More agile, and more fragile - Tráfico campaign start today to monitor motorbikes

[Janet]

Tráfico has announced an intensive vigilance campaign for motorbikes and mopeds. The campaign will last from today until 25 May, and will involve checkpoints to monitor helmet wearing, safety of vehicles, alcohol and drugs testing, and of course speeding.  The DGT says that to make the campaign as effective as possible, local and regional police forces will supplement Tráfico's own Guardia Civil teams in order to monitor all types of roads.

In context, Tráfico says that in the first four months of 2014, 42 motorcyclists and 5 moped riders have died in road traffic accidents, and that although two-wheeled vehicles are more agile, they are also more fragile, which is the slogan chosen for the campaign. JA

[Perikles]

In context, Tráfico says that in the first four months of 2014, 42 motorcyclists and 5 moped riders have died in road traffic accidents,

That is a terrible toll (presumably for the whole of Spain, not Tenerife). I have seen motorbike riders behaving like idiots. But what the statistics do not say is of these 42 dead, how many of the accidents were not their fault but caused by idiots in cars. No matter how carefully you ride a bike and keep to the rules, nothing prevents you from being vulnerable if there are careless car drivers.

There are other hazards as well. Only ten minutes ago I almost came off my motorbike because some idiot had run a very long electric cable across a road. If the cable had been straight across the road it would have been ok, but oh no - along the road at a very small angle, so that the front wheel of the bike was forced to one side, which is quite difficult to control. No problem in a car.

[Janet]

Someone has posted on my website only this morning:

I have been a motorcyclist all my life and have an excellent safety record , but I have just sold my bike and will never ride here again . Why ? Because riding here in Tenerife is dangerous and not worth the risk . Sure , there are some idiot bikers around but the problem is not with bikers generally speaking but with car drivers . They rarely signal , they barge their way out of slip roads and side streets without any consideration about who has right of way . Go on the motorway and you take your life in your hands on a bike . Tenerife's drivers have never heard of the term ' braking distance ' , or so it seems . They pull into yours without a signal and they tailgate you . I have had drivers up my exhaust pipe 6 to 8 feet away at 120km/hr !!! My last biking episode was a lady driver pulling out of side street on the left and pulling straight across both lanes smack in front of me , even though I had my headlight on ! Luckily I was , as always , driving at a speed suitable for the location and just , just managed to stop in time – inches away . She shot off and after starting my stalled engine , I went after her and gave a real telling off . All I got was a smirk in return . The police have got it totally wrong here . Get on the motorway , prosecute all the tailgaters and cut-up merchants and slap on some heavy fines . You will make a shed load of money and contribute significantly to safety on the roads and motor cycle accident reduction in particular .

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

There are other hazards as well. Only ten minutes ago I almost came off my motorbike because some idiot had run a very long electric cable across a road. If the cable had been straight across the road it would have been ok, but oh no - along the road at a very small angle, so that the front wheel of the bike was forced to one side, which is quite difficult to control. No problem in a car.

Are you talking about the narrow black cable on the far end of our road by the barranco?  I ran past it twice this morning and really wondered why somebody had put it there - it is attached to nothing.

[Perikles]

Are you talking about the narrow black cable on the far end of our road by the barranco?  I ran past it twice this morning and really wondered why somebody had put it there - it is attached to nothing.

Yes, it looks innocuous but is enough to tip somebody off a bike if they are not careful. No problem if you expect it, but why would you expect a mains extension cable running diagonally across the road like that?

There are all kinds of such hazards which pose no risk to a car but which make bikes vulnerable. Oh, and the time when they were resurfacing the road up to our village, with temporary traffic lights, where I was forced to stop the bike and sink my feet into hot wet tarmac, then ride through wet tarmac. Tricky and sticky.

[Guanche]

Someone has posted on my website only this morning:

I have seen toooo many dead motor cyclist three of them police cyclist, two of them personal friends of mine. I told my children at an early age if they ever brought a motor cycle home I would set about it with a lump hammer until it was in bits. I'm counting in my head how many fatalities I've attended and its up to 17 that I can remember. Most were rider error, to fast, not paying due care, over confidence and one faulty machine (three rode in to the back of legally parked vehicles) Most were young and all were male. Most were engaging in risky overtakes at the time of the collisions and most collided with on coming vehicles.

I have to admit I don't see that quote as accurate, not in the North anyway. Most motor cyclist I see on the TF1 are good. I know this goes against the grain but the only tail gating I see involving motor cycles is by the motor cyclist!  It has to be said they tend to be the shorts, Tee shirt and flip flop wearing type! I've never seen any aggressive driving by cars against motor cyclist.... but there again I only do about 40 miles a day. I tend to notice these things.

Most that go past our house every weekend are correctly dressed, well the rip shitters are! the rest on the HD's type tend to cruise up the mountain at 40kph.
I can agree with the poster but to be fair its just as bad if your a car driver there is a 'mañana' attitude to driving here and it crosses all the diffrent forms of transport, even horse riders!

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

About 45 years ago my aunt married a man who had lost a leg in a motorcycling accident.  He was riding by when someone backed out of their drive onto him.  He wanted to back out of the proposed marriage but my aunt said "I'm marrying you, not your leg."  He was a great uncle.

[Michael]

As a former biker i'm only too aware of how careless some British drivers are and I also know that the overall standard of driving in Tenerife is appalling.

Having said that, boy have I seen some 2 wheel muppets in Tenerife so the statistics don't surprise me.

I was sitting outside Hospiten Sur once and this halfwit came racing up the approach road on a scooter, t-shirt and flip flops and riding side-saddle.

Talk about a potential donor! 

[Perikles]

Having said that, boy have I seen some 2 wheel muppets in Tenerife so the statistics don't surprise me.

The motorcyclists whom I see on the roads here in Tenerife generally seem to be extremely good, 'good' in the sense of ability to ride a bike very fast on bad roads. This is their weakness, an inability to recognise that the island is not actually a racing track and others on the road are not as focussed as they are.

But the figures given for numbers of dead this year are fairly meaningless unless they are supported by other figures for car drivers for comparison, and figures for the fatalities caused by the faults which they intend to monitor over the next few days.