Bikers killed in Italy

From here:



Three British motorcyclists have been killed and another is critically ill after a horror crash on a touring holiday in northern Italy. The riders collided head-on with a lorry carrying building material as they came out of a tunnel. They are thought to have been on the wrong side of the road.

Looks like two middle-aged couples - both riders killed, and one passenger. The other pillion is critically ill in hospital, but likely to survive.

From the ages of the riders (all in their 60s), they are unlikely to have been razzing around like hooligans. It seems, from the little we know, that the road entered the tunnel as a dual carriageway, but became a single carriageway at the exit. It is possible that the riders didn't realise this, and thought they were in the overtaking lane when they were, in fact, on the wrong side of the road.

Local councillor Bruno Firmani said:''We have had several complaints from motorists about the tunnel and the road in recent weeks. ''There is no doubt that it is confusing and I had tabled a question with the local road agency about the signposting on that stretch of road.''

Following on from my last posting, there may be a case that the highway authorities here were indeed negligent - if they knew there was a problem and did nothing about it. But that doesn't alter the fact that three people have died - the kind of people I might have been riding with - unnecessarily. In the final analysis, no-one is responsible for your safety but yourself. Foreign road layouts can be confusing to British eyes, and the best thing is to slow down until you can see what is going on.

Having said that, and I hope this doesn't sound glib, we've all got to die some time, and there are surely worse ways to go than on a big bike on holiday in Italy, doing something you love.

My sincere sympathies are will all those involved.