It's all about making yourself visible, especially at junctions :)

Do you have the link Phil?

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqQBubilSXU

I'm not a biker but I think there's a biker in me trying to get out :). It's just things like this topic that put me off.

The whole think bike campaign should not anger you considering the amounts of bikers that are killed or seriously injured every day, which is preventable.

You contradict yourself somewhat stating that it was impossible for the driver of the car to do anything yet at the end call it a bad judgement call.

It was a bad judgement call, he should have seen the bike, and that's that. Yes the major contributing factor is speed I don't deny that! But the driver must bear some responsibility.

In the eyes of the highway code it was bad judgement, the biker had right of way regardless of speed therefore the car driver judgement to pull out was bad.

That is however completely ignoring the speed of the bike as when taken into consideration would the car driver judgement have been different? We will never know. I do try to put myself in the shoes of the driver and I could believe his/her choice would have been different if the biker speed had been less or to a normal amount but at those speed, it's almost impossible.

For all we know the driver could have tried to not pull out after he already made the choice to, take into account human reaction time

It is said that the average or anything you can call average reaction time is 0.75 seconds or 1 car length for ever 10mph upto 1.5 seconds. These are just numbers in the real world it can be anything we all know this of course.

My point is that at 100mph the biker would have covered 150 yards In 1.5 seconds. Those motorway slip road/roundabout markers are 100 yards apart this should give you an idea how how much distance the biker was covering compared to reaction time of the car driver.

Even switching his foot from gas to brake or brake to gas the biker would have covered 100 yards, he could have looked out for the biker all day it would only have taken 1 second between the biker being visible and completely invisible to any car driver and that is why I said it's almost impossible for the driver.

None of that matters though because it was the bikers right of way regardless of his speed, hence bad judgement call for the driver.

So yes it does angers me slightly about the message of the campaign although I'm not suggesting get rid of it, there are people out there who need to be reminded.

I have been involved in 2 near miss with a biker at a junction. First was me turning right and biker overtaking traffic not seeing that I was turning right, I spotted him in my mirror well before he knew what was about to happen and held back, he braked so hard I'm sure he needed a new set of pants.

Second time I was turning left with a pizza hut biker overtaking traffic on the inside lane, again I saw him and prepared myself to stop even though it was my right of way in both cases.

I think bikers need to be educated on junctions as much as car drivers, this one way campaign will never work with only one side of both parties putting in the effort.

I don't agree with the one sided message.

Btw sheriff I don't mean to get on your bad side about it just voicing my experience and what I make of it. So I hope you aren't upset as a biker hearing me say the above

Kurt, your opinion is valued and valid. I'm not upset at all mate looking at your posts. There are some real idiot people with motorcycles and unfortunately the minority screw it up for the majority.

I wouldn't call Pizza Hut riders real riders though lol, they are just squids. The standard of riding by pizza delivery riders in London is totally disgusting. I'd put them in a totally separate category of their own lol.

And yes I agree, education on BOTH side is the key ;)

i use this road nearly every week, on the a47 where it happened the video doesnt show it but where he overtakes its a sudden down hill not by much but its enough so you carnt see whats coming over the top if you were sat at that junction the car was at, its not far away from the brow of the hill but its far enough and ive done it before you look ok nothings there and go, i dont know of the rider but hes local to my town and area and from what ive read and heard people saying about his riding he wasnt lets say keen on sticking to the correct laws, but the car driver has been prosicuted according to the local paper for causing death due to dangerous driving, how much of that is true ie how long he got or wont get im not sure, but if it was me in that car i would never expect any one to be doing more than the speed limit on a hill and esp not anything near 100mph, i would have done the same as the driver in the car tbh, but i think the only error the driver made was not slam his brakes on as soon as he saw something coming not try and get past, there is a picture of the car and bike well whats left of them in the paper its not pretty at all the guy was prenouced dead on the scence and suspected to have died upon impact, also i can imagine the driver never wanting to drive again, it was a sad day and both parties are to blame im not saying he deserved it and neither did his family nor did the car driver deserve the troumor but ive riden a 125 (alright nothing like a 1000cc ninja) but in 2 years i had lost count the amount of times ive been cut up or pulled out of before and same goes for my dad, his loverly yamaha yzf800 was written off when someone who had just passed thier test pulled out in front of him and he had to drop his bike and roll away.

i just think more awaernesss needs to be put in when taking car lesson AND bike lessons that way the more people are educated the safer i feel they would be, but i also think no amount of education is going to stop stupid people from doing stupid things on the road or is it going to stop completly flukie accidents

From Police Oracle-

Deep budget reductions could ultimately see an increase in deaths and injuries of those in a vulnerable group, according to professionals

Continuing cuts to to roads policing units coupled with a rise in the use of motorcycles could see increasing numbers of riders killed or seriously injured, it is feared.

Senior law enforcement professionals have admitted that the coming years will present a challenge as force budgets continue to shrink and tough choices have to be made.

Federation officials have reiterated their warning that the situation with roads policing units remains serious - amid fears that the safety of motorists is now being compromised.

In an interview with PoliceOracle.com Deputy Chief Constable Tim Madgwick, the national lead on motorcycles, said he was concerned about the impact of funding cuts on both education and enforcement - adding that the upshot could be a rise in serious collisions.

He also believes that, with continuing economic tough times and potential cuts in public transport, there could a greater number of "two wheeled" road users in the future.

Difficult years

DCC Madgwick said: "The point is that we are facing some really difficult years in terms of road safety budgets, which have been reduced across the country.

"You also have to remember that motoring is expensive, particularly for young people and rural public transport has reduced. A person aged between 17 and 21, for example, might not be able to get to college on public transport because the option is not available."

DCC Madgwick - of North Yorkshire Police - was speaking after figures released in Wales showed an increase in the numbers of motorcyclists in serious RTCs.

There were 246 riders killed or seriously injured in 2013 - 33 more than the previous year - although the numbers of fatal collisions have been steadily declining.

DCC Madgwick suggested that roads policing units now need to focus their limited resources on high-risk groups - including motorcyclists - in a bid to reduce collisions.

He said that, on North Yorkshire Police's website, bikers could access resources including a "virtual ride" of the most popular routes and tips on staying safe.

The national lead also suggested that initiatives such as BikeSafe continued to prove highly successful - although they were staffed by increasingly hard-pressed volunteers.

Maintaining momentum

He added: "If we cannot maintain the momentum of the success we have achieved in reducing collisions over some years, the consequence could be that we end up having more fatalities.

"The indications are that the number of people on two wheels is going to grow, and the fact is that you can only streamline specialist resources so much before you have an impact."

The sentiment was shared by John Apter, who sits on Police Federation of England and Wales' Roads Policing Group. He said cuts to force budgets were worrying.

He added: "You can end up having a vicious circle - if you reduce the numbers of dedicated roads policing officers you could see an increase those killed or seriously injured in collisions. Motorcyclists are one of the more vulnerable groups.

"I think the blue light services now need to be more joined up in their approach to reducing the numbers of incidents - clearly prevention is far better than a cure."

Mr Apter stressed that, as well as the appalling human cost, serious collisions cost the UK economy millions of pounds. "The roads are a neighbourhood and should be treated as such."