Why Bikers die on Welsh Roads - TV tonight

I thought I would throw my 2p in on this subject.

The documentary in my view came across as anti biker. Like they decided to show only the bad parts. However ay one with careful editing and words can make anything sound bad.

It was good to here that they stated that only 4% of bikers are killed due to speed. The two lads they interviewed were complete to**ers and give all of us a bad name Backed up by the tw*t who filmed him self doing 80 in a 30 and crashing. No wonder jo public think that bikes are bad.

I feel for that boor blokes family in the film, but to blame it on the bike is stupid, and then to go on to say bike should be banned or restricted. “Why do they need bikes that can do those speeds” Well the same reason your car can do double the speed limit d*ck head, would you like that restricted as well??

Unfortunately documentary’s like this give stupid people in high places stupid ideas, like restricting bikes etc.

I would think that there are actually far more car accidents per year on the welsh roads. I personally don’t think 40 a year over all of Wales is bad. There is one bit when that fat bloke doing the bike safe thing said the A5 has had 3 deaths in as many years. Oooohhhhh so what. one a year, no more than most roads in the country and i bet there are more than one car crash a year on the A5 , and considering how many bikers go down it probably 0.001%.

I do think that there should be an expansion of the M50, M54 into Wales parallel with the biking roads to get tourists into Wales, also consider building a motorway parallel to the A44 straight through the middle of whales. Leaving the biking roads alone and taking a lot of the traffic of the decent roads.

bottom line regardless what you ride drive, if you ride/drive like a tw*t then you will more than likley crash and die.

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

After 11 years of biking and numerous accidents I think he's a very experienced rider. It doesn't matter how old you are to be that

That was another good thing I thought that the programme highlighted (if only breifly). It doesn't matter how long ago you passed your test. Experience is earnt by miles.

[dizzyblonde]

i am the first to admit I ride like a girl, i've only ridden 3 years and have had one near head on with a green bmw on my side of the road, overtaking 3 cars as i came out of a bend up in Leyburn. If i didnt anticipate his rather hasty arrival i'd have been toast. He only just squeezed between me an the other car. It really terrified me. I do agree clocking up miles is the only way to gain experience which is why all year round riding is the best solution

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

i am the first to admit I ride like a girl, i've only ridden 3 years and have had one near head on with a green bmw on my side of the road, overtaking 3 cars as i came out of a bend up in Leyburn. If i didnt anticipate his rather hasty arrival i'd have been toast. He only just squeezed between me an the other car. It really terrified me. I do agree clocking up miles is the only way to gain experience which is why all year round riding is the best solution

I would have turned around followed him when he stopped dragged him out and nutted him with the helmet on!!

but i have always had a road rage problem!!

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by neio79

However ay one with careful editing and words can make anything sound bad.

.......... There is one bit when that fat bloke doing the bike safe thing said the A5 has had 3 deaths in as many years.

And this is exactly what they did here. Remember I was there so understand how they have edited this. The bikesafe bloke (Paul Cheshire) was actually talking about one particular bend that has had 3 fatalities in three years. He was saying that the Police / Bikesafe have worked with the highways people to make the bend safer for bikes. All the deaths occurred heading South and not making the left hand bend, hitting the armco / vehicle. To fix this, they have had a low level barrier fitted to the armco to stop bikers sliding underneath (two deaths), more warning signs, shell grip and crucially (IMHO) a sign that names the bend. Many bikers have heard that Padog bends on the A5 are 'dangerous' but have no idea where they are, now if you on the A5 and see a place name of 'Padog' you might think 'uh oh, bikers die here' and slow down.

This demonstrates nicely the vulnerability of bikers to road furniture and that steps can be taken to minimise that risk. They missed the point and just heard '3 deaths in as many years'.....

[dizzyblonde]

unfortunately he was a dot on the landscape before I could check my mirror. The woman who's car he nearly took with him had the same expression on her face as i did. I sat in the middle of the road on suzy and waited for me bloke to come back cause i couldn't move.
Now I am very experienced with the road enraged handsignals and get very shouty in my helmet..its great therapy.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

And this is exactly what they did here. Remember I was there so understand how they have edited this. The bikesafe bloke (Paul Cheshire) was actually talking about one particular bend that has had 3 fatalities in three years. He was saying that the Police / Bikesafe have worked with the highways people to make the bend safer for bikes. All the deaths occurred heading South and not making the left hand bend, hitting the armco / vehicle. To fix this, they have had a low level barrier fitted to the armco to stop bikers sliding underneath (two deaths), more warning signs, shell grip and crucially (IMHO) a sign that names the bend. Many bikers have heard that Padog bends on the A5 are 'dangerous' but have no idea where they are, now if you on the A5 and see a place name of 'Padog' you might think 'uh oh, bikers die here' and slow down.

Funnily enough, I'd never heard of Padog before your post Mike That sign meant nothing to me.

However, I am all too aware of how bad those bends are, and I knew where you were talking about when you said about the new armco & shellgrip. Mind, that is my commuting route

The left hander where numerous bikers have come a cropper is blinking brilliant when taken north bound. But recently I found some f**ker had lost a mudflap from their car on that bend (north bound side), and it was right in the middle of my line It's now in the river

They've recently been repairing the walls just before you get to the river too (again, heading north bound) from where someone went through it.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

Nearly spat coffee from my nostrils when the opening line mentioned "a high powered sports bike - a Suzuki SV650" though - that didn't exactly set a good tone for the rest of the program. It was still quite alarmist, admittedly pointing out that excessive speed is only a factor in 4% of accidents but then spending most of the rest of the program focussing on excessive speed.

Did notice in the section by the caravan park how there was a shot of a car towing a caravan and overtaking on a particularly bendy road just as the commentary was talking about "dangerous bikers in gangs" tho

My hero, agreed with everything you say above.

[Luckypants]

[quote=neio79;1188005] I would think that there are actually far more car accidents per year on the welsh roads. I personally don’t think 40 a year over all of Wales is bad. [/quote]
This bit tends to suggest you think it was 40 bike accidents, not deaths. The most recent figure I can find is that in 2005 180 people died on Welsh roads. Some of these are pedestrians who were run over. So it could be easily argued that bike deaths are 25% of the total killed whilst in a vehicle. This seems to be a high proportion to me, given that bikes make up a relatively small number of vehicles on the road.

IMO 40 deaths a year is 40 too many. We will never get that figure to zero but we should try to get it down as low as possible.

[quote=Luckypants;1188060]

Originally Posted by neio79

I would think that there are actually far more car accidents per year on the welsh roads. I personally don’t think 40 a year over all of Wales is bad.[/quote]
This bit tends to suggest you think it was 40 bike accidents, not deaths. The most recent figure I can find is that in 2005 180 people died on Welsh roads. Some of these are pedestrians who were run over. So it could be easily argued that bike deaths are 25% of the total killed whilst in a vehicle. This seems to be a high proportion to me, given that bikes make up a relatively small number of vehicles on the road.

IMO 40 deaths a year is 40 too many. We will never get that figure to zero but we should try to get it down as low as possible.

didn't they say in the prog that you are 30 times more likely to die riding a bike compared with driving a car? or am i getting confused?