The (very) fine line between life and death

[motoddrob]

Glad to her that your ok Andy. No charge for leaving the scene of an accident?

 

[piranha-bro2]

I'm incredulous! Number one: the driver should be behind bars and any law enforcement agency worth shit would find other more suitable charges for his behaviour endangering life ... definitely pursue that one, go as high as you need to go. Number two: make a formal application for compensation - use a lawyer if nec - for stress caused by gross incompetence on the part of the constabulary. Don't just go for refind of cartage fees. Seriously, what a bunch of absolute fukwits. i wonder what the process would have looked like if a family with young kids had been run off the road by this moron. And they even have a crown witness in an off duty copper!!!

It makes me so damned angry. I've still got PTSD from an accident 40 years ago that nearly took the life of a close friend. Night ride to Adelaide from Melbourne in a seriously full-on side wind and a totally pissed moron lost patience when my mate on his Beemer, who didn't immediately see him come up behind him (dual carriageway, wide median strip) because he was lying on the tank to reduce the sidewind effect. Lee and I in left lane (LH driving as per UK) and I get a front row seat as this guy goes onto the grass median strip in his big Falcon and the wind literally blows his car into the front wheel of the Beemer ... high side head first at 110kph straight into the bitumen. The guy stops, then immediately roars off. Lee chases at 140kph for probably 20km when the guy finally stops at a little cop shop in Ballan, immediately takes a 2-minute piss against the fence of the cop shop (I kid you not!).

I'm back at the scene, my mate convulsing on the road at 2am on a freezing night. Ambulance finally arrives, he's still unconscious, but thankfully alive. The anger part comes when we discover no charges laid, not for dangerous driving, not for drunk driving, not for leaving the scene of an accident, not even a breathalyser - nothing. We were young, ignorant. The concept of taking it further and pushing for further investigatiopn, dereliction of duty on the part of the cop, corruption (the cop obviously knew this guy), for compensation, we had no idea. We just wanted to continue with our lives and the trip we'd embarked on.

Don't let them get away with it Andy.

 

[breganzane]

(posted this in the wrong thread before...)

Hi Andy,

Wow glad you're relatively OK, an alarming tale.
This is the sort of story that highlights how absurd the policies are. They jump on tiny indiscretions of no real consequence, but let potentially catastrophic incidents go with seemingly no concern at all. Crazy.
Like Rob, I figure the driver should be at least done for leaving the scene of an accident, and failing to render assistance or whatever it is.

All the best keeping the bastards honest,
SteveB

 

[Laverda SF]

I always say to younger Riders: "Every car you see is going hit you. It's the ones you don't see that will hit you"

 

[Andy]

That bureaucracy gives me the shits… wasting everyone’s time, and of course you’re also paying for the said bureaucracy…
But not as much as getting run off the road! And “Too hard” is no excuse for the police not to throw the book at the wanker. Hopefully the repairs cost heaps and the insurance company drags him through the court at least…
But still, glad you are ok, that’s the best thing. I’ve also been pushed off the tarseal by an overtaking car, it’s no fun negotiating that kind of change of surface!

 

[Vince]

And there I was thinking The Isle Of Man was some Biking Navarna. It seems the Burocrates are the same everywhere. All that Faffing about to someone with Injuries over pennies.

 

[Laverdaton]

Hi Andy, Just read this and have sent you a message.........I'm glad your ok, that's the main thing. Take care and a I hope a quick recovery......The other Andy.

 

[natm]

You have my complete sympathy Andy. I visit the IOM a couple of times each year and the car drivers there must be the worst in the UK. Driving too fast for the road conditions and taking risks. If you drive at the speed limit, you can guarantee someone will be tailgating you until they see a chance to overtake. Its no wonder that the police there post road closures due to accidents almost on a daily basis. I'm glad to hear you came out of it unscathed, bikes can be fixed a lot easier than us.

 

[RobinSF1]

Hope everything gets sorted quickly for you Andy. A close shave indeed. I was forced off the side of a single track road (less than 40mph) when an approaching car didn't use the passing place on his side of the road. Clipped my mirror and elbow. He stopped and walked back to angrily tell me I had hit his mirror and motorcyclists should stop for cars on single track roads! Quietend down when I got off the SF and did my best angry Hulk impersonation.

 

[Andy J]

All the hassle regarding the tax mistakes and releasing the bike are the last things you need after all that you`ve been through Andy ........

Would these administration cock ups be down to having to deal or go through the IoM authorities , or do you deal directly with the DVLA at Swansea like the rest of us ........ ? .......

Thanks Tony, but our system is totally independent of DVLA so I have to deal with the ineptitude of IOM civil servants etc.

 

[Andy J]

That was an incredibly lucky escape, and a testament to your riding skills.
'Driving without due care'? that's laughable given that you came within a gnat's cock of eternity. A fixed penalty notice and a £120 fine is no fit punishment for the "fuckwit", who was, no doubt, was running on something more than ambition to pull an idiotic maneouver like that. I'd make enquiries and ask if the driver had been drugs/alchohol tested, and if not, why not.

I shall be posing quite a few more questions to the police, and, as you suggest, I'll be asking if they were tested.
I remember well one of my earliest incidents, back in the 1980's in Bristol on my first Monty, when I was taken out by a 'mature lady' that pulled out of a side road onto the dual carriage heading into Bristol. I tooted at her and moved to the outside lane but she just kept on coming and shunted me into the railings, and I was the one taken to the police station and made to take a breath test!!!

 

[CLEMTOG]

well Andy, glad you survived this incident and I too share your frustrations with "the authorities" at 72 years old I leteraly CANNOT take a 24ish male or female cop telling me pretty much anything about driving/life skills, I have riden bikes all my life and since 16 on the road, driven cars since 17, towed anything (legal and illegal) still hold HGV1 and have been trusted with cranes up to 150 tonnes and tank transporters way over that, (1942 Diamond T and Rogers trailer) I have had my fair share of "incidents" including two very bad ones (in '73, 6 months in hospital) all was OK for decades, but it came back and bit me in the arse again about 18 months ago, not yet fully resolved. As for the story in the above post by you, #31, you should have braked and let her go! silly daft cantancerous git, I would (probably) have matched your moves and (if possible) kicked the door skin in about 100 yards later.
CLEM

 

[78jotadave]

Andy, I'm glad you survived this incident and came out of it relatively unscathed. I believe we all have a guardian of some kind watching over us I believe this because I have survived incidents, most of them motorcycle-related but not all, that no one should have got away with. You will replay this incident repeatedly in your mind, which is our way of rationalizing that it is OK to get back on the bike and ride again. Your guardian was with you, Cheers Dave.

 

[henrywillms]

Really glad your ok. There are always idiots, bad drivers, unexpected circumstances that we may have to face on public roads. All we can do is choose our speeds according to our own personal risk level, and realize that those of us that our older....our reflexes are not what they use to be.

Hope you get back on the horse soon.

 

[The Sock]

Glad that you're not as severely injured as you might have been, Andy, and capable of taking the appropriate parties to task.
I do note, however, that many are looking at the incident through the single lens of a motorcycle. Things would have been much grimmer had you been in a car, in the same circumstances.

 

[CLEMTOG]

and if it had you (Hamish) and in your summer riding atire of shorts tee shirt and trainers but with (legally required) crash helmet ?????????
you no doubt will tell us that you would have been able to avoid off roading or colliding.
CLEM

 

[Steve G.]

Certainly glad you’re ok Andy. The whole incident makes me absolutely furious, especially at the suv driver, but also the apparent lack of action by police . I personally would sue the shit out of this person, make them bankrupt if possible.
Not sure how general vehicle operation skills have fared on the IOM, post Covid. Here in Vancouver, southwest BC, police here are calling it “post covid insanity”, the level of vehicle operation capability has plummeted to 3rd world status. So bad, 2 of my friends have sold their bikes forever, 40 year riders, and bought trucks with big steel bush bars , it’s really that bad. Rider fatalities for 2024 are at record levels.

Situational awareness has taken on a whole new level of urgency!!

 

[Andy J]

Andy, I'm glad you survived this incident and came out of it relatively unscathed. I believe we all have a guardian of some kind watching over us I believe this because I have survived incidents, most of them motorcycle-related but not all, that no one should have got away with. You will replay this incident repeatedly in your mind, which is our way of rationalizing that it is OK to get back on the bike and ride again. Your guardian was with you, Cheers Dave.

You’re right Dave the incident has gone over in my mind quite a bit since the incident, but as it wasn’t, in my mind, my fault it’s a lot easier to rationalise. The only thing I was having difficulty with was why I hadn’t managed to regain control after having missed the car. However, having now looked at the bike, and the amount of mud and debris from the ditch plastered all over it and the wheels/tyres (and my boots), I can now see that even if I had had motorcross tyres fitted I probably wouldn’t have had much more chance of saving it. At least I didn’t have quite the same impact Alex Lowes had at WSBK at Aragon, he looked as though he was really slammed into the tarmac and possibly hit by his bike as well.
And unlike my last big get-off on the mountain road, back in 1993 on the 5th lap of the Senior TT, when it was years before I rode a bike back past the same spot, I was back out on my F500 Laverda the very next morning and glad to be riding back over the mountain.
However, I certainly agree someone was looking out for me on Thursday.

 

[Andy J]

I’m now fuming even more than before as I just heard on the local radio station a motorist has just been done for undertaking an unmarked police car, in which there was no collision or anyone being injured and they got a fine of £240 and 5 penalty points!!!

 

[Haggis]

Beware anti-motorcyclist prejudice. A very real thing. We have all seen it or felt it at some point. Most spectacularly witnessed recently by me, aimed at my sweetheart Jane. A 60 year old mother of 5, who wouldn't say boo-to-a-goose treated utterly appallingly by a copper over a trivial law break. The copper clearly shouldering a massive problem with bikers. Not sure if this could have been a factor here, but worth considering.

Probably more to the point in this case - I worry that the amount of in-car 'entertainment' these days (phone, massive screens, 7 touches to turn the wipers on, etc) is causing a huge drop in drivers engagement with what is beyond the windscreen.