Speed Camera News Speed SCAMERA KILLS Motorcyclist: Motorcyclist in death skid after spotting speed trap
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Motorcyclist in death skid after spotting speed trap
By Martin Delgado
Last updated at 1:01 AM on 10th April 2011
A motorcyclist was killed yesterday when he braked as he approached a police speed camera, sending his machine into a skid.
Police officers manning the mobile unit watched in horror as the rider lost control of the powerful black bike in a 50mph zone on a dual-carriageway.
The camera was housed in a police van which had been parked on a fly-over on the A338 near Bournemouth.
Mobile speed traps have to be clearly visible to road users and are often marked with a camera logo.
Anti-camera campaigners have claimed the devices are dangerous because they encourage motorists to slam on their brakes.
But this is thought to be one of the first such incidents in which a motorcyclist has been killed.
The motorbike came to rest near the central reservation and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene just before 9.30am yesterday.
No other vehicle was involved, according to police.
A Dorset Police spokesman said: ‘Due to the proximity of the stationary safety camera van at the incident, the matter has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints
Commission (IPCC).’
IPCC officials will now have to decide whether the accident falls into the category of ‘death following police contact’.
If it does, a full investigation will be carried out to establish whether the camera’s positioning played any part in the biker’s death.
The crash occurred on the northbound carriageway of the A338 Wessex Way, near the Cooper Dean flyover. Police closed the road in both directions, causing long delays for thousands of daytrippers trying to reach the South Coast.
It happened on an open stretch of the dual-carriageway, which also has a number of fixed Gatso-type speed cameras and is patrolled by police officers.
Tony Cripps, 70, a motorcyclist from Dorset, who knows the road well, said: ‘It’s a straight, fast dual-carriageway, a wide-open road and very smooth. A rider might feel that he can go as fast as he likes.
‘If you didn’t know that there’s a speed limit of 50mph, you would assume it was a 70mph road.
‘I imagine he saw the speed camera van, was going too fast, slammed on the brakes and lost control.’
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