Here’s a letter from Dave Williams. Now he sent this to several magazines, which precludes it from being published in either ARR or C+T – we believe that if you want to tell our readers something then they deserve to be addressed directly – but I just couldn’t help putting it on the web.
Why? Because I’d like to get your responses.
Does Dave have a point? Considering that he was breaking the law, does he have the right to criticize the actions that the boys in blue took to apprehend him? On the other hand, did the boys in blue have the right to risk their own and other people’s lives in order to catch Dave?
What do you think?
Peter “The Bear” Thoeming
CIVIC COMPLIANCE VICTORIA
Ground Floor, 277 William St.
MELBOURNE VIC 3000
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.
Please find enclosed a cheque for $503.00.
This is for Traffic Infringement Notices 50619931 5 & 34349041 6…crossing centreline and 131kms ph in 100km zone……Cann River to Orbost…October 15 2009.
Yes, I know you patrol this road passionately during the start and end of your financially lucrative Victorian tourist attraction,….which is more commonly referred to….as the annual motorcycle pilgrimage to Phillip Island!……
I am 48 years old, with over 25 years of road riding experience under my various two wheels. I have been coming to Phillip Island on a regular basis since the inaugural ‘Gardner’ GP’s of ‘89 & ’90. I also know the other various routes……traveled them all many times!…Cann Valley,.Omeo,. MittaMitta, including . the dirt through Sassafras Gap on a ‘916!…..
In fact, I have only recently completed an overseas trip through the UK & Europe on my Australian registered motorcycle, traveling over 9000kms in a little over 2 months…..where, ironically,….you would have been ‘run over’ in the ‘slow lane’ for doing 130!…lol!!
So I am not a pimply faced 19yo riding a LAM!
The ‘freight train’ I was leading, ( if you ride within a group of sportsbike riders…u know what I mean) … were maintaining a constant 130, overtaking safely ( although illegally in this vastly overlegislated land of Australia which has sadly become only a shadow of the ‘Oz I was born in!)…
but please,… don’t get me wrong!…. These ‘Jacks’ were extremely obliging…..even tried to find a piece of wood for the sidestand of my old ‘851!…..We even had a laugh…..about me taking it for the ‘team’…….and his admittance he was actually trying to nab all 5 of us!…….
Now you know the background….. THIS IS MY GRIEVENCE!!!
Where has this particular unmarked Ford Territory come from? Although he stated he was traveling toward me…..nobody in the group could recall passing this vehicle…Obviously, he was lurking in the undergrowth…. awaiting his prey??! …Sneaky, revenue raising!….but with the opportunity to have some legal fun….’cause I gottabadge!!..
Subsequently, he successfully did his best impersonation of ROADRAGE I had seen?!…Firstly, ..the unmarked vehicle did not display the ubiquitous ‘blue lights’ until after he had finally caught me, that is,… the one in front?!!… ‘patsy’ leading??!…..Yet… …severe carnage could of occurred for both myself and my equally experienced fellow riders! My following cohorts, unaware, due to the non display of identification of the supposed police vehicle involved, all thought some idiot was out to get some motorcyclists for some reason, possibly for overtaking him earlier!… As he attempted to overtake each one of us, he came perilously close to wiping out, not only me, but two other riders behind me!!…He had overtaken two motorcycles over centerlines having to resort to having his outside wheels in the gravel on the righthand verge of the road!…This was not done once…but 3 times!! All because he wanted to gather in the leader?!?
The way that guy drove was absolute bullshit!!…
- why were no sirens or lights utilized until he finally managed to catch me…..he told me that he had been pursuing us for about 5-10kms?
- Why did he not show me the supposed locked in speed?
- Are ‘ in car ‘ Police audio and video utilized in Victoria?…If so, I was not advised of this.
- Why not radio ahead when it is obviously dangerous to pursue in this area on the Princes Hwy?
- Furthermore, if he had have come from the opposite direction as advised, he would have had to been doing some crazy speeds to catch us!..Remember, we are traveling at 130 in the opposite direction. He still has to safely turn around and then engage the normal highway traffic on a road that constantly winds for over 80kms??!
- I also noted that both Officers were not wearing reflective jackets.
Does law enforcement “Victorian style” mean endangering the lives of experienced motorcyclists that have covered more miles….than his junior Officer will probably cover in two of his own lifetimes??!
Please spend this money wisely…..and also please note, a copy of this letter has been sent to Australian Motorcycle News, Road Rider, & Ulysses Club……
.&….. I would also be interested to hear if anybody else traveling to the GP had any similar experiences with these licensed ‘Cowboys’….that carry a ‘blue bankcard’!!
So, if you wish to respond ( which I doubt! )….or act upon this letter ( which I further doubt! )…..I will provide more detail….witness statements included.
Yours faithfully.
Dave Williams
23 October 2009
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Comments
But the issue is that Dave was speeding and overtaking illegally. Regardless of what rules they have in other countries, the rules here are well documented and Dave in his 25 years of riding would know them quite well.
The excuses Dave offers for breaking the law are unreasonable and childish!
Or is this letter just because you were caught and not one of your mates??
C'mon Dave, get real, we all hate getting caught, but don't think you are someone special that makes you exempt from the Road Rules, even Casey Stoner is bound by the Road Rules when riding on our roads and I am sure he could smoke you in his sleep!
If that Officer had driven as reported to get to the assistance of the writer or one of his mates having had a talent failure, would this bloke still be complaining; doubt it some-how.
As for the stuff about " not being a pimply faced. . . ' and having ridden all over Europe in 5 minutes, etc, we've all heard that rot through the years - " Driven like this for 40 years, never had any trouble, etc." That just means the hero has been lucky or has survived on other peoples skills and good graces. It could be suggested that he grow up and stop re-inforcing the negative impressions the greater public already has of us.
Thanks for publishing it though, Bear. Cheered me up enormously.
Sue the bastard!
Do the crime - pay the fine.
Don't try and justify your actions.
You, after all, are the only one responsible for what you do.
Get a life Dave. The boys in blue are exempt from the law in the execution of their duty. Live with it. About time you grew up anyway. Take a close look at the grasshoppers on the grill of the next truck you see parked at a roadhouse. That's you sometime in the future. Just make it a truck grill and not a minivan full of kids.
I'm back last week from a ride from Brisbane to Broome (7 days / 4,800km) and I am annoyed at the difference in speed limits in NT and WA. When one crosses the border from that 130kph territory into my wonderful 100kph state the road have exactly the same surface, width and straightness. How come those Northern Territorians can be trusted at 130kph (and everyone goes faster anyway), whilst us poor Sandgropers have to be protected from ourselves at 110kph? No, don't bother answering that :(
With the enormous distances one has to travel in the north and west of our great country the places one can stop (to rest for the night, whatever) are very limited - one has to travel 600 to 800 km in the day - if one is doing it at 130kph then ones completes the journey a whole lot quicker than at 110kph. Does this not lead to greater tiredness and fatgiue at the lower speed limit?
The trouble with WA is that the polies are 2,500km away and never drive more than 30 minutes and that with a chaufer!
Now, if the young fella failed to use lights and siren, he deserves to be horse whipped.
Don't forget Vic also has hidden cameras in strange places, like wheelie bins in back streets set at 1 K over, so why would you wind the wick up in the mongrel place....I avoid Victoria for that very reason!