Biker Down

[timwilky]

I had to drop my daughter off for work yesterday so travelled to Chorley. 1/2 a mile from home I see the appeal boards and this morning flowers at the junction of the A6/Dawson Lane, Whittle-le-Woods.

So I pick up the local weekly rag and there is a small article that a biker had been killed when overtaking slow traffic and an oncoming car failed to see him and turned right accross his lane.

This section of road is a typical T Junction. When I was a kid the A6 was 3 lanes and 60mph. They (the powers that be) have now reduced it to 40mph and subsequently made the overtaking middle lane into a refuge for traffic turning right into Dawson Lane with a traffic island containing bollards at either end of the refuge.

I have to say that I have noticed on several junctions that the bollards they place on nearby traffic islands DOES OBSURE your view of oncoming traffic, paticularly when the traffic is on the RHS of their lane. This does not excuse the driver of negligently turning right without adequate observation. But the road engineers who deliberately obstruct visability by poor design should also be liable for some of the blame.

R.I.P Philip Bagan age 46 of Chorley.

Poo.

I found out yesterday that there is a legal case where stuff like this happens - involuntary manslaughter due to negligence. Life sentence. Sadly, I've never heard of it being applied to a car driver killing a biker, despite it being partly designed for road accidents where one party was negligent, like this one.

Try saying SMIDSY then.

RIP another victim of the lazy/selfish/ignorant plebs.

I've heard that road planners sometimes deliberatly obscure motorist's view on appraoches to junctions/roundabouts to slow them down. Seems bizzare to me, surely a fast vehicle with full vision is better than a slightly slower one with a restricted view. This doesn't excuse the driver of the car though, 99% of car drivers still don't acknowledge that bikes use the roads too.

RIP Mr Bagan

big shame

Originally Posted by andyaikido

I've heard that road planners sometimes deliberatly obscure motorist's view on appraoches to junctions/roundabouts to slow them down. Seems bizzare to me, surely a fast vehicle with full vision is better than a slightly slower one with a restricted view. This doesn't excuse the driver of the car though, 99% of car drivers still don't acknowledge that bikes use the roads too.

RIP Mr Bagan

Being in the planning industry let me tell you to not believe all the crap u hear.....

99%? Where do you get your figures from? We would all be dead by now.....if that was the case

Originally Posted by TC3

Being in the planning industry let me tell you to not believe all the crap u hear.....

99%? Where do you get your figures from? We would all be dead by now.....if that was the case

Having had the dialogue directly with Hampshire County Council I can catagorically state that it is current policy to obscure visibility to force vehicles to stop.

This is most often done at roundabouts and is achieved by erecting large wooden fences.

The rationale is that if a driver can't see he will have to stop.

Here's a great thread on the subject on Safepeed

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/vi...ing+visibility