We are 'Lunatics'

Originally Posted by BillyC

My comments to Mr Brunstrom:

Well said Bill!!

It's normally inept cagers who seem blind to the scores of courteous, well driven motorbikes and only see and make their judgements on motorcyclists based on the small minority of sportsbike riders who ride like fools and people on supernakeds who wheelie all the time.

I'd expect better observation from a class 2 police driver, let alone a head of traffic.

This

Of course we in North Wales police recognise that the majority of motorcyclists are decent law-abiding people, given a bad name by the hooligans. So we don’t just enforce the law, we spend a lot of time and effort with the motorcycling community trying to improve driving skills and behaviour, and teaching them how to stay safe.

Smacks a bit of a "tacked on at the end" disclaimer. Particularly after he has said this,

The very vocal motorcycle lobby leaps into action at the slightest hint of criticism, no matter how well deserved, with a defensiveness bordering on hysteria. Police enforcement of the law is met with reluctant acceptance at best, and all too frequently by outright hostility.

Yes. Criticising dangerous things like GPS based speed limiters, cagers who knock us off and diesel on the roads is "hysterical", isn't it.

EDIT:

And there's not exactly anything horrific in the video. The undertake on the bus was a bad idea and there were a few times where they were a bit naughty, undertaking on the hard shoulder, etc. by and large though, they were undertaking large numbers of people (car drivers) who had no reason to be in the outside lane. Shame he didn't mention that was something to be cracked down on...

Just sent Mr. Brunstrom the following:

Sir,

Yes, the motorcyclists were the fastest vehicles there and at times driving dangerously, but road safety is not just about speeding.

I notice you passed no comment about the dozens of car drivers who were in the outside lane with no reason. In a similar vein to tractors on country lanes who refuse to pull over from time to time to let faster traffic past being partly to blame for frustrated people executing risky overtakes, I feel some of the car drivers must share some of the blame for the undertaking.

As to motorcycling organisations hysterically defending motorcyclists actions, I'd be interested to see some examples of that. Motorcyling organisations tend to be very vocal because, like any minority, most people do not have any real understanding of their concerns. Mud, gravel and diesel on the roads are an utter irrelevance to a car driver, but to a motorcyclist, they can be a matter of life and death. Is it not understandable that they want to make people aware of this?

Yours Sincerely,

Ceri

Originally Posted by Baph

The undertake on the hard shoulder was wrong, but other than that, they were just filtering agressively.

Agreed

I hope they haven't got one of those cameras on the M25 or I'm in trouble

I'm utterly disgusted that a bigoted imbecile with such an axe to grind is allowed to hold such a position. No-one who should be treating the public as equals should be permitted to display such bias.

May he come to an unfortunate and ironic demise somehow

Well, those bikers sure were pushing a bit too hard and deserved the ban. I mean all it would have taken is car to pull out and they might have ended up with a fatality, maybe even 2 or 3. Let's hope they learnt their lesson. But to tar us all with the same brush is just ridiculous. They target us as we are a minority. It would be like saying all cage drivers are muppets . For example, the other morning I approach a roundabout that has two lanes. I am in the left hand lane which is for turning left or going straight on, the right hand lane is for turning right only (there are arrows painted on the ground to indicate this). So I am going straight ahead and a large red ford van in the right hand lane decides that he also wants to go straight on but does not indicate or give any signal that he is going to do so, he cuts in front of me missing me by about a foot. I sound my horn as he got extrememly close and I had to dive to the left (almost eating curb) to avoid being hit. At the next roundabout he is turning right and as I pull up along side him I glance over to see him and his 12 year old passenger giving me all sorts of hand signals (use your imagination) and asking what the f*ck I was thinking by trying to pull in front of him. I got off the bike (after pulling over) and attempted to engage in a polite conversation with this fellow but he refused and sped off, again not indicating and causing someone else to sound their horn. It just amazes me how thick people can be. But he probably steamed off thinking that I cut him up and that all bikers are evil. I would say that almost everyday I get some moron who tries to apex a roundabout almost side swiping me and surprise, surprise most of them are either on the phone or just have no idea how to stick to a lane on a roundabout.

[Spiderman]

I find it difficult to believe that so many bikers on here are saying the bikers were speeding faster than the conditions / for the road etc. There was no indication of bikes or cars speeds in that vid was there?

What i saw was 2 guys on bikes looking far enough ahead to have made their judgments in good time and planned ahead well. Yes they took some risks on the undertaking side of things but if poor lane discipline of other driverrs forces no other option, then it has to be.

Ok the hard shoulder thing was just silly impatience cos if he'd waited less than 2 seconds the boat being towed that was blocking the outsdie lane had actualy moved over and he could have gone thru there no problem. Silly choice imho.

The rest showed 2 guys who kept a very sensible distance between them, constantly rode with awareness of each other and made sure the rode in a staggered fromation at all times for the clearest visibilty.

I myself have ridden like that on motorways many times and anyone on this site who knows me knows i'm no "mentalist" on my bike. Hell i cant even do a wheelie if i try.

But if the road's speed limits were more real world and the other vehicles had better lane disciplin then what we would have seen is 2 bikes getting from A to B a little faster than the suggested speed limit.



Just my 2p worth for you all.

Watched the video expecting some ghost rider antics and saw a couple of people doing something very similar to my daily commute to work...did I miss something?
Ok so I'm a bit more sensable about it than they were

The rear bike got far too close to the bike in front on a number of occasions for my liking (I like to give fellow bikers a bit of room).
The hard shoulder undertake was taking it a bit far, as was the wheelie, but for the most part I can't see what what deserved the lunatic and mayhem rant.....

I assume by the "neither bike had a proper number plate" he meant they had small plates on? (I can't see in the video).

I also agree with everyone who pointed out that the poor lane discipline was both ammusing and partly to "blame"? for the undertaking.

Meh anyway....

[BillyC]

Most of the vehicles had terrible lane discipline, I chose not to put that on my message to Brunstrom because it sounded like an excuse.

Their riding was agressive, but that's not unusual, most of us including me, have ridden like that at some point.

The hard-shoulder bit did take the **** I think - I don't think that's at all acceptable.

I didn't think they were going that quickly, while there's no indicator to say how fast, the perspective gives some idea.

BillyC, did you get an "out of office autoreply" from good ole' Brunstrom too?

Out saving us from ourselves, no doubt.