Usually motorcycle riders are the victims in hit and run accidents but one trail biker is giving us a bad name after hitting a 77-year-old pedestrian and fleeing the scene.
Queensland Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident in Kin Kora, near Gladstone, around 5pm on 31 August 2019.
The local man was walking along the pathway that runs between Emmadale Drive and the soccer field at the end of Pioneer Drive when he was struck by a blue trail bike as it sped past him.
“The man fell to the ground while the rider of the bike failed to stop and render assistance,” police say.
The man was transported to Gladstone Hospital and treated for his injuries, then later discharged.
Sadly, the man passed away on Tuesday (September 10).
Police investigations
Police investigations are continuing to determine whether or not the incident contributed to the man’s death and the matter has been referred to the Coroner.
Gladstone Police are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident or who have seen a blue trail bike in that particular area at any time to come forward.
Police believe the trail bike has been seen in the area several times in the past, particularly along the roadway that leads from the end of Pioneer Drive to the soccer field.
The rider is described as wearing a dark coloured helmet with dark goggles.
Anyone who may know the rider of the bike is also urged to contact police.
If you have information for police, contact Policelink on 131 444 or provide information using the online form 24 hours a day.
You can report information about crime anonymously to Crime Stoppers, a registered charity and community volunteer organisation, by calling 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppersqld.com.au 24hrs per day.
An 81-year-old rider is counting his blessings after hitting an oil spill and sliding his BMW until the front wheel hung over a precipitous drop into a deep gorge.
Allan Shephard of Brisbane says he was enjoying a midweek ride on his old R 80 RT on the Sunshine Coast hinterland when the frightening incident occurred.
He says he reported the oil spill to the Main Roads Department and was surprised at how quickly they responded to fix the dangerous spill and warn other road users.
How it happened
Obi Obi Rd is bitumen uphill and gravel downhill
“I left Mapleton after a pie and coffee at the bakery and approaching the unsealed divided down section on Obi Obi Rd I was being pushed by a four-wheel-drive ute in a hurry,” Allan says.
“I pulled over and let him go, then proceeded fairly slowly down the gravel section.
“Midway down the top section there is a sealed section through some tight down hill corners. On a left-hand turn a bit tight and steep I hit a lengthy oil spill that covered the left hand side of the road all around the corner.
“In the instant I saw it I thought it was water on the road.
“I was under gentle brakes just to steady my speed. The old R 80 had a very quick lie down, losing the front wheel.
“The left crash bar dug in and spun the bike across the road ending with the front wheel hanging over the drop into the gorge below!
“I bumped along behind the bike, covered my left side in oil and severely scratched my new Shoei visor. I said a big ‘bugger’, I think.”
Allan says he was pleased that about 10 vehicles stopped to help.
One woman helped him pull the bike back on to the road and a truckie helped him stand the bike up in a safe place and bandaged his right hand.
Oil spill
Contractors clean oil spill
Allan says that on his ride home he noticed many more streaks of oil all the way to Kenilworth where “the offending vehicle turned towards Imbil”.
Concerned that another rider may not be as lucky as he was, Allan rang 000 to report the spillage.
“The 000 lady was concerned that I was ok and said she would report the hazard,” he says.
“One of the guys who witnessed my fall reported the hazard to the off-duty police officer at Kenilworth.
“He reported to me that he had gone to the Council Depot at Kenilworth to report the hazard and was told that it was not a matter for the council but for the Main Roads Department.”
Main Roads action
Allan says he is pleased to find that Main Roads had a team on site by 3.30pm to deal with the spill and erect warning signs at the top of the range.
“Well done, I would think,” he says.
“I’ve put the Main Roads Traffic Hazard reporting number (13 19 40) in my wallet for future reference.”
A Queensland Transport and Main Roads spokesperson says they “responded immediately” and their maintenance contractor applied an absorbent treatment to the oil.
“Hazard warning signs were put in place and a message published on the QLDTraffic website to advise road users of works underway,” the spokesperson says.
“We are continuing to monitor the site.
“All state-controlled roads are regularly inspected to ensure they are safe and traffickable, however, road conditions can change quickly.
“We encourage the public to report safety hazards on the road, so they can be urgently assessed.
“We had not received a road hazard report for this location before this incident.”
Report hazards
Riders are urged to report hazards on roads by contacting the relevant authority.
The problem is that it can be difficult to ascertain whether the road is controlled by a local council or the state department.
If emergency services are required due to a crash with injuries, call 000.
If Triple Zero doesn’t work, call 112. You don’t need credit on your mobile phone to call 000 or 112 as it is free.
Police have released dramatic footage today of brave bike cops leading evacuations during Queensland’s bushfire crisis this week.
The footage shows the cops riding amid swirling embers surrounded by flames as they escort people from their homes on the Sunshine Coast.
With hot and windy conditions returning in the next couple of days, more police and emergency services are expected to be risking their lives in similar situations.
Police have renewed their calls for riders and other motorists to stay away from bushfires for their own sake and the lives of all emergency services workers.
They say motorists “rubbernecking” put emergency workers’ lives at risk as well as the lives and properties of the public.
Officers can issue you with an on-the-spot penalty infringement notice or court proceedings.
In some cases, where there is a critical need, a written approval may be given by the department or by Queensland Police to ride through a restricted road use notice sign. This does not include a no entry sign.
While car drivers are at risk in a bushfire crisis, motorcyclists are at greater risk because of their exposure to the flames and embers as shown in the above video.
Bushfires can spread rapidly and even outrun a vulnerable rider, no matter how fast you are riding!
If you find yourself caught in a bushfire area, put your hazard lights on to increase your visibility in the smoke.
Park your bike with the engine off in a clearing or behind a barrier such as a wall or rocky outcrop.
Stay with your bike with the hazards on and wait for police or emergency services.
Sparking a fire
Rural fire services also point out that fires have been sparked by motorcycles in the past.
They say about 40% of all bushfires are accidentally started by humans dropping cigarette butts, campfires, discarding bottles, sparks from machinery and motorcycles.
Most riders who accidentally spark these blazes are off-road and adventure bikes riding in the bush and on forestry tracks.
However, there is also the possibility of fires being started by road bikes if the rider pulls over to the side of the road where they may be long, dry grass.
The bike’s engine, exhaust, or catalytic convertor can be hot enough to set dry grass alight.
When the bushfire crisis is over, riders should rally to the aid of rural areas devastated by the bushfires to spend their much-needed dollars.
A 63-year-old Victorian man has died in a crash on a dirt road while out riding in a group southwest of Stanthorpe, Queensland, yesterday (Tuesday 11 September 2019).
Police say the man was riding his motorcycle around noon along Murphy’s Crossing Road at Nundubbermere (above) as part of a larger group.
They say he “lost control and crashed”.
“An off-duty nurse located the crash and provided first-aid along with the other riders, however the man was declared deceased at the scene,” police say.
The Forensic Crash Unit will investigate the circumstances surrounding the crash.
If you have information for police, contact Policelink on 131 444 or provide information using the online form 24hrs per day.
You can report information about crime anonymously to Crime Stoppers, a registered charity and community volunteer organisation, by calling 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppersqld.com.au 24hrs per day.
The end appears to be coming for noisy motorcycle exhausts as noise detection devices are being trialled in the UK and Paris while Australian authorities monitor the trials.
Both the UK Department of Transport and French noise pollution agency Bruitparif are trialling devices that detect the noise, identify the culprit, take a photo and can even automatically issue a fine.
While they are set up to detect any noisy vehicles, the Parisienne devices are specifically targeting motorcycles with one set up in Saint-Forget, a hilly rural area near Paris popular with riders.
These “noise cameras” or “noise radars” are still under trial and no fines have been issued fines yet, but it may not be long before they are being used in Australia and other countries.
When the UK trial was announced in June, we contacted police and road authorities in each state to gauge their interest in the noise cameras.
We received mainly non-committal replies saying they monitor the development and introduction of all traffic enforcement technologies around the world.
WA Police were the only ones to admit they were actively monitoring the UK prototype noise cameras and said they would “seek information on its operational effectiveness”.
Queensland Transport and Main Roads say they have trialled other equipment but only to detect noise levels of heavy vehicles.
“Although the technology can potentially be used for detecting noisy, modified or defective exhausts in light vehicles and/or motorcycles there is currently no plan to extend the trials or legislation to include those vehicles in Queensland,” a spokesperson told us.
How the systems work
UK Department of Transport drawing
The UK DoT could not supply us with any images of the camera or details of how they work, but they did provide this tiny drawing showing a camera pointed at an oncoming car.
Surely the camera should be behind the vehicle!
They say the camera function will identify the type of vehicle and its legal sound level (decibels or dB) to assess whether to apply an infringement.
In Europe, motorcycles have maximum noise levels of 73-77dB, depending on engine size, while cars are about 82dB.
Australia has much more lax levels of94dB level for motorcycles (100dB if built before 1984) while it’s 90dB for cars (96dB before 1983).
But since the requirements for testing noise levels are so complex and prone to inaccuracies, we wonder about the accuracy of a device positioned up a light pole.
However, French noise pollution agency Bruitparif says their device is very accurate.
It has four microphones that measure decibel levels every 10th of a second and triangulates the source of the sound.
The device displays a picture of an “acoustic wake” as a trace of coloured dots trailing a vehicle.
Honda has been busy this past year filing several interesting patents including the most recent for active aero and direct injection, possibly in the Africa Twin (above).
Active aero is like those cars that deploy a rear spoiler at certain speeds, only this deploys MotoGP-style winglets.
Ducati winglets
Direct injection is widely used in diesel engines to improve efficiency and decrease emissions. Basically it squirts the fuel at high pressure directly into the combustion chamber.
These new patents join the following over the past year:
Not all of these may make it into production, but these latest two patents seem more commonsense.
Active aero
The patent drawings for Honda’s active aero system seem to show a new sportsbike with an inline-four engine.
It features winglets with servo motors that deploy at certain speeds to increase downforce.
Several MotoGP bikes, Ducati’s V4, Aprilia’s RSV4 and their upcoming RS660 all have fixed winglets.
Aprilia RS 660
Honda’s active aero idea to have winglets attached to servo motors to deploy them at high speed makes a lot of sense as the winglets are only effective at high speed anyway.
Although we wonder whether the extra weight of the servo motors and cabling will cancel out the added efficiency of the winglets.
Two people have died in a single-motorcycle crash in Sydney’s south today and another rider died in a crash at Castle Rock yesterday.
About 11.10am (Sunday 8 September 2019), emergency services were called to Forest Road, Peakhurst, after reports that a motorcycle hit a pole.
The male rider and a female pillion passenger died at the scene.
Officers attached to St George Police Area Command attended and established a crime scene, which will be forensically examined.
St George PAC have commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash and a report will be prepared for the Coroner.
Motorcyclist dies in crash at Castle Rock
Police are also investigating a fatal collision involving a motorcycle and a car near Muswellbrook on Saturday afternoon.
Emergency services responded following reports a Harley Davidson motorcycle and a silver Holden Commodore collided on Wybong Road, Castlerock, just after 2.30pm (Saturday 7 September 2019).
The 47-year-old male motorcyclist died at the scene.
The five occupants of the vehicle, which included a three-year-old child, were treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics before being taken to hospital for treatment to non-life-threatening injuries.
Wybong Road was closed in both directions for a number of hours while specialist forensic officers examined the scene.
Officers from Hunter Valley Police District are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.
Anyone with information about these incidents is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au.
Our sincere condolences to the victims’ families and friends.
Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman are expected to do their third travel documentary, Long Way Up, from South America to Los Angeles on Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycles.
They are also expected to be supported by electric Rivian R1T pick-up trucks which are likely to carry DC fast chargers.
Mobile DC fast chargers at work
South American press have already spotted the trucks and speculated on the Long Way Up electric adventure.
While attending a recent electric grand prix race in Rome, Ewan said:
In twenty years we will not use fuel, everything will be plugged in.
If they are planning to ride from the bottom of South America, possibly as far as Alaska, it should take some time on electric bikes.
The Rivian truck has 650km of range, but the LiveWire only has 150km of highway range and 235km of city range.
Rivian electric pick-up truck
Charging times will certainly make it a long trip.
However, the trip may just do for electric motorcycles, particularly the LiveWire, what Long Way Round and Long Way Down did for adventure riding and the BMW GS range.
Long time coming
The long-awaited third Ewan and Charley travel documentary has been a long time coming.
Charley has been telling us they have been planning their Long Way Up America trip for about 10 years.
The problem has been that Ewan has been so busy with Hollywood movies he could not afford a few months off.
There was also the fact that Ewan is ambassador for Moto Guzzi and Charley is ambassador for Triumph.
The pair rode BMWs in their 2004 Long Way Round and 2007 Long Way Down.
Charley told us last year that Ewan’s relationship with Moto Guzzi would not necessarily foil their plans:
We’ve been talking about it a long time and if the stars align we will do something like a Long Way up from Tierra Del Fuego to Alaska in the next couple of years. It really is close now. Ewan’s always had a loose relationship with Moto Guzzi so there’s no conflict there.
But rather than Moto Guzzi and Triumph, it appears the pair have opted for the new Harley-Davidson LiveWire.
While it was thought they would go all the way to Alaska, Charley recently said the ride would go from Argentina to LA.
Maybe they don’t want to cover the same territory through Canada and Alaska that they did in the Long Way Round.
Long Way Back
It’s been a long time between trips for Ewan and Charley.
From 14 April 2004 to 29 July 2004, they rode across Europe and the USA in Long Way Round and from 12 May to 4 August 2007 they rode from the top of Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa for Long Way Down.
With Ewan becoming increasingly busy with Hollywood movies, Charley squeezed in the 2006 Dakar rally for his series, Race to Dakar, and has produced several other travel shows.
The coming revolution of automated cars and trucks is supposed to create safer roads, however a new report raises concerns that motorcycles will not be detected.
“In some cases, modern cars do not have robust enough equipment to detect motorcycles,” the report says.
“Several accidents in Europe and the US with cars ‘on autopilot’ indicate that some cars failed to detect motorcycles in all situations.
“Today, in some driver handbooks, one can find statements such as ‘the system may not detect small vehicles like motorcycles’, which is simply not acceptable from a safety point of view.”
Automated cars
There have been varying reports over the past few years that say automated cars will make roads both safer and more dangerous for riders.
The EAMM report says the motorcycle industry is “open to discussion, recognition and appeals to the car industry and legislators to take this issue seriously and start dialoguing with the motorcycle industry on how to ensure that future cars react to motorcycles in a safe manner”.
However, motorcycle companies are also working on self-riding motorcycles and interventionist technologies to make riding safer.
He predicts a future “where the idea of rider accidents being inevitable and unavoidable will be a thing of the past.
The EAMM report concludes:
In the future, increasing levels of automation in passenger cars will shift the task of dynamic driving further and further away from the driver and towards the vehicle itself. The technology used should be reliable and has to compensate for ‘taking the human driver out of the loop’. Therefore, the development of automated assistance systems will have to be designed and validated as motorcycle compatible covering all the requirements, from situation recognition through to execution of manoeuvres.
Do you think automated cars will make riding safer r more dangerous? Leave your comments below.
A driver who caused the death of a rider has walked free from court over a technicality that allows motorists to dangerously pull over on the side of multi-lane highways and motorways.
Burpengary rider Luke Harris, aged just 25, died on 28 December 2017 in a crash caused by a ute pulling out in front of his Honda on the Bruce Highway.
Ute driver Cameron Woodvine was charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.
He told police he had pulled off on the right side of the highway to look for his wallet in a narrow roadside area that is not a designated stopping bay.
Luke’s sister, Renee Harris, says Luke was riding his bike in the far right lane when he collided with the ute as it slowly re-joined the highway.
He was thrown from his bike into the path of a BMW car which also crashed into another car stationary on the other side of the road.
“Luke had nowhere to go,” Renee says.
Luke with his mother Sue and sister Renee
Free
Woodvine appeared in the District Court in Brisbane on 23 July 2019 and two days later was found not guilty.
“There were no other charges, court fees, disqualifications, etc,” Renee says.
“Unfortunately this person walked free mainly due to outdated terminology in the current road rules,” Renee says.
Queensland Road Rules only allow motorists to pull over in a freeway emergency lane and only in an emergency. Otherwise, they must not stop on a freeway.
Luke with his Honda
Petition
Family friend Cressida Fraser, with the support of Luke’s family, has now started an online petition to Queensland Parliament to add multi-lane motorways and highways to the rules.
“Had this person not pulled over for a non-emergent reason then this accident never would have occurred and Luke would still be here today,” Renee says.
“We don’t want another family to have to suffer the way we have not only with the pain of losing Luke but also the impact the not guilty verdict then had on our family.”
Cressida says the current rule makes it “potentially dangerous” for all motorists.
“With traffic flowing at 100km/h, it has the potential to be fatal, especially on bikes with much less protection than cars,” she says.
“Luke’s accident was the result of outside sources and not having a way out.
“It could happen and has happened to many riders, experienced or new. We just hope this can be the start of making even a small difference to rider safety.”
