This rider survived a head on collision when a car ran wide on a corner. Police say he probably would have died had it not been for his protective gear. Warning; graphic footage in the link. https://news.sky.com/story/dashcam-...d-through-air-after-horror-collision-11905785 Note that although the driver had a clean license he got 16 months jail and 3 year ban.
I've seen reports of people killed and it doesn't attract a custodial sentence over here. To be fair, the OP on the site I found this was also a little surprised that the driver was jailed for a non fatal crash. OP is in UK.
The driver was speeding and looked like he suffered understeer. They went harder on him likely because of the footage and how graphic it was. Typically in the UK we do not punish motorists that hard, only in very high profile cases or ones that make the news. And in terms of speeding cops don't really care and use their discretion.
A vehicle is to be considered a weapon IMO, and you should be sentenced similarly if you use the "weapon" irresponsibly and cause harm. 16 months and 3 yr suspense is not a lot of punishment for nearly killing a person. That said, the bloke who tried to pass a car on the inside of a blind corner, causing a a rather violent head-on between his Volvo and my Triumph, did not receive any penalty back in 2006.
I wonder if the penalty is a response to the public fury over this case. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-51160840
A case of justice "being seen to be done", I'd wager. An incident such as that in Oz would only attract a custodial sentence if the motorcyclist was a police officer or the driver was a serial offender. Cops here don't give a fuck about motorcyclists, they regard us as a pest.
Yeh you just need to look at the way they word reports. "Car in collision with motorcyclist" its not "Motorist in collision with motorcyclist" or "Motorist in collision with motorcycle". So it effectively distances the Motorist while including the Motorcyclist. In regards to the motorcyclist airbags, while expensive it does look like its worth considering, though I'd imagine they would be too hot to wear in Australia