article in Bike magazine (Jan 13)
Driver's random braking was to blame for crash.
Ride's legal expert, Andrew Dalton has won a case that could have far-reaching implications for riders involved in accidents caused by a driver braking suddenly in front of them.
The case, heard recently at Chichester County Court involved an accident three years ago, when Jason Trafford was riding his Honda Fireblade on a long, straight road and attempting to overtake slower-moving vehicles.
The accident happened when he was tucked in behind a Nissan Micra, preparing to overtake, when the Micra braked heavily for no apparent reason, causing him to hit the rear of the car and suffer a broken wrist.
Judge Levinson found that the rider skilfully decelerated his Fireblade from an estimated 45mph down to the collision speed of 5-10mph but was unable to avoid the collision. Judgment was awarded 100 per cent in the motorcyclist's favour with no contributory negligence found.
About time and I recon the Insureance companys are behind this after meny cases of drivers causing accidents by pulling in front of trucks and braking hard causing accidents just to claim whiplash. An easy 2-3 grand for every person in the car and the car is always full.
JP, I can't begin to start as to the scams that are pulled...I used to work PI fraud....its truly horrifying what people come up with they don't give a monkeys as to the damage that is caused physically and mentally to their "targets", all that matters is they get the money. And the incident rate always, always goes up exponentionally in a recession. Some insurers just pay out as its easier, quicker and most importantly cheaper for them.
Completely changed the way I drove a car within a week of starting that job I can tell you. I bike the same way. Never trust anyone else on the road. Makes me overly cautious at times...but I figure better cautious than hurt (or worse)
I am just glad that the Judge had the balls to make this decision. And good on Andrew Dalton for fighting for this outcome.
JP we have installed cameras in all 35 of our Trucks and they record constantly .. it has saved us over £20-000 worth of damage by third parties already ... Best thing we have ever done . I am contemplating fitting a small camera to he front of my bike that records onto an SD card for similar reasons .. And it will show how some people drive and react around Motorcyclists ..
A smart move Intruder
A camera on a bike is a great insurance against the morons who try to kill us
I recommend the fitting of one to any bike which "mixes" with traffic
Be careful out there
There are some idiots and even more "murderers"
intruder18 interesting saving on claims the company I work for looked at it but it got kicked out by the union due to stupid ideas from some of the management saying that thay wanted the cams to record the drivers cab aswell you can see the problems that would cause.
"tucked in" - Poor choice of words in the article as it suggests the rider was up the arse of the car he was following which I'm sure he wasn't otherwise it's very doubtful the ruling would have been 100% in the rider's favour.
Just an update .. Camera has been delivered for my bike .. All looks ok it works well recording wise. My bars are a little big for the bracket so a little modification needed .. I will post pictures when I've had the chance to fit it :-)
Im not only hoping it serves me well emz but you never know it might help some one else out in the process .... once ive sorted the mount out i will put some footage on the tube and post a link
Hey nice one Mal. Would be interesting to see some of the footage recorded on the "beast". Certainly be few frame of the tractor as you vanish in the distance lol. Hope you never need to use it in anger buddy. Keep it lid side up.
Hey Bandito ...The camera is for the front so there would be no footage of your Massey Ferguson on the video sorry Unless i ride around in 3rd gear all day Thanks Di ......