The Random thought thread

[Marty_d]

Saw my first snake of the summer today - just avoided running over him on the bike, which could have been nasty for both of us.

[willedoo]

If you had Taipans there Marty you'd want to be wearing leather pants. They have a bad habit of rearing up and striking passing vehicles. I've had one strike at a Toyota at the top of the wheel level. Tiger snakes up here do the opposite. With an approaching vehicle they do a big aerial backflip and go in the opposite direction.

[red750]

What is it with motor cyclists? An idiot doing over 200kph T-boned a Landcruiser, tipping it on it's side and killing the driver, as well as himself. 

[Litespeed]

Ouch,

 

Excessive speed definitely a factor.

 

If it's a t bone, likely the cruiser pull out in front of bike.

 

Sad.

 

Generally it's biker dies and car driver is unhurt.

[red750]

Country intersection Narre Warren. A bike hitting anything at 200k/h would demolish anything. Rush on wise guy, Hell ain't full yet.

 

                       The intersection.

[old man emu]

I wonder how they determined that the bike was traving at 200 kph?  At a speed of 200 kph the bike would be coveing 55.4 metres per second. I know that the specialist crash investigators will be involved, but that collision only happened a few days ago. There's not enough time for them to calculate speed at impact. I guess that the "200 kph" came from a witness who was passed by the bike and formed the opinion that it was going like a shower of sh!t. I won't deny that the bike was flying. Also, for a bike to be capable of a very high speed, it would have to be a modern bike, with electronic speed display. Anything displayed on the instrument cluster would disappear with the loss of power at impact.

 

Another factor relates to the ability of the driver of the motor vehicle to see the bike.  Wwe know from our flight training that it is difficult to determine the speed of an object approaching from abeam. Further, the frontal area of a bike is small and often dark in clour. If it is dark, it would blend with the colour of the road surface, making it still more difficult to see. Then there the environmental factors such as light and theposition of the  Sun. Were there clouds creating a dull background.

 

Unfortunately, the strict liability of the Law places the blame on teh driver of the vehicle, but commonsense says that the cause was the bike rider.

[facthunter]

If the Landcruiser had not pulled out the accident would not have happened.  Any rider with a fair bit of experience knows that many tin-top drivers make right turns  in front of you and  Hit you on roundabouts  when you are on their right,and pull out from the side of the road without looking carefully. They ALL say "I didn't see you" as if that's a legitimate excuse. Yeah the rider was going too fast, but YOU are supposed to LOOK.

[Marty_d]

Most bikes have headlights on permanently too.

Sounds like speed was definitely a factor (although as OME says, it's probably based on a witness who would have no idea what 200kph looks like).