SERIOUS POST .... If you value your licence( Longish, sorry)

[mikew]

I was in Northampton today on business, and saw this in their local paper. Could hardly miss it given the "Attention grabbing" headline (below).
I've reproduced the entire article, and if you take the time to read it, you'll find some serious issues in it (there are also some of the "raised eyebrow" variety aswell, but most of you can sort shit from sugar).

so the article ...........

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18 February 2004


Cutting-edge technology will be used to catch bikers who have been logged racing at speeds of up to 139 mph in Northamptonshire.
The county?s police force is currently using the latest speed-detecting technology to carry out Britains? biggest ever survey of motorbike speeds.
Already the survey, codenamed Operation Biker, has recorded 900 bikes travelling at speeds between 80mph and 139mph, a speed which pushes a bike?s stopping distance up to a quarter-of-a-mile.
The force?s senior collison inspector, Pc John Spencer, told the (Northampton) Chronicle and Echo he was amazed when he heard a bike had travelled along the A509 near Wollaston at 139mph.
The number of people killed in motorbike accidents on Northamptonshires? roads increased from 90 in 2002 to 122 last year.
Pc Spencer said:? I?ve been absolutley astonished with the results we?ve come up with so far.
?The road where the bike was recorded doing 139mph was the same place another biker had died in an earlier crash, so I was amazed when I saw that.
?It?s twice the speed you can do on a motorway and at that speed the stopping distance would be about a quarter-of-a-mile. It?s ridiculous.
At the end of this month, the survey will be backed up by high-visibilty patrols on roads which Attract large numbers of bikers in an attempt to catch those flouting the speed laws.
Officers will target bikes which are being ridden irresponsibly and look for illegal number plates and unroadworthy machines.
The speed survey began last year and is set to continue until the end of 2004.
Officers using specially designed machines, which are laid in the road to measure motorbike speeds, hope the survey will build up the most detailed picture of bikers? driving habits ever produced.
It emerged two years ago that, as motorbikes do not have registraion plates on the front for safety reasons, the speeding roders were not being detected by front facing cameras.

Maximum speeds recorded on roads across the county which are popular with bikers:
139mph - A509 Wollaston
135mph ? A508 Yardley Gobion
122mph ? A361 Byfield
118mph ? B4525 Helmdon
114mph ? A422 Farthinghoe
112mph ? A4500 Earls Barton
109mph ? A428 West Haddon
105mph ? A361 Kilsby
101mph ? A605 Oundle
95mph - A45 Daventry

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Given the headline was as below, you can just imagine the reaction to this by the great uneducated peeps who read it......

 

[Codbasher]

Was not on a Blackbird then :}

 

[mikew]

Originally posted by mikew
At the end of this month, the survey will be backed up by high-visibilty patrols on roads which Attract large numbers of bikers in an attempt to catch those flouting the speed laws.
Officers will target bikes which are being ridden irresponsibly and look for illegal number plates and unroadworthy machines.

Ah ha! so illegal number plates make you speed then, nice to see they got their "speed" message across then

It emerged two years ago that, as motorbikes do not have registration plates on the front for safety reasons, the speeding riders were not being detected by front facing cameras.

Catch on quick don't they!

But, will we see the return of unsafe front plates, so the revenue generator machines can work. Perhaps not, but....



And this is the bit that worries me, the front plate wouldn't need to be very big, a modern digital camera has a very high resolution, so your front plate might not need to be much bigger than a couple of postage stamps.
Literally.
Think about that for a moment.
On the front of the Blackbird for example, instead of a smartwater sticker, is a little itsy bitsy number plate.



With all these areas of the country now being policed to such a degree, and don't get me wrong, I am not anti police, but fair policing is desirable, and neither do I condone speeding, but areas like Northampton, and North Wales (with it's zero tolerance policy), are effectively becoming "no go "areas.

Even if we as bikers, riders, whatever we call ourselves, are not actually doing anything wrong, and are on a perfectly legal bike (yes some of us do have them), we still can pulled for no "justifiable" reason. How many of us get pulled in our cars just for hell of it?

sorry to be a doom monger, but it seems our days of "freedom", how ever you define that, are numbered.

 

[mikew]

Coddy .........

Originally posted by Codbasher
Was not on a Blackbird then :}

Whilst I do see the funny side of your post, (obviously wasn't me on me VStrom either! ), there is a serious issue in this article, effectively, if we don't curb our speeds, more and more draconian measures will be taken against us all, regardless of whether we are on our bikes or going about our day-to-day work.

As an example, today, as part of my job, I had to go from Peterborough to Aylesbury, via Stamford, Northampton, and Bicester.

Total distance was 86.8 miles.

Just as an experiment, I stuck religiously to every speed limit, which was hard enough anyway. It took me over 3 hours to make that journey. Then I had to come home again. So over 6 hours out of a working day of 8 hours was spent driving. At no point was I held up in traffic (probably the opposite in fact!), but how the hell companies are going to operate when their staff cannot get from A to B to do their job in a day, is beyond me. Some of the sites I go to are in Scotland. It would take me a friggin week to get there.!

 

[Cruser]

Mike,

I like the way you've put the info across and tried to look at the real world affects this kind of report will end up having on all of us. I can't help but think that bikes are again being victimised and are easy targets though.

Obviously from the report it seems as though we are creating a rod for our own backs but lets get serious here. How many of us have done 139 mph on our bikes on an A road? Probably most of us I'd expect. We're not dead (yet ). The guy doing that speed probably did it for a fairly short time - I don't know that road or the part he was clocked on though.

If the rider deaths have gone up by 32 in a year then that is not good, BUT I wonder how many car drivers died in the same year? Ok, I'm sure that the percentage of deaths per user are far higher for bikes than cars but I'm also guessing that the fatalities in the bike accident were mainly just the riders. In the car accidents there are passengers, other cars etc and the total deaths are going to be far greater than the bikers.

This just makes me think that more should be done to prevent cars accidents/deaths than bikes. We are a minority who accept the risks etc, this doesn't mean that I think it's ok for us all to go and commit suicide on bikes, just that the priorities lie elsewhere :dunno:

 

[mikew]

Cruser

Agree completley with all your comments, especially about "rods/backs" etc.

Despite owning an engineless Suzuki mad: c7u8 ), I still like to speed up a bit when I'm out and about, but when the roads are clear etc etc.

Of course, there is one way we could affect the survey results, get everybody we know with a bike to boycott Northamptonshire (in particular the roads mentioned in the article) for the next 12 months, so that the averages will fall like Jordans tits when she reaches 90 years old.uke:

Alternatively, if you have to ride through the shithole of a place (sorry, Northamptonshire), do it so slowly, that the same effect as not being there occurs!

(Failing that, nail the feckers, and really cause an outcry !)

 

[Wolfie]

commit suicide on bikes

that is the way i would it.

Have often said that when i have have had enough i will do that.

139 mph on our bikes on an A road

never.

We are a minority who accept the risks

agree.

Have ridden some of them roads (mate has a canal boat near yarley gobion) and the ones that i have are wide open roads with fast sweepers and some side junctions, which then brings me to have many of the biker deaths were caused by other traffic pulling out on said side junctions???

 

[Nightflight]

The speed/ accidents/ fatalities/ cameras/ government policy is too massive and mixed a subject for anyone specifics to one area of blame.

In the course of my work I drive my car 700 miles per week (mainly motorway). I'm frequently staggered by the abysmal standard of driving and completely inappropriate speeds in certain conditions. It amazes me the number of serious accidents that DON'T happen despite some people's best efforts.

And - I've seen sheer lunacy by bikes as well as cars and trucks. It's just like some people are trying to kill themselves and take others with them if at all possible....

However, bikes ARE a minority and a very very soft target for an apparent 'quick fix' by the present administration.

There can't be anyone that doesn't occasionally let the bike have both barrels - but if we dont start to take more responsibility for our own actions it's 100 per cent guaranteed that someone will do it for us..... and we all know the measures that could come into law if that eventually happens....

Having already seen some mates with long-term bans (who stood a good chance of otherwise being killed eventually because they wanted to do 150 everywhere), some of 'us' do need to think a bit more about what we're doing.

I am really worried - however - about the long-term effect of going all-out for speeders rather than instilling better roadcraft into all vehicle users..........

Sorry about the novel.

 

[Jaws]

With reference to tiny front number plates..
Exactly how long do the numptys expect them to remain legible in the summer ?
One or two flies kissing their arses goodby will make such a small plate completely unreadable..

Hmmmmmmm.. I feel a business oppertunity coming on..

Ore-spatted flied available exclusively from Jaws.. 20P each ( supplied with velco to remove whilst cleaning )

man8um :-: :}

 

[Pugwash]

101mph ? A605 Oundle

Phew!

 

[reefer]

did the increase in the death figures allow for loads more non expericened scooters coming onto the roads during that time :dunno: bet it didntman8um
did they show how many of the fatal accidents were caused by car drivers:dunno:
they will work figures any way they can to get what they want in the end, as we all knowg0551p

 

[1200Pete]

What pisses me off is that copper has now told every one that at 139 mph it takes 1/4 of a mile to stop.

So if you were bumbling along at 140 it would take you the entire length of the Santapod raceway to stop

But all the Dudley do rights will read and remember his words and then every time they see a bike nipping past them they will think that you are a bloody irresponsible twat and its going to take you 3 miles to stop should a space ship fall from the sky or something.

Try this next time you are out, do 30 mph and pick a braking point, lamppost etc and slam on everything you have (in the dry, nothing behind etc ) you can stop the Bird even two up within it's own length

 

[1200Pete]

Re: A minor exaggeration Pete methinks.

Originally posted by lumpy
Even with SP1 forks and wavy discs this ain't quite gonna happen is it. 2.5 wheel rotations? Quick mate but not that quick surely........:f

Sorry thinking about it. If you hit the brakes when the front wheel is in line with an object, the rear wheel will just clear it by the time you stop. :bow:

 

[Cyclops]

Sure the brakes on cars and bikes are amazing

but I believe the main problem is the reaction time of the rider/driver.:dunno:

So the bike/car may well be able to stop on a sixpence ( or 1p for younger peeps) but its the time taken for reactiong with a lot longer.



PS in FBs case you could stop a supertanker quicker than he can stop his Bird. I my old Bird knows that for a fact !!!!!

 

[reefer]

or do as cyclops has done...flog the bird and buy a chrome thing..no worries about ever speeding, let alone being caught:f man8um
cue FB

 

[Cyclops]

Reefer I wish someone would

Cue Fat Bert

















Preferbably with a one piece one


PS Reefer man8um man8um