Posted on 04/28/2007 2:09:35 PM PDT by martin_fierro
Police motorcycle branded threat to safety by inquiry into officer's death
MICHAEL HOWIE HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (mhowie@scotsman.com)
A POLICE motorcycle used by Scottish forces poses a "serious and continued" threat to riders' lives, a coroner has ruled.
Dr James Adeley yesterday said he intended to write to chief constables warning them of the "catastrophic result" which can occur with the Honda motorbike.
Dr Adeley was speaking at the conclusion of the inquest into the death of police motorcyclist David Shreeve, who was thrown from his bike while on a training exercise. The father of two, who worked for Merseyside Police, was crushed to death under a lorry after he fell from his Honda Pan European ST1300.
The Scotsman has learned that police riders in Scotland have been told not to exceed 100mph on the bikes amid concerns.
Merseyside Police withdrew all its models after the accident.
But there are still about 400 ST1300s in use across England and Wales while in Scotland a number of forces still use the bikes.
Strathclyde Police said it had 31 1300s in use. A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said its fleet of 12 ST1300s had been modified and individually risk-assessed since the death.
A police source said: "A speed limit of 100mph has been put on the bikes. It is something that forces are working with ACPOS [the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland] to address."
The inquest in Lancaster heard PC Shreeve lost control of his vehicle after it began to shake violently while travelling at high speed.
The phenomenon, known as high-speed weave, refers to a sideways snaking motion which can cause the rider difficulty steering and makes the bike uncontrollable.
Dr Adeley told how after the death several bikes of that particular model underwent comprehensive safety checks.
In one of the tests an examiner broke his leg and fractured both wrists after being thrown from the Honda, which experienced an identical high-speed weave.
PC Shreeve, 38, was travelling at about 110mph along the M58 motorway near Skelmersdale, Lancashire, on 9 November, 2005 when he crashed.
The inquest was told the problems affected only police models of the motorcycle, which has been specially fitted with heavy emergency and communications equipment. The extra kit altered the centre of gravity of the machines.
The ST1300 was released in the UK in March 2002 and the police specification model was delivered at the beginning of November that year. The first reports of high-speed weave problems were made by officers in January the following year.
A Honda spokeswoman said: "For Honda the safety of our riders is paramount. We will continue to liaise with the police in light of the coroner's verdict."
Meredydd Hughes, the head of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Uniformed Operations Business Area, said: "The death of any police officer while on duty is a tragedy, and on behalf of all our colleagues I offer my sympathy to his family, friends and colleagues."
Mr Hughes, also the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire, added: "Where officers have complied with ACPO guidelines and testing procedures, no-one has been killed or injured as a result of this issue.
"The ACPO committee will consider the coroner's comments and any new evidence presented to the inquest to consider what - if any - further measures need to be taken. As always, ACPO's primary consideration will be officer safety."
Paul Smith, the founder of road safety campaign group Safe Speed, said all police forces should withdraw the model until the problem is fixed. "There have been rumours about the safety of this bike in police circles for years now," he said.
"There have been various complaints and a couple of police officers have died. It would seem a sensible move to withdraw the bikes from service until they get to the bottom of the problem."
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“High-speed weave” bump!
How many miles on these bikes? Has anybody checked the steering head bearings?
Sounds like they’re describing what is commonly referred to as the “Death Rattles”...
Once experienced and survived - never forgotten..
Do you accept scooterists to your list? ;)
Sure!
All you need is an interest in motorcycles.
I’ll pass this along, if it’s a common problem. Or, is it just this British model?
any bike can have this issue.
causes include
steering head
swing arm
weight distribution
shock setup
and on and on......
i have riden with this bike closing on a ton.5(150mph) and the rider had no problems.
however you overload this bike and put a heavy rider without PROPER SHOCK/RIDE SETUP i could easily see this happening.
with all the weight laying on that back wheel as shown in the picture above would make the front end lighter then designed, thus lending itself to a highspeed tank slapper.
in theory a harley cop bike would do the same thing but no one has gotten one over 100. haha............
those guys still on strike?
I've never heard it called that - we call it head shake.
OUCH!! That'll leave a mark! LOL
Ping
Built a crotch rocket once back in 85.Got the bright idea to eliminate the oil cooler.Initial idea was good.One fat bob for gas,one for oil.Also could add more oil.When done,I had S and S engine,suicide shift,jap bike fenders cut in half,engine was 79/80 cu.in.phase three belt drive which was state of the art at the time.Only problem was,gas on one side,oil on the other.It ran great unless you were in a corner.Also,it was mounted on a 56 wishbone frame.After a few real close calls in some corners,I knew something needed to be done.I finally figured it out.The gas and oil ratio never evened out.So,I cut the fat bobs in half,placed a piece in the middle,welded them together,made the appropiate adjustments via gas shutoffs and such which evened out the weight distribution.No oil pan!Oh yeah,total weight,563lbs.
I can’t imagine you ever survived riding that monster!
You should have named it Kamikaze!
Do you still have it and are you still building bikes?
My “Death Rattles” were experienced on bike that shouldn’t have had them — a 1973 BMW R60/5.
I was coming down a long straight two lane mountain road at “very” high speed here in Kalifornicate — and without changing the throttle or tapping either brake - the damned thing started shaking so bad it was all I could do to keep it upright and on the road until I let off the throttle to slow down and it stopped shaking...
We couldn’t find the cause — but I never had the confidence to come down the mountain at that speed - ever again...
Speed? Don’t know for sure — the speedo needle was buried
Thanks. My old Softail likes the speed limit, and just cruisin’. Guess I don’t have to worry about this phenom.
I do remember going thru the shakes on a little Honda, many many years ago, at 35 mph. I have a few friends that enjoy their big Honda bikes, and just wondered if they should be aware.
BUMP!
In 1976 I had bought a KZ900 and it was fast
funny thing my Kawasaki Vulcan started doing that I replaced the front tire and it went away
My '76 R90 will start that at 117MPH (indicated). It's caused by the Vetter fairing I have installed.
No fairing, no shake. BUT - bugs, stones, rain, etc at that speed+ are deadly, so I just mentally redline the machine accordingly. :)
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