Rider died in Medowie this weekend

[TrentMember]

I can only convey what I heard on the news but the gist is that a solo rider collided with a lead rider and the solo fella passed away and the group leader had some fractures.

I’ve tried searching but cannot find any further info at this stage.

Tragic for all involved and fingers crossed it wasn’t a friend as well as fellow trailrider.

RIP mate and condolences to those affected.

On another note they also reported that the police ran a blitz in the watagans looking for unlicenced and unregistered riders and also went looking for riders in no-go zones. I’m curious what they consider a the no-go zones up here. Its good to see them active out there but I’d like to see more clear and readily available information about where we should be staying away from. Hell we pay enough rego considering we’re not using the roads, why can’t they provide registered vehicle owners with information packs.

[Anonymous]

A 17-YEAR-OLD Medowie youth died and a 44-year-old man was taken to hospital with a badly broken arm after two trailbike riders collided head-on yesterday.
The collision occurred in dense bush in Medowie State Forest about two kilometres from the intersection of Ringwood and Medowie roads, police said.

The Hunter Westpac rescue helicopter had to winch paramedics to the crash scene after 11am.

Although crash investigators continued to work into the night, police believe the 44-year-old was riding at the front of a group of five riders when he collided with the teenager on a trail.

Witnesses performed CPR on the teenager until paramedics arrived, but he died at the scene from internal injuries.

Other emergency services had to use four-wheel-drive vehicles to get to the crash site.

A number of groups werevriding in the state forest at the time of the accident, police said.

They were unsure if the teenager was riding on his own or was separated from a group.

The 44-year-old man was flown to John Hunter Hospital and will require surgery to his arm, paramedics said.

Police did not release the deceased’s name, but said his next of kin had been notified.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

Investigations were continuing.

The accident comes just five months after a Wallsend man died while riding a trailbike near Ferndale Park, north of Dungog.

The 62-year-old was found dead after riding on his own through dense bush on January 16.

[Steve WyethMember]

Geez, not that it’s acceptable for anyone to die but a 17 tear old kid, he’s hardly had much of a chance at things

RIP little dude.

[DamoMember]

condolences to all

A reminder of how fragile we are

[Mick DMember]

seems as though every Monday morning has an unfortunate story like this.

[Jason GreenMember]

Thats so sad.The guys family must be so gutted by this terrible accident.We need to take care on every ride we do.I had a real close call with a nissan 4wd at Wombeyan caves a few years ago and you never know whats around the corner.Take care guys and my condolences to the young blokes family

[scott bockingMember]

I have been thinking about this a bit lately as it something that you really have no control over. Or at least very little. The head on is the dirt biking equivilant to shark attack in surfing except it seems it is happening a lot more in the bush than in the ocean.
Backcountry skiers use a device called an avalance beacon or Transciever. It attaches to your chest and constantly emits a frequency that is standard. If some one should get caught in an avalanche the rest of the party switch theirs to recieve and then play a game or hotter, colder to position them above the victim. The louder and more frequent the beep is the closer you are getting. Once above the strongest signal it is time to start digging.
Is it not possible to create some sort of device that has mutiple frequencies that all riders in one group can tune to at the start of the ride. There would be enough available frequencies that the odds of another group riding the same area and chosing the same frequency would be slim. The unit then detects any other bikes approaching of a different freqeuncy and alerts the riders by a flashing light on the dash or a noise that is bluetoothed to the helmet. Of course this would ciost money but you may only need to pay to have the ability to change your frequency and pick up the signal. All bikes could be set by the manufactures to emit on a common frequency regardless of wheter you chose to buy the unit or not.
This would keep the costs down for the manufacturer but it would ensure that all bike were transmitting and if you chose to buy the receive equipment as an aftermarket safety item you could.

STM

[Steve WyethMember]

It’s a good idea Scotty, but considering there are a good portion of people who don’t even pay rego I can’t see them jumping on board.

Something would be better than nothing though.

[TrentMember]

It’d be a good concept but you could never ride assuming that it was working because as per the weekend’s reports there’s too many unregistered riders and then you’ve also got the 4wds out there.

If someone came up with a solid plan for it I reckon it’d be helpful though.

Really I think that the registration system needs a complete overhaul, especially in NSW. Bush users should be registered to use the bush and the funds from that registration should only be allotted to the services that manage and police that area. This would also make it possible for all bush users to be aligned regarding a set of “rules of the tracks” such as transponders, marked tracks in built up areas etc. though keep in mind these are just ideas that go behind the principle and I don’t see their details as being the critical factor.

We can’t afford to play to the lowest common denominator (being unregistered riders) otherwise we’ll let our sport’s image go to ruin IMO. Show that we’re responsible by doing the right thing and being proactive otherwise the authorities will simply put it in the too hard basket and use these incidents as more fuel to get us out of the bush

As good as they are I think even the bush patrols tarnish the sport’s image unfortunately because the general public see that the police are out booking illegal trailriders and develop a frame of mind that bike riders are doing the wrong thing since they don’t have any frame of reference regarding what constitutes legal activities so we’re all “noisey outlaws destroying the environment”!

I think the bigger clubs and retailers need to proactively represent the sport and demonstrate what the good guys are doing to protect the sport’s future and integrity with responsible riding and openly consult with the authorities to develop a mutually agreeable future.

[scott bockingMember]

If all bikes and 4wd’s designed for offroad us had the transmitter from stock, like part of ADR compliance it would not be expensive for the manufacturer and it would not matter if you were registered or not. The frequency used here would be industry standard so this would not be one that you would tune to in your group if you owned the recieve equipment.

[TrentMember]

STM, I don’t want to be a negative prick and encourage the discussion but IMO if we want the ADR’s changed and manufacturers involved it won’t happen in our lifetimes. IMO First step would be introducing it to clubs and then make it a registration requirement of bush users. Too many 4wd owners have no inclination to ever get on a firetrail to bother trying to get them on board and actually contribute.

[GregMember]

Austblue wrote:

Quote:

Even the bush patrols tarnish the sport’s image unfortunately because the general public see that the police are out booking illegal trailriders and develop a frame of mind that bike riders are doing the wrong thing since they don’t have any frame of reference regarding what constitutes legal activities so we’re all “noisey outlaws destroying the environment”!

I think the bigger clubs and retailers need to proactively represent the sport and demonstrate what the good guys are doing to protect the sport’s future and integrity with responsible riding.

Well said and written AB, that is it in a nut shell. Part of the formation of OBT was to try and be pro active towards rego and ride areas. I myself wont ride certain areas even though they are easier for me to ride and are favorite areas but are over ridden IMO. These over ridden areas are normally ridden by un regoed people as well. I dont have an answer but would like to help. I dont have a problem in telling someone they cant ride their unregistered bike / motorcross bike on one of our rides, but am not going to check rego papers etc I have seen un regoed 4×4’s trailered in to the watagans to do hill climbs and have rang the authorities reporting it, its my ride area that I will lose in the long run and I pay my rego.

As a lead rider of many rides a head on is always a worry and I just try to limit the odds as best as I can, this means some funny lines, looking ahead in the bush for head lights (hoping they have one) looking for dust etc and hope the other rider is doing the same.

R.I.P young mate

TB

[mikeMember]

Sad news this.

Rest in piece mate.

[glennMember]

Heads up out there people!

R.I.P
little dirt bike buddy

[ianMember]

this is never good to hear and can happen to anyone of us , about 12 months after i started riding dirt again( its been about 5 years all up now) i had a head on out here at wallaroo and we were both lucky to be tossed away in the opposite direcection of each other and unhurt and both rode our bikes home but it stays with me to this day that it could be just around the next corner and as trailboss said you use funny lines or lookingthrough the bush i dont even get into it on firetrails for this reason as i tend to be suckin the bigones in and trying to get a bit of composure for the next single but i still would hate to meet someone at highspeed on a firetrail not much stopping power on gravel, i dont think you could ever stop this sort of thing otherwise they would have already stopped the carnage on our highways and they have got more rules and regulation than you can poke a stick at!!, so i guess its a thought to all of us that apart from being a great and fun sport it is also a very dangerous sport, so do everything in your power to make it safer and that alone could make the difference! . My condolances go out to the family of the young fella and i hope the other fella makes a quick recovery. This would have been just tragic to everyone who would have been involved.

[Author]

Posts