here's the overview it's not 20-30 bikers like the article says.
[video=youtube;XLIFpSpVP1w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLIFpSpVP1w[/video]
Mob mentality is DANGEROUS!!!
I am sure if it was a smaller pack, some of these riders who went after the 'Range Rover' would not have done what they did.
First off, when the first bike was hit, if it wasn't for such a huge mob, I am not sure if the same individuals who taunt the driver and damaging the vehicles would of have done the same thing.
From personal experience, I know I had done some really stupid things when I was with a large group which I would not do normally. Mob mentality is really dangerous, seriously, you just react, you don't think at all about the consequences and stuff.
On a different note, I do feel really sorry for the bikers who got injured even if the injured riders had perhaps done something to the driver's car....again, perhaps acting with adrenaline from mob mentality. This is a very tragic incident. I do feel sorry for the driver as well and without a doubt, if i was in the exact same situation as the driver, I would of done the EXACT same thing to protect my family. Possibly, the outcome might be a better or a little bit worst depending on how aggressive the bikers respond since I have a bit of training in evasive driving techniques.
One of the things they taught is to evaluate the best options to find a safe position. Knowing the limitation of sports bike and your own vehicle's capabilities (Range Rover), if possible, I would of gone off road which reduce the number of bikes that can follow. Only ones that will remain would probably be just the dirt bikes. And if they do follow, given the size advantage, I would actually ramp them off or if they were to follow closely, check brake or whatever to make them fall off.
If the off road option is not possible, it would probably lead to more carnage. The destination will be to find the closest safe place for this case, police presence (police station) or at least a police car. Not sure if the driver is also attempting to do that as well. But during the chase, to minimize more threats and given the torque and HP and massive size relative to the bikes, I would probably leverage that and take out more bikes that are giving chase instead speeding away and risk getting boxed in for traffic. Given such a large number of bikes, they would still give chase but by being more proactive to take out those that gets close, it serve a bit of deterrent for the remaining bikes to keep a distant and hopefully get some to back off.
Again, hindsight is 20/20, even with any evasive driving training, I may forget everything panic and do the exact same thing as the driver and get boxed in.
The driver is actually SUPER LUCKY. He is still alive and not dead. No one knows for sure what would happen if he remained in the scene after the first hit. Perhaps no physical confrontation and just a regular exchange of insurance info but its taking a huge risk to stop the car and get out and hope the mob does not go crazy and start pounding you to death.
Even if there are no criminal charges being placed on the driver, being in the US and its civil litigation, I am sure the driver will be faced with mounting civil lawsuits in the $$$$$$ millions. Even though the newspaper article say 'Rich Couple'..... after this incident, I don't think they would be that rich anymore.....
