We are 'Lunatics'

Originally Posted by shao

Ditto. Did they also prosecute the dozens of drivers in breach of the highway code using the overtaking lane unnecessarily?

Do they ever??

Originally Posted by Kate

hmm, probably going to be shouted down here but I do think their filtering at that speed is dangerous. I'm not going to go into the hard shoulder bit as that is just plain stupid but I don't see a problem with both of those riders being banned, their riding deserves it.

*note to self, look up*

To be honest, I'm pretty much with you that their speed was a bit excessive. I wouldn't put myself in the situation that they did. But maybe landing the chopper to slap them with a ban is a bit excessive. Points maybe, fine maybe, but a ban?

Fair comment to the fella - he needs something to rant about to get himself noticed. He is no different to any other politician or one of us on here with our own opinions.

The riders were speeding - and got caught. They deserved to loose their licenses for getting caught riding like tw*ts.

I would have like to see the video when the helicopter swooped down to the servo to bust them.

What were they thinking?! Using the hard shoulder like that is a guaranteed way to get a premature puncture!

[embee]

Since we're giving our own personal views, here goes.

I don't think that riding was appropriate for the conditions. They were travelling significantly faster than the rest of the traffic, and it certainly didn't fit into what I would think of as "filtering". Hard shoulder undertake was an absolute no-no.

They weren't riding "dangerously" in the broadest sense of the word, but they put themselves at some risk mainly from drivers pulling into the left during the undertake (though none actually did, which is a story in itself!)

Riding fast on suitable roads with little traffic is a different issue.

What the video shows in buckets is just how bad the standard of lane discipline (among other things) is in the UK. Most continental countries have much better discipline (not always better driving, but lane discipline is better). At the end of the video they undertook a string of vehicles all sitting in the right hand lane going nowhere, they should have pulled into the left lane after a pass.

Wrong riding under the wrong conditions, sorry folks, guilty, and not good PR for the rest of us.

[SoulKiss]

Ok so just watched it....

Have to agree, apart from the use of the hard-shoulder and the wheelie looked OK to me.

A week ago I might have said different - but then a week ago I didn't have over 300 motorway bike miles under my belt. (although in my history as a cage driver I have done tens of thousands).

M1 seemed to have average speeds of (in order of lanes) 65, 85, 95.

I ended up bopping between the left and centre lanes, mainly because it was less boring to have to match speeds and change lanes - once or twice I had to go to the outside - and match/exceed those speeds - basically I was watching so far ahead and looking for situations to develop then making sure that if they did, then I wouldn't be anywhere near the - ie a lorry in the slow lane indicating to overtake a slower lorry - well you just know that the cars in front in the middle lane will eventually decide to over take that, causing the fast moving stuff to slow down.

I found I very quickly got used to speed - and with other vehicles as your frame of reference, its EASY for your speed to creep up.

Also being on a vehicle that HAS such ready acceleration, and is infinatly maneouverable (compared to a car) things that seem simple and safe from behind a visor, look like idiotic behavior to someone who has never ridden.

Maybe he's hiding something anyway, wouldnt you be riding like that if you'd just held up a petrol station and had a police helicopter chasing you down?

Originally Posted by Samnooshka

Do they ever??

Well, i just submitted feedback (very politely) on his blog to that effect, i'll let you know if he replies.

[BillyC]

My comments to Mr Brunstrom:

While the incident you cite is clearly an excellent example of reckless road use, I take exception to your statement "Anyone who ventures onto the roads of the UK will be aware of the quite dreadful driving exhibited by so many motorcyclists".

While you do later defend that most motorcyclists are law abiding road users, the original comment does give away what many may feel are your true colours - you just don't like motorbikes.

I feel that someone with your job and position should not be demonstrating this obvious bias, and show a more impartial behaviour. Therefore I suggest that it is inappropriate you ignored the generally awful standards of road use also exhibited by car, van, lorry and bus drivers.

One of the problems I’d like to see addressed is speeding delivery vehicles. Vans and lorries doing speeds that may be acceptable in a car, but the freight weights being carried increase the risks of accident and injury considerably.

Rather than listen to your usual stuck record of “speeding this” and “speeding that”, please could you also pay attention to the epidemic of hand held mobile phone use by users of the aforementioned vehicle types - something that puts us all at risk every day. Laws introduced over 2 years ago have had no effect on a problem of epidemic proportions, and I’m yet to hear about the any Police Force doing anything about it.

Jumping traffic lights at red is also a frequent problem, demonstrated by cyclists and others every day, but I rarely see a prosecution or a demonstration of awareness of the problem.

I feel that your approach to road safety is far from holistic, but I shall look forward to your next instalment explaining about the successful prosecutions that your force has brought against road users of the other common offences.

[Luckypants]

Gotta love Brunstrom! If he ain't been in the news for while he gives the 'evil road users' pot a stir.

The guys were riding too aggressively IMO and the usertake on the hard shoulder? Complete idiots!

Ditto on the crap lane discipline shown by the car drivers.

They were also being incredibly naiive. Ride like that in N. Wales and you are almost guaranteed to get pulled on the weekend. It has been stated widely in the press that N. Wales use thier chopper to catch speeding bikes, it is policy. It can often be seen flying around the well known bike routes.

Trouble is, stuff like this gives folks like Brunstrom more ammunition to fire at us.