Death on the A13.

[Chilli]

The local free rag came through the door, and I decided to browse whilst having a quick smoke in the garden.
Anyways, I was drawn to a story about how a "hero" died trying to help someone else. It goes a bit like this
Bloke driving along the A13 at 05:00ish. He notices a car broken down, on the other side of the 3 lane carraigeway. He parks on the hard shoulder, and runs accross 3 lanes, hops over the central reservation, and accross another 3 lanes to assist the stricken motorist. well, that was his intention. He never made it. In attempting to cross the lanes, he was struck by a motorcyclist and killed. The story was basically a tribute to this man for his love of people, his do-gooding attitude etc, etc. There were reports from his family members telling us what a hero he was, and that they miss him dearly and that he was a wonderful person. There was also a rather brief one liner stating that the biker was critically injured and remains in intensive care. That was it.

Now, forgive me. Those of you who "know" me on here will, I hope appreciate what I'm about to say, and know that I'm not really a malicious person, and I generally take the rough with the smooth.

But, COME ON. CHRIST. WHAT AN IDIOT. Mr innocent biker is left fighting for his life due to some do-gooder deciding to run accross 6 lanes of road to help someone who'd broken down. Honestly, No he wasn't a hero. It was a stupuid thing to do. Yes, he paid the ultimate price for his actions, and for the family's loss, I am truely sorry. But if I was a family member of that poor biker....I'd be fuming.

[DR B]

Have to agree with you there Chilli. If the guys wanted to help that much, then he should have carried on until he could have exited the dual carriageway and gone back in the other direction to assist. Whereabouts on the A13 did it happen?

[Mort]

Thats the way it goes.... Bikers are sub human in the eyes of the world

[Hyperion]

Unbelievable - what an idiot.
Hopefully the biker will make a full recovery!

[black-k1]

Mort said:

Thats the way it goes.... Bikers are sub human in the eyes of the world

Slight correction "Bikers are sub human in the eyes of the UK". My experience of Europe is very different.

A very sad story for all concerned but I to agree, the reporting does seem to devalue the biker.

Edited by black-k1 on Wednesday 9th July 12:05

[lawrence567]

Yeah you always hear about the victim but never the person who was critically injured.
Fair play he might have been trying to do the right thing by helping someone, but he'd have been more use using the next exit and coming back in the opposite direction as he' have had a car to give the other person a lift if they needed it.
Crossing a dual carriageway - let alone a 6 lane motorway is stupid in itself.
RIP to the victim but i hope the biker makes a full recovery.

[m3evo2]

It might have helped if the bloke running across the road had looked where he was going.

[Muffles]

I agree.... I doubt he was running across with a toolkit, etc either.

[steven182]

lawrence567 said:

Yeah you always hear about the victim but never the person who was critically injured.

I would say the biker was the victim and the one critically injured. Nice bloke for wanting to help someone but the manner he did it was rather questionable.

[heebeegeetee]

I agree - what an idiot. And bikers are only sub-human in the UK, as already pointed out. They're welcome everywhere else. Part of our obsession with class/status/position etc, i'd say.

[robstvr]

Err, how does anyone have any idea as to what the intentions of this guy were? We assume he was a do-gooder. Perhaps it's just my twisted mind, but you're less conspicuous if you're on foot than in a car.

Yes, it's a tragedy regardless, but there are gaps.

Just me? I am fairly cynnical, mind.

[Chilli]

robstvr said:

Err, how does anyone have any idea as to what the intentions of this guy were? We assume he was a do-gooder. Perhaps it's just my twisted mind, but you're less conspicuous if you're on foot than in a car.

Yes, it's a tragedy regardless, but there are gaps.

Just me? I am fairly cynnical, mind.

True, but whatever the gaps, a guy is lying critically injured through no fault of his own, but because some d!ckhead decided to park up and run across 6 lanes of A13. For the report to bang on about the poor "hero" who died, and gloss over the biker, made me quite angry.

[heebeegeetee]

Chilli said:

robstvr said:

Err, how does anyone have any idea as to what the intentions of this guy were? We assume he was a do-gooder. Perhaps it's just my twisted mind, but you're less conspicuous if you're on foot than in a car.

Yes, it's a tragedy regardless, but there are gaps.

Just me? I am fairly cynnical, mind.

True, but whatever the gaps, a guy is lying critically injured through no fault of his own, but because some d!ckhead decided to park up and run across 6 lanes of A13. For the report to bang on about the poor "hero" who died, and gloss over the biker, made me quite angry.

I'd write to the paper, and tell them: he wasn't a hero, he was an idiot who could have killed somebody else. I mean, nobody runs across 6 lanes just 'cos a car's broken down on the other side of the road, do they? Blimey, the guy has certainly led a sheltered life to get all excited at the sight of a broken down car.

[robstvr]

My point was that he may have been up to no good at all. Something sinister, even. Who was broken down? Someone alone? Oh, that's just me, i know.

[ZZR]

black-k1 said:

Mort said:

Thats the way it goes.... Bikers are sub human in the eyes of the world

Slight correction "Bikers are sub human in the eyes of the UK". My experience of Europe is very different.

A very sad story for all concerned but I to agree, the reporting does seem to devalue the biker.

Edited by black-k1 on Wednesday 9th July 12:05

As a biker I would say we are more super-human than sub-human, most people don't have the balls, let alone the intelligence and common-sense to ride a bike.

[neenaw]

The do-gooder must have been blind and deaf if he couldn't see or hear a bike coming towards him down a dual carriageway at 5 in the morning.

I can't really see how the biker can take any blame at all for the accident. Hopefully it's not going to be a case of yet another biker dying due to the stupidity of another motorist.

[Hooli]

do-gooder was a cock who got what cocks get, its a damn shame he has nearly killed a biker along the way though.
newspaper reporter = tosser

[Fire99]

Yep the guy appears to have been seriousy irresponsible and sadly it cost him dear...

I just hope and pray for the Motorcyclist to make a full recovery. He/She was probably just making his way and has suffered for no fault of their own..

We so rarely think about these things (probably a good thing as we'd probably never get on our bikes) but it's pretty chilling when you think about it.

Anyway without going too far off on a tangent i agree the Biker seems to have been pretty much ignored. Sadly i bet the biker would be all over the press if they had done something wrong.

I do hope we can do something to change the attitudes to the average biker.

[JamesZS]

I know it's a tragic situation and all that, but...

This chap must have been a sandwich or two short of the full picnic, to run across 6 lanes of carriageway at ANY time of day, to see a broken down car, for which the result was likely to be "don't worry, the RAC are on their way" - "oh thats good, i don't have a clue about cars anyway".

Hopefully the biker makes a full recovery

[brakenow]

Biker died after 4 days