Motorbikes to be fitted with speed limiters?

[Bobbler]

i have seen a few bike riders who could with a bit more education

Yep, you and Spie are both correct. We have car drivers who cannot see us - partially down to the way the brain works on threat assessment from tests I read in MCN, then we have scooter riders who dont really give a toss riding about it sweatshirts and jeans (though I think in part this is simply a younger/inexperienced issue personally). Then we have the older bikers who are covered by early issued car licenses who dont actually have any proper training before jumping on to two wheels, these are easy to spot to me as they dont seem to do things like "life savers" (throwing a look over your shoulder before making a turn) or know how to make themselves "conspicuous".

The problem we have is that rather than any of the above being tackled we just get an attempt at a blanket safety message of "speed kills" and thats that

 

[Mr_White]

Firstly, what a bunch of idiots.

And secondly, there is no point in fitting speed limiters to anything just for the sake of making people go slower, if people want to go fast £30-£100 will soon get rid of it.

 

[timbob]

Firstly, what a bunch of idiots.

And secondly, there is no point in fitting speed limiters to anything just for the sake of making people go slower, if people want to go fast £30-£100 will soon get rid of it.

Not if the government go ahead with the fixed 3 month jail term for anyone caught tampering with any tracking device/monitor/limiter, as they suggested in the road pricing scheme.

Considering the jails are full already though, I do wonder where they're going to put 30 million prisoners when everybody decides to rip the tracking device off though....

 

[Mr_White]

Not if the government go ahead with the fixed 3 month jail term for anyone caught tampering with any tracking device/monitor/limiter, as they suggested in the road pricing scheme.

Well we don't have tracking devices yet

And they can't exactly tell if people have tampered with the limiter.

Considering the jails are full already though, I do wonder where they're going to put 30 million prisoners when everybody decides to rip the tracking device off though....

Exactly, they couldn't do a damn thing if everyone rebelled against it.

 

[NathanE]

Well we don't have tracking devices yet

And they can't exactly tell if people have tampered with the limiter.

What's to stop someone who get jealous (i.e. the sort of people who flash their lights when they've been overtaken..) jotting down your registration plate and reporting you?

A system like this will turn people against each other. And then there's the problem about foreigners who've come over in the tunnel... will they be limited to?

There is also the fact that sometimes speed can get you out of tricky situations. Especially on bikes. For instance if a HGV is about to crush you against the motorway rail then you generally have two options: speed up or slow down.

 

[Jonny69]

Point 1: I lose count of the number of times I have had to use the power of my bike to pull me out of a situation. Having to hit the brakes instead because the bike speed is limited will put the rider out of control of a situation.

Point 2: It does 60-85mpg in traffic. Fact. Cars do about 15mpg or less in traffic sitting there idling and revving and moving in 1st gear. How does that make any sense?

Point 3: Yes there are huge numbers of weekend-only riders who end up getting squashed out on the lanes. They are just crap riders riding beyond their limits. Why don't we look at the % of performance bikes that get wrecked up vs the % of hot hatches that get smashed up? I bet it's about the same.

 

[Dr Who]

The problem with speed limiters on bikes is balance. When you hit a speed limiter, the sudden cut in acceleration produces a jolt. Imagine what would happen to a biker, accelerating around a bend, leant over slightly if the bike suddenly jolted as it hit the limiter. The biker would be on the floor.

if the limiter is set at 100mph, then theres little sympathy in that argument

Bobbler, who are these bikers riding on old car licences?

I think if you are talking about BAB's or Born Again Bikers, they actually took bike tests, on 125's, without any CBT, but did take a bike test!

I have been in the situation NathanE describes, I chose slow down (read hit the anchors), as travelling faster can only make any resulting crash worse.. however, had I been further along the HGV, I would have chosen to speed up!

This limiter thing is raised regularly, and they never get it thru, as the cornering argument holds..

What we will likely face is a 100bhp cap..

 

[mrgubby]

From what I remember about 80% of Bike accidents happen in 30 limits & 60% are the fault of a third party.


It would make more "Safety Sense" to get rid of those dangerous 30 limits & ban other road users.


or is my logic a bit off

 

[Bobbler]

Bobbler, who are these bikers riding on old car licences?

I think if you are talking about BAB's or Born Again Bikers, they actually took bike tests, on 125's, without any CBT, but did take a bike test!

My bad then, I thought that you could just jump on a bike if you had a license issued before a certain date after a restricted period...now I have no idea why my boss is a complete loon on two wheels

 

[Fireskull]

My bad then, I thought that you could just jump on a bike if you had a license issued before a certain date after a restricted period...now I have no idea why my boss is a complete loon on two wheels

You could back then i think just jump on a bike, or at least the test was just a dude standing while you rode around the block a few times and did emergency stops etc, but even so thats not really a proper test lol, but all depends on how much you use your bike, as with most things practice makes perfect not using the bike like weekend warriors do.