WOODFORD GREEN: Man, 83, killed at accident blackspot (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

Where are our wonderful police? This notorious locality is used by motorcyclists like a race track, and all the police can do is put up a speed camera. HOW MANY HAVE TO DIE OR BE MAIMED BEFORE SOME POSITIVE, VISIBLE ACTION IS TAKEN?

Morris Hickey wrote:
Where are our wonderful police? This notorious locality is used by motorcyclists like a race track, and all the police can do is put up a speed camera. HOW MANY HAVE TO DIE OR BE MAIMED BEFORE SOME POSITIVE, VISIBLE ACTION IS TAKEN?

I don't think it's appropriate to blame the motorcyclist before all the facts are known. In my opinion motorcyclists in general are much safer drivers than drivers who only drive cars. This is in part due to the fact that we need to drive carefully as are much more vulnerable than car drivers and also have undergone much more road training and testing to be able to ride the bikes. Of course you do have some motorcyclist that take risks and could do with improving their riding techniques but I see much more appalling driving techniques displayed by car divers each and every day.

Most of them are oblivious to speed limits.

Yes cars can drive fast before the speed camera but pedestrians need to use the crossing! They need to press the button and make sure all traffic has stopped before crossing! I passed this accident last night and the guy was hit about 25/30 feet away from the crossing if he had taken an extra 20 to 30 seconds to walk to it maybe this wouldn't have happened!

I agree. It is tragic that these things happen, but there is only so much the police or council can do. I am pretty sure most times I have tried it even evil motorcyclists stop at red lights on easily accessable crossings.

Morris Hickey wrote:
Most of them are oblivious to speed limits.

Are you honestly trying to say that "Most motorcyclist do not obey speed limits and most car driver do"? I don't think anybody could agree with that!

Fjl, you're clearly not the numpty motorcyclist who followed me from Rolls Park to Chigwell earlier this week. He was positioned in my blind spot so close to my boot that if I'd braked he would have had no chance and would have gone straight over the top of my car. There are bad bike riders just as there are bad car drivers.

I was there last night. I didn't the witness the accident itself but we stopped to try to help him not more than 40 seconds later. It was horrific enough that I'm having difficulty typing but feel I have to at least counter some of these completely baseless accusations against the motorcyclist.

The eyewitnesses present appeared to all be in agreement when they said he swerved to avoid the man which threw him off his bike. What I saw was that the motorcyclist was deeply shaken.

Right after being hit by the bike witnesses reported that he was hit by the car behind and run right over by the car behind that.

I know there is a proper investigation to be carried out but multiple impacts can't be put down to driver error unless they're all the witnesses were wrong and the initial impact knocked him into oncoming traffic in the other lane.

From everything I saw, however, this wasn't the case and there was little doubt from the extent of his injuries that it had been a multiple impact.

Now this could all be heat of the moment but the impression most witnesses had was that this was a hit and run on the part of one of the drivers. None of the bystanders put their hand up to being one of those drivers and no doubt this is why police won't confirm a car was involved at all until they've dealt with witnesses.

It's my belief that we should always remember our happy toleration thousands of deaths for the sake of our low cost personal convenience next time we feel close to hysteria about murder rates, bird flu, terrorists and so on.

If the entire idea of putting motorvehicles on roads were proposed today along with the certain and true guarantee that they would kill many thousands it wouldn't pass.

We are willing to accept any foolishness so long as we are allowed to do it gradually.

I think that considering a jogger was killed here a few weeks ago and now this elderly gentleman that it is high time that they put speed humps along this stretch and/or chicanes to slow down the mad motorcyclist, cars, W13 and even crazy cyclists who use the down hill bit to their advantage. This is a dangerous stretch of road and you never see a Policeman here at all. They are further up the road picking on people for nothing.