Motorbike accidents in the media - part the V-twin

Okay, time for the second installment in an ongoing series, where I analyse the media's reporting of motorbike accidents.

And, for the second time, it's a bit anticlimactic. 

This second post is a two-in-one, starting with Three die on roads by the Brisbane Courier Mail.

The relevant section is this:

In a separate incident, a motorcycle rider was killed in a two-vehicle crash at Elimbah this afternoon.

A car and motorcycle collided at the intersection of Mansfield Road and Bigmor Drive about 4pm.

The male rider was confirmed deceased at the scene when emergency services arrived.

This was the third motorcycle fatality in Queensland this year.

Okay? Simple, straight-forward, uninformative. Leaves lots of questions unanswered, but doesn't do anything wrong. 

Does anyone else notice that this is also at an intersection? A quick trip to Google Maps reveals that it's also an uncontrolled intersection, with Bigmor Drive coming out of a new-looking development suburb. 

The easy assumption is therefore that the car didn't see the motorcycle, and drove in front of it, but that's my own biases speaking. It may have been the other way around.

Pity we don't know more, but can't otherwise fault the writing.

I am, however, disappointed that I haven't seen a report of the second motorcycle fatality this year in Queensland - possibly, it was buried in another article, as here.

The second one, for a change, is from the ABC, and is even shorter and pithier: Two killed in road accidents.

Two people have died in separate accidents on Queensland roads this morning.

A man in his 20s died at Mt Isa, in the north-west of the state, after his motorbike crashed into a parked car.

Meanwhile, a women in her 50s died when she was hit by a car on the Bruce Highway, north-west of Mackay.

A man is helping police with their investigation.

That's the entire article. One line, indicating that a man, aged anywhere between 20 and 29, crashed into a parked car. 

Now, at this point, the temptation is to point an accusing finger and suggest that he may not have been entirely riding at a wholly sensible speed. We don't, however, know what the road surface was like, or even if he swerved the wrong way to avoid another car, an animal, a drunk pedestrian, or a pothole.

It's a complicated business, this accident investigation, isn't it?

So, that's it. Still nothing for me to really sink my teeth into, but I'm rather glad of that.

Incidentally, although I'm in Queensland, I'm quite prepared to pick holes in reporting from anywhere, if it crosses my perceptual horizons.