Re: Scary statistics for bikers in Wales
 

To be fair the majority of junction SMIDSY's the rider is probably just as much to blame for a) probably going to fast b) not see the car waiting and anticipating.

I have seen two now and both were at a junction after corners where the bikes were unfortunately going to fast. I've also nearly done it to a poor bloke in a Volvo on the Melton road.

Re: Scary statistics for bikers in Wales
 

dont mean to be funny here bilbo but i read it as 1 in 100 every 18 months so with 400 active orgers that would be roughly 1 every 4 months which unforunately is a beliveable statistic
could just be my maths or reading the op wrong

Re: Scary statistics for bikers in Wales
 

your probably right dave. i just hate statistics used for scare mongering. for every bike that has a collision with a car is the car included in a ststistic to say how many car drivers cause bike accidents. i think not.

Re: Scary statistics for bikers in Wales
 

And that would have to assume that we all only rode in Wales, which is mostly recreational riding (ie: high speed shenanigans!). You don't lose 1 in 100 every 18 months by commuting to work at 55mph on a packed motorway. Wales will have unusually bad statistics because it is a playground for lots of English bikers.

Re: Scary statistics for bikers in Wales
 

It's Wales' fault for having decent accessible roads. Bet the stats are lower for Scotland as I should imagine most of the amazing roads up there are a) not heavily or moderately populated and b) too far out the way for many cagers to bother visiting... Perhaps the case anyway.

Although would it be right to assume one of the fundamental differences between Welsh and Scottish roads are the twisties? Welsh being tight and frequent, Scottish being long and sweeping?

Re: Scary statistics for bikers in Wales
 

Re: Scary statistics for bikers in Wales
 

I wonder what the stats are for london. I've started to take the train more at the moment because I feel unsafe having to keep a constant eye out for lunatics / half-asleep muppets / general bad drivers

Re: Scary statistics for bikers in Wales
 

One additional factor from stats 2 years back was that at weekends, it's predominantly English riders (mainly from the Midlands, IIRC) who die on Welsh roads. Main reason cited were them not being used to 'non-designer roads', whereas locals were. In non-mountainous regions, even out in the countryside, there is usually some element of consideration regarding things such as camber, avoiding decreasing radius turns, etc. In the valleys, this goes out of the window as the terrain dictates the placement of the road. A lot of, "rider failed to negotiate the corner" crashes on bends up there are more complex than the usual, weekend warrior was too afraid to lean the bike over further so went straight on and crashed.

On the subject of T junctions. I've been overtaken by people doing way faster than you could reasonably expect a cager to predict you were doing. I'm talking 150mph+. In my eyes, if you're doing anything over a ton and a cager misjudges it and pulls into your path, it's your fault irrespective of what the law may say about it. Conversely, I don't like the way a lot of non-bikers often assume the biker, "Must have been speeding, because otherwise the car driver would have seen them."

I'm anything but a po-faced "70 is plenty" sap and indeed have had all my bikes maxxed out up in the mountains. We all like a bit of outright speed/to see what the bike can do, but as there are plenty of places up there you can do 150 in comparative safety, doing them past junctions or where other roads/lanes merge is unnecessary and reckless.

Re: Scary statistics for bikers in Wales
 

This BBC stuff is a very well presented piece. Check the "grahics" and "map" pages. It's interesting to see things like time of day/age/male-female/weather etc

Re: Scary statistics for bikers in Wales
 

Seems like the usual shoite from some hippy tosser who thinks people who can't drive is a fair reason to annoy everyone by making the world a 20mph limit.