The Pacific island of Nauru - with the runway showing at the bottom of the picture.

I came across an interesting Blog Article by a retired airline pilot who used to fly into a small pacific island, where the locals would race the departing aircraft using a road which was close and parallel to the runway.

One of the bikes was a GoldWing GL1500.

The Article is well written and interesting, especially to learn which was in the lead, bike or plane, as they got up to 80 mph.

I won’t spoil the story by telling you the answer but you can read the Article for yourself by Clicking Here.

By the way if you are ever offered a used GL1500 which has been imported from Nauru it would probably be wise to give it a miss.

Our Government has proposed that the speed limit on UK Motorways be increased to 80 miles per hour.  The speed limit on our motorways, as on all dual carriageways has been 70 mph for over forty years and there are differing views about the value and wisdom of an increase.

Unsurprisingly opinions vary on the desirability of this change and although biking organisations all seem to be welcoming the proposal, there are of course objectors, including the usual crop of blinkered obsessionalists.  There is an organisation called Brake for example which seems to think this is a selfish move by speedsters who want to put other people’s lives at dire risk which will cause “carnage” and that we should be doing everything we can to persuade people to get off the motorways and on to trains and buses.  Back to having a man carrying a red flag ahead of every motorised vehicle then.

The protagonists point out the economic gains to be had from shorter journey times will amount to as hundreds of millions of pounds, which strikes me as a bit fanciful, but they also point out that modern vehicles have vastly better brakes than 1960s vehicles and these out-perform the stopping distances in the Highway Code by a considerable margin, so the extra 10 mph, which in reality many drivers are already doing anyway, will not convey much extra risk.

People might claim to be experts but I’m not convinced there are any real experts on this subject and your opinion and mine might be just as good and valid as anyone else’s.  We, or rather our politicians on our behalf, will either have to take the risk of raising the motorway speed limit to see if it can be done without too much impact on road safety or not.  The idea that it will cause carnage on the motorways if we do this is clearly very silly.

And since the decision whether to increase the limit is a political one, all the other factors which influence political decisions come to bear too and the chances of this actually happening might be fairly low.  Our democratic system is such that the politicians who make the decision whether to proceed with this proposal will end up doing what they feel will give them the best prospect of being re-elected, especially if that is becoming uncertain.  Our best hope of what might be a perfectly reasonable attempt to strike a better balance between risk and benefit on our motorways could easily fall victim to the vagaries of the political calendar and other factors completely unrelated to the issue.

Speed is undeniably a factor in some accidents, so the possibility that increasing the motorway speed limit to 80 mph could lead to more motorway accidents and more deaths needs serious consideration.  We’ve had a 70 mph limit since 1964, so a very long time, so making a change could have an adverse effect – just as a reduction to 60 mph would be a disruptive change and that alone would probably adversely affect road safety for a while.  Adjusting the speed limit either way could lead to an increased number of rear end shunts.

If the economic gains are uncertain (if not fanciful) and the any change is likely to rock the boat and increase accidents at least for a while, the “ain’t broke, don’t mend it” argument has some attractions, as does the idea that the highly congested nature of our motorways (compared with European motorways) makes raising the upper limit too risky.  Will a limit of 80 mph work on the chronically congested M6, where average traffic speed are often much lower than 70 mph?  Will anyone gain from the legal opportunity to accelerate briefly, but only briefly, up to 80 mph?  Without much more extensive variable speed limit sections to calm things down when necessary, which have been successfully introduced on busiest sections of the M25 and the M42 not be much more effective in improving journey times?

But on the other hand in the special case of motorways which are, statistically speaking, the safest part of our road network, it can be argued that a higher overall speed limit, especially in combination with variable lower speed limits would be a safer way of doing things as well as well as improving traffic flow and allowing faster journeys.  And it probably would improve journey times significantly at less busy times and on less congested sections of the motorway system, so why not give it a try? continues………

Battle Stations!

There is so much traffic competing for space on our roads these days that it’s hardly surprising that challenging “right of way” situations can easily arise, especially at roundabouts, which are designed to help crossing traffic flow smoothly and do so, providing everyone plays the game considerately.

The problem is that there are different and conflicting ideas of who should give way to whom at roundabouts and, having re-read what the Highway Code has to say on the subject, it still seems to me that there is ambiguity about “right of way” and how to use it safely.

I got tooted and gesticulated at by a blonde lady in a Land Rover Discovery for getting in her way on a roundabout recently and it gave me food for thought and hence this article.  I’ve been carved up by another lady on a roundabout since then too; I’m starting to feel harassed!

We are either instructed by road signs or advised by the Highway Code that we “should” give way in a number of situations – at junctions, roundabouts and sometimes when the road narrows.  The problem is that this sometimes creates an expectation in other road users that they thereby acquire a “right of way”  which they might then try to enforce – for example by maintaining speed in an intimidating way or even sounding their horn and barging through a shrinking gap.

continues………

An opportunity for dressing up!

The Manchester Salvation Army Toy Run has been running successfully for many years and provides a good day out at the end of each biking season and an opportunity to help disadvantaged children by donating toys or money to help the Salvation Army make their Christmas quite a bit better than it might otherwise be.

The Toy Run involves drinking tea and eating excellent bacon butties served by the Salvation Army at the rendezvous, although this is not compulsory.  No charge is made for these refreshments but making a suitable donation for the value of what you are consuming is the done thing.

Then there’s a marshalled group ride through Manchester to Trafford Park, where you hand over your present or donation and get serenaded by a Salvation Army Band.  If you decide to give a toy don’t wrap it – that way they can match it to boy/girl, age etc.  Cash is probably easier all round.

It’s not a GoldWing event but GoldWings are always prominent and there will be a special gathering area for GoldWings at the rendezvous, to allow Wingers and their friends to ride in company.

The Rendezvous is the Showcase Cinema, Hyde Road, Manchester M12 5AL.  You should arrive in time continues………

At the Blackpool Light Parade this weekend, during the Saturday afternoon static display at South Pier, where crowds of people, including lots of children were strolling towards and among the parked bikes, one Winger, pictured here, decided to take the opportunity to give his young granddaughter a ride around the display area.  She was sat on the bike’s tank in front of him and he wasn’t wearing a helmet – and neither of course was she.

These activities were reported to me (as Lead Organiser of the Event) and so I went over to talk to him.  This was only a short time after the incident and as I approached he was sat on his bike preparing to leave.

As soon as I asked him if he had just been giving a child a ride around the Promenade area, politely of course because I needed to check I had approached the correct rider, he immediately came out with a belligerent mouthful, telling me in no uncertain terms that it was his bike and that he wouldn’t have anyone telling him what he could and could not do with it – not that I had got anything like as far as doing any such thing of course,  so immediate had been his angry response.

He clearly was the Rider who had been doing what I had been told about and equally clearly he had no regrets – and no intention of abiding by anyone else’s idea of safety requirements either.  I felt he was continues………

Tempting but increasingly tight for a GoldWing?

I have referred to a helpful internet article written by Biker/Solicitor John Measures of Barratts Solicitors previously and this Article was provoked by another one of his.  Filtering past or through standing or slow moving traffic is common practice in UK but is it safe and is it legal?

With our busy and often traffic-clogged roads, the option to filter through standing or slow moving traffic is a potentially valuable aspect of life on two wheels, providing you have the confidence to do it and the perceptiveness to appreciate when it’s a bit too risky.

Not all GoldWing riders are confident enough to take their big bike into the relatively narrow gaps which filtering often involves but plenty are.  When I get the chance to make progress while cars and trucks are stuck in traffic I do so, with contentment which sometimes verges on smugness at my good fortune at being a motorcyclist.  Not only am I riding continues………

Getting this close for a photograph was not ideal

Motorcyclists are more vulnerable than most other road users, who are usually surrounded these days by a protective steel cage, within which multiple airbags are poised to come to their aid if they have a serious collision, even from the side.  So it makes sense for a motorcyclist to feel relatively vulnerable.  Ride a motorcycle like everyone else on the road is actively trying to kill you, so they say.  And sometimes of course that’s precisely what someone is trying to do, even if he or she doesn’t quite realise it.

I was attacked (the only word for it) by a car driver recently who decided he needed to teach me a lesson of some sort by passing very close and cutting in sharply at high speed.  He passed within less than two feet of me and was clearly doing it quite deliberately.  There had been no previous encounter or altercation, so presumably it was because I had dared to be on his road and in his way.  I wasn’t riding as fast as he was driving and I had therefore put him to the trouble of changing lanes to overtake me, so maybe that was it.

But would there be any point in reporting it? Would the police be interested? continues………

Leader's Parking Perks!

I would normally write this sort of Article on our Club Website, but why not give the wider readership of this Blog a bit of parochial news occasionally too?

Today GoldWings North West rode out to Sandbach, a self declared “historic” town in Cheshire which owes its recent fame to having given its name to what has been said to be Britain’s very worst Motorway Services.  We were there to take part in their annual Transport Festival, a static display combined with a Parade around the Town.

It’s a type of gathering which happens all over UK, attracting all sorts of proudly-owned vehicles from, in this case, steam rollers through classic cars to motorcycles and ancient push bikes.  At this Event there are no static-only displays; everything must take part in the Parade as a condition of admission.  So thankfully there were none of those chuffing stationary engines you see at some steam events.

After several days of sunshine, and warm temperatures for April too, it had been a surprise to wake up to cold, damp fog and less than 100m continues………

Intentionally impersonating Police Officers?

I have been looking into the circumstances surrounding the stopping, by Police Motorcyclists of Greater Manchester Police, of the Lead Marshall of this year’s Salvation Army Toy Run.

This Article also provides some background legal information and access to an opportunity for you to express your views about the matter if you wish – both to the Chief Constable of GMP and the Police Officer who was involved.

Peter Granger, the biker who had been asked by the Organisers to be Lead Marshall of the Toy Run, said that after being stopped he was told by the two Officer involved that he would be summonsed for something – they didn’t know quite what it would be at that stage, but he would definitely be prosecuted for something.

According to Peter they had a real go at him. He was of course riding his ex-police ST1300 which still had its blue and yellow livery and its blue lights, which he was using at the time.  (The bike had no police badges, nor the word “police” anywhere on it and Peter was not wearing any item of police uniform.)

After showing his licence and being issued with a “producer” for his insurance, which he didn’t have with him at the time, Peter was allowed to go on his way – although not until the Toy Run had moved on, leaderless and substantially disrupted.

A few days later Peter was arrested for impersonation of a police officer by means of a surprise early morning visit to his home involving continues………