Mesh Barrier To Cut Biker Deaths   Story from BBC NEWS Published: 2009/08/10 09:35:25 GMT A new-style crash barrier, which it is hoped will reduce motorcycle deaths, is being tested in County Durham. The barrier, which has a containment mesh to absorb the energy of a rider during impact, is being fitted to a stretch of the A689 at Killhope. The Biker-Safe system is already used in parts of Europe and is being fitted to a corner section of the A689, the scene of several biker accidents. So far this year there have been two deaths involving bikers in the county. Barrier support Engineers from Durham County Council are fitting the barrier on a section of road close to the entrance to the Killhope Lead Mine Museum in upper Weardale. A Durham Police spokesman said: "Normal roadside barriers are designed to retain cars, vans and trucks, but in many instances can be deadly for motorcyclists who collide with them. Biker-Safe has been designed to address the problem. "A containment mesh is fitted to the lower section of the barrier to absorb the energy of the rider during impact. "This ensures they do not strike the barrier support upright, which is one of the main causes of serious or fatal injuries." It is hoped the new barriers will be installed in other parts of the county. In County Durham there were 131 road accidents involving motorcycles in 2008, resulting in two riders losing their lives. So far this year there have been 87, with two fatalities.                                                                                                                                                                              

Grim stats indeed , there's a road heading out of Malton can't recall which one offhand but the stats on the signboard seem unbelievable , they should re-look this section as well even though i believe a road is as dangerous as YOU allow it to be..                                                                                                                                                                             

Any extra safety measures are most welcome and i will be interested to see if it affects the grim stats once up and running.   I agree with exc as well, sometimes we make our own danger                                                                                                                                                                             

Sounds interesting I'd like to see more happening within citys though as there is an awful lot of unnessecery road side furniture like the 2.5-3ft decorative bollards!                                                                                                                                                                               

Dammit - just read this as Mesh Barrier to Cut Bikers To Death!!!                                                                                                                                                                             

I rode the "Helmsley TT" yesterday on my way back from a site (I hate my job) and it had signs up showing some pretty grim stats as well.   In particular 43 motorcycle casualties in the last five years.                                                                                                                                                                             

I rode the Helmsley road last week on the way to Scarborough geoff and saw the same sign, trouble is these signs said the same thing 5 years ago and they wonder why people ignore them!

On the A66 from Scotch Corner to Penrith the sign has said the same thing for over 10 years that I know of, does this mean there's been no further accidents since the sign was erected or can't anyone be bothered to update it cos it doesn't mean anything anyway I wonder??

Best plan is still not to go tarmac surfing but given it's going to happen at some point anything softer than hitting Armco is hopefully an improvement.    I agree the accident figures should be updated, the most worrying one rarely gets mentioned, while the number of bike fatalities has reduced significantly in recent years the number of single vehicle bike accidents and fatalities has increased in the same period. i.e. more pillocks are immolating themselves by trying too hard on bends.  The group most represented in the single bike figures are 40-45 year old males.     Food for thought for the born again bikers amongst us, don't believe everything you read in "Performance Berks".                                                                                                                                                                             

Had to google that word prof and it sent a shudder down my spine mate                                                                                                                                                                               

'immolate' I was referring to by the way                                                                                                                                                                               

  I looked in me dictionary  lol  (= kill or sacrifice)   Ya have to laugh at the words 'pillocks' and 'immolating' in the same sentence   PML @ TeeCee reading the title wrongly, it was YOU who posted it ya nana.                                                                                                                                                                                 

Yeah, I know... but as I was scanning down the list that was what I read it as. Doh!    (Mind you, in another thread I also read the word ridicule as ricdude so maybe time to cut back on the jelly beans...)   When I was talking to the guy from the Tayside Safety Partnership he echoed prof's statistic about the 40-45 age group apart from the latest figures (not sure over how long a period, maybe a quarter) where all the fatalities were under 30 which is a real anomaly!                                                                                                                                                                             

Sacrifice seems an appropriate word, I have had personal experience of this one which caused a bit of a falling out with an old acquaintance when I suggested he book a training course before he killed himself and took some other poor sod with him.   Typical story, he last rode nearly 20 years ago, last bike a Z650 bought a 600 bandit, rode it badly for a couple of months then bought a ZX9R, colour matched leathers, Arai lid and titanium knee sliders.  His riding was truly scary and all the while he was trying to get his knee down like a "real" rider.  I refused to ride with him unless he followed me and when he did he would blast past me on the straights at warp speed then slow to near walking pace and wobble and threepeny bit every bend hanging off the bike.  Thankfully he decided that bikes aren't as much fun as he remembered and chopped the Ninja in against the classic mid life crisis MX 5.    Personally I think Fast Bikes and Performance Bike should be banned, the constant drivel about wheelies,  knee down and 150 mph everywhere is dangerous. The only good thing about the go faster colour matched leather mags is that as people scare themselves off bikes it at least provides a steady stream of nearly new low mileage bikes for the rest of us.                                                                                                                                                                             

Nice one prof!!! I like the way you talk                                                                                                                                                                             

*where all the fatalities were under 30 which is a real anomaly!*

TC this might be due to the flood of us 40-45 year olds and the younger lads showing us born agains how its 'done'. I'm amazed when i'm riding quick and get passed by bikes 6" away doing twice my speed. I've just been lucky enough not to exit the bend as they're ploughing into a tree!

Prof you're absolutely right about the bike market. I was told today that bike prices are about to be slashed due to the number of bikes on sale and the reducing amount of buyers due to the credit crunch etc Never thought about it being due to us newbies thinking were man anough for a serious sports bike (after all our families think we're going through a mid life crisis so we need to prove we know what we're doing) and scaring the sh*te out of ourselves. Fortunately I bought a fairly sensible bike to enjoy biking again
                                                                                                                                                                             

Got to admit though, bought the colour matched leathers!                                                                                                                                                                               

whats up wiv yu old buggers over 40 get a decent cruiser an relax put your feet up sit back in comfort enjoy the view an still beat the traffic!an yu may live as long as me!!                                                                                                                                                                               

tango I think the hardest bit is admitting to ourselves we're old!                                                                                                                                                                               

  Speak for yourself! I aint old, I'm just well run in                                                                                                                                                                              

Kwak I was speakin for you not me