GSXR1000 TT Edition - one less left

GSXR1000 TT Edition - one less left

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CAPP0

Original Poster:

19,532 posts

202 months

Monday 30th May 2016
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Someone on a TT edition GSXR Thou rear-ended a mate of mine in his car yesterday, near Paddock Wood (if anyone knows, it was on the really fast bit of road between the end of Seven Mile Lane and the Hop Farm). Story was, mate doing 50-odd in lane 1, van pulls out to overtake him without checking first, bike is coming up behind them both, the bike instinctively jinks left to avoid the van and piles into matey's car instead. The bike hit the van as well.

The biker bounced but got up, although he had suspect broken both arms, plus plenty of other injuries. Hell of a lot of damage all round. Mate's car was a 62-plate 3-Series, the biker hit the rear offside and head butted the C-pillar (hard by the look of it). The interior of the boot is severely crumpled; may well be a write off. The van had dents and scrapes. The bike - well, from photos I couldn't work out what it had been at first. Zero fairing left. The left fork leg was torn right out of the top yoke.

Just thought I'd report it in, anyone know the biker? He's going to ache a bit today, but hopefully OK long term.

HairyMaclary

3,649 posts

194 months

Monday 30th May 2016
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Jesus. Small world. I drove past this not long after it happened. Glad to hear the biker is alive. Nobody at scene other than a very broken bike.

Bits of bike all over the road. When I drove past the bike was at the side of the road bars all bent up. I actually thought it was a street triple as it had no failings at all.

Hope your mate makes a full recovery.

Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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A sage reminder to always expect the numpty ahead of you to act without looking or thinking. Hope the rider is okay and the dick in the van finds his mirrors.

snorky782

1,115 posts

98 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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Baryonyx said:
A sage reminder to always expect the numpty ahead of you to act without looking or thinking. Hope the rider is okay and the dick in the van finds his mirrors.
How do we know the van driver didn't check his mirrors? Nobody here has got his opinion on what happened. He may well have.

If we're taking this at face value, then the OP says it's a "fast stretch of road", maybe the biker was going so fast that even if the van driver checked his mirrors that the bike was so far away / not even visible yet.

Just a flip side view.

HairyMaclary

3,649 posts

194 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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Just read this again and realise your mate wasn't the biker. Stil hope all invoked are OK as it looked a nasty one given the state of the bike.

That sectoion of road is fast duel carriageway after miles of 50 and 40 to NSL. You are likely to have been behind some dawldling fkwit for some time before you arrive at the first roundabout. This is the best chance to overtake. Silly speeds are pretty easy to hit.

Edited to add a link to googlemaps but can't link with an kidle. This happened on a straight bit of road in near perfect conditions. I would guess at too much speed from the bike coming off the roundabout and the van not checking his mirrors. Potential no rear view mirror. Just a guess.

Edited by HairyMaclary on Tuesday 31st May 08:09

CoolHands

18,496 posts

194 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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Ahhh summer's here, the MotoGP riders are showing their talents....

3DP

9,912 posts

233 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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CoolHands said:
Ahhh summer's here, the MotoGP riders are showing their talents....
If a van pulls into your path without checking mirrors, then what are you supposed to do? Additionally, that dual carriageway can be a 150mph sweeper if you want it to be and most people give it a little beans onto it as it's well sighted, clear and devoid of any hazards.

OP - not good for anyone involved - the amount of people who dawdle on that dual carriageway and then just pull out into the fast lane is very annoying. If there are clumps of cars, I back it off along there and only go for it if traffic is super sparse frown

Esceptico

7,334 posts

108 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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3DP said:
If a van pulls into your path without checking mirrors, then what are you supposed to do? Additionally, that dual carriageway can be a 150mph sweeper if you want it to be and most people give it a little beans onto it as it's well sighted, clear and devoid of any hazards.

OP - not good for anyone involved - the amount of people who dawdle on that dual carriageway and then just pull out into the fast lane is very annoying. If there are clumps of cars, I back it off along there and only go for it if traffic is super sparse frown
I would class other vehicles as very much a hazard. I'd be very nervous of blasting past vans or cars in the inside lane exactly because of the risk of them pulling out without seeing me.

CAPP0

Original Poster:

19,532 posts

202 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
HairyMaclary said:
Just read this again and realise your mate wasn't the biker. Stil hope all invoked are OK as it looked a nasty one given the state of the bike.

That sectoion of road is fast duel carriageway after miles of 50 and 40 to NSL. You are likely to have been behind some dawldling fkwit for some time before you arrive at the first roundabout. This is the best chance to overtake. Silly speeds are pretty easy to hit.

Edited to add a link to googlemaps but can't link with an kidle. This happened on a straight bit of road in near perfect conditions. I would guess at too much speed from the bike coming off the roundabout and the van not checking his mirrors. Potential no rear view mirror. Just a guess.

Edited by HairyMaclary on Tuesday 31st May 08:09
Thanks, yes, my mate was very much the innocent party. He said that the police expected the van and bike's insurers to have to argue it out.

As you say, and as 3DP says, that can be a very fast stretch of road. I imagine it happened exactly as you surmise, it's a great bit of road for a blast, it's not unlikely the bike was well into three figures although of course that's speculation.

I've seen lots of photos of the aftermath. As you said above, there was not one ounce of fairing left on the bike, I had to look closely and ask lots of questions before I worked out what it was. The car he hit is really quite badly damaged. As well as the visible damage on the outside, there's really serious creasing on the inside, as in, creased up hard into tight bends, so that plus the roof damage may be sending it on it's way. The bike has to be totalled, the way the fork was ripped out of the yoke, there's no way there won't be frame damage too.

Still, everyone walked away, that's the main thing.

s3fella

10,524 posts

186 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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snorky782 said:
Baryonyx said:
A sage reminder to always expect the numpty ahead of you to act without looking or thinking. Hope the rider is okay and the dick in the van finds his mirrors.
How do we know the van driver didn't check his mirrors? Nobody here has got his opinion on what happened. He may well have.

If we're taking this at face value, then the OP says it's a "fast stretch of road", maybe the biker was going so fast that even if the van driver checked his mirrors that the bike was so far away / not even visible yet.

Just a flip side view.
Ahh so he deliberately pulled out on a faster moving vehicle? I hope the biker buys him a new door mirror for his trouble.

3DP

9,912 posts

233 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Perhaps. If a van is close to a car you have to moderate and expect a pull out. We have no idea of the actual circumstances, and personally, I will only fully open it up if the cars are well spaced, but assuming the rider WAS doing his MotoGP impression is a bit off. For all we know, the car and van were doing 40 and he was doing a legal 70 with the van suddenly pulling out. Or the van may have not seen him as the bike was doing 150... Either way, condemning the rider is not on and even a bike at speed is able to be spotted so more inclined to think the van shouldn't have pulled out. If the bike managed to hit the car and van, with the car first, the bike must have been almost on top of the van when it pulled out with the bike bouncing backwards or across from the car, into the van.

Still - hazard awareness is key, but drivers still do unpredictable things.

For example, that section of road is broken up by 3 roundabouts. If you know the area, it's not unusual for cars to pull out into the fast lane at slow speeds, without signalling, very early as they plan to take a 3rd exit of a roundabout.

Unfortunately in the Southeast if you wait for a completely clear road before ever opening it up, you'll perpetually ride at 50mph, so you open it up and just try to manage the risk as best you can.

CoolHands

18,496 posts

194 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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3DP said:
CoolHands said:
Ahhh summer's here, the MotoGP riders are showing their talents....
If a van pulls into your path without checking mirrors, then what are you supposed to do? Additionally, that dual carriageway can be a 150mph
Anticipate, that's what. If he had anticipated the van pulling into his lane he would have already considered various options as he approached. That's how good riders generally avoid accidents, and summer GP riders crash and ride like complete tools. If he had time to go left into the space the van had vacated, he should have been ok, but he was obviously going too fast to brake sufficiently hence hitting the rear of the car. So excessive speed and poor planning facilitated the crash.

SAS Tom

3,398 posts

173 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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Obviously we don't know exactly what happened but from the description we've been given on what happened and the state of the bike it doesn't seem like it could be anything but the bikers fault.

Oh no, bikers never do anything wrong.

snorky782

1,115 posts

98 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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s3fella said:
snorky782 said:
Baryonyx said:
A sage reminder to always expect the numpty ahead of you to act without looking or thinking. Hope the rider is okay and the dick in the van finds his mirrors.
How do we know the van driver didn't check his mirrors? Nobody here has got his opinion on what happened. He may well have.

If we're taking this at face value, then the OP says it's a "fast stretch of road", maybe the biker was going so fast that even if the van driver checked his mirrors that the bike was so far away / not even visible yet.

Just a flip side view.
Ahh so he deliberately pulled out on a faster moving vehicle? I hope the biker buys him a new door mirror for his trouble.
Where did I say that? How have you drawn a conclusion like that from what was posted? You really need to check your comprehension skills.

It's eminently possible to see a vehicle a long way back and pull out on it. I do it all the time on the motorway on bike or in car. I do it when the gap is seen to be safe. What might easily catch me or others out is when the bike is doing a silly speed, let's say 150mph as 3DP says is possible and common.

f1nn

2,692 posts

191 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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Whilst no one apart from those involved can know what happened, it's hard to imagine a scenario where excess speed and improper hazard awareness on the riders part was not a major contributing factor in this accident.