"He informed the police and both men voluntarily attended Milton Keynes police station where they admitted being the riders of the motorbikes, exceeding the speed limit and driving in a manner that could be dangerous."
Rule #1 for beating a speeding ticket: never admit guilt. You don't even have to lie, just don't say anything. I really don't see how they were able to identify the license plates of these guys at 150MPH anyway.
Jail time for speeding is ridiculous. You might be booked for reckless driving in the USA, but there's almost no way you will do time for a first offense unless you insult the judge or something.
Speed limits, especially for freeways, suck. The speed limit for a young man on a ZX-12 should not be the same as for an 85-year old driving a Mercury Medicare sled. I don't care what anybody says and what their reasons are, speed limits suck. They're mostly used as a revenue generating device anyway.
Was he wearing only a pair of sandals and a T-shirt also?
The amount of force available if a bike hits a car at that speed could be deadly to anyone this idiot hits. This is the sort of thing that could result in more anti-bike legislation, should this idiot or anyone like him wack an innocent person.
I'm as guilty of speeding as anyone, but 157 mph on public roads? No way. Not even close. Find a race track or a dry lakebed, moron.
Oh, that's right, there aren't any dry lakebeds in perfidious Albion. Too bad, ducky.
Yeah, 15 days in jail would suck but worse is 2 yrs without driving. To be able to handle a bike at 157 leaned over means you have some skill which means these two having been riding for a long time which means they are like most of us riding motorcycles- we NEED to. Give me the full 30 days in jail but please don't take my license for 2 yrs!
Bad move for sure by these two. It's one thing to kill yourself but at those speeds time and distance are out of whack to other drivers. It's easy for someone to pull out in front of you or change a lane on you because they won't realize how fast your gaining on them. It won't just be the biker who's hurt and yes it just gives the anti-motorcycle legislators more fuel for the fire.
Jail time is surprising. I live in Chicago and a rider was busted here doing 167 mph and received a serious fine but he definitely didn't get even the threat of jail time and I don't remember hearing he lost his license either. That's one stiff penalty the Brit's handed out but, I have to say, I'm a believer of stiff penalties. A slap on the wrist sends no message and doesn't prevent the same future behavior.
the reason this made the news was this was the forst time it had happened. I must admit though as someone who has opened up a liter class bike in the UK that this would seriously suck.
These guys definitely weren't thinking before riding. Those speeds in traffic are dumb, I believe that for this type of incident, there are a few states that have laws that could give you Jail time. Virginia used to have, and may still have, a max speed law that could get you booked for something like 'attempted manslaughter'.
I know what you mean. The mature adult in me thinks that it was outrageous and irresponsible and foolish and dangerous and reckless to operate a motorcycle at those speeds on a public road. But lets have a show of hands: Is there anyone out there who owns or has owned a hi-powered superbike and NOT pushed it well into triple-digit speeds on the highway? Anyone? If you haven't then I admire your supreme self-control. I know I was guilty of that many times during my gloriously misspent youth. In fact, a buddy and I were once both ticketed for going 125mph in a 50mph zone! With passengers on the back!! How's that for stupid and irresponsible?
Does anyone find it odd that this guy Andrew Osborne gets his picture in the news and top billing in the story for going 157mph, while the other guy, Neil Bolger barely gets mentioned since he was "only" doing 148mph? Hey Neil! You should have sprung for the pipe and jet kit! Then maybe you could've had the headline!!
I hope that once they complete the penalty period of two years these guys take up riding again. All they need to do is get bikes that are still fun but at less offending speeds.
I sold my Valkyrie and my wifes VFR because it was so much fun and so EASY to go fast on them. I was known to hit a buck 25 on the Valk while passing cars and the VFR, well it was just so comfortable at a buck 20 that I would often not realize I was going that fast.
My Harley will stop accelerating at 115 and the ST1100, while still illegal, catches me zipping along at 90 before I think oops and drop it down to 70. No they're not Valks or Viffers but I don't get in as much trouble either.
What can I say; they were time machines which transported me back to 17 years old and immortal every time I rode them. I still have my time machines now but when they offend at least Im not going to jail. I still plan on getting a track bike to take to the Hallett Speedway for the real thrill. I think I might be able to handle a Ninja 250 but then my wife said I look like an elephant humping a peanut when I rode one so my ego will keep me off of that. Hmm maybe an SV650.
"Mr Rogers said Osborne's "grossly excessive" speed was just a short burst to overtake a lorry and insisted he had not been racing with Bolger."
Wow, Mr. Osborne needs to fire his attorney if this is the best excuse he could come up with. Accelerating even a ZX-12R to that speed would take much more than a "short burst", not to mention how long it would take his friend's ZX-7R to get there.
Actually, at least in Oklahoma, its 'Reckless endangerment' and yes they can arrest you for it. I just can't imagine a judge ruling actual jail time for a first offence.
I do think that an experienced rider on a ZX-12 can safely ride 160mph, but the reason we have speed limits is so that the old man in the Merc isn't trying to do 105. That's scary.
Can you imagine if all these idiots in cages could drive as fast as they think they can??? All the NASCAR watching pickup truck drivers doing 115 in a F-150??!!?
Let's just say that a motorcycle wouldn't last too long in that environment.
When will the motorcycle industry realize that the future depends on the public's perception of us??? Remember how BAD H-D's image was after Hollister? Remember how BAD sales were of H-D's after Hollister??? Why is it that the only time we see motorcycles in the news is when IDIOTS do stupid things on them? When will the manufacturers realize that they are putting themselves out of business by catering to the Ultra Fast latest greatest crowd? They keep making fewer bikes for entry level riders and more bikes for experienced riders. This means that FEWER people are able to get into bikes and ride for 5 years. After 5 years, you're probably hooked. But so few people get to that point because they go out and get the latest badass bike and either wreck or scare the S##T out of themselves. Have you ever noticed all the high-performance bikes for sale by owner with less than 3000 miles on them? Ever wondered why?
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