Think twice before throwing the throttle open lads.

[Jeppo]

I know its a terrible thing to happen but he brought it upon himself riding like that!! Pretty selfish generally, even if he hasn't left wife/kids at home there will be a few ppl mentally scarred, i.e. the driver that pulled out and the van driver that tore him to shreds! Luckily his reckless riding didn't injure/kill anyone else.

[lindaloo]

its an accident that could have been avoided... and as others have said hind sight is a wonderful thing.. BUT cars do have a tendancy to be driven by morons with no sense, I watched the vid a few days ago and the following day I was travelling on the motorway doing around 80mph when a car pulled out on me... I had to brake down to 60 in middle lane, could have easily ended in a bang if I had been nearer....I wasn't impressed...then within 10mins I had another idiot who pulled infront of me from the fast lane (travelling much the same speed as me) ..good job I was checking over my shoulder because he certainly wasn't looking at all, never even knew I was there next to him. I had to brake again and with alot of arm waving... :wanker
and as for the video, it is as been said before, the biker lost control because the car pulled in front, so without the car it wouldn't have happened in the first place. Both were at fault, but even if the biker had been going slower the accident will have still ended the same, just maybe more painful

[wonderpupp]

First rule is: Never show off when you're being filmed. It'll go wrong.
eg. I was doing wheelies and stoppies on my CRM250 one evening, and as soon as my mate got his cameraphone out, I looped it.
Second rule: Don't ride like an impatient moron when there's other traffic on the road. Why was he in such a hurry? Is his pasty getting cold? Or conversely, is it in his jacket, burning his chest?

I think it's the biker's fault, this one. As much as it grinds my guts to say so.

I always anticipate cars driving like twats, and if there's more than 2 cars in front of me, I think "I want to get past, will this car want to get past also?" Most of the time it's a yes, and waiting a couple of seconds lets you know their intentions. Most people spot me, and indicate left or wave me past. Sometimes, it's not safe so I hang back.

The road isn't a race track, and having a driving licence is a privelage, not a right. It should be respected more, by a lot of people. The highway code is there for a reason, and every day you see people who don't follow it. (including myself, hands up)

when I got caught speeding, I should have been banned, but since then I have realised how much my licence and riding bikes really means to me, so I've calmed down a lot now, speed-wise.

[Jamz]

Hmm, tough one...

Personally, I aim to NEVER make any other road users brake or swerve because of anything I do. In my opinion the first lot of overtakes that bike did were the dodgy ones because of this.

Where it went tits up I've done the same a million times - there was loads of room for the overtake even though it was technically on hash marks, and I suppose it's only right that the car would overtake there as well! I think I've had a few similar close calls...

What I will say is that it's extremely rare that there wouldn't be a gap to fit through - the car isn't going to go head on into the van so I'd expect there still to be enough of a gap to squeeze between the two - it would be hard to judge exactly how far the car was going to pull out, though.

170 on bikes like these are nothing, really - so unless you've actually ridden one and opened the throttle you can't judge that that speed is unsafe.

[Jeppo]

Sorry but i would have to say that 170 is unsafe when any other vehicles are around! The main reason being that other road users would not be able to judge your speed at all!! Which may have been a factor here, i know he didn't crash at 170 but he was definitely going much faster than anyone would be expecting him to at that point.

Even if this accident had happened much slower I very much doubt he would have survived due to the fact he ended up under a van, but if he was travelling slower in the first place he would have had more time to react and would have had enough time to brake.

[crushedlizard]

Sorry, but if the car had checked his mirrors, he would have seen the motorcycle was out, overtaking. If a vehicle behind you is overtaking there is never reason to think "Oh, I'll just nip round myself before this guy". Regardless of speed, you never pull out in front of an overtaking vehicle.

I'm not putting this all on the car. The biker was taking huge risks and in fact doing far worse before that point. It didn't look like a particularly dangerous maneouvre, but the biker should have anticipated the car wanted to overtake because of the wide road- one of the few places cars can overtake.

Narrow road with oncoming traffic - unlikely,
Wide road with oncoming traffic - likely,
wide road with no traffic - almot certainly.

I'm no saint , and I've been damn lucky so far. You don't need to hack it all the time on a bike. We've got the power-to-weight and size to overtake whenever we want.

RIP to the poor giraffe. <- lol @ the swear filter!

[superman]

i think the only thing the biker is guilty of there is going too fast which ultimatley killed him... if your going to place the blame on the car you might as well blame the guy who was driving too slow in the first instance lol. if that accident happened and the biker was doing the speed limit the car would have been to blame 100% IMO you could see the idiot just pulled out but at the speed the bike was going the car driver could easily have missed him. only takes a split second...

if im honest too that video has opened my eyes too because i have done things similar to that in the past but will defo not be in the future..

[Jamz]

if im honest too that video has opened my eyes too because i have done things similar to that in the past but will defo not be in the future..

I will.

[nc73]

eh driving, riding, it's all dangerous. I've had lots of bikers pass me including cars and I'm usually riding the speed limit 90% of the time. I shake my head each time they pass me. At least I'll live to ride another day. What is the HURRY folks?

[liam7200]

i think as a car driver and a bike rider that it was the car drivers fault althought it could of been prevented at a lower speed. still seems to be the case that car owner just dont look out for bikes shame reali x

[saka_ZXR]

Am I really the only one on the side of the car driver? Not a chance in hell the car driver could have seen the motorcyclist coming the car had started the overtake long before the bike was anywhere near him, the motorcyclist is 200% to blame here. Just watch the video and you can see them both overtaking on blind corners and almost clipping numerous cars. Complete w****ers! :wanker

[Ballsout Racing]

Reality check. We've probably all been there, I haven't riden much on the road at all, (don't anymore for that reason) but I'd like to think I am very observant to bikes, however, I still get a shock occasionally when I haven't noticed a bike rapidly get on my tail, or trying to overtake me, or appear from a blind spot.

The Bike doing well over 100mph, not observing what was going on in front of him. I know it's easy to say watching the video afterwords, but you can see the the white car right over to the left of the road, obviously going slowely, almost allowing the car behind to overtake, as you would do when a bike approaches, the car was indicating and appears to start overtaking long before the bike would have appeared from behind the car that's behind the car doing the overtaking, Even if they did see the bike in their mirror, do you honestly beleive you would expect them to be approaching at well over 100mph, it would have been virtually impossible to judge that sort of speed with a glance in the mirror, it would take a long good look to judge that, taking your observation away from what's going on in front. The rider appeared to be still trying to get around both cars and didn't brake until the last second. How did he expect to react to something like that when approaching at probably 60+mph faster than other traffic!

OK, so maybe the car driver was being unobservant or lacked judgment in his mirror, but, the bike rider appears completely unobservant to what may be occuring in front of him, his speed confounded the problem.

I note earlier comments about being cut up by car drivers, it seems to me that more consideration needs to be given to road positioning, do not put yourselves in car blind spots. I drive a van and I'm amazed when on the motorway how many drivers just cruise in my blind spot, oblivious of the fact that I can't see them unless I'm almost poking my head out the window, when I go to pull out into the next lane to overtake.

I think some drivers of all types of vehicles need a reality check sometimes, the genaral standard is really rather poor!

Oopps, that turned into a rant, sorry.

[Davw]

Reality check.
I think some drivers of all types of vehicles need a reality check sometimes, the genaral standard is really rather poor!

Too true!! - remember this - we are all responsible for our own safety. When driving on the road assume nothing - take nothing for granted and you will improve survival chances. If driving on a public road at 100+ in an envirionment where there are all sorts of differnt drivers with differing levels of competence then you are putting a lot of faith in their ability to react in a way that is appropriate to your speed. That is a big step of faith. Drving like this can only result in one outcome - eventually.

If you want to drive like that then take it to the track - no white vans coming the other way, no half blind grannies driving home from tesco and no animals running out in front of you - and even better - the guys around you are decent riders and generally know what they are doing.

[squidward]

Am I really the only one on the side of the car driver? Not a chance in hell the car driver could have seen the motorcyclist coming the car had started the overtake long before the bike was anywhere near him, the motorcyclist is 200% to blame here. Just watch the video and you can see them both overtaking on blind corners and almost clipping numerous cars. Complete w****ers! :wanker

To be honest mate I'm in agreement with you. The mondeo was indicating long before he pulled out, and the biker had overtaken so many cars in such a short space of time the car driver would've had no chance of seeing him. If the biker wasn't going so fast he would've had time to react and slow down. Instead, he puts himself in the dangerous situation of having to overtake an overtaking vehicle, and pays the price!

Both problems arose because of the speed, and that is 100% down to the biker. You can't really blame the car driver in my opinion.

[superman]

to be hones i feel worse for the van driver... cant have been good...