News story link - death crash horror gore etc etc all on video.

[Mr Speirs]

Yeah the more you look at it I reckon the driver of that car went for the overtake as well as the biker. But looking at the still you can clearly see the car's road positioning and he is making his intentions clear.
Biker probably didn't expect the car to go for the overtake whilst there was on coming traffic so went himself, but when the car swung out either he side swipped the bike or the bike went into the back of it.

[dyzio]

Originally Posted by arcdef

I thought that, the dark car looks as though it has moved right over, as just before it looks like there is plenty of width to get through the gap.

Exactly, now look at the picture with the crash, where is it?

Originally Posted by arcdef

But we can speculate all we want we will never know what really happened.

That's why I mentioned the video.

It does look to me that the black car was going for the overtake which pushed the front bike into on coming traffic. As there is video evidence the police will persue any possible prosecution on that manner. It could be that the driver was aware that the bikes were behind, but misjudged their speed. Also, just because the bike with the camera was doing 97mph doesn't mean that the front bike was doing the same. If the front bike 'nailed' it for the overtake he could easily have been doing 130mph when he reached the black car.

[Mr Speirs]

The back bike was in the middle of an overtake and would guarantee that the front bike stuck behind a car would be doing less. Shown by the fact that from the first to the second picture the back bike closes in on the silver car which when the collision happens is still level with the silver. There's no way the front bike was doing more that 97mph at the time of the collision.

[flymo]

What a nightmare for everybody involved.

Very hard to apportion blame one way or the other which such limited information but I doubt this crash would have happened with everybody inside the speed limit at a safe distance.

As bikers we all take risks, yeah we pop over the speed limit on occasion but riding at the speeds they did in close proximity to other traffic is going to end in tears, its just a matter of time.

[Gazza77]

Originally Posted by dyziowg

Is it just me, or does it look like the car in front of the bike started to overtake the white car in front and has pushed the bike into oncoming traffic (probably couldn't be bothered to check mirrors let alone a shoulder check)?

It could alternatively have been that the dark car has started the overtaking manouvre and the biker having caught them due to the higher speed has decided to try to take both cars at once. This would have pushed the bike into oncoming traffic, but wouldn't have been the fault of the dark car driver.

As has been said, without the video and other evidence we can't say. A horrific accident, sympathies to those involved and a lesson to be learnt about how some risks on the road aren't worth taking.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by dyziowg

Is it just me, or does it look like the car in front of the bike started to overtake the white car in front and has pushed the bike into oncoming traffic (probably couldn't be bothered to check mirrors let alone a shoulder check)?

Why don't they show the vid?

Exactly what happened. The 2nd pic at 32.23secs tells everything.
It is unfortunate that the hatchback decided to use the Motorcycle only lane. But it was blatantly obvious that he wanted to overtake the white car. (It almost looks like the hatchback was indicating right as well?) And the bike overtaking the black hatchback at that point (with the car likely to pull out) with oncoming traffic even at 100 mph* would have been a risk.

*i.e. quick enough to get passed before the oncoming traffic reaches.

[Spiderman]

Sad story fo sure. This commnt however really got to me...
I also am traumatised by high speed bikes and have had to stop by the side of the road at times to calm down after being overtaken at stupidly high speeds. Shame about the van driver, he will probably shake every time he hears a bike again, like I do. The other guy, with the camea, should have been banned for life, no ifs or buts just banned.

- MCB, Tenerife, 11/6/2009

if you have to stop by the side of the road when you get overtaken then imo you shouldn't be on the road ffs. Any decent driver knows when they are about to be overtaken because they use their mirrors often and are paying attention to other road users, not just the patch of tarmac in front of them.

And they live in Tenerife? Having lived there i can tell you they got a hell of a lot more to worry about from the tourist on holiday who forget which side of the road to drive on from time to tme than any motorbikes.
Most of the bikes over there are mopeds anyway

The car indicates and moves out the bikers were just riding like complete and utter kn*bs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn7R3RScL28

See it all here courtesy of the police

[flymo]

Originally Posted by FlyinCustard

The car indicates and moves out the bikers were just riding like complete and utter kn*bs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn7R3RScL28

See it all here courtesy of the police

Ouch. I'm afraid the rider would have to accept the blame for that accident. Poor bloke.