Motorbike riders shouldn't listen to Ipods!
Turbo Mini Forums

Only popped to the garage for some milk. Sums up my week!
Woman let me out, I double checked left & right....and some fooker over taking a cue of traffic happily listening to his Ipod in pouring rain on a motorbike meets my front bumper!

:(

To be honest...I'm not sure whos fault it is............

I'm pulling out of a petrol station, a long cue of traffic heading towards my left.
I've indicated to turn right. A lady stops and waves me out. I pull out half way across the road and stop.
Double check, looking left and right edging out slowly.
Procede forward & bang....hit the motorbike. Condition are really bad, pouring with rain etc. Motorbike was on wrong side of road over taking the cue of traffic.

Oh Dear. Nobody hurt I hope - apart from Mr Biker's pride.

There's a biker that works at our place. He's a lunatic. I've nearly killed him 3 times this year!

My first thought was is he okay....only since I've got home I thought whos fault etc

well if he was on the wrong side of the road it seems pretty clear cut,

hopefully he's learned a valuble lesson for the future.

How fast was he going?

Didn't see him to be honest. It was only the witness that said he was speeding and listening to his Ipod.
Air bags etc didn't go off...didn't hit him hard.

2 bits in your favour then.

I have no problem with bikes and bikers, it's just the minority that are idiots and think they are indestructible. They are referred to as 'Organ Donors' for good reason.

In my taxi driving days I saw a bloke go far too fast into a roundabout, turned in and high sided the bike. Landed on his head and broke his neck. Complete waste of a life. I feel sorry for his mate that was riding behind him watching it happen front of him not able to do anything.

In all honesty...I think its 50/50 now. Tough call. End of the day, the bloke is okay and he can still get home on his bike.
I think if I just pulled out on the ladies say so, I reckon it would of been alot worse.

Wish I still had the pikey wagon...I could of had his bike away!!!!!

Edited by Jason G on 25th Aug, 2010.

I once took out a motorcycle at some traffic lights. I had pulled a bit too far to the right and he came down the middle of the road. The bike ended up buried under the car radiator.

I moved the car straight away and there was no proof as to where the car was when the collison ocurred.

It was right outside the motorcycle shop where they had just spent months repairing this bike. It was the first test ride and the rider was one of the shop mechanics. I have never felt so hated in all my life. To top it all, Plod turned up on a bike as well.

I later made a statement to the police claiming my innocence and I eventually got a letter from the CPS saying that I was in the clear. The insurers settled 50/50.

Sounds like a similar set of circumstances.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Sorry to hear about the accident and hope you are ok.

I wouldn't be surprised if the biker gets done for a CD10 Careless Driving Offence - I did in 1987 when I carelessly did exactly the same thing on my bike at a junction, albeit I wasn't listening to a bloody IPod !

It was a perfectly reasonable thing to expect someone to pull out from a petrol station. IMO, the biker should have anticipated this and should not have been overtaking stationary traffic so close to the gap in the traffic when he could have reasonably expected someone to pull out across his path.

I'm now a biker - a Daytona 675 - but even I would support you in this one.

IMO it's not a 50/50 and you should expect to place full claim on the bikers insurance.

Richard.

Edited by turbominivanman on 25th Aug, 2010.

Minivanless, but reluctantly happy living with the decision. There'll be another one day.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=minimadmotorman#p/u

Thanks chaps. When its cars only incident its not too much of an issue, its abit of tin...but with bikes.....makes you feel guilty. Like I said...if I just pulled out, he would be in hospital.

Own the day

As a lifelong motorcyclist (over 50 years) I have to say that the rider seems to have been very unobservant, at the very least. If you are overtaking, and thats what he was doing, in poor conditions, then you should be aware that approaching a filling station this might happen. A filling station is pretty visible and the gap in the traffic, observed from the vantage point of the rider, should have been a good clue.He was not looking properly and sounds as if he was travelling too fast for the circumstances.

If he did this on any kind of test of riding competency he would have failed.

this is a can of worms! did plod attend?

Bad luck Jason, look at it along the lines of, the bike rider was able to ride home and is still intact, and your car can easily be repaired with a new bumper. No loss of life, no major injuries, and at the end of the day, we pay insurance for the material objects to be repaired in the event of an accident.

Of course, you were stationary at the time of the collision and had been long enough for the rider to stop, had he been paying attention.

Mistakes happen on the road and it is everybodies duty to accomodate them if at all possible.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

what has listening to an ipod got to do with things here? there's no difference to playing music to loud in your car etc. i've been listening to my ipod for nearly a year now. granted i mainly do it as my hairdryer of a bike is so ruddy loud i use it to drown the noise as i cant hear anything anyway. but i dont find it distracts me if anything i pay more attention.

back on track as a person who rides everyday. personally i never over take at a junction as its so easy for cars to not see you as your lights are blocked by the car your aside.....then you've got road markings the fact the person must have slowed down to wave you out and his speed. sounds like its more his fault if you ask me just a bit to sure of himself.

thats just my opinion as a rider, albiet only a year

Edited by t@z on 26th Aug, 2010.

Update...

Spoken to the chap this evening. He has 2 cracked ribs, so very lucky. Could of been alot worse.

Mr Joshua...I didn't pull out in front of him, I hit the side of him. If I pulled out in front of him, I think you are correct, it would be my fault.
But alas, he was on the wrong side of the road over taking slow moving traffic in a 30mph single carraige way. Bikes do it and is generally acceptable.....but if you did this in a car, it would be deemed wrong.
Good debate though lads :)

Like was said above this is a can of worms. But I have to agree with the Ipod comment I rode with My Mp3 player for over 4yrs and with bike to bike comms and it never caused a problem in concentration. At least you were both insured.

Own the day

I nearly kill half a dozen pedestrians a day listening to their bloody I plods…!

Just cycling to work, They just walk straight out into the road without looking.

I hate the things

Si

P.S. I also hate women trying to drive 4x4’s their husbands have bought them to.

I drill holes in everything..!