Motorcyclist films friend's death

[badass]

Well you may not like it mate, but filtering between lanes of slow moving traffic is perfectly legal. Your car should be fitted with Mirrors. Changing lanes is a Manouvre. As you should have been taught when learning to drive: Mirrors-Signal-Manouvre.

Can I suggest that you start practising this with immediate effect? Because if you knock off a biker by changing lanes without looking, the fault will be entirely yours.

+1
The dislike usually comes down to one simple thing: People don't like others getting in front of them, and will find all kinds of rubbish justifications as to why the people that get in front of them shouldn't be allowed.
Motorcyclists filtering reduces congestion by increasing teh capacity of the road and is a completely legal manouver that's only made dangerous by unobservant drivers.

[oclocker]

Def 100% bikers fault, having once been a biker and living in the area I'd say biker had a death wish. As others have said pity the innocent campers.

[peterb]

+1

Motorcyclists filtering reduces congestion by increasing teh capacity of the road and is a completely legal manouver that's only made dangerous by unobservant drivers.

That may be true, but in an argument between a bike and a car, regardless of who is 'right', it is more likely than not that the biker will come off worse, and it is scant consolation that his dying breath is "I was in the right".

Bikers - rightly or wrongly" need to be ultra careful, if only for the simple reason that they are more vulnerable. Sadly, even the most careful biker can be wiped out by a moment of carelessness by a car driver - but not all bikers seem to appreciate that until it is too late.

And no amount of fine, points, remorse or regret by the still living car driver will bring the motor cyclist back to life - regardless of whose fault the accident was.

[badass]

That may be true, but in an argument between a bike and a car, regardless of who is 'right', it is more likely than not that the biker will come off worse, and it is scant consolation that his dying breath is "I was in the right".

Bikers - rightly or wrongly" need to be ultra careful, if only for the simple reason that they are more vulnerable. Sadly, even the most careful biker can be wiped out by a moment of carelessness by a car driver - but not all bikers seem to appreciate that until it is too late.

And no amount of fine, points, remorse or regret by the still living car driver will bring the motor cyclist back to life - regardless of whose fault the accident was.

Which is why a Motorcyclist who is filtering should make sure that aren't going very fast at the time.

[peterb]

Which is why a Motorcyclist who is filtering should make sure that aren't going very fast at the time.

Qft!

[liddlefeesh]

Motorcyclists filtering reduces congestion by increasing teh capacity of the road and is a completely legal manouver that's only made dangerous by unobservant drivers.

Which is why a Motorcyclist who is filtering should make sure that aren't going very fast at the time.

The driver of the hatchback that pulled out to overtake may well have checked his mirrors first and seen no bike. The biker literally "appeared out of nowhere" on this one and did what many bikers do on fast roads - turn 2 lanes into 3; and 3 lanes into 4.

I was driving back from Devon today down the A303 during a section that had two lanes of forward traffic, a dual carriageway. The traffic was moderately heavy but fast moving; right hand lane approximately 75mph and the left, approximately 65mph. Up come four fast bikes on my inside BETWEEN the two lanes. (always beware bikers in groups - are they always in radio comms with each other to egg each other on?).

I find that the left lane becomes clear and so I want to move over. Unfortunately I was trapped in the right hand lane (at 75mph and steadily increasing) as the bikers one by one were hovering just inches from my rear bumper (close enough to probably tap my car with their hands as they overtook). What if I needed to tap the brakes just ever so slightly? The biker would be separated from his bike by my car.

After the four bikes had undertaken me (relative to me they were travelling at least at 40mph faster than the fast lane) I was safe to move over.

This sort of thing goes on often. Whenever I'm out driving, if the weather is good, you can almost guarantee there will be a collection of bikers buzzing around together like flies. Testosterone coursing through their veins, the voice of their drinking buddies urging them to ride faster and more irresponsibly.

We're not talking about bikers weaving through slow traffic at a speed to give other road users a chance to notice them. We're talking specifically about bikes wanting to be given treated as, and given the space of a "car" one moment and then wanting to swerve and weave in-between cars at 100mph the next.

Autopilot: "A couple of months back i took my little boy camping in Wales. The drive there was horrific, the bikers were like fly's around my head. Hundreds of them, one after the other overtaking - often i did not even see them until they had passed and i was keeping an eye on my mirrors. The trouble with bikers is even at reasonable speeds they sneak up in your blind spot because they hug the centre line like a valentino rossi wanabee. I had to have no music on so i could hear them and hug the edge of the road. Yet they even had the nerve to stare or wave (not in a friendly way) if i did not make room for them. One false move and one would have hit me. One nice drive into wales ruined (we dont get the chance often) and i felt like i was being attacked constantly. There is a culture among many bikers of elitism, and most think they are much better than they really are, but i am a better driver than any of them will be and more thoughtful of others."

+1 to Autopilot.

[Rave]

(always beware bikers in groups - are they always in radio comms with each other to egg each other on?).

There was an article in MCN about a study that had found that, indeed, riding in groups tends to make bikers ride faster than they would normally feel comfortable doing. They're more likely to go for dodgy overtakes to try and keep up etc., whereas the sensible thing would be for the rest of the group to wait up if an overtake isn't safe for the last rider in the group.

So yes- beware sportsbike riders in groups (I doubt this applies much to groups of cruiser riders), and if you ride a bike yourself, be especially aware of this and don't let yourself get sucked in.

I can't remember exactly what I said in my last post, but on balance, although it still looks to me as if the car driver was performing a dangerous manouvre, the biker put himself in mortal danger by riding far too aggressively. There's no need for it at all. There are plenty of quiet roads to have a good blast on, or you can ride busier roads at night when there are fewer cars about. Much of the video is them blasting along at 150 MPH on a pretty quiet dual carriageway with good visibility- I have no problem with this and TBH would probably do it myself if I had a sportsbike. It's an order of magnitude safer than splitting lines of traffic at 80-100 MPH.

[TheAnimus]

Germany shows how it can be safe to have speed, the difference is the caliber of driver is better, people all to often don't fricken indicate when moving.

I was giving serious thought to a uni project, which would have a camera to detect when someone is making a maneuver that requires indication. If they failed, it would jab a spike through her buttocks.

[Clunk]

Germany shows how it can be safe to have speed, the difference is the caliber of driver is better, people all to often don't fricken indicate when moving.

Ah yes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8159290.stm

[TheAnimus]

Its quite hard to objectively compare the UK roads to German roads.

for a start of every accident is reported by a painfully on the spot fine enforced law. In the UK its very common for little bumps/dings not to involve the police.

People also drive more miles on average as its a bigger country.

Thou yes, when a car pileup is so vast it overflows an 8bit register, you know you've got a special case.

[ajones]

Clearly the Bikers fault this one in my eyes. No way could his overtaking maneuver (and the several hundred previous by the looks of those speeds) be considered safe...

I'd also conclude that the car driver was also making an unsafe overtaking maneuver; Whether the road marking allow it or not, you should not maneuver your vehicle incoming traffic.

The driver and was also an idiot, just not as big an idiot as the biker.