Estimated speeds just do not make sense
I have been a motorcyclist for 35 years and from the eyewitness accounts and the picture you have on the front page, some of the estimated speeds that Patryk Wojtczak was doing just do not make sense (inquest report, right).
It concerns me greatly that there has been no report on the motorcycle, ie brake failure or a mechanical failure.
Also, the eyewitness accounts of half an hour before could have been anybody and to be 99.9 per cent sure it was Patryk he would have had to be riding without a helmet on? Was this the case?
In regards to the van driver who pulled in to let the other vehicle past, the driver stated that he heard the motorcycle coming and looked into his mirror and saw Patryk doing a wheelie.
1 – If Patryk was doing a wheelie as stated and the van driver saw him in his mirror the fact is that Patryk must have been outside the van line, ie over the white line of the road and in fact not on a collision course with the van, so how did he hit the van?
2 – How has the collision investigator come to the facts of the collision when it was only stated estimated speed? If Patryk was doing no less than 52 miles per hour he could have stopped within 50 feet easily on an R6 motorcycle.
3 – The collision investigator also stated that the effects of doing a wheelie would leave Patryk with no steering or braking control. This is not the case – a controlled wheelie in fact leaves you with lots of steering and braking but this does depend on the rider’s experience of course, and the wheelie being done in an appropriate location and not on a public highway.
4 – I find it very sad that the reports of this poor lad doing 60-80 miles a hour only half an hour before his accident was not necessary to report. It has portrayed this biker as a maniac and I am sure that this was not the case.
This was a terrible accident and I feel greatly saddened for his parents and family
Brian Turner
Spalding
EDITOR: Most of the points you make are not concerned with how the report was written but with the evidence given at the inquest. Legally, this is all we can report on.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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