Isle of Man Brings Out The Best?

It's no secret that racing on the Isle of Man during 'TT' week is far riskier than road-racing on a typical mainland track. Unfortunately, each year usual counts the cost in road riders biting the dust too.

The IoM police issued a statement:

Time and date of issue: 2200 hrs 5th June 2008 There have been a number of serious road traffic collisions on the Island during the TT period which are causing concern for the Police.

Chief Inspector Peter Young who is in charge of the road policing function for TT said:- “I cannot comment about any individual collision; however it is clear from the ongoing investigations that there is a common thread running through a number of the collisions.

A small proportion of motorcyclist are treating the roads of the island as a race track, they are travelling at high speed and very close to the machine in front. The riders are not allowing for any deviation or unexpected slowing down of the other machines. This is resulting in faster moving machines hitting the rear of slower machines bringing both riders off. The speed and distance behind other machines, that some people are riding, is extremely dangerous, and can have horrendous consequences.

I would remind every rider that we want them to enjoy their stay on the Island, however we are enforcing speed limits and prosecuting those who are guilty of dangerous driving or driving without due care and attention. It is imperative that every road user rides safely and considers that rider ahead may slow down or move position.

I would ask all those who choose to take a risk and ride at high speed to think about how their, or another innocent rider’s family, children, friends and colleagues would be effected by their death or how receiving horrendous injuries would impact on the future life of everyone who knows them.

As a final work I would ask everyone to remember that they are riding on public roads. Please treat them with respect so they are able to return in the future”.

They also released video taken by a marshall, of some dubious overtaking. Main concerns were with two aspects:
- Limited visibility
- 'Lemming' or 'follow my leader' riding - where a tail-end rider overtakes because the group leader has, not because the rider concerned has decided it's a good overtake.

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What do you think?