Sligo Crash.

AlekSmart

Good to see both Gardai came out of this with relatively minor injuries,as the photo's show significant damage to both Car and Cycles.

It also looks like the Legals were Fastracked,with the Car Driver entering a guilty plea to Careless Driving and being fined €400.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/fine-for-us-tourist-who-crashed-into-motorbike-gardai-30512499.html

I'm sure that Driver did'nt plan on this happening,but,again judging from the photo's there may be several contributory factors to the crash.

From the perspective of Accident Investigation and learning from them,I suggest that such RTI Investigation reports should be publicly available in the same way that Air Accident Investigation Unit findings are released.

http://www.aaiu.ie/reports/aaiu-investigation-reports

One of the primary reasons that Commercial Air travel IS so safe for the Public,is the strong ethos of the Air Travel Industry being willing,able,and required (by direction) to learn from these occurences.

In recent years we have become familiar with the Authorities closing many stretches of Roadway following collisions to facilitate the work of "Accident Investigation Teams",however,it is extremely rare to ever again hear (except brief references in a Court,often years later) of the outcomes of these Investigations.

One possible reason,which I have heard discussed,is the prevalence of poor road condition/junction design as a contributory factor in a significant number of such incidents.

Any Advanced Riders/Drivers out there with opinions on this ?

Richard tea

I would imagine ''poor road condition/junction design as a contributory factor'' is a biggy with accidents. For example if man hole covers must be placed on a bend they should at least have an anti slip covering on them.

Another pet hate of mine is when road works are carried out and the road is left with patch work with tar between the joints. These tar lines are lethal in the wet or even hot weather.

I would favor a RTA report after investigations have finished as we can learn from them.

Skill Magill

Looks like a v section on the road, and everybody thought they had the right of way and the guards got ploughed out of it. A €400 fine is a slap on the wrist, I would imagine there was mitigating circumstances all right.

AlekSmart

Skill Magill wrote: »

Looks like a v section on the road, and everybody thought they had the right of way and the guards got ploughed out of it. A €400 fine is a slap on the wrist, I would imagine there was mitigating circumstances all right.

Without knowing the exact circumstances we're left to speculate.

The wording of the report appears to suggest that The Court took a more lenient view than the Prosecution....

He was originally charged with dangerous driving, but the court reduced it to careless driving. He pleaded guilty and was fined €400.

What strikes me is the relatively open nature of the crash scene,with what appears to be a very good and well marked stretch of roadway,only question mark would be the brow of the hill and visibility problems as a result ?

Definitely a report whose conclusions,I think,would be of value to both Motorists and Motorcyclists alike ?

AlekSmart

Richard tea wrote: »

I would imagine ''poor road condition/junction design as a contributory factor'' is a biggy with accidents. For example if man hole covers must be placed on a bend they should at least have an anti slip covering on them.

Another pet hate of mine is when road works are carried out and the road is left with patch work with tar between the joints. These tar lines are lethal in the wet or even hot weather.

I would favor a RTA report after investigations have finished as we can learn from them.

Many years ago now,in the lead up to the introduction of the NCT,a Garda Commissioners Report outlined statistics for RTA's.

From memory,I recall Road Conditions being recorded as a "Contributory Factor" in c.17% of the RTA's in question.

Vehicle Condition,on the other hand reatured as a "Contributory Factor" in 0.7% of the same sample.

Needless to say,offical Ireland immediately decided to "address" the huge problem of the latter,whilst feverently hoping that nobody would notice the former.

Apart from nice shiny new Tolled Motorways,our Administrators remain significantly behind the curve in addressing the decrepit nature on much of our non-motorway roadways.

Take for example the village of Enniskerry Co Wicklow,featuring large on many a Visitors Guide to Ireland....

Drive out of it towards Dublin and experience how far out from the left one MUST drive due to the uncut Undergrowth and bushes spilling out....worse still,as the roadway is hilly and visibility severly reduced the potential for head-on crashes is just beyond acceptable limits.

Whose baby?....shrugging shoulders abound,until the results of the Accident Investigation.......:mad:

Sorry for the thread drift,but in this case it is a case of Knee Bone-Thigh Bone-Hip Bone...all connected to the end result ?

Pugzilla

I wouldn't consider a broken leg a minor injury.

No idea what bone was broken or how severe it was and if there was any nerve damage.

rizzodun

This junction is quite close to where I live, it seems the car was coming from the junction on the right (furthest junction in pic below) and heading towards the camera, when the driver collided with the two bikes, the second collision being at the junction on the left closest to the camera, from the pictures in the news report I was surprised he had got from one junction to the other to collide with the second one, it's only speculation, but as he was used to driving on the opposite side of the road I would wonder if he lost track of himself and left the junction crossing into oncoming traffic.



Directly behind the camera is another hill, it brows just before the first junction in the picture, which would make it harder for the two bikes to see anyone crossing towards them until they were on top of the driver.

Esel

Driver may have made a mistake related to the fact that he was driving on what was to him the wrong side of the road.

AlekSmart

rizzodun wrote: »

This junction is quite close to where I live, it seems the car was coming from the junction on the left and heading towards the camera, when the driver collided with the two bikes, the second collision being at the junction on the right closest to the camera, from the pictures in the news report I was surprised he had got from one junction to the other to collide with the second one, it's only speculation, but as he was used to driving on the opposite side of the road I would wonder if he lost track of himself and left the junction crossing into oncoming traffic.



Directly behind the camera is another hill, it brows just before the first junction in the picture, which would make it harder for the two bikes to see anyone crossing towards them until they were on top of the driver.

Lookin at the Indo Photo's of the scene,rizzodun's description is difficult to interpret...which direction was the car travelling and from which junction did it emerge ?....am I mixing up my Rights from my Lefts ?

Visibility,or the lack of it,can play a significant part of motorcycle related prangs for sure....that Brow of the Hill does appear quite dominating ?

rizzodun

AlekSmart wrote: »

Lookin at the Indo Photo's of the scene,rizzodun's description is difficult to interpret...which direction was the car travelling and from which junction did it emerge ?....am I mixing up my Rights from my Lefts ?

Visibility,or the lack of it,can play a significant part of motorcycle related prangs for sure....that Brow of the Hill does appear quite dominating ?

Oops, my bad, I'm tired and made a mistake, the car was coming from the junction to the RIGHT heading towards the camera and ended up facing the junction to the LEFT. I'll edit the post above.

Del2005

AlekSmart wrote: »

Many years ago now,in the lead up to the introduction of the NCT,a Garda Commissioners Report outlined statistics for RTA's.

From memory,I recall Road Conditions being recorded as a "Contributory Factor" in c.17% of the RTA's in question.

Vehicle Condition,on the other hand reatured as a "Contributory Factor" in 0.7% of the same sample.

Needless to say,offical Ireland immediately decided to "address" the huge problem of the latter,whilst feverently hoping that nobody would notice the former.

Apart from nice shiny new Tolled Motorways,our Administrators remain significantly behind the curve in addressing the decrepit nature on much of our non-motorway roadways.

Take for example the village of Enniskerry Co Wicklow,featuring large on many a Visitors Guide to Ireland....

Drive out of it towards Dublin and experience how far out from the left one MUST drive due to the uncut Undergrowth and bushes spilling out....worse still,as the roadway is hilly and visibility severly reduced the potential for head-on crashes is just beyond acceptable limits.

Whose baby?....shrugging shoulders abound,until the results of the Accident Investigation.......:mad:

Sorry for the thread drift,but in this case it is a case of Knee Bone-Thigh Bone-Hip Bone...all connected to the end result ?

The NCT was brought in as it's an EU law that States must do periodic safety checks on vehicles, bikes are currently being fought in the EU parliament.

Was watching a BBC show last year about how safe their roads where. One road engineer made a very good point. He'd replaced a bad junction, which had had several fatal and loads of non fatal crashes, with a roundabout 20 years before and there hadn't been a single crash there since. If they invest in proper roads, and not cameras on the straight bits, the cost in the long term in much less as IIRC it's €3m per road fatality in this country according to the RSA