White van man

[recycled]

If a tree had fallen acrossthe road and the cyclist did not see it,
he was riding too fast to be able to stop in time.
anyway i thought vans had orange lights across their sides or is it only american specs?
i know volvos have side lights

 

[glojo]

i just look for a nice left turn ,go past it reverse into it and then turn right.
works for me and if someone comes quickly up the minor road, you can always claim a rear end shunt.

I don't believe it!!!!!!!

Here we have someone that continually slates the police allegeing how they fit people up, and...............

and if someone comes quickly up the minor road, you can always claim a rear end shunt.

I don't believe it!

I don't think Volvo's make any vans?

John

 

[recycled]

what don't you believe .
rear end shunts are common.
if you stop before they come crashing in who knows.
Not that i will advocate dishonesty in an accident case now would i ?:bannana:

the honest driver like me.

 

[recycled]

if you want to go the way you came, go past a left turn perform a reverse round the corner and then drive off doing a right turn.
much safer than being spreadeagle across the road waiting for a hgv to come along.
as for the rear end shunt ,that was just tongue in cheek.
.
volvo cars do have lights
maybe all cars should have orange side lights in the front and at the rear

 

[recycled]

I don't think Volvo's make any vans?

John

they do make massive HGV's though.
As for the police we all know the results whenever they turn up.

 

[Sp!ke]

But this was only 30 metres after a 30 zone. Surely he'd have been able to see a white van in the headlight from 30 metres away (straight road, remember) ... and if he'd only been doing 30 would have been able to stop in time?

Have you ever ridden on a cold night in the rain? Visor up or down it can sometimes be very hard see much at all.

Should have been riding accordingly though how ever you look at it.

 

[television]

they do make massive HGV's though.
As for the police we all know the results whenever they turn up.

Just a piece of useless info, Volvo and Scania have 68% of the world market on HGV's between them, the other manufactures make up the other 32% between them

 

[glojo]

Have you ever ridden on a cold night in the rain? Visor up or down it can sometimes be very hard see much at all.

Should have been riding accordingly though how ever you look at it.

Hi Spike,
With modern gloves how effective would it have been to clear the visor if there was continual light rain?

Thanks for all your inputs.

Regards
John

 

[BTB 500]

Have you ever ridden on a cold night in the rain? Visor up or down it can sometimes be very hard see much at all.

I haven't, but not to see a large white Transit side-on at 30 metres still sounds a bit strange to me (assuming headlight on).

 

[recycled]

Just a piece of useless info, Volvo and Scania have 68% of the world market on HGV's between them, the other manufactures make up the other 32% between them

A bit OT
where do you place paccar then?

A bit funny all the F1 teams tend to use their own trucks for race meets.
e.g ferrari use iveco,while mclaren use mercedes, renault use ermm renault

the others that have no trucks in their aresenal end to use M.A.N
how cheeky is that

 

[timskemp]

If a tree had fallen acrossthe road and the cyclist did not see it,

did it make a sound?

 

[Sp!ke]

With modern gloves how effective would it have been to clear the visor if there was continual light rain?

I've leant not to touch the visor with gloves or anything else including those rubber blades one can buy for an index finger.

Very quickly, gloves collect grime and oil etc and will smear the visor on first wipe. Once done the water doesn't form droplets quickly and from that point onwards you're either riding with the visor up or your peering through a milky blurr.

Far and away the best tactic is to maintain a completely clean and highly polished visor (a dose of furniture polish before each run works for me) and just let the wind blow it clear. It does rely on having some windspeed however.

Once you have water on the inside of your visor, at night your pretty much blind with the visor down and almost as bad with it up. If you sill have some distance to cover, you either have to pull into some services to sort it or press on regardless.

BMW did bring out a helmet in the 1980's with an electric wiper blade but I dont think it worked well on the perspex screen. AFAIK, its not been tried since

 

[Bear]

Motorcyclist is at fault driving too fast to see a dirty great big van,had it been a child or other pedestrian they would have either killed or seriously injured them had they been in a collision.Had they killed a pedestrian would they be trying to shift the blame onto them?

 

[Mactech]

As a motorist, bike rider and van driver I can see most of the issues here.
As a van driver I try to observe more and more and as a bike rider the older I get the quicker I was.

 

[glojo]

I've leant not to touch the visor with gloves or anything else including those rubber blades one can buy for an index finger.

Hi Sp!ke,
Thanks very much for the most informative reply and nothing appears to have changed regarding rain on visors, although I'm sure the brakes on these modern bikes are pretty good.

Regards
John

Edit
Looks like the great majority of bikers are still also agreeing with the opinions posted here.

 

[Carrotchomper]

[quote:sp!ke] and just let the wind blow it clear. It does rely on having some windspeed however.[/quote]

And that, your honour, was why I was travelling in excess of 90mph

 

[glojo]

[quote:sp!ke] and just let the wind blow it clear. It does rely on having some windspeed however.

And that, your honour, was why I was travelling in excess of 90mph [/quote] In fairness to Sp!ke he has kindly answered my question in an easy to understand manner, but I understand what your saying. I wouldn't fancy riding a motor bike at excessively high speeds in the wet for numerous reasons but if you have not got good visibility then I would suggest caarying a donor card.

John

 

[Trophy1200]

As a car driver, bike rider and HGV driver, my thought is, would this have not been avoided if the van driver had switched on his hazard warning lamps as he was presenting himself as a hazard at the time of the manoeuvre in such conditions?????

I know that whichever vehicle I was in control of, approaching this hazard, my attention would be heightened to these lamps rather than just red and white lamps that could be mistaken for cyclists or other vehicles.

Just a thought.

 

[Sp!ke]

I think the incident was caused by a combination of two factors.

1. The bike rider clearly had limited visibility and is likely to have been riding at a speed beyond that visibility despite probably travelling under the posted limit.

2. The van driver could have mad himself more visible to other road users by the use of hazard lights (as mentioned above) or by performing his manoevre in a safer manner such as in a side turning or in a lit section of road.

How you divvy up the burdon of responsibility I don't know. It sounds like a very unfortunate incident for all concerned.

 

[glojo]

I know that whichever vehicle I was in control of, approaching this hazard, my attention would be heightened to these lamps rather than just red and white lamps that could be mistaken for cyclists or other vehicles.

Just a thought.

The van driver thinks he might have had his hazards lights on, but to me that is academic? The bike rider was travelling at a speed he could not stop within the distance he could see to be safe.

If the road was blocked due to being flooded then the van would have had no alternative other than to do what it did?

The rider 'thought' there were two push bikes! but thinking and seeing are quite clearly two different issues and the instant he saw the silhouette of the vehicle, he slammed into it. He might have not been speeding, but his view\eyesight, analysis of what was on the road is perhaps sadly lacking?

I'm an ex advanced driver, advanced motorcycle instructor and a class 1 HGV driver although I have never been a full time professional driver. I was never perfect and was always willing to ask and learn. Sadly the bike rider in this instance is convinced the incident was 100% the van driver's fault?

As my old sergeant used to say, "It is always less painful to learn from the mistakes of others." This rider will not learn anything from this if he thinks he can ride with a visually impaired visor.

Regards
John