Police chase "ramshackle" motorcycle going 142 mph
A rider got 10 months in jail for driving a "ramshackle" motorcycle at 142 mph in Devon, UK.
When the bike was later examined, there were bubbles on the tyres from the rubber heating up during the chase, a bootlace and mismatched bolts and threads held parts of the bike together, the seat was wobbly and other parts had cracked.(Via Arbroath)The court heard that the wheels could have locked, the engine oil had become dangerously low and the defendant had risked his hands becoming trapped in the faulty steering parts.
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That was certainly dangerous and stupid...
...but 10 months?
Wow. I'm sure the bike was unsafe, but assuming the guy made the modifications himself, why would the "faulty steering parts" matter to a jury? He was probably far less likely to injure himself than someone who was completely unaware of the motorcycle's idiosyncrasies.
I once read about a guy who performed emergency dental surgery on himself. He was doing something stupid, certainly, but I'm sure he was taking every precaution not to kill himself. Of course, he wasn't traveling at 142 MPH at the time.
I think 10 months seems fair for using a dangerous vehicle, speeding and resisting arrest
i'm not sure what i just watched, but i'd like my three minutes back.
If this was in the UK, why does the display measure in miles per hour and not kilometers?
The court heard that the wheels could have locked, the engine oil had become dangerously low and the defendant had risked his hands becoming trapped in the faulty steering parts.
Plus, he could've put an eye out with that thing! Who was the prosecutor, his mother?
It's important to note that the speed was 142 kph not 142 mph. If there were 142 mph, it would have mean almost 220 kph, that's ridicously dangerous for a normal road.
Good to see that police in the UK are just as irresponsible as US cops when it comes to high-speed pursuits.
I was once at the trial of a motorbiker who had drunk too much before driving. He didn't make a corner and his bike plowed through a bunch of byciclists.
The judge described what happened as akin to a lawnmower. Their were limbs in trees.
So ten months sounds just fine.
so, why are the speed reading on the video in MPH....
Man, I don't know who acted more recklessly, the rider or the cop. Which is the primary tenet, the protection of public welfare, or the enforcement of law? I think the risk to innocent motorists far outweighed any justification for such a pursuit.
You're never too old to Rock'n'Roll if you're too young to die.
If this was in the UK, why does the display measure in miles per hour and not kilometers?
As this is on BoingBoing, just be glad nobody had to do the math.
The speed is not in KPH, it is in MPH. The video says MPH and the linked article say MPH. Why does it say MPH if this is in the UK? Because the UK uses miles. And gallons. The UK is not on the metric system.
I meant to say, "the UK is not entirely on the metric system." Some items are sold in metric quantities, some are not. Speed and fuel are two things that are mostly still in imperial.
I'm with #4.
Unless the rider was fleeing from some some serious crime spree, the cop's decision to continue the high speed pursuit on the secondary road seems totally reckless.
This immediately reminded me of the scene in Good Omens where the demon totals his Bentley on the M5. Anyone else?
Sweet Zombie Jesus, will somebody please give Anonymous @ 5, 7 and 10 his medication before he pops something?
Once he's calmed down, we can explain the use of this thing called 'The Internet' to find out information, like what unit systems are used for what purposes in which country.
[Yes, I'm a typical UK child of the 1970s. I think of large distances in miles, small distances in metres or centimetres (unless it's a person's height, in which case its feet and inches), speed in mph, weight in kilogrammes (unless it's a person, in which case its stones and pounds), liquid quantities in litres or millilitres (unless it's beer, in which case by law it is in pints), space volume in cubic centimetres and paper in 'A' sizes.]
#4 i'm not sure what i just watched, but i'd like my three minutes back.
It's a police chase. They make whole TV shows out of these.
@ Simon Bradshaw
That's rather... complicated.
I drive a sport bike every day (except when it snows).
There is no way, absent detailed pictures, to know whether the motorcycle was dangerous or not. Motors on Moto GP bikes run with little oil & have been known to seize up. No detail is given on just what parts were held together with shoelaces & mismatched bolts: The License plate holder? Oh that would be really dangerous... NOT!
I have driven on open roads on speeds of up to 230Kph. It is not necessarily either dangerous or stupid, let alone illegal (depending on where you do it -- ahhh empty autobahns).
90% of the time the biker was too far ahead of the camera to determine whether he was passing the cars on the carriageway in a dangerous fashion or not.
His passing between two cars instead of pulling over at 0:30 was stupid but not dangerous.
The ONE sequence where the guy was clearly a dangerous twit was at 2:15-2:30. Passing a car in a curve with no visibility? Idiot...
When he finally passes the car he pulls all the way over into the oncoming lane & nearly gets front-ended. Then he stays in the oncoming lane for 15 seconds in a spot with little or no visibility due to the high walls. I wouldn't let this guy push my shopping cart, let alone my Bike.
If you want to see a hair raising motorcycle video, look for videos of "le chevalier noir" & "periph" or "peripherique". It's the video of a guy taking the ring road around Paris around 15 years ago at ungodly speeds. Clearly totally stupid & the guy killed himself trying to "better" his record.
Watching that video was like playing GTA except I didn't smash into anything. Rather a nice drive in the country old chap.
10 months inside seems a little harsh frankly, but the UK is hysterical about excessive speed and he was riding like a knobber, but still people have gotten less for assault I'm sure. And is that speedo measure measuring what speed the cop car is doing (ie the fabled 142MPH) which means that if he was gaining on the bike, the bike was doing less than that, and if he wasn't the bike was faster...do I even care
Both cop and motorist are at fault.
They were clearly DRIVING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD the whole time, oh my god.
The UK uses the Imperial system which uses miles and thus, MPH. I don't understand why the cop was doing 140+ MPH on the highway when the bike wasn't even visible until he got off the highway, how did he know he got off there?
When I was 18 my best friend died on motorcycle that was "chopped". In my garage is a Buell that was sold because the last owner died riding it. Yet I've been riding for 36 years, and never broke a bone. Why? Think about it. That's what I do.
I was hoping for more footage of bike, up close shots, the arrest etc.
Someone mentioned wanting their minutes back, made me think maybe there should be a "average time to read this article or watch this video" time stamp, maybe someone will sue for their minutes back eventually, maybe not on here but elsewhere. "I read your stocks for 6 months straight and lost everything, suing for time loss damages, 7,000 minutes".
I once covered 103 miles on the 401 between Toronto and Detroit in 58 minutes flat for no good reason. Yes, that was dumb but I can now admit it because it's decades in the past. The really surprising thing was not that I was able to sustain that speed, but the three separate vehicles that passed me and disappeared over the horizon, all clipping along at a buck twenty, easy.
Yes, I have crashed and totaled a bike, broke bones, rode again and still own bikes. But entering my fifth decade things heal VERY slowly so I won't be doing anything (that) stupid again.
I mean sixth decade.
Its all fun and games until someone gets hurt!
I'm just impressed by how well people actually pulled over to get out of the way of the cop. They never can seem to figure out how to do that here in the states.
Sort of reminds me of The World's Fastest Indian
Hands becoming trapped in the faulty steering parts? On a motorcycle?
I'd like to see a picture of that.
That reminds me of the huge number of hours I spent playing Road Rash as a kid. Clearly, that guy chose a bike out of the Rat Pack.
"Yet I've been riding for 36 years, and never broke a bone. Why?"
Because the Flying Spaghetti Monster has a noodly appendage, just for you?
PMHParis @#22
I think you are referring to le Prince Noir (Pascal), who famously drove his bike at speeds over 250 kph on the Paris ring road 20 years ago. I haven't seen any confirmation for your claim that he's dead, although I hope he stays off the roads in any case.
Searching for "le chevalier noir" only returns links for the Batman film The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger, etc.
Brokenmonkey @26: Simon Bradshaw is right.
The UK is entirely metric, except for:
* Road distance signage -- still in miles
* Speed limits -- still in mph
* Legal measure of beer -- a pint is defined as 568ml (not "whatever fits in the glass", note; it's an offense to serve short measure when selling by the pint or half-pint in a pub).
The reason for the road distance/speed remaining in imperial (which the UK was on until the 1970s) should be obvious if you rub two brain cells together and try to work out the possible negative consequences of changing such signs abruptly to metric.
In general, if you're caught doing over 98mph on a motorway you can expect to end up in court and lose your license; doing over 120mph, you run the risk of prison.
The national speed limit is still 60mph (rising to 70mph on motorways and dual carriageways where not otherwise reduced).
People pull over in the UK because there's excellent publicity around police accidents - they mount pavements, squash innocents, remove limbs (Heather Mills famously).
So we get swiftly out of the way before we too join the "it happened to me" mob.
Plus, we care about what the services are trying to do, and realise that one day, it could be us being helped. Y'know - community.
Talking of this biker - no trouble with 10 months, other than that I suspect 10 months outside the joint would be harder to survive for someone who fixes bikes with bootlaces. Why not simply keep it to the racetrack?
Plus he was driving on the wrong side of the road!!!
My friends and I did this in Philly on 195. It's so much fun until something scary happens.
Like juggling broken beer bottles.
Cops are people. Think about it. There you are bored as hell. Some idiot blows past you at 100mph.
Time to have some fun.
Justified by the fact you have no idea if this guy is wanted in 11 Eskimo villages.
Ten months in jail in the US would cost 28k on the low side. He went to trial instead of pleading guilty, that is probably why the longer sentence.
"Ramshackle" motorcycle? No way a Harley can go that fast...
He probably risked no life but his own, his life was put more at risk by the police chasing him, as were the lives of other road users. It was his life to risk.