Lost Licence Poll

[Iconic Bionic]

Well aint this the most thought out statement written on here to date.

I.B.

[XR06T]

only 10 out of 118 have never been booked.. that's unreal. and 40% have lost their licence? far out..

makes you wonder whether the drivers are the problem, or if its the laws!! I mean 40% is ALOT!

[harvyk]

We are all claiming that this is revenue raising. But it would be interesting to do a poll on how many people have been fined \ lost license and how many people have been involved in at fault accidents.

It would be interesting to see.

Edited 20/09/08 04:25 AM by harvyk

[sixappeal]

If that's the case. Iv never caused a accident nor had one..

Edited 20/09/08 04:30 AM by sixapeal

[iTec]

  craiginmackay said:

I got caught doing 115 in an 80 zone on the Old Pacific Hwy just south of Brooklyn on my 1000cc road bike. For those that dont know it, the Old Pacific Hwy used to be the main road north of Sydney before a the F3 was built. Its a great road for a bike at 100kph as there are lots of fairly tight corners ( 45kph ones according to the advisory speed posted before the corners) and riding is all about corners after all.....

In the 70s the speed limit was 100kph along there, but they have dropped it down to 80 and in some cases 60 now. Why? Good question as it is in the middle of nowhere and as I said, it was 100 when your dad/grandfather could drive it in an old car with cross plies and crap suspension before the freeway was built. Look at how far car/bike and tyre technology has come since then and then explain to me why a speed limit on a road that used to be a major hwy needs to be dropped!

because as you have said, it is a road that is frequented by weekend warriors on there bikes.. who in great numbers manage to come off said bike and wrap themselfs around the armco. It is pretty much a fact that most riders on that road on any given weekend are not there to observe the speed limits but are instead out to have some fun, in some cases this means pushing it to a limit (such as doing 100kph around a bend marked 45) and unfortunatly to the detriment of all riders and drivers who enjoy that road it has resulted in the speed limit being dropped from 100 to 90 to 80 and finally now down to 60 as more and more push themselfs over that limit

there are also probably more deaths/injuries on that stretch of road now then there was in the 70's, hence why you can drive up the F3 and not see a cop car on a weekend but drive up the old pac and you will see atleast 2.

You can say what ever you like about technology but the major problem is still the pleb sitting behind the steering wheel or handle bars

now back on topic I have lost my licence once, 15kph or under in a 50 zone , failure to display p plates and I took a fine for my brother that was 30 and under in a 60 zone.

[tab]

  iTec said:

You can say what ever you like about technology but the major problem is still the pleb sitting behind the steering wheel or handle bars

Exactly....but instead of solving that problem we change the environment (lower the speed limit) rather then actually educating the pleb on how to drive in the first place.

That was the point that Craigin was trying to make. All it does is keep the stupid electorate happy.

[Craig.]

  iTec said:

because as you have said, it is a road that is frequented by weekend warriors on there bikes.. who in great numbers manage to come off said bike and wrap themselfs around the armco.

Great numbers! How many are badly unjured? Probably about the same amount as are badly hurt playing rugby league every year!

In the 4 years that I was in Sydney and riding that road at least 3 times a week, I heard of probably 10 deaths. 10 deaths in 4 years isn't as high as the road carnage that I saw when living in Coffs Harbour, where the Pacific Hwy would claim on average 1 a week. Not from speed though, just stupid Sydney drivers 6 hours from home who were tired and fatigued would then run off the road at 80kph abd hit a big tree. Funny how fatigue isn't the issue though. Speed is apparently!

Hitting the armco or a tree at 40,60 or 100kph with only a helmet and a leather jacket on is going to yeild the same result regardless of the speed limit!

When did it become the governmnets job to wrap me and anyone else who rides a bike along that particular road in cotton wool? Is that why we vote them in? To control us! Seems that as the years pass many of our freedoms are being erroded away bit by bit. Only very gradually though. They don't want us to notice!

Whats next. Banning anything considered slightly dangerous (sky diving, contact sport, motorsport, scuba diving, bike riding, playing golf in magpie nesting season) and then fining us for doing it anyway because we might die.

Seriously, if a guy on a 200kg bike loses control at 80kph on what is now a back road, who is he likely to hurt other than himself and perhaps a couple of tree branches? Sounds like a victimless crime to me. that's Darwinism at its best so why do the the powers that be insist on protecting us from ourselves?

Different circumstances if it were a 40 ton truck out of control, where the carnage could be huge.

As I have stated else where suicide takes more lives per year than the roads. If this focus on speed isn't a grab for our money, why isn't more being done to stop the death toll due to suicide given the lives lost?

Edited 20/09/08 07:23 AM by craiginmackay

[iTec]

I dont disagree with you craig, you asked why and I told you... but you do have to understand the point. Road safety is a major political issue, it gets alot of media attention if they were going to allow all the bikers to just run up the road and smack themselfs into trees then the road toll would not fall and more importantly neither would the injuries. to allow it to continue happening would be the same as being seen to do nothing.

fatigue is an issue, and just as big an issue as speed its just very hard to police... look at the effort that has been put in place to prevent driver fatigue with truckers, it would be near impossible to do the same for all drivers on the road..

as for suicide, comparing the two is a little stupid. suicide is only preventable if the person contemplating it asks for help, in most cases they dont.

[Kimberley Scott]

  craiginmackay said:

Seriously, if a guy on a 200kg bike loses control at 80kph on what is now a back road, who is he likely to hurt other than himself and perhaps a couple of tree branches? Sounds like a victimless crime to me. that's Darwinism at its best so why do the the powers that be insist on protecting us from ourselves?

Mate having recently joined the hordes that have ditched a car and now ride a motorbike, through necessity, whether that be fuel costs or the ability to be able to park close to work without given them the soul of your first borne. The first things you really notice, is how bad roads are, now some of you with T sitting 3 inches lower than stock and 20 inch bling mobiles may say yeah roads are sh*t we know that. But getting a shudder throught the car is alot different from hitting a pothole and being thrown down the road and under a moving semi trust me.

The second thing you notice is how little disrespect cars have towards bikes, its likewe on bikes some how inconvienience those in cars. This seems to be exaserbated in the wet. When in reality the more bikes on the road the less congestion and those in cars will not be held up as long.

I rarely take anything said on this forum to heart or seriousely, but your comment about a biker dying on a road as a victimeless crime, I find extremely offensive (it has almost happened to me and mates of mine), even though I do realise that it was a cuff statement to try and support an argument.

Scotty

[Craig.]

  Kimberley Scott said:

I rarely take anything said on this forum to heart or seriousely, but your comment about a biker dying on a road as a victimeless crime, I find extremely offensive (it has almost happened to me and mates of mine), even though I do realise that it was a cuff statement to try and support an argument.

Scotty

Scotty , plaeas let me further explain where I am coming from with that comment.

As a guy who does 20,000klm a year on two wheels ( and has done for at least the last 8 years), I have had more than my fair share of very close calls. I used to commute while living in Sydney. It was unusual not to get cut off or almost run off the road on a daily basis. Mackay is almost as bad even though it has only a fraction of the traffic

I agree with you regarding cage drivers and the lack of understanding and compassion for us and the fact that one silly move or just ignorance on the behalf of a driver that we are even there using the roads with them, can very easily cost a life. Whats more I have come across drivers who don't have any concept of this and actually think it is all a big game!

What I meant by that comment ( victimless crime), was that if a rider was to get out of control, the likelyhood of taking someone with him is extremely small because obviously the weight of bike plus rider is well 300kg give or take. Hence the only guy to die from a bad decision ( to ride beyond their ability or the conditions) is the person responsible for that decision.

Now consider the same scenario but replace the 300kg bike and rider a 40 ton truck or a coach. How many innocent victims have the potential to be killed!

Yet we as riders get more than our fair share of unwanted attention despite the fact that we don't have the same impact ability as a larger vehicle.

I hope you can now see where I was going with that comment. It was not in any way supposed to mean that a bike riders life is cheap!

I have seen two guys die on the road after being involved in an accident on a bike, neither through any fault of there own. One accident was on a blind turn with a car ( young asian guy in a ricer) coming the other way ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD OVER DOUBLE LINES. Seeing bits of bike screwn for 50mtrs along the road and a body lying lifelessly still in the middle of a lonely stretch of bitumen is a haunting sight that reminds you of your own mortality and how quickly things can go wrong. And theres nothing victimless about it mate!

Edited 24/09/08 12:36 PM by craiginmackay