Council issue plea over surge in bike deaths
Shocking new figures show that motorcyclists make up 36pc of all road deaths in Norfolk so far this year - despite making up only 1pc of traffic.
NORFOLK COUNTY Council have issued a plea for all bikers to take extra care after new figures revealed 36 per cent of all fatalities on the county's roads are bike-related.
Despite making up just 1 per cent of Norfolk's traffic, so far this year there have been 33 road deaths in Norfolk of which 12 were motorcyclists.
Norfolk County Council's road safety officer Andy Micklethwaite said: “With milder winters and indifferent summers, the pattern of motorcycle use seems to be changing. Riders are more inclined to tax their bikes for the whole year and ride them whenever the weather is fair. Fewer bikes are being garaged for the winter and this has resulted in motorcycle crashes being spread over more of the year. I would urge motorcyclists to take extra care particularly as the weather appears to be turning much colder this weekend. They need to stay alert, take extra care and ride defensively.”
Ex-bike cop Micklethwaite, who has 24 years of road policing experience, is the driving force behind a campaign which aims to raise driver awareness of motorcyclists, but also calls upon motorcycle riders to improve their own standards. Anyone interested in learning about how to imrove their riding skills should call 01603 638115.
Discuss this story
I still believe that all car drivers should have experience of riding a bike of some sort and maybe taking a cbt as part of their initial driving lessons before being let loose in a car... And I'm not the only biker who thinks this I know bike riders have to be so careful out on the road because of car drivers, but car drivers need to be taught to be so much more aware of us and how vunurable we are and I reckon the only way to do it is to put them out on the road on a bike or scooter..
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 12:29
It makes me sooooooooo  cross that they will mess about with our bike test, introducing things which will make us 'better riders' so we will have less accidents but are doing NOTHING with the car test to make new car drivers more aware of us.. I realise there are accidents which are the bikers fault but look at how many are caused because the car driver wasn't paying attention or didn't read the road situation properly!!!
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 12:35
It will never happen - bikes are a minority transport method. If this happened then we should all spend time on a horse, bicycle, van, bus, HGV, Luton van etc. Also, how many of the 36% were single vehicle accidents, or rider at fault. We don't help ourselves, so why should others Lies. damn lies & statistics
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 13:05
Plus it's a fact that bikes are more dangerous so shit, wouldn't it be a surprise if they where only 1% of the causalities!! This is financially based due to the massive cost of sorting out a fatal accident and not because anybody feels sorry for us. P.S I nearly got taken out by a police car not looking what he wass doing on roundabout in Norfolk!!!! (it was quite good I give him a big JUSTIFIED bollocking!!! TWAT.
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 14:35
Yep, same old same old, bikes are dangerous, get more training...BULLS*IT. When the proportion of powered two wheelers in London went up so did the number of bike accidents (no surprise there then). The proportion of bike accidents actually went down, but the answer was still get more training. Training is good, but there's a limit to how much a one sided training program can achieve. With respect loon, we are a large proportion of road users in this country and deserve better- if only from a financial perspective, after all, these accidents cost money (you know that better than most). A CBT for every potential driver would generate cash- another new stealth tax, Brown'll love it. (Instructor could go back to his old job, too  ) You can't drive a bus, lorry or heavy plant without first learning to drive, this is just an extension of the same principle. Not that I think it'll ever happen  , but the idea's a good one.
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 18:08
Yep, same old same old, bikes are dangerous, get more training...BULLS*IT. When the proportion of powered two wheelers in London went up so did the number of bike accidents (no surprise there then). The proportion of bike accidents actually went down, but the answer was still get more training. Training is good, but there's a limit to how much a one sided training program can achieve. With respect loon, we are a large proportion of road users in this country and deserve better- if only from a financial perspective, after all, these accidents cost money (you know that better than most). A CBT for every potential driver would generate cash- another new stealth tax, Brown'll love it. (Instructor could go back to his old job, too ) You can't drive a bus, lorry or heavy plant without first learning to drive, this is just an extension of the same principle. Not that I think it'll ever happen , but the idea's a good one.
We're not, we're a small minority of road users
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 18:22
It makes me sooooooooo cross that they will mess about with our bike test, introducing things which will make us 'better riders' so we will have less accidents but are doing NOTHING with the car test to make new car drivers more aware of us.. I realise there are accidents which are the bikers fault but look at how many are caused because the car driver wasn't paying attention or didn't read the road situation properly!!!
I agree it would be great for all car drivers to be more aware etc but don't kid yourself they're to blame for most of the accidents.
Here's Essex's 2008 stats relating to "Killed or Seriously Injured": Causation factors also show that in about 65% of the incidents the motorcyclist was primarily at fault (86 incidents) and only 35% (47) were the fault of another driver.
Motorcycle only loss of control 51
M/cycle lost control hits car 25
M/cycle into path of car 7
M/cycle hits pedestrian 2
M/cycle filtering loss of control 1
M/cycle hits other M/cycle 0
Other vehicle in to path M/cycle 44
Other vehicle hits M/cycle 3
Total 133
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 18:29
Agree the bike figures are about 1 million, but 1-3% still makes us very much a minority No government would ever legislate for all car drivers to have to ride a bike for a bit. The problems would start as soon as all the other road users insisted on equal treatment. How would we react, if someone said we had to ride a pushbike for 3 weeks to see whatit's like, or ride a horse (no way I'm going near one of those big scary evil things). What about the incompetents who get themselves killed riding a motorbike just to see what it's like under enforced rules - we'd be buried under compensation costs for years.
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 18:45
We could solve a lot of problems by compulsory re-tests. Yeah yeah, difficult to enforce, too much cost, only the law abiding people whoare confident they will re-pass will take it. But we'd not have any laws if we said let's not bother because some people will break them. Have licences that last x years, make people show their licence when they tax or insure their cars. Take cars off anyone without a licence / tax / insurance and crush them. Simple. Oh, and spot checks on anyone wearing a hat, driving a Nissan Micra at 20 mph in a 50 zone, just in case. My parents told me how some elderly bloke took an elderly friend out for lunch and literally drove into the pub. His foot slipped / he got confused. Not content with landing in the ladies toilets, he panicked, floored it forwards, did a 180 spin in the road at speed, also by accident. "What happened to the passing motorcyclist?" I asked. "Luckily there wasn't anyone going along the road when he did that" they said. Lucky this time - why is this guy on the road? 17 year olds are penalised financially because statistically some deliberately take risks and don't have roadcraft experience. Certain old people take risks by deliberately driving when they're not fit to, and they surely know that. They've even got free bus passes and taxi vouchers that my taxes are paying for ffs. Fine if they're fit and capable, I'm not being age-ist, but the ones that can't see or remember which is the accelerator pedal shouldn't be on the road. And breathe...
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 19:32
Nah, he's just scared of the extra work ! +1 on the horses, though  .
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 19:35
there was some research done recently that promptly got buried very very quickly. Big test done by a university on hazards, etc. Video showing pics, junctions, etc. Over 2000 people, less than 200 saw the hazards Of them most rode a bicycle and over 100 were motorcyclists! One was an ex copper. Hazards were cyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists, junctions, etc. Funny how the government failed to publish the results when they paid for it. Seems only the most vulnerable see the dangers.
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 20:42
What counts is not the number of people that have a bike, or that ride it sometimes. For the statistics what is important is how many miles (or rather kilometers) are ridden on them. So the traffic statisticians count the number of miles each type of vehicle does in the year. Don't ask me how they count it but only 1% of kilometers in the UK is actually made on motorcycles, if I remember well from a 2006 study into road traffic accidents. For your interest: ROAD CASUALTIES GREAT BRITAIN 2006 In 2006 there were some 14000 car drivers/passengers involved in road accidents resulting in death or serious injury as opposed to 6000 bikers/pillions. I however you take into account that motorcycles do for less road kilometers (so you normalise the figures for kilometrs ridden) then it appears that motorcyclists are about 30 times more likely to have an accident that results in death or serious injury than car drivers.
Posted: 22/11/2008 at 22:43
You could spend your life buried in spreadsheets and statistics and still not come to any rational agreement on the best representation of anything. The basic facts are motorbiking is a minority pastime / transportation method. Any attempt to gain sympathy for our position will mean all the others can piggy-back on the proposals. It would be far better if all minorities got together and made a bigger cross-section of road traffic, but that will never happen, because we all feel we are more important than the other minorities. If we could get some proper sensible government lobbying then that would be a start - instead we get a group of beardies and some PR guru Max Clifford reject, who all claim to be doing a sterling job and being handsomely rewarded for doing "lunch"
Posted: 23/11/2008 at 00:03
instead we get a group of beardies and some PR guru Max Clifford reject, who all claim to be doing a sterling job and being handsomely rewarded for doing "lunch"
Could be a job for you there mate, if you ever get tired of the insurance game.
Posted: 23/11/2008 at 11:48
instead we get a group of beardies and some PR guru Max Clifford reject, who all claim to be doing a sterling job and being handsomely rewarded for doing "lunch"
Could be a job for you there mate, if you ever get tired of the insurance game.
I'm no politician and find politics odious. I'd end up killing them all, just for the hell of it 
Posted: 23/11/2008 at 12:30
|
|
