NSW Police Highway Patrol XB GT Falcon Coupe

NSW Police Highway Patrol XB GT Falcon Coupe 351 V8 

from the NSW Historic Patrol Vehicles Facebook page

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Speeding is not always the reason for a crash

This weekend was not a happy one for the friends and family of a Canberra motorcyclist. He is dead, following an accident on Tharwa Road in rural Canberra.

Canberra Times photo of Police at the scene of the Tharwa Road accident

From the Canberra Times report (my bolding):

"Before 3.30pm, the Evatt man was riding south, when he swerved around a plastic road barrier that closed off the section of Tharwa Road south of the Lanyon Homestead.


The motorcycle then ploughed through a wire fence behind the road barrier, and the man was flung about 4m from his bike.


Emergency services arrived at the scene shortly after, and paramedics attempted to resuscitate and stabilise the man, but he was soon pronounced dead.


Police believe that the motorcyclist was speeding, and said there was adequate signage warning of the road closure."

So the sequence of events leading to this event are:

• He was traveling along Lanyon Road, 
• He rode around a 'road closed' sign,
• He rode around plastic barriers across the road,
• He collided with the fence across the closed off part of the road, 
• He was ejected from his motorcycle and died as a result of the injuries sustained upon impact. 

Tragic. I feel very sad for the family and friends of this man.

On the ABC television news last night I watched the report of the accident, and then the Australian Federal Policeman interviewed by the media who attended the accident. The ABC News presenter, goes on to say  that police believe speeding was a factor in the accident. This is also reported in the Canberra Times.

This jump to immediately isolate speed as the cause is a knee jerk response. Its the sort of response given to the media without thought, intended to scare all drivers into driving slower. Does this mean I should travel at 60 km/h on the 80 km/h sections of the Parkway from now on ? I'm not sure.

I am not the coroner, but the information publicly available indicates that the accident was caused by careless driving and inattention. Speed may have been a factor, but not the major, primary or most relevant factor.

One factor which needs to be assessed is the proximity of the 'road closed' signage to the fence across the road, and the location of the signage. Was it easily visible or on a blind corner ? The following stills are from the ABC news report.

 Plastic barriers on corner

 The gate that the deceased rider collided with

Looking back from the gate are, you can see the corner.

The speed limit on that road is 80 100 km/h. If the motorcycle was traveling at the posted limit, and collided with the fence across the road, then the motorcyclist would still have been flung through the air and landed on the ground sustaining injuries.

The same result would have occurred at 60 km/h. I am not a physics expert, but I suspect there may be a speed at which one could ride a motorcycle head on into a fence and NOT be thrown from it, but I suspect its pretty low, perhaps lower than 20 km/h.

To often, speed is blamed as a cause of an accident, when it is merely one of a range of factors responsible - the primary factor being poor decision making by the rider/driver, or inadequate road engineering. I will try and keep track of this case, and see what the coroner concludes.

Update: Google Street View of the accident location.
Update 2: The speed limit is 100 km/h on Tharwa Rd
Update 3: The ABC News report is available online.

ACT, NSW and VIC Police Cars, Wagons and Vans

Thought I would post a few photos of various police cars I have seen over the last few months. This doesn't include the Benalla based Highway Patrol car that stopped me when my rear number plate fell off the Pano...

VW van in Civic.

Ford Transit and Ford Territory at Canberra Airport. 

Holden Commodores and Toyota Landcruiser called to a BIG domestic in Kaleen.

Holden Commodore in Civic

Toyota Camry at Albury Railway station.

VW Van in Swanston ST Melbourne.

Holden Commodore in Swanston St

Ford Falcon. Blue and red lights were on back shelf and on front dash. Window glare hides them well. 

BA Ford Falcon station wagon in Swanston St.

Another Ford Falcon Station wagon in Glenrowan service centre carpark.

Bolwell Nagari on Division 4

In my last post on Vernon Wells in the ATV, I said I would post a few more Crawford Production vehicle related posts. Here is the second, featuring the Bolwell Nagari. 

The Bolwell Nagari Mk VIII is one of the cars in my Top Ten Dream Garage. An outstanding sports car, designed and built entirely in Australia, the Nagari was sold between 1969 and 1974. This puts it square in the sights of Crawford Productions when they were looking for a sports car to use in an episode of their police drama 'Division 4' in 1973. 

Usually when Crawfords film a police car chase they use an old Ford Prefect or clapped out Holden, so when its written off by the evil crim the budget isn't affected too greatly. In the car chase in this episode, no high speed or squealy cornering was filmed, just a loud siren wailing police car driving behind the Bolwell down a suburban street. 

The car first appears, driven by a fruit loop woman (later arrested).

It is involved in a car chase (police car behind).

She turns into her driveway.

Followed by the police in a VH Valiant

Earlier in the same episode this open vintage car was parked in front of the Bolwell Nagari. 

I'd love to know what it is. They didnt use a front shot, and it only appeared in this one scene. 

Poor quality shot, but it says 'Bolwell Nagari by Bolwell Cars Australia'. Obviously it was a factory car at the time, I wonder what happened to it ? 

I last featured Bolwell Nagaris in this post. There is an excellent blog devoted to the Bolwell Nagari at Bolly Blog.

The Mighty Wez - Vernon Wells in an ATV on Matlock Police

I have a theory that all TV shows must be police/lawyer/hospital related to be successful. I dont know why, I suspect it is because people are voyeurs and like to watch human tragedy (as long as its not their own tragedy).  I dont watch contemporary police/lawyer/hospital TV shows, but I do record the old Crawford shows that are shown In Canberra on WIN TV at 2 AM several nights (or mornings) a week.

This weeks episode of Matlock Police, from 1973, was fairly ho-hum. Although there was an interesting subplot, about the registration of an ATV, featuring Vernon Wells - who went on to international acclaim as the Mighty Wez in Mad Max 2. 

'Tommy' fronts the counter at Matlock Police station and asks about registering his vehicle.

The Mighty Wez and Sergeant Kennedy go for a ride.

Camera pans out to show how silly this 'car' is. 

ATV crests a hill without running into a Mack truck.

Then Wez proceeds to do some 'circle work' in a gravel car park.

He got one line, and didnt smile once! Shave his head and dress him in US Grid Iron armour and he's ready for a dystopian future.

Vernon Wells in his most famous role

I will post some more car pictures from old Crawford shows, however quality will be low as I am using my camera to photograph the screen.

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Victorian Police BMW 1200 RT-P

Last week I took one of my P76's for a trip down to Victoria. While I was refueling in Holbrook, a pair of Victorian Police motorcycles and policemen also stopped to fill up.

I asked if I could take a few photos, and they said sure. The bikes are BMW 1200 RT-P. That is, 1200 cc, RT's with the police pack. Apart from the white paint, sirens, lights on poles etc and Police livery, they seem the same as the 1200 RT on the BMW website. That site is hard to navigate, so this link is better. 

Technical specs on this bike are impressive: it leaves the factory with Automatic Stability Control (ASC), Electronic Suspension Adjustment (ESA), Seat Heating, Tyre Pressure Control, Heated Grips, On Board Computer, Power Socket and Cruise Control. Im not sure what mods are done to the 'Police' package. 

Each bike had a slightly different 'dashboard' 

The blue police light telescopes up a few feet. They had sandwiches in one of the panniers, and folders and paperwork. Holbrook is a fair way out of Victoria, so I don't know why Victorian police were there, but it was a nice day for a ride.  

All Ford Day - Part 2 - AFP Falcon Interceptor

Police car livery has come along way in a few years. Watch Division 4 (a Crawford Production) and you see a Victoria Police crest on the door of a white car, with a siren on the bonnet and a bubble light on the roof. That was the 1970's, now we see garish unmissable graphic designer fantasies adorning the sides of the average XR8 Falcon and SS Commodore.

At the All Ford Day on March 14, the AFP displayed one of their Falcon Police XR6 Interceptors.  In case you cant tell, there is a small AFP crest just behind the front wheels on the lower sills. I took some close up shoots to show how a police car is modified from the base car for its job.

Flashers mounted into the door mirrors. Note how dark the window tinting is. 

Better shot of the AFP crest. Nice mags officer! Look standard.

The light bar, various angles. The last shot of the rear of the light bar, shows a screen which displays messages with red led's. Very low profile light bar and mounting. 

Forward facing radar transmitter, photographed from behind. Interesting how it is affixed to the rear door glass. I guess this car doesn't cart 'suspects' back to the station 'to assist with inquiries'. 

All the windows were tinted, hopefully at legal spec, you can just make out flasher on the dash at front, computer screen, and two unknown devices above the heater/sound controls on the dash.

Side flasher in rear door quarter window

I dont know what modifications have been done to the suspension r running gear, but I imagine that Ford has a special order program for Police departments with specific components such as increased capacity radiators, oil coolers, alternators etc. 

The Ford Falcon is an excellent base for police car. Holden have had some good press recently announcing sales of a Statesman variant into the US to act as a US Police car. In the states last year I saw lots of Crown Vics, Chrysler 300's and Dodge Chargers used as police cars. 

Having driven around LA for a few weeks in a Lincoln Town Car (a badge brother of the Ford Crown Vic), I can state with absolute certainty that the Australian Ford Falcon is vastly superior in every aspect to its distant US cousin. Unless you like dated 70's ergonomics, 80's era plastic dashboards, 60's style liveaxle suspension (which Ford bizarrely use on the latest Mustang). If you like outdated engineering and packaging, then the Crown Vic is the car for you. If you want a modern car with good power, handling and levels of packaging, NVH etc, then go for a Falcon. 

Falcons are fairly robust bases for police cars, parts are readily available, the cars are built tough in the first place, and they are good comfortable cars to drive and ride in. The XR6 version used by the AFP for a chaser is a sensible choice. Cheap, fast, robust. Painted up like it is, it also serves as a visible deterrent to road miscreants, when parked in the middle road reserve facing oncoming traffic. 

Coming in Part Three - XA-B-C Falcons