sides of the road with double yellow lines in between. I naturally assumed that the image was of the Canterbury crash.

Thanks for that pic, it shows it much better.

[Charlie41]

Condolences to the family and friends! My thoughts are with everyone at this sad time

[Beemer]

??? they do ???

The footage where yellows were shown was the Paekakariki Hill prang...

Sorry, but not the shot I saw on TV1 news - if they were taken on the Paekakariki Hill I'd be amazed as I didn't recognise the area. The shot I saw showed a large sweeping left-hand bend (just as they described where the guy overtook) with double yellow lines down the middle. You could see at least three bikes in the foreground so I am pretty sure it was the crash near Christchurch.

I rode out to the start of the Coast to Coast a few weekends ago with my husband to hand out flyers for our Manfeild Day and was doing 100-110kph on the road out to Himatangi. Of course that didn't stop the two arseholes who pulled out and overtook me on a blind corner. And people wonder why I did the ride back in 1999 and haven't been tempted to do it again.

The sad thing is, no matter how good a rider you are, you can't always prevent yourself being taken out by someone like this. I've personally witnessed behaviour like this on rides and the person involved was spoken to after each incident but his view was he was a good rider and if others felt in danger, it was because they were not such good riders. In the end we had to ban him from the rides as people who had been riding for more than 20 years were too scared to ride with him. So unfortunately not everyone will learn from an incident like this and alter their behaviour accordingly.

[quickbuck]

True.
An accident is like when a tree falls suddenly on front of your bike....

One of the True (and very few) "Accidents" over the last year.
Can't really think of many more off the top of my head...

The photos of that one will be etched in my mind forever.

I'm not going to pass judgement on the incident that started this thread, as many are guilty of the same poor decisions that may have been made, and have been lucky to get away with it.

RIP to all involved, and condolences to the families.

[prettybillie]

Condolences to the families.

Whats next?? TV crews waiting on the hot spots with camers at the ready? It's so disrespecful to play footage like that.

I totally agree

[SPman]

"RIP rider, our thoughts are with the families"

cut & paste done.........

I know the road well (lived

at Motukarara for 5 yrs - worked in ChCh).

No excuse for what happened!

My condolences to those affected by others idiocy. TLDV8