David's story - A poignant reminder.

A mother has released video footage of the moment her son was killed in a motorbike crash in order to raise awareness of the dangers of driving.

David Holmes, 38, was killed in a head-on collision on the A47 at Honingham near Norwich in June last year whilst riding at 97 m/ph. His final few moments were captured on film as he was wearing a camera on his helmet.

His mother, Brenda Holmes, has now made the decision to release the footage through Norfolk Police in order raise awareness of road safety.

The driver of the Renault involved in the collision admitted to police he had not seen the motorbike or the car behind him as he turned off the junction. He was prosecuted in April.

Norfolk Police admitted it is a risky decision to release the "shocking" footage but believe it is necessary to get people to talk about road safety and allow the Holmes' family to "take something positive out of this tragic event".

Warning: Some viewers may find the footage distressing



If you need to view the video on YouTube enter xq2xStb0R-c




RIP David.

Heard about this on the radio: much debate, ie 'he shouldn't gave been doing that speed/ car driver should have been more careful.' Sort of thing.

I passed on the viewing.

Whilst I agree that any road death is very sad, I watched the accident with horror when I saw the speed the bike was doing. OK, so it may not exonerate the car driver but the bike was doing almost 200 meters in 4 seconds. So, time it back 4 seconds, look at the distance the car driver has to see the bike at and then ask yourself if you would've seen the biker??? ( Personally, I wouldn't want to gamble on it). Makes you wonder why at such a road junction there wasn't a reduction in the speed limit as there is on the continent. I'm not sure however, if in this case it would've changed the outcome as the biker was going so fast and clearly wasn't concerned with limits.

I know it's hypothetical but what if a little kiddie had run out in front of the biker when he was doing almost 100mph? I suppose we all learn from this that speed does kill. I can't begin to imagine what the car driver is going through.

I respect David's mothers right to release the footage, I chose not to watch it however. I saw far to much trauma during my years with the ambulance service.

Vale, David.

I got done for spending on the M1 around 12.years ago. Bang to rights, it was fairly quiet in the evening and I got caught by Mr Plod who was playing the old game of being tucked between two trucks. First and last ticket in 40 years of driving. To date.

He charitably booked me at 85, which cost me the 3 points and fine. I was touching 95 in truth.

The point of this ramble is this: what he said as I was the naughty boy in the back of his Volvo: "powerful car, well maintained, excellent brakes, experienced driver who really should know better..... Now, imagine a novice driver, say in an old 1 litre Fiesta, not yet experienced in judging speed and distance of oncoming traffic pulled out of lane 2 into lane 3 in front of you, assuming that you would be doing 70..."

Made me think, I can tell you.

The point about the kiddie running out is very well made too.

Saw it linked on another forum. Started to watch it then stopped. Realised I didn't want to watch someones last moments of life, even if he knew nothing about it.

Gave myself a scare or two some years back on a couple of FZRs. Hitting over the ton as I passed a Readymix lorry & realised he probably didn't know I was there. Booting down a country road at harvest time, tractors in & out of fields.

Terrible tragedy for all involved in this case, and I hope his mother's decision to release the footage prevents someone else from going through the same.

I have had a couple of spills on bikes over the years but 11 years ago I was seriously injured in a RTA, on a beautiful Fireblade CBR919RR which was my pride and joy.

I always took care when riding, but the superior handling on a fully balanced machine and powerful braking lulls you into a false sense of security. I wasn't a speed merchant but would push it when I thought it was safe to do but if you do enough miles on the roads today the odds are you will make contact with someone who pulls out in front of you; as I did.

Bikes don't mix with other road uses very well and we will always have biker fatalities "exceeding the speed limit or not" I would love to have another bike but the rest of my family say no as they also suffer the worry and pain. My heart goes out to the poor guys mum who is trying to to make a difference by posting the video and maybe save a life!

Brian.

I know this post has nothing to do with drink driving but i work/manage a pub. The amount of drink drivers i see boggles the mind. Theres chaps who come in on a regular basis, some of them every day who think nothing of having 3 or 4 pints then driving home. One guy has 4 whiskeys followed by a pint then drives off into the sunset 6 days a week every evening at ten. I dont agree with drink driving, i despise it in fact. If i know im driving i wont touch it, not even a sip as i know what the consequences can be. Most of the time its the old excuse of "i can hold my drink and it dosent effect me like it does the young ones" but its an accident waiting to happen. So if our chap with the whiskeys was the one to crash into the 100mph biker, who would have been at the most fault? The drinker or the speeder? either way, the drinker lives another day and the no drinker lives no more. Theres very little justice in this world.

How many drivers of MGF's and TF's push the limits in their road driving?

I have noticed that my MGF's almost seem invisible to many other road users. Have lost count already of the times that others have pulled out without seemingly seen the MGF. I know my horns work as they get regular use due to this.

Just watched the vid, didnt find it distressing in the least but a few things that have to be said here and im sorry if i sound like a bastard. Firstly he was riding very dangerously having no concern for other on the road, his speed was dangerous from the start. If he wasnt going so fast the accident could have been prevented. Secondly "motorists, please slow down" his mum said. Im sorry but the car was crawling along at the junction and he was hitting very excessive speeds, who is it that really needs to slow down in the clip? At the bikes speed it would take a blink of an eye for a bike to be a few hundred meters away to attached to your front bumper, no wonder the woman driver didnt see him.

Just a note to reassure members that the video does not contain graphic footage of injuries. It does show a rider's eye view of the last ride of David including the collision.

Assigning blame is pointless, but learning valuable lessons about inappropriate speed and lack of awareness of other road users is something worthwhile, imho.

The only road speed limit sign visible in the video is a 40mph. We know he was doing 97
We don't know if David's bike had the headlight on. We don't know if the driver saw him but presumed he was going slower.
We don't know what the actual limit was at that junction, but single carriageway roads have a maximum of 60mph.

I, personally, have pulled out in front of another car, presuming their speed to be within the posted limit when they were actually exceeding it by 33%. Fortunately for both of us we avoided colliding. I learned a valuable lesson about presumption that day. Whether the other driver learned anything I don't know.

What I do see almost every time I'm driving is motorbike riders flouting speed limits, especially in 30 and 40 zones; much fewer percentages of car drivers offending in those zones, To a certain extent, less car drivers because they generally have to follow the traffic in front where bike riders can zip in and out of the traffic.

An indisputable fact is that in a collision between a motorbike and a car, however caused, it's the bike rider who almost always will come off worst.

"An indisputable fact is that in a collision between a motorbike and a car, however caused, it's the bike rider who almost always will come off worst."

Then you would think that bikers would be aware of this and stop zipping through traffic at speed and slow down a little.