Motorcycle death prompts warnings over hidden indicators, brake lights

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A coroner has recommended light boards such as the one pictured are used on car bike racks if a motorist's brake lights aren’t visible after a motorcyclist was killed. Photo / 123rf

A “safe and cautious” motorcycle rider with more than 40 years experience who died after colliding with an SUV has prompted warnings over hidden brake and indicator lights.

Mark Frecklington suffered non-survivable injuries after colliding with a Toyota Highlander that turned into his path in 2018.

Now, a coroner has highlighted the importance of drivers ensuring their brake and indicator lights are always visible as well as checking rear vision mirrors for traffic behind.

Frecklington, 65, had been riding motorbikes since he was a child and his family described him as a safe and cautious rider, always doing thorough checks of his motorcycle and equipment before riding.

On the afternoon of January 20, 2018 Frecklington drove to his holiday home in Kinloch, collected his motorbike and went for a ride on it.

Around 2.15pm he was riding west on Whangamata Rd. He had just completed a right-hand turn on to the road when he approached the Toyota Highlander with a family inside.

The Toyota had initially been driving in the opposite direction to Frecklington as they weren’t familiar with the area and were looking for a home they had accidentally driven past.

The SUV completed a u-turn in a driveway before heading in the same direction as Frecklington, planning to stop about 50 metres up the road.

As Frecklington had travelled around a corner he came up behind the Toyota, which was travelling at a speed of about 20-30km. The open road speed limit was 100km.

Frecklington moved to overtake the slow-moving Toyota, indicating to pass and riding into the opposing lane which was free of oncoming traffic.

However, as Frecklington began to overtake, the Toyota began turning across the eastbound lane, and directly into Frecklington’s path.

Frecklington collided with the Toyota and was thrown off his motorcycle and into a fence post.

He was significantly injured but initially responsive and was rushed to Waikato Hospital Emergency Department. He became unresponsive upon arrival and was intubated.

X-rays showed a left-sided haemothorax (a collection of blood in the pleural cavity in the chest), multiple left rib fractures, a complex pelvic fracture, and a left femur fracture.

Frecklington went into cardiac arrest and resuscitation efforts began. However, after roughly 20 minutes this stopped, and he died shortly after.

Coroner Michael Robb stated that the driver of the Toyota had no recollection of checking her rear vision or side mirrors before turning across the eastbound lane.

The family had also come back from a day of mountain biking and had the bikes attached to the rear of the vehicle.

Coroner Robb found that these bikes were positioned in a way that obscured both the brake lights and the indicator lights, meaning Frecklington had “little opportunity” to see the vehicle’s light was indicating.

The Coroner found that a way to combat the obscured lights would have been for the Toyota to pull over on to the left-hand side of the road to allow the driver to look out their window for traffic approaching from behind.

Coroner Robb concluded that Frecklington was not travelling at excessive speed and he would have been visible to the driver of the Toyota for at least eight seconds before the collision even if he was going 100km/h.

He stated that for any driver who had rounded the corner and entered onto the straight road, as Frecklington had done, it would have appeared that the Toyota had pulled out of a driveway and had not yet reached the open speed limit.

“With the distances and speeds involved the logical course of action would be to indicate to overtake this vehicle,” Coroner Robb stated.

He ruled that the primary factors contributing to Frecklington’s death were the Toyota’s obscured brake and indicator lights and the driver’s failure to notice any traffic behind her.

He found that while Frecklington’s decision to overtake the Toyota involved some level of risk, he was reasonable in doing this.

Coroner Robb recommended that drivers use light boards if their brake lights aren’t visible to other motorists and that an educational initiative be undertaken to promote this.

He also highlighted the dangers of vehicles crossing over lanes in a 100km/h zone, stating: “While the principal concern for drivers will understandably be to avoid crossing in front of oncoming vehicles, it is easy to forget, or to adequately check for road users travelling from behind”.

Coroner Robb also extended his condolences to Frecklington’s family and friends for their loss.

Emily Moorhouse is a Christchurch-based Open Justice journalist at NZME. She joined NZME in 2022. Before that, she was at the Christchurch Star.

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