Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

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Kookaburra causes major crash
January 05, 2008 09:45am
A MOTORCYCLIST and his passenger were both seriously injured after a kookaburra flew into the rider's visor in Melbourne last night.

The bird caused the motorcyclist to crash into a tree.

The man in his 30s was riding the motorbike in the suburb of Montrose at about 8pm when the king-sized native bird flew into him, blocking his vision, a Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) spokesman said.

"The motorcyclist collided with a tree, and his female passenger, in her 20s, was thrown off," MAS spokesman Ray Rowe.

"The girl sustained serious injuries and they thought that she might not make it (stay alive).

"But she's stable now."

The motorcyclist suffered a serious eye and back injury and he was taken to The Alfred hospital in a stable condition.

His girlfriend was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Still, if you click through to the story,read some of the flippant comments put through by some of the shmucks out there.

I was nearly taken out the same way on Thursday night by a family of ducks on the local Calder off ramp. It was after dark and they mustn't have wanted to take off, so were wandering across the road on (webbed) foot. As I got closer and closer they must have decided that flight was the best escape and they all took off at the last instant. It's the only time I've ever shut my eyes when avoiding a collision . How the fark I managed to miss them all, take the exit ramp curve on the road and make around the T intersection onto the overpass is beyond me...

...I have to admit I was expecting a story about a red Kookaburra as well (after reading it I worked out it was meant to be rogue) .

Mick

mike-s wrote:Still, if you click through to the story,read some of the flippant comments put through by some of the shmucks out there.

I typed a response, I wonder if they'll publish it...

Same thing with me, almost got collected by one of those bloody psycho rainbow parrots we get up around these parts... They play chicken with anything they can find.... Not only that, but man do they hook & they dont slow down when the hit things...

I was nearly carried off by a bird of prey (eagle or similar) on the Oxley - the thing was that big I thought it was a brush turkey when it cam at me, but from behind Cath said it had claws and a wing-span of 5 feet or more Let's hope these poor folks come out alright.

How does it get to your eyes etc, if you have a full face helmet on, with the visor down?

It is always a good plan to have your visor down, even tiny rocks hit the visor with considerable force..

hoffy wrote:How does it get to your eyes etc, if you have a full face helmet on, with the visor down?

It is always a good plan to have your visor down, even tiny rocks hit the visor with considerable force..

Are visors rated for bird strike?

hoffy wrote:How does it get to your eyes etc, if you have a full face helmet on, with the visor down?
It is always a good plan to have your visor down, even tiny rocks hit the visor with considerable force..

I saw a pic in one of last year's (maybe the year before that) bike mags of a rider at a bike test that got hit in the head by a pigeon. He was extremely lucky he didn't bin it as he couldn't see jack. The force pushed the visor back into the helmet with enough force to break his nose. Blood everywhere, what a mess . Hence my trepidation facing a squadron of ducks, they're shitloads bigger than a pigeon...

...and you're right about rocks, I replaced my visor the day after the ducks, as I was hit by a rock that morning straight between the eyes big enough to leave a small crater. The last two visors have gone the same way, once there is a crater in my field of vision it bugs me and it has to go . I also had a stick-on 'Fog-Off' shield inside the old one and it had gone cloudy. That didn't help with the night vision or riding into the west in the arvo. I don't think I'll bother with one of those again, they don't last long and they eventually go soft and sticky. Once they are soft and sticky they are hard to keep clean and anything you use to clean them sticks to them .

Mick

I accidentally kneed a kangaroo in the face yesterday MickC scared it out of the bushes, the rider behind him hit it with his bike, and then about 30 secs later I whacked into it with my knee It left fur on my slider, and a big tuft of grass on my clutch lever - I was very lucky to escape with no injuries or bike damage!

Daisy wrote:

hoffy wrote:How does it get to your eyes etc, if you have a full face helmet on, with the visor down?

It is always a good plan to have your visor down, even tiny rocks hit the visor with considerable force..

Are visors rated for bird strike?

I suspect they are rated higher than the flesh on your eyeball ?

Had a face full of Wedge Tailed eagle once coming down Silver City Hwy at around $200. Then just tonight come down my drivway and a cat shoots out from nowhere....

ausjc wrote:I accidentally kneed a kangaroo in the face yesterday MickC scared it out of the bushes.......

Begs the question , What was Mick C doing with it in the bushes ???

a family freind got taken down by a pelican down in nowra years ago.. hit him in the chest at abt 110kph..broke ribs, broke shoulder, broke a bunch of him...

the bird may of smashed his visor??

either way...hope they heal up...

Reminds me of the kamakaze bush turkey that tried to take me out on my favourite route.

Don't worry about cage drivers- beware the killer birds!

Neka79 wrote:a family freind got taken down by a pelican down in nowra years ago.. hit him in the chest at abt 110kph..broke ribs, broke shoulder, broke a bunch of him...

the bird may of smashed his visor??

either way...hope they heal up...

yup, them's big bastards.