GS Adventure Hit&Run

[K-9]

not taking sides BUT

for a biker to intentionally push/knock his handlebars into a person while lane splinting -while riding between traffic - at a slow or medium pace - (the end of his bar and we all know what happened if we move the bars violently to one side) he is risking a major fall or being knocked into the side of the cars.   if intentional he took a huge risk.

he is either a very skilled rider or a very stupid rider? 

very few riders i know would take a chance of a fall while lane splitting.

ffs no excuses - if intentional throw the book at the rider for riding away.

[MillionMiles]

I did think some would take the side of the offending biker. I said I was following this rider, I saw everything that took place. May be the keyboard is failing me here, but when I say "intentionally" I mean it so as an accurate version of events that met my eyes.

Illegal people in the Road
I say this argument is partial. When it is a guy who is about to get married, having a bachelor's ritual, he irritates no one. But today, it is a beggar, a human being! We all talk of how illegal it is for jaywalkers to be in the streets.

Race
I intentionally didn't mention the respective races of the individuals so that we do not loose focus of the wrongness of the acts in question. I brought the difference in races of the individuals to contextualize the effect of the wrong doing in today's South Africa. You can guess the races, but if you try that hard you have missed my point.

I commute with my bike daily for the last 5 yrs. I get surprises from pedestrians who don't care, all the time. They emerge from behind bus/taxis cars unannounced into my path. I feel like Klapping them right away, to teach them to respect the road. Yet, will I aim my handle-bar at a human chest and knock him down, ride Off like nothing happened? The moment he rode away without stopping, he became remorseless, unapologetic and realized he could get away with it. And i think he doesn't respect life.

[Howie-WP]

Wow some of the comments and apparent logic applied in this thread is somewhat alarming.

2 wrongs  does not make it right. Also there is a difference between an accident and intent.

[Titanic]

I did think some would take the side of the offending biker. I said I was following this rider, I saw everything that took place. May be the keyboard is failing me here, but when I say "intentionally" I mean it so as an accurate version of events that met my eyes.

Illegal people in the Road
I say this argument is partial. When it is a guy who is about to get married, having a bachelor's ritual, he irritates no one. But today, it is a beggar, a human being! We all talk of how illegal it is for jaywalkers to be in the streets.

Race
I intentionally didn't mention the respective races of the individuals so that we do not loose focus of the wrongness of the acts in question. I brought the difference in races of the individuals to contextualize the effect of the wrong doing in today's South Africa. You can guess the races, but if you try that hard you have missed my point.

I commute with my bike daily for the last 5 yrs. I get surprises from pedestrians who don't care, all the time. They emerge from behind bus/taxis cars unannounced into my path. I feel like Klapping them right away, to teach them to respect the road. Yet, will I aim my handle-bar at a human chest and knock him down, ride Off like nothing happened? The moment he rode away without stopping, he became remorseless, unapologetic and realized he could get away with it. And i think he doesn't respect life.

I'm curious to know. Why "BMW" and "GS" so many times in your initial post and now none of that?

[Black_Hawk]

No, no, no, the rider did not hit a pedestrian, he hit a jaywalker, a jaywalker posing a serious threat to all motorcyclist, being present in a position on a public road
unlawfully, and without special permission.
This same poor beggar could come stepping out from behind a minibus, into your path while you lanesplit, causing damage to both you and your bike.

It is just another reflection on our traffic police's ineptitude and failure to perform their duty that people are allowed to illegally occupy space on a busy street!

If the law cannot do it, perhaps it is up to us to convince these people to keep roads clear for traffic.

If the beggar did not break the law, the biker could not harm him.

I must agree with you 2SD. The beggar is standing in a very dangerous place, endangering his life as well as the other road users. But I must agree that the rider who deliberately hit the guy and sped off was also wrong.

[MillionMiles]

BMW and GS Adventure because that's all I have for describing his identity. No number plate.
Just like Beggar, because it's my best estimation of what the man was doing.

[BennNevis]

BMW and GS Adventure because that's all I have for describing his identity. No number plate.
Just like Beggar, because it's my best estimation of what the man was doing.

Nah! To much descriptive brand and model talk in your original post


Did the guy not have a number plate?

[Snafu]

I am becoming just as sick of beggars, both in government and on the street. Most of these okes are just shit lazy. Not all of them, but most.

Dan, die thread is nie oor bedelaars nie, dis oor BMW posers wat dink die pad behoort aan hulle. Jy kan maar laat waai 

 

[Snafu]

To hit someone between cars, at a ferocious take-off speed, on your hand guard, will take some skill to keep upright

[dirtyXT]

well if he doesn't have a number plate can hit someone and not fall over we can deduce that he isn't a novice to bikes, and if he is into adventure riding the chances are pretty good that he knows about this forum. i suppose he wont exactly own up, cant we work out who this is? too many GS's out there or what?

[MillionMiles]

Snafu...not many people can ride big bike like a GS Adventure in between cars, that also takes skill.

Yes it takes skill to aim, compensate your steering and lean while accelerating a big bike between cars. It is the skillful execution of this, which proves intent (forethought + delivery).

A man is down due to a biker, and this is what we (bikers) are discussing 

Anyway, thanks for all your views. I just feel sad about the whole thing. This forum gave me a space to clear my chest and be heard, the beggar doesn't have that.

But thanks guys. Be careful out there.

[Snafu]

Nah, I am not discussing it, my remark was aimed at his skill

[Bundu]

die ou met die GS is twatwaffle en sal hopenlik die volgende keer dit doen

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/UpjZNUWNaww" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/UpjZNUWNaww</a>

[Geriatrix]

The Police seem to be taking hit and run assaults very seriously now, even if they do take their time about doing anything about it. In this age of dash-cams they are likely to have photographic evidence, and obviously a perfect description. It is interesting how they can find vehicles and identify them from photographs, even if there is no registration number.

The rider will be in a nasty, sleepless place for the next six months or so until he is arrested and charged.
The courts seem to be serious about this too, and are handing out jail sentences without the option of a fine. That means no normal life afterwards.....

I hope for his sake that his aggression can be matched by the ability to hire a good ( that is, a really, really bad ) Lawyer, and pay the required fees to join the ANC quickly.

[alanB]

Its amazing how this became a brand/race issue for some?

But the basic facts are as a motorist you have a duty to take care and thus regardless of whether the individual should be there or not you have a legal (and moral) obligation to take care.  For eg children should not play in the street either, or pedestrians should not run across the highway, but that does not entitle you to mow them down when they do.

Neither should you leave the scene of the "accident" without doing what you can to assist.

And of course any aggressive harm caused intentionally is assault.

We all know that.  But for some reason when South Africans get in a car or on a bike in traffic they become murderous!  I've been guilty myself!  Its some sort of stupid status driven/self important/arrogant/uncaring culture which we have adopted which is probably one of the reasons for our atrocious road death rate.

One of the complicating issues is that different cultures view the street in different ways.  In non-western societies, the street is a social area where anyone can be at any time for any reason and all people there are expected to take care and not cause harm to each other.  You can see this in virtually any third world country.

In fact even in western societies its only become the way we know it in the last 100 years or so, since the advent of the car.  And even still in many places in Europe people still have right of way over cars, particularly in small towns.  A mate of mine lived in Germany for a while and he was telling me about the strange (to me) traffic laws in the local village he lived in where children WERE allowed and expected to play in the streets and motorists had to adopt extreme care when driving through.

The crime of jay walking for eg is only a crime in some countries and was actually introduced by the US car makers lobbying their government in order to increase the adoption of cars in the early days (read that some where a while ago).

To an extent we have that issue here because we have been brought up in a western society/culture but many others were not.

[badseed]

Sounds like this little episode has grown way out proportion.
Is the bloke injured? If not he wasn't hit very hard and might learn a lesson.
I've knocked a few at traffic lights , they are a menace and can take you down in a flash. They have no means to repair your bike and the law does nothing about them. Perhaps riding away was a bit cowardly but the law is such that he'd be punished out of proportion to the crime and the beggar will get all the sympathy.

Sounds like no harm done and some of us commuter bikers might be spared an accident.     

[alanB]

Sounds like this little episode has grown way out proportion.
Is the bloke injured? If not he wasn't hit very hard and might learn a lesson.
I've knocked a few at traffic lights , they are a menace and can take you down in a flash. They have no means to repair your bike and the law does nothing about them. Perhaps riding away was a bit cowardly but the law is such that he'd be punished out of proportion to the crime and the beggar will get all the sympathy.

Sounds like no harm done and some of us commuter bikers might be spared an accident.     

My understanding is he suffered at least a broken shoulder and needed medical attention from passer's by, ie he did not get up and walk away?

If anyone here even suffered a scratch to their bike in such an incident there would be much wailing and gnashing of teeth but its OK to put someone who has no funds in hospital for not moving out the way immediately?

How about you get your shoulder broken by some guy because you didn't quite move out of the way fast enough?  Sound fair and reasonable?

Much hypocrisy here I'm afraid!

[2StrokeDan]

Sounds like this little episode has grown way out proportion.
Is the bloke injured? If not he wasn't hit very hard and might learn a lesson.
I've knocked a few at traffic lights , they are a menace and can take you down in a flash. They have no means to repair your bike and the law does nothing about them. Perhaps riding away was a bit cowardly but the law is such that he'd be punished out of proportion to the crime and the beggar will get all the sympathy.

Sounds like no harm done and some of us commuter bikers might be spared an accident.     

My understanding is he suffered at least a broken shoulder and needed medical attention from passer's by, ie he did not get up and walk away?

If anyone here even suffered a scratch to their bike in such an incident there would be much wailing and gnashing of teeth but its OK to put someone who has no funds in hospital for not moving out the way immediately?

How about you get your shoulder broken by some guy because you didn't quite move out of the way fast enough?  Sound fair and reasonable?

Much hypocrisy here I'm afraid!

No Alan, how about that same beggar stepping into your way , causing you to be badly injured? Would that be OK?  Or would you then classify him as a menace?

Pedestrian/jaywalker/Luke Skywalker, all should be in the street ONLY if they are in the process of crossing it, and then only at a place safe to do so, and then only after performing a certain ritual of safety actions, like looking right/left/right.
It is in the new SA that this phenomenon started being practised, of beggars simply parking off in the middle of the road.

Also ironic how the SAPS cannot investigate the simplest complaint brought before them, but hit and run's are now top priority?? What about rapes, abductions, armed robberies,
etc??

[2StrokeDan]

Funny you should feel that way since  I did not include you is any quote  but merely made a general statement

Clever dodge dude, but alas, just a dodge.   

I thought it to be more of a Plymouth.

[TheBear]

Clever dodge dude, but alas, just a dodge.   

I thought it to be more of a Plymouth.

Easy mistake,  often made by the uninformed.  Don't worry about it.