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Mark Hinchliffe·
Motorbike news
··15 Comments·2 min read

No charges in double motorcycle crash

double crash investigations justice conviction

Charges are yet to be laid over a terrifying double motorcycle crash in Melbourne as shown in the above dash cam video.

The incident has sparked a lot of controversial debate on social media about whether the two male riders were speeding and the young female driver was impeded by a Muslim headscarf.

A University of Melbourne engineer has studied the video and claims the riders were exceeding the 60km/h speed limit, however they may only appear to be travelling fast because the driver was slowing down, presumable to enter the service station.

The 23-year-old woman driving the Toyota Camry had just left an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian church and was wearing a traditional Ethiopian scarf, not a Muslim hijab.

Victoria Police spokesman Thomas O’Byrne says they are still investigating the collision on Raleigh Road about 1.40pm on Sunday, July 17, 2016, and no charges have been laid.

He says he will contact us as soon as a decision is made about laying charges.

The woman was taken to hospital for observation but later released. Rider Steve Caruana, 42, was lucky to escape with a badly bruised pelvis, while the other rider, aged 37, suffered a broken leg. The riders are still in hospital in stable conditions.

Victorian Motorcycle Council spokesman John Eacott spent some time at the location yesterday viewing security camera footage from service station on the left.

John says it appears the woman was aiming to enter the servo and didn’t see the riders.

VMC chairman John Eacott against mandatory gloves and boots injuries charges
John Eacott

“She actually accelerates into the space,” he says. “She’s made a judgement call and failed to see the bikes.”

He says the incident is another example of road safety being a “shared responsibility”.

“Roadcraft always dictates that you are fully aware of your surroundings, but it’s not unreasonable to expect other road users to at least comply with the road rules and take similar precautions to look out for other road users.

“We ride defensively, but to have someone accelerate into your empty road space is something no one can guard against 100% of the time.

“There are too many instances where motorists fail to look or fail to see motorcycles.”

John says it is “not unreasonable that someone who has caused an accident be held to account”.

“If she is charged, we sympathise with the consequences she must face, but more in our mind are the consequences being faced by the two motorcyclists, one of whom was incredibly lucky while the other will face months of rehab.”

John says he was heartened by the “wonderful reaction” of bystanders and fellow motorists.

“It’s heartening to see the speedy reaction of bystanders who rushed to the aid of the motorcyclists, a sight not often seen these days.”

Anyone with any information about the incident can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential online report.

CHALLENGE POLITICIANS TO THINK AND ACT “MOTORCYCLES”

 

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Mark Hinchliffe
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15 Comments

  1. Unbelievable. If the driver is not charged – we may as well all go home, put the bike in the shed and commute to work in the Landcruiser. With a Mack bullbar.

  2. Looking at the line of traffic on the other
    side of the road she probably wouldn’t
    have seen a car either, it looks like she’s
    just taken a chance on nothing coming.
    hijab ,headscarf , who cares?
    Bloody god bothere’s probably think they’re
    doing you a favour by sending you to the promised land early

  3. I’m a motorcyclist myself for almost 40 years, bikes going too fast and why in right lane, with a dangerous intersection is coming up were they cannot see traffic on right trying to cross, traffic on right crossing cannot see them and they are riding so close to each other in heavy traffic. RIDE defensively and to the conditions, riding like that in traffic, its only a matter of time. Expect every car truck etc to pull out in front of you. Sad incident, thankfully they both survived. Keep safe.

  4. If you were to get an un altered copy of the video and knew the frame rate the speed of the bikes could be easily worked out, but that is beside the point as they were speeding even if they were under the limit. Thanks to the rampant revenue raising from speed cameras and the rhetoric about speed limits people are being incorrectly educated about what speeding actually is. It is not exceeding the speed limit if the limit is the only factor. Speeding is going too fast for the circumstances! In this instance the congested slow or stationary traffic on the other side of the road should have had them traveling well below the limit because under conditions like these some idiot will get impatient and do an illegal u turn or something or a person will enter from a side street unable to see you coming through the traffic. So remember guys speeding is going too fast even under the limit.

  5. Neg driving to the car, simple as that. The headwear impediment isn’t worth arguing over, people wear all kinds of headgear, old ladies wear scarves too, blokes wear akubras etc.. Shouldn’t matter. She should’ve been expecting the unexpected. The riders should’ve been doing the same, to be fair. This was avoidable on both counts.

  6. I watched the video almost frame by frame. Its pretty clear that the car was 100% to blame, BUT both riders failed to move to the left after they overtook the car in their lane. It was foolhardy of them to continue in the lane close to opposing traffic when the left lane was totally clear. Doing so might not have saved them but they had a much better chance of avoidance by being a bit further away from the traffic. As it is they left no room for exactly what happened.

    1. agree peter – they contributed to the accident by reducing their ability to react to something or someone jumping out in front of them. If they had been further to the left , they may have not had the collision. A lesson learned in risk reduction/avoidance hopefully and im glad it seems they will make a full recovery. However, it does’nt excuse the reckless and selfish decision made by the driver. Ive had a similar incident happen to me by a taxi driver who was more concerned about getting onto the end of the taxi rank than thinking about how reckless he was being cutting across the tram lines, luckily I was able to stop before hitting him, but it just goes to prove you can never be complacent, and you must always assume danger is present at all times and adjust your riding to the perceived risk accordingly.

  7. It’s a wonder the riders weren’t changed – It is Victoria after all.

  8. It looked like the opposing traffic was stopped, and overlooking any point on whether the bikes would have been smarter to ride in the left etc, the car driver should have gingerly poked the front of the car into the space very slowly until she could see anything in the opposite side of the road and also to give a warning to any traffic therein.
    Absolutely no doubt the car driver did a very stupid thing. Any contribution by the bikes really doesn’t diminish the stupidity of the car driver.

  9. What they did wrong.
    1 They forgot that someone is always out to get you
    2 even if they never got to the speed limit they were speeding because with the built up traffic they couldn’t see the person out to get them so they were going too fast to avoid the accident.
    3 they forgot the only right a biker has is to a coffin.
    Stupidity kills never give a moron the chance to kill you and don’t be a moron your self.

    1. YOU GOT IT RIGHT THEY WERE RIDING TO CLOSE FOR START , BUT NOW THEY KNOW CARS USUALLY WIN. BUT YOU GOT TO ADMIT THE SERVO IS IN AREALLY BAD PLACE DIRECTLY IN LINE WITH STREET RED CAR WAS COMING FROM. SUGGEST THEY NAKE RIGHT TURN ONLY FOR RED CAR. ANY WAY ANOTHER DAY AT SCHOOL FOR THE BOYS HOW BAD WERE THEY HURT ,, RON

  10. Regardless of any facts, our beloved Mr Fryer, will use this, as a perfect example, for his call to mandate boots and gloves, (Face the facts, Mr Fryer has his 86% rider at fault statistic to uphold) and no doubt, some piss-ant with-in VicRoads to mandate Hi-Vis.
    The Victims will be persecuted, and the culprit, will getting nothing more, than a mere slap on the wrist, The blame game, no doubt, will attribute a greater proportion upon the two riders, lets face it its the Mexican way. SMIDSY excuse is the get out of jail, card, and sadly Victoria, its policing, and the courts allow it, STILL.

    Ride free and ride safe everyone.
    Cynical grumpy old bastard.

  11. The cagers are able to take a punt and risk a gap in traffic, after all they are surrounded safely in their metal cages with side impact protections, crumple zones and airbags (mostly). This crash was horrifying to watch.

    The cagers have so little respect for vulnerable road users – pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists. Why does motor traffic get 2-3 minutes to traverse an intersection yet a pedestrian gets about 5 seconds then a red flashing man? Our society has fostered an entitlement in drivers – they think the roads belong to cars. They belong to people, actually – those that pay taxes and rates, whether you own a car or not.

    Ride like they’re always out to kill you (because they usually are, on purpose or not).

    1. Roads were horse/cart and pedestrian to start with. Car users They definitely feel they have entitlements, Their arrogance causes a lot of grief.

  12. I fail to see why charges can’t be laid on the spot. She was coming out of Navigator Street, which has a ‘Give Way’ sign, so she HAD to give way to all traffic on Raleigh road, BOTH directions. She was also going not turning right into the nearest lane, which is the law (at least in NSW!) but going directly across the road into the service station. Again, not legal.

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