Rivington crash

Lots of discussion on facebook with bikers maybe clouded judgement in anger...

I hate seeing a biker get taken down just like anybody else, but everybody is calling the car driver a c*nt when I think the blame isn't all with him.

Car driver should have checked his mirror yeah...(Maybe he did? The triple popped out in less than a second)...

But the biker was trying to take two cars, he should have anticipated it IMO.

People also saying the car didn't indicate...neither did the bike.

Not taking sides with anybody, but I'd say if this goes to court the car driver has a very very good defense, and the biker will be blamed for trying to take two cars at once...Who knows, if they calculate his speed he could be completely fucked.

I was also told that if you're over the speed limit, you no longer have right of way (other drivers cannot be blamed for not perceiving your speed/distance ratio) however I was told this by an American so I'm not sure how it stacks up in the UK courts.

Gotta look at it from both sides. I'm putting it down as 50/50.

Also not sure how many of you drive a car, but it looks like the bike was in the drivers blind spot. It is easy to blame car drivers until you've drove for a good few months at least and realized just how tiny bikers are.

 

I live just the other side of bolton and very rarely go up there for the reasons martin mentioned. Shit surface and far to narrow for the amount of traffic that goes iver it far too fast, nearly been wiped out a few times by cars coming round bends on the wrong side of the road.

 

any car driver with bikes behind them should know as soon as there is space a bike will overtake more so on twisty roads like that

 

I'm with Lee, if this guy had been paying ANY attention to the road conditions he would've known he had several bikes behind him, he should've been watching them carefully as per the Highway Code 'pay special attention to vulnerable road users' and checked and double-checked before overtaking. These drivers who are oblivious to road conditions then usually try to claim that bikes are somehow 'invisible'

The only thing to add to this is 'what might you expect to happen'...? The car MAY have overtaken...therefore the bike might have exercised a bit more restraint on such a narrow and dangerous road. It's only a matter of time before this road gets a 50 or even a 40 slapped on it IMO

 

Regardless of how the bike was positioned etc, it was the car's responsibility to check it is safe to overtake before doing so. Its clear that the checks were not done and therefore as already mentioned he sould be done for driving without due care and attention.

 

I hope the lad on the triple ( or should I say off the triple) is doing okay.

 

how many times do we see this though - cars pulling out as soon as they see a break ahead, without looking whats behind, or at the side.
we had one yesterday, most apologetic, but thats no use if youre down is it.

regards oliver's comment, on a road like that, the only way to make it safe is to make it one way.
when i came off there in 2010, lancs highways dept said the entire road was due to be closed for resurfacing.
this has not yet happened.

everyone who goes up there should by now know its a dangerous place, sunday drivers, big zorst hatchback heros and sunday bikers thinking theyre rossi, and the pootlers out with the noob gf on Ls = recipe for disaster.

couldve easily been another fatal this :/

 

From the inpact on the stone wall I am very surprised it wasnt fatal

 

Hope he's OK. From the vid looks like he was in a good position on the road, he had been following the car so mirror checks would have made the driver aware he had bikes behind him too. <br /><br />Kat

 

He spent the night in hospital with bad conccision he can't remember a thing,
But is ok

 

The driver failed to check his blind spot as he pulled out, which is actually dangerous driving as:-<br /><br />'a brief but obvious danger arising from a seriously dangerous manoeuvre. This covers situations where a driver has made a mistake or an error of judgement that was so substantial that it caused the driving to be dangerous even for only a short time'<br /><br />Although the driver is in the wrong, the rider should be looking at their riding as well. The car was obviously looking to overtake the further car, so as the rider, think about what could happen. Think 'the car I'm about to overtake has started to close up on the next car, is it about to overtake as well?' If so, a little tap on the horn to let the driver know you're there could be the difference.<br /><br />Yes, the rider was in the right, but that doesn't make hospital food taste any nicer!!!<br />

 

Gutted for the guy, i had a knob cager in an audi try taking me out the other day, i got up behind him and he slammed on nothing in front of him so i went to over take and he swerved to try knock me off making me brake and get back behind him, so the next chance i had i dropped a gear and full throttle past him. If i hadn't of got passed him and lost him i think he would of took me out as that seemed to be his intention.

As for the car driver in this accident, it doesn't matter if the biker was in the wrong or not the cager will get done for it no matter what as he left the scene before police got there. My brother had a woman cager side swipe him on his bike luckily there wasn't much damage, he exchanged details and left the scene as he was late for work and the woman was just shouting abuse at him calling him every name under the sun (even though she was in the wrong), So he put a claim in against her insurance and he was the one that ended up in court for leaving the scene and ended up with a fine and 5 points, nothing ever came of the claim against her.
So i think the cager in this video will be getting done for the same, people think they can just exchange details and leave but they cant they have to wait for police (both parties).

 

From the video it looks like both parties have moved out at the same time, i think its hard to lay blame on that because both have the right to overtake!

 

You don't have to wait for the Police,

Sec 170 Road Traffic Act 1988:-

As soon as your car is involved in an accident you need to take the following steps to ensure you do not break the law. Your duties are to stop, to give information, in some cases to produce your insurance certificate and in some cases to report the accident to the police

Preconditions

If, as a driver, you are involved in a road-traffic accident and one or more of the following occurs :

a) a person, other than yourself, is injured,

b) damage is caused to another vehicle or to someone else’s property,

c) an animal has been killed or injured, except in your own vehicle or trailer (an ‘animal’ is defined as ‘any horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog’)

Requirements

You must:

a) stop and remain at the scene for a reasonable period

b) give your vehicle registration number, your name and address, and that of the vehicle owner (if different), to anyone with reasonable grounds for asking for those details

c) If you do not exchange those details at the scene, you must report the accident at a police station or to a police constable as soon as you can, and in any case within 24 hours.

Further requirement in injury cases

Where injury is caused to another person, then in addition to the above you must also:

a) Produce your certificate of insurance, if anyone at the scene has reasonable grounds to see it. If you do not, you must report the accident at a police station or to a constable as soon as you can and in any case within 24 hours. You’ll need to produce your certificate of insurance. If you don’t have your certificate of insurance when reporting the accident to the police, you may take it to the police station you nominate when you report the incident. You must do this within seven days of the accident.

Offences

A failure to comply with these obligations can mean two offences are being committed: failing to stop and failing to report. It is possible to be guilty of either or both. The penalties for each offence include a maximum fine of £5,000, five to ten penalty points. The court also has the power to disqualify you from driving for either offence and is likely to do so when both offences are committed on the same occasion. Failing to stop or report an accident carries a maximum of six months’ imprisonment.

Even if there was no personal injury involved, if someone holds you responsible for the accident, they have the right to request your insurance details. This request can be made later; it does not necessarily have to be at the time of the accident. A failure to provide that information without a reasonable excuse is also an offence.

 

Can't see the video?

 

I've just looked again at the video (it's been posted on Facebook) the bike has moved out before the car, hence being side swiped. As there's a few bikes, I'm guessing that the driver has looked in his mirrors and assumed because there's a bike there, there's no one alongside and he's pulled out without checking the blind spot.

There was an advert a few years ago, about 'Now you see me, now you don't' where a bike was moving in and out of the blind spot. It is the drivers responsibility to check, but we as riders need to take responsibility for our own safety. Just because the law gives you the right of way, doesn't mean that people take notice of the law, intentionally or otherwise.

 

Logged onto NWB at work and can see the video on the PC.
Very unfortunate accident.
I'm left wondering that if the bikes weren't so close to the car in front, would the car have attempted an overtake? Only reason I say this is because often when I'm behind a car riding my bike, they tend to speed up so as not to hold me up too much - if you understand what I mean.

 

It all happened so quick its hard to lay blame in my opinion - sure the bike moves out fractionally quicker than the car but bikes do move ALOT quicker than what a car does... its a very unfortunate coming together and i think its hard to purely lay the blame on the driver, like you say the bikes are close in behind the car aswell!

 

Fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!