I personally find your reaction to this case, when it has still not been fully played out, to be rather strange.....
I assume, maybe completely wrongly, that you feel/give the impression, that its OK to hit somebody while riding on an illegal tuned e-bike, ridden at possibly twice the legal limit for such bikes, the victim who subsequently dies, because (your words) if a car had hit the victim, it would sort of be OK......
May I ask, why your reaction is so out of line with British laws?
As it would appear that the bike was illegally tuned, and the victim subsequently died.
But if a car had hit her, the driver would be also put before a court, his car examined in depth, and things like worn brakes, bad steering and bald or damaged tyres for example, would count heavily against the driver, as would be possible proof that was driving too fast for the state of his car and the conditions at the time,apparently noticed by witnesses, who spoke under oath.
I myself do not see any difference for anyone driving/riding illegally, and injuring someone.
For example, a pedestrian, completely unaware that illegal e-bikes can go so fast AND SO QUIETLY, she may not even have noticed that it even was an e-bike, but she may not expect any bike to be traveling at such a speed.....
Any driver/rider must take this into account, as people may suddenly cross the road, without due care and attention!
THAT IS THE JOB OF A DRIVER/RIDER WHEN ON THE ROAD.
I also feel that your attitude, and the attitude of a small number of riders, gives our hobby a really bad name.
For example, in 1966, I was driving my Hillman Imp, late at night, on the roads inside HMS Collingwood, in Fareham, Hants., well under the legal limit on base of 25 MPH (far less apparently than this e-bike rider), I saw two men, walking in the middle of the road, so I flashed my headlights and they separated left and right.
I went to drive between them, and the one on the left suddenly walked directly in front of my car. My left front wing caught him at the back of his right thigh.
The shore patrol that attended the accident, measured the skid marks and as it was a dry night, my car was in a good condition with regards brakes, steering and tyres, it was calculated that I had hit him with a maximum speed of around 12 MPH!
It broke his right thigh bone, and sent him up in the air like a crazy fast ballet dancer, his arms flailing out on either side. I will never, ever forget it.....
It was SO fast, that he unintentionally, as I continued past him whilst doing an emergency stop, that his twirling arms, the knuckles hit the passenger door, leaving distinct impressions of 3 knuckles in the metal!
Demonstrating clearly the HUGE amount of energy that was transferred into his body, even at just 12MPH, from my car!
Once he was off the danger list, I visited him in HMS Haslar, the Royal Navy's Hospital (then) in the Portsmouth area, and I asked him why he did it.
Firstly, he had had a few pints, though in the seconds before the accident, he was walking apparently normally to me, he said he had simply forgot that I was coming along, and wanted to say something to his mate......
He even apologized to me as well!
He made a statement to the effect, that was read out at my "visit" to the Captain's Table, to answer any and all charges.
All of which I was subsequently cleared of....
But do notice, that I still had to answer the charges, to make quite certain that I was not guilty!
Also, I have never ever forgotten to this day, that accident. It was horrific for all concerned, and he spent 4 months or so, both in hospital and on light duties till he leg had mended...
May I ask you, that in the future you try and avoid pedestrians, who though still not on the road, are possibly totally uninformed of your silent approach on an e-bike, maybe even due to their own stupidity possibly, as in my case.
BUT YOU STILL FEEL TERRIBLE THAT AN ACCIDENT HAS HAPPENED, even though it may not be your fault in any way!
A court will make the final decision in such cases, not the rider....
Many years ago, when leaving the RN, I took an advanced drivers course with the UK Police, free for people leaving the Royal Navy at that time, and they teach awareness of of other road users and pedestrians to a really high level. Far beyond the normal driving test.
For me it was a huge eye opener that I have never ever forgotten, and still follow today....it has allowed me up to now, to avid such pedestrians more times than I can count, and to avoid running into badly driven vehicles in front of me.
All of my accidents, in 57 years of car driving, have all been"rear-end-ers" to MY car, except for one, consisting of several bike riders (no e-bikes up to now), several cars and one big truck, caused simply by people driving too close and often too fast for the conditions.....
One idiot, who ran into my stopped car, wanted money from my insurance because I had a tow bar (mostly on all the cars I have driven!) fitted, that had damaged his car!! Bad luck mate, you not only paid for your own damage, but you had to pay for mine AND buy me a new tow bar too!!!
If still available, everyone should take the Advanced Driving Course, as you will learn a lot, no matter how long you have been driving.
Furthermore, may I remind you that the manner in which you might possibly reply to this post, will tell us all a lot about you, both possibly good and maybe not so good things.
Your personal choice of course...
But I really disagree with your recent comments about this accident, no matter who is found at fault in the end, as you may have noticed!
Regards and I wish you an accident free life
Andy
Dalston fatal e-bike crash rider 'going too fast' - Court Case
- Thread starter Wicky
- Start date
There will be a bigger news story because of the eBike headline.......eBikes are relatively new to the media.
When I lived in London some years ago a jogger was hit and killed by a skateboarder in Hyde Park...no motorisation but headline news.
Andy my experience of Hillman Imps was 25mph would be near on the limit !
G.
When I lived in London some years ago a jogger was hit and killed by a skateboarder in Hyde Park...no motorisation but headline news.
Andy my experience of Hillman Imps was 25mph would be near on the limit !
G.
Coronavirus panic as women filmed brawling over last toilet roll in supermarket
A BRUTAL brawl broke out in an Australian supermarket aisle after a pair of panicking shoppers cleared the shelves of loo roll. Three women were filmed slugging it out inside a Woolworths store in …
www.thesun.co.uk
it is the end of the world bog roll is now out of stock!
D
Deleted member 25121
Guest
I've heard that the Creationists believe that Marmite is the cure for the coronavirus.
!!!!QUICK!!!!
Grab some while you can folks, there's no law against it.
!!!!QUICK!!!!
Grab some while you can folks, there's no law against it.
It was actually a fun car to drive, I owned my first one for nearly two years, and the only changes from the original spec I made was to completely disconnect the automatic choke, and to lower the middle mounting points of the front suspension, which changed the vertical alignment of the front wheels from "positive camber" to "negative camber", a fairly standard change that many made at the time, to reduce the tendency to oversteer dramatically. A design "fault" that was made apparently, to slow down the car driver by Rootes, the manufacturer.
I modified my own brackets as I had access to some of the best workshops in the UK, where I had trained, in HMS Collingwood!
See here:-
But of course, as with any car, then and now, you have to be able to drive as well!
The 60's had a few cars that as made, were not always easy to keep on the road at high speeds.... Some of them were Rootes products, most were Ford, but the ones I owned (one Imp, one Stiletto, and one of my girlfriend's much later ), were very easily modified for safer road holding at high speed, and were even for the day, very, very economical.
The Imp had for the time, a very advanced all aluminium engine, which (in various capacities) had been a firetruck water pump engine, and much later a Formula 1 engine, driven by Jim Clark and others! The Coventry Climax FWMA (FW = Featherweight!)
1959 Formula One season
Several rear-engined cars, powered by the compact Coventry-Climax 2.5 litre engine, won five races with Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss and Bruce McLaren.
Hillman Imp - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Mine was tuned for economy (poor Matelot!) by myself, but given a long run at it, would achieve well over 90 MPH according to the Speedometer. Probably a good 85MPH if the truth was known!
I traveled all over the UK with it, sometimes carrying up to 3 RN colleagues.
On one trip, 4 of us beat the trains from Portsmouth to Newcastle by 4 hours! (We were attending the marriage of a colleague.)
My car worked out to be far cheaper and a lot faster than British Rail at the time! We had even made good on bets with the other 10 on the train method, and we won good money!
Both of mine, and my girlfriend's, were very reliable, but the early ones were considered to be not so reliable, I myself do not know why!
I hope this short dissertation explains why it was basically a great car, and with only a tiny investment made it even greater...
regards from an old fan of the Imp, and do not believe everything you read!
Andy
I worked in a garage in the 70s which did a lot of breakdowns from a nearby motorway.
If it was a very hot day we could nearly guarantee to get a Hillman Imp or two which had overheated.
Nearly always the cause was due to poor home bodger servicing.
There was a cowl between the rear mounted radiator and the engine.
Routinely, it would crack or be left off by someone who didn't know what they were doing or what it did.
The car ran fine without - in all but the hottest weather.
The often linked problem was the coolant.
There was a belief at the time that anti-freeze was only for the winter.
It wasn't, it played just as an important role in the summer as a corrosion inhibitor.
So a combination of water in the radiator and the lack of the cowl led to overheating.
The Imp ran fine year round if it was properly maintained.
Coolant, or rather lack of corrosion inhibitor, was also a major contributor to the overheating problems of the Triumph Stag engine.
But that's another story.
If it was a very hot day we could nearly guarantee to get a Hillman Imp or two which had overheated.
Nearly always the cause was due to poor home bodger servicing.
There was a cowl between the rear mounted radiator and the engine.
Routinely, it would crack or be left off by someone who didn't know what they were doing or what it did.
The car ran fine without - in all but the hottest weather.
The often linked problem was the coolant.
There was a belief at the time that anti-freeze was only for the winter.
It wasn't, it played just as an important role in the summer as a corrosion inhibitor.
So a combination of water in the radiator and the lack of the cowl led to overheating.
The Imp ran fine year round if it was properly maintained.
Coolant, or rather lack of corrosion inhibitor, was also a major contributor to the overheating problems of the Triumph Stag engine.
But that's another story.
A mate of mine managed to shoe horn a V8 into his short wheel base old landrover. That was a scary thing to drive at speed on a motorway.
You certainly can indeed create your own Marmite, I have sometimes mixed random ingredients together to make a brown sludge and then put it straight to the bin....
'er indoors loves Marmite... me I can leave it or leave it ;-)
D
Deleted member 25121
Guest
See, no mention of Marmite, there's no denying that it's the cure for the coronavirus:
Coronavirus: The fake health advice you should ignore
Garlic and taking hot baths are among the dodgy health advice for treating coronavirus being shared online.
www.bbc.co.uk
It was actually a fun car to drive, I owned my first one for nearly two years, and the only changes from the original spec I made was to completely disconnect the automatic choke, and to lower the middle mounting points of the front suspension, which changed the vertical alignment of the front wheels from "positive camber" to "negative camber", a fairly standard change that many made at the time, to reduce the tendency to oversteer dramatically. A design "fault" that was made apparently, to slow down the car driver by Rootes, the manufacturer.
I modified my own brackets as I had access to some of the best workshops in the UK, where I had trained, in HMS Collingwood!
See here:-
View attachment 34247
But of course, as with any car, then and now, you have to be able to drive as well!
The 60's had a few cars that as made, were not always easy to keep on the road at high speeds.... Some of them were Rootes products, most were Ford, but the ones I owned (one Imp, one Stiletto, and one of my girlfriend's much later ), were very easily modified for safer road holding at high speed, and were even for the day, very, very economical.
The Imp had for the time, a very advanced all aluminium engine, which (in various capacities) had been a firetruck water pump engine, and much later a Formula 1 engine, driven by Jim Clark and others! The Coventry Climax FWMA (FW = Featherweight!)
1959 Formula One season
Several rear-engined cars, powered by the compact Coventry-Climax 2.5 litre engine, won five races with Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss and Bruce McLaren.
Remember, there were very few (NONE) cheap, mass produced, overhead cam shaft engines around then, and none in full aluminium, so it was very advanced for the time, and Imp motors could be bored out to over 1100cc, and tuned for close to 100BHP (all from memory).Hillman Imp - Wikipedia
Mine was tuned for economy (poor Matelot!) by myself, but given a long run at it, would achieve well over 90 MPH according to the Speedometer. Probably a good 85MPH if the truth was known!
I traveled all over the UK with it, sometimes carrying up to 3 RN colleagues.
On one trip, 4 of us beat the trains from Portsmouth to Newcastle by 4 hours! (We were attending the marriage of a colleague.)
My car worked out to be far cheaper and a lot faster than British Rail at the time! We had even made good on bets with the other 10 on the train method, and we won good money!
Both of mine, and my girlfriend's, were very reliable, but the early ones were considered to be not so reliable, I myself do not know why!
I hope this short dissertation explains why it was basically a great car, and with only a tiny investment made it even greater...
regards from an old fan of the Imp, and do not believe everything you read!
Andy
Yes Andy potentially a great car........I used to rally a modified Imp Sport. As you said a bored out block and worked head, I think Weber carburettors with the exhaust system running across the back. Really good car to work on. The engine just rolled out of the back.
Unfortunately the archillies heel were the "doughnut" drive shaft linkages which couldn't handle the extra power and were always exploding...Geoff
Unfortunately the archillies heel were the "doughnut" drive shaft linkages which couldn't handle the extra power and were always exploding...Geoff
I never had that sort of power! I am green with envy, but mine (as probably yours too), could go through corners at incredible speed, and stop better than the minis!
On a cold winter icy day coming up from Portsmouth, I was having a ding dong with a Mini Cooper (A31 maybe), and as we approached a round about, I braked carefully and took the roundabout, and he couldn't stop (all the braking and weight only on the two tiny tyres at the front), and managed to both overtake me and cross the roundabout over the middle at the same time....He blew one tyre, but no other damage, other than a dose of the shakes!!
Those were the days.
A good friend of mine was Adrian Evans, and I dearly wanted to buy one of his cars, but never managed it! He once hit a London Transport bus with the first one I believe, removing several side panels of the bus, the Davrian was barely marked! A bit of filler, rub down, and spray! It was a white one, maybe the picture is of the same one that he drove.
Sadly, he died quite young!
Regards
Andy
Attachments
Coolio!
Classic cars are such great fun. Here's my MG doing 15.5 mph up the hill at Hartside pass. Great fun and a well made video, one well worth watching. Thanks.Coolio!
Andy
In this forum there never is an end. From experience there sometimes appears to be an end, but then many years later someone new comes in and after a search restarts one!
.
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