Teen on e-bike dies after colliding with ambulance

Az.

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Apr 27, 2022
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Plymouth
What troubles me is that public is kept in the dark. What we are given are incomplete pieces of information and we all are trying to build a bigger picture.
People have died. Why nobody is talking about accountability? Who has been charged with manslaughter? What is being done to avoid accidents like that happening in the future. Weeks, months are passing and all what we are getting are copy/paste headlines like "another battery explosion", "another cyclist killed". As society we just run in circles bound to repeat same errors. I am fed up with this.
 
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Wayners

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 5, 2023
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come walk round Gloucester you need a crash helmet just to walk around but if he crashed in to a ambulance and still died he was not on a road legal bike but we shall see.

a m8 on a 1000w hub motor bike hit one of the gray bollards and broke it going 30mph pissed he spent 2 weeks in hospital but if he had no helmet he would be dead.

i never had a helmet for years but times have changed esp round here and how no one has been killed yet its only a matter of time i have seen bikes down that canal path going 60mph+ and plod dont care and i ride round the country lanes and get cars passing me going 60mph and giant piles of horse $hit all over the roads.
Followed young lad, maybe 15 with ebike with a massive rear hub down eastern avenue last week. I clocked him at 30+mph. In Gloucester city there are loads of large hub bikes. Some kids and some food delivery. All riding in the pedestrian zone. Clamp down is coming imo.
Anyway.. it's not a great situation if lads get in accidents with ebikes.
 

guerney

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Sep 7, 2021
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This is the clearest photo I can find of the bike. Perhaps someone here can identify it?


 
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tillson

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May 29, 2008
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Hopefully people in the comments on this article are more respectful of the young person who lost their life.
Hate all the point scoring that these articles bring to this forum,
Some of the comments about the 2 young boys who lost their lives in the last accident are a disgrace.

Remember these boys are someones sons, brother's etc.
I don’t think anyone is trying to deny that the deaths of the three youngsters is anything but tragic.

There are a couple of overriding factors involved:

The laws relating to the sale of electric motorcycles and hence their easy availability to the public.

Parents not accepting parental responsibility for their children and not providing a proper duty of care.

Correct any one of those two factors and the three children would be alive.

The police have been criticised for taking action. The available evidence suggests that the action was low level and consisted of observing from some distance.

The alternative to what the police did in both cases is to do nothing. Effectively ignore any laws that are in place to protect people. If the police did this, I think there would be more deaths and more injuries and more criticism of the police for doing nothing.

In both recent cases, the spotlight needs turning on the parents and questions asked as to why their children, for whom they are responsible and have a duty of care, were riding high performance motorcycles on roads without safety equipment.
 
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jimriley

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 17, 2020
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The fact the ambulance was stationary suggests his mind was on what was behind him rather than in front.

Not sure what that means. I dont wear a lid.
In fact the wearing of safety gear is said to be a greater cause of accidents in itself.


Who said it, what expertise to back it up? Karen on FB?

It's obvious that the latest lad may have survived a full on head impact with a stationary dayglo ambulance windscreen with a lid on.
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
11,390
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I posted last year about being followed close and slow by the police one night for about 3/4 mile. I made certain to pedal at 13mph, they could have overtaken but didn't. I believe they were measuring my speed and waiting to see if I'd make a break for it at 40mph or something, which can't happen with my bike.
 
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Wayners

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 5, 2023
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Gloucester
Many years ago a lad was on a bonnet of a car on a caravan site having a ride back to van. at under 5 mph he slid off bonnet and hit head on floor and died.
It don't take much of an impact to do you in.

Know another guy that was hit at over 50 mph. He traveled some distance and took 6 months in hospital with head and body injuries. He survived. It's the lottery of life sometimes.
 
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Nealh

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Aug 7, 2014
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It goes to show that children shouldn't be allowed to ride high power or fast motorcycles as they simply haven't got the common sense, mental capacity or road craft skills to handle the speed and power.
The child took the risk /gamble and lost , some just don't understand they only have one chance of life.
 

chris_n

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 29, 2016
737
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Niedeau, Austria
What troubles me is that public is kept in the dark. What we are given are incomplete pieces of information and we all are trying to build a bigger picture.
People have died. Why nobody is talking about accountability? Who has been charged with manslaughter? What is being done to avoid accidents like that happening in the future. Weeks, months are passing and all what we are getting are copy/paste headlines like "another battery explosion", "another cyclist killed". As society we just run in circles bound to repeat same errors. I am fed up with this.
Who do you want to make accountable?
Who do yo want to charge with manslaughter?
 
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tillson

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 29, 2008
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It goes to show that children shouldn't be allowed to ride high power or fast motorcycles as they simply haven't got the common sense, mental capacity or road craft skills to handle the speed and power.
The child took the risk /gamble and lost , some just don't understand they only have one chance of life.
Some of these electric motorcycles are capable of rapid acceleration. Inexperienced children riding them can achieve lethal speeds much quicker than they realise.

I was out on a club ride a few weeks ago (unassisted conventional road bikes). We were cruising along, on a country lane at 23 mph on a slight downhill with a breeze behind us. A child no more than 12 years old overtook the group on an E-Scooter. No helmet. It must have been doing 30 mph+.

You have to question how the child was able to get their hands on the scooter.
 

tillson

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 29, 2008
5,252
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Who do you want to make accountable?
Who do yo want to charge with manslaughter?
If the parents facilitated access to the machine upon which their child died, either by buying it for them or allowing them to ride it on a road, then in my personal opinion, they would be the people to take responsibility and face appropriate charges.
 
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guerney

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Sep 7, 2021
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I was pondering the other day as the law is written, Ebikes - "must have a maximum power output of 250 watts" could this be used in a worse case, to remove all ebikes from the UK shops & roads?
If anything, they'll increase penalties.
 

soundwave

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May 23, 2015
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the bike has foot pegs thus no peddles and looks like a surron
 
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Woosh

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May 19, 2012
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wooshbikes.co.uk
People have died. Why nobody is talking about accountability?
If you are looking for accountability, you will have to look into why the police cannot enforce existing laws because of their reduced number and resource. They gave up on crimes against property for decades now, even domestic violence and rape cases are partially dropped. They don't stop flagrant crimes, prefer to video them and follow up later.
Overtime, people become complacent, they pick and choose which laws and how much to respect.
Naga Munchetty interviewed one Salford councillor on BBC this morning. The guy knew absolutely zilch about e-bikes and electric motorbikes. If our politicians who are in charge don't know the law then you can't expect that they enforce them.
In the last two cases, it wouldn't surprise me if the boys bought the bikes themselves. Many parents are like the police, they have given up their responsibilities years ago.
 
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egroover

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Aug 12, 2016
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UK
Was cycling on a narrow cycle path in Belgium last year, when a lad of about 14 flew past us from behind at about 45-50 mph on a Sur-Ron style electric motorbike, he then negotiated a narrow s-bend on the path ahead between two staggered bollards without backing off, leaning full over both ways in a split second as he flicked the bike through at full pelt.
I couldn't help thinking at the time, if continues riding like that he'll be either dead soon or be signed up to a Moto GP rider academy (the next #46)
 

saneagle

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Oct 10, 2010
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Telford
Who do you want to make accountable?
Who do yo want to charge with manslaughter?
Whoever, bought or provided that bike to the kid should be charged with aiding and abetting any crimes that were committed. That's assuming that it was bought. Generally, 15 year old kids don't have the £3,500 or whatever it costs to buy a bike like that

Don't read too much into this, but if my job was to deliver drugs or contraband or do other illicit activities, that's the type of vehicle I'd use, and if I were running some sort of operation using kids as mules, I'd provide them with such vehicles.

All we can do is speculate. Already, people in this thread are jumping to conclusions. The facts we have are:
1. 15 year old kid die after crashing an electric bike.
2. The electric bike is not a legal pedelec, as it has fixed foot pegs, like a motorcycle.
3. The bike had a big box-like battery and substantial very long forks.
4. The bike hit an ambulance and did damage to the windscreen that is consistent with what you get when a head hits it at a fair speed, like you often see in a motorcycle accident.
5. The police were not with the kid at the time of the accident, but they were aware of him and they were in the vicinity.

I speculate that the bike was something like this from comparing the weird angular frame and box-like battery - maybe a different version of that bike, as there are many different ones:
 
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AndyBike

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Nov 8, 2020
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Who said it, what expertise to back it up? Karen on FB?
Science direct, thats the link, or did you miss it :rolleyes:

Clearly you didn't read it before commenting or you would have seen its about how drivers see cyclists, in light of the negative press about them.

How many times have we heard the morons use the phrase 'lycra clad' ?
 
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