170MPH Death Biker Is Freed
Got this from The Sun. Link to the video is posted at the bottom.
What are your thought on this?
170mph death biker is freed
A MOTORCYCLIST who chased and filmed his best friend at up to 170mph before he was killed in a horror road smash walked FREE from court today.
Dad-of-four Fred Bowden, 42, strapped a camera to his bike and followed Andrew Prowse, 46, as the pair clocked up some of the fastest speeds recorded on a British road.
The pair broke the speed limit 30 TIMES in twenty minutes as Bowden filmed his mate Andrew for 25 miles on A-roads in Cornwall.
But their reckless ride ended in tragedy when Andrew clipped a hatchback car on his Kawasaki ZX10R and was thrown under an oncoming camper van.
He died instantly when his legs and head were ripped off and the horrific smash was caught on camera by Bowden.
Bowden was then knocked off his own Kawasaki 1000cc ZX10-R by the flying wreckage of Andrew’s bike.
It later emerged Bowden was clocked at a top speed of 156mph — but his speedometer had reached speeds of 170mph, Truro Crown Court heard.
Bowden was caught speeding 30 times – riding 70mph in a 40mph limit, 100mph in a 60mph limit and 124mph in a 70mph limit.
Bowden, of Helston, Cornwall, had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving but escaped prison.
He was given a 51 week jail sentence suspended for two years, fined �190 and disqualified from driving for three years.
The sentence was suspended after Andrew’s family asked the court to show lenience because he and Bowden were close friends.
Judge Christopher Elwen told him: “This wild ride came to an end with the tragic death of your long time and close friend Andrew Prowse.
“What has been seen on the video was a prolonged course of dangerous driving with grossly high speeds and inappropriate overtaking.
“Motorists were alarmed and afraid for their lives. You will have to live with this for the rest of your life.
“In view of exceptionally powerful mitigation I will suspend the prison term for two years.”
Bowden, a car mechanic, was riding a 1000cc Kawasaki ZX10-R on July 12 last year.
He had intended to take his son for a ride but Andrew, his mate since school, arrived at his house and suggested they go for a ride.
Andrew then fitted his video camera to Bowden’s petrol tank and the pair raced along the A30 in Tolvaddon, Camborne, Cornwall.
One witness, who was overtaken by the speeding pair, told his passenger: “those idiots are going to die if they carry on driving like that”.
During the chase Andrew, of Helston, overtook a Ford Mondeo at 100mph and clipped a hatchback and was thrown under a van.
He became “tangled up” in the vehicle’s wheels and was decapitated and lost both of his legs – as the entire scene was caught on film by Bowden behind him.
Off-duty cop James Gallienne found a scene of “blood and unrecognisable body parts” and immediately called 999.
The officer told a previous hearing: “I could see a small video camera mounted on the fuel tank of the black bike – I could see it was still running.
Defending, Robert Linford said: “Nobody can punish him as much as he has punished himself. They had ridden together a lot.
“Mr Prowse was known to the defendant since their school days. They were best friends and their family were close. He must now live with the knowledge of what happened to his friend.”
Bowden was given a suspended sentence after Andrew’s parents told the court he hadn’t meant for the ride to end in tragedy.
Sidney and Daphne Prowse said: “What happened was not his fault. He is a man who would do anything for anyone. He is an extremely good man.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5507922/Motorcyclist-filmed-death-of-friend-as-they-broke-speed-limit.html
There was more than one piece of bad riding/driving involved. I think we have to remember that someone has been killed here who had a family and friends. However, it should also serve a purpose to remind us that we’re not indestructable and we need to be careful out there. There’s a few points worth pointing out in the lead up to the accident.
This is the point where the bike is preparing to overtake and the car starts to pull out.
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/7183/overtake.jpg
My guess is that the driver didn’t do a mirror check before pulling out. Or if he did, it was too early. The bike didn’t clip him, he had nowhere to go. He could have done that on any overtake. The car was relying on the hatched section of the road to do his overtake. He was level with the white car, who had been forced over to the far left of the road to enable him to get through.
If you take the bike accident out of it, it was a crap piece of driving and if the Police had been behind him, it would probably have been classed as reckless and dangerous.
Now to the bike. The biker badly planned the overtake. I think he was trying to use his speed to carry him through the overtake rather than brake hard because of the on coming traffic. I would say he was carrying too much speed. We can see the on coming traffic in the picture. One of the things we are guilty of, is using the narrowness of bikes to get us through an overtake. That’s okay but an escape route should never be sacrificed. He probably thought he’d make it through on the same hatches that the car used. If you’re relying on these to get you past, you’re asking for trouble.
If you pull out into oncoming traffic, what happens if you lose power.
That’s not just sportsbike riders who are guilty of that one. I saw somebody filtering last week on Pan. They were filtering past a bus, which was filling the entire lane. The Pan riders idea of filtering was to move into the opposite lane and bimble past the bus, while forcing the on coming cars travelling at 60mph to serve to the left of their lane to get past him. I was one of the three cars. All he had to do was sit tight for a few seconds until we were clear, then he could have been past safely.
So, it would look to me, like two equally bad overtake attempts.
What we need to remember is that as bikers, we are more vulnerable than the cars. Another car would have ploughed into the front car an probably spun it in front of the camper van.
What happens when we’re on the road will not always go to plan. All we can do is make sure we don’t do anything too daft and try to have an escape route.