Deadly wire traps set up on bush trails >:(

[RG]

From http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...0-2862,00.html

Originally Posted by Matt Johnston on news.com.au

DEADLY wire traps and steel spikes have been set up by vigilantes in central Victoria who want to stop bike riders on public land.

Barbed wire at riders' head-height has been strung between trees on a small track at Pyke Creek Reserve, near Ballan, posing a potentially fatal risk for unaware trail bike riders, cyclists or walkers.

Large steel spikes on a metal plate protrude from the ground, but debris partially covers the base, meaning cyclists or trail bike riders could be blind-sided.

The wire is reminiscent of the trap that knocked eight-year-old Shayla Hart off her bike last summer, when she was riding near her family's home in Hastings.

She suffered cuts and bruises to her throat and arms, and the incident provoked outrage from the local community.

Brad Longmuir, who found the traps while working in the area, said he rode trail bikes and knew the danger posed.

"I actually know someone that hit one of those type of wires somewhere else.

``He messed up all his windpipe and died on the operating table a couple of times.

``That's why I have a bit of an issue with this sort of stuff," he said.

"He's got scars and nerve damage and all that around his neck now."

Mr Longmuir said there were families who took children for picnics in the reservoir area and many could go running up the path where the traps lay.

"What happens if someone gets killed?" he said.

Ballan Leading Sen-Constable Ken Birch said police officers would investigate the traps, which were dangerous for anyone who rode, walked or jogged through the area.

"It poses a danger to anyone, this sort of thing," he said.

"If people do put them up on bush tracks . . . it could cause a fatality of course, or serious injury to riders or walkers."

Sen-Constable Birch said it was particularly troubling to hear that the traps had been set up near children's playground equipment.

Mr Longmuir said the vigilantes responsible would have been aiming at trail bike riders, many of who come through tracks near the reservoir.

"I think they just have a problem with riders. They would probably say they are just annoying," he said.

"It's disgusting. There's no other word to describe it."

Now I'm pretty sure that I know exactly where this trail is as I have ridden there before. Nothing illegal about it. How someone can do this is beyond me and absolutely sick, a few years ago in Ballarat a rider was decapitated by the same sort of set up so this really is deadly. Also some of the comments posted are absolutely sick, some of those people really need to be excluded from society for those sort of views.

A real un-Australian story posted on Australia day. I hope whoever did this gets some true country copper lessons.

[DoreSlamR]

A cousin of mine rode into a wire, bruised and cut all along his chest.

He was standing up at the time, if he had been 4 inches lower he could have had his larynx crushed.

All it is is vigilante bullsh*t where who ever did it, doesn't even think what might actually happen if someone rides into their 'trap'

[Streets]

It's troubling to know that there are people in this world who would go so far as to kill someone just because their motorbike is drowning out their daytime soaps.

[Peuty]

I think I preferred the PF thread title Russ!

Utter disgrace though, they should be ashamed of themselves.

[RG]

Just to correct the author of that story it is Pykes Creek, located half way between Myrniong and Ballan. About 20-25 minutes from Ballarat. The area is largely bushland and there are bugger all homes there, it is a public reserve after all.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&s...=15&iwloc=addr

Oh and Peuty, if I used that I'd have to ban myself :togo:

[FGII-XR6]

I can never condone such action but I do understand why people are driven to do things like this . I used to live next to the access path for bushland and every sunday morning they would start at 6AM on unregisterd bikes with loud exhausts ( and i was not long asleep from night shift ). the cops refused to act although they admitted they were there acting illegally on illegal ( unregistered) bikes, at times i felt like standing by the track with a baseball bat and hitting them as they went past ( I resisted the urge ), when i told the ferals i was trying to sleep after night shift i was told to ef off and the one time the cops did come down ( and did nothing ) I was harassed for over a month by these feral crims

setting up traps is wrong and there can be no excuse for it, but the cops need to take at least some of the blame for not stopping them and driving people into vigilante action. they will prosecute the trap setters ( rightfully so ) but will leave the trail bike riders alone even though the vast majority are riding under age unlicenced and unregistered bikes that are not registerable and make excessive noise ( or at least thats the case in my area). if on the other hand if my air conditioner is upsetting the neighbours they will fine me , where is the justice

[mowog]

This setting of traps is bad news. There is a small ratbag element that gives the larger riding community a bad name and unfortunately the world is full of nutters who will do almost anything to deal with what they see as serious problem. I live in an estate where I was about the 10th house and trail bikes were a real problem but the estate has grown and the motor bike problem has largely moved on except for a core group of feral kids who ride unregistered bikes down our street. One of these feral kids ended up on the bonnet of our Territory and his bike went under the car. The result $9k damage to my car. A week in hospital for him and a heap of fines plus the cost of repairs to my car.

Only a week before this feral had given me the finger after a near miss. Karma can be a b i t c h at times.

[Peuty]

If the police won't do anything, why not get a group of you together and write a letter to your local member of council.

[WILDB]

This sort of behaviour is absolutely disgraceful. I can understand people may be unhappy with riders but to endanger someone elses life with traps and wire is completely unreasonable. One of my friends was injured a few years back on his mountain bike because someone had set traps in the forestry to stop people riding pushies and trailbikes down there - thankfully the injuries weren't too bad (broken arm) but that's not the point.

[onfire]

My local vigilantes have a better idea, go out a dig up every single trail and anything that appears to be a jump. However that can be just as dangerous. But you get some warning, they attack every single part of the trail from start to finish. You'll notice whats going on after the first hundred meters and turn back.

[Fev]

^ thats doing even more damage to the environment then riding it.. once thats all dug up its just going to corrode and wash away, most likely into the creeks in the area leaving them choked with sediment and algae...
Some people really have no idea what they are doing do they..


Nice post on the article Russ btw

[flappist]

Originally Posted by au3xr6

I can never condone such action but I do understand why people are driven to do things like this . I used to live next to the access path for bushland and every sunday morning they would start at 6AM on unregisterd bikes with loud exhausts ( and i was not long asleep from night shift ). the cops refused to act although they admitted they were there acting illegally on illegal ( unregistered) bikes, at times i felt like standing by the track with a baseball bat and hitting them as they went past ( I resisted the urge ), when i told the ferals i was trying to sleep after night shift i was told to ef off and the one time the cops did come down ( and did nothing ) I was harassed for over a month by these feral crims

setting up traps is wrong and there can be no excuse for it, but the cops need to take at least some of the blame for not stopping them and driving people into vigilante action. they will prosecute the trap setters ( rightfully so ) but will leave the trail bike riders alone even though the vast majority are riding under age unlicenced and unregistered bikes that are not registerable and make excessive noise ( or at least thats the case in my area). if on the other hand if my air conditioner is upsetting the neighbours they will fine me , where is the justice

One of my friends has huge problems with her neighbours. They break all sorts of laws annoying her but the council and police do nothing about it.

Would it be ok for me to lend her my Glock so she can resolve the problem herself? Probably not......

The person/people who set the wires can be charged with attempted murder (or murder if someone dies).

[mongoloid]

Originally Posted by au3xr6

I can never condone such action but I do understand why people are driven to do things like this . I used to live next to the access path for bushland and every sunday morning they would start at 6AM on unregisterd bikes with loud exhausts ( and i was not long asleep from night shift ). the cops refused to act although they admitted they were there acting illegally on illegal ( unregistered) bikes, at times i felt like standing by the track with a baseball bat and hitting them as they went past ( I resisted the urge ), when i told the ferals i was trying to sleep after night shift i was told to ef off and the one time the cops did come down ( and did nothing ) I was harassed for over a month by these feral crims

setting up traps is wrong and there can be no excuse for it, but the cops need to take at least some of the blame for not stopping them and driving people into vigilante action. they will prosecute the trap setters ( rightfully so ) but will leave the trail bike riders alone even though the vast majority are riding under age unlicenced and unregistered bikes that are not registerable and make excessive noise ( or at least thats the case in my area). if on the other hand if my air conditioner is upsetting the neighbours they will fine me , where is the justice

I personally cannot fathom anyones decision to do this. I know what its like to be kept awake on nightshift however setting a trap that has one purpose only, is, in my opinion bordering on homocidal. I dont know how someone could lie in their bed knowing that they could be responsible to the death of someone. Even at work doing my job i get very concerned for peoples safety around me, sometimes to the point where i'll tell them to stand away while i do whatever it is im doing.

The first thing i thought of when i read this was disgusting. Then i thought of the movie Stone, then back to disgusting.

[Rob's 76 Effy]

You also forgot the movie "The Great escape" but no-one's head was rolling down the road like a soccer ball LoL, a lot of this crap is urban legend

[RG]

Originally Posted by Explorer_Me

You also forgot the movie "The Great escape" but no-one's head was rolling down the road like a soccer ball LoL, a lot of this crap is urban legend

What crap is that?

[Rob's 76 Effy]

Derr, i'm not going to spell it out to you

[RG]

Originally Posted by Explorer_Me

Derr, i'm not going to spell it out to you

Spell what out mate? You don't think that a decapitation is possible from this?

[WILDB]

Originally Posted by Russell

Spell what out mate? You don't think that a decapitation is possible from this?

OR someone ending up dead because their windpipe has been cut. As I posted above one of my friends was injured because someone had tied a taut rope across the path between 2 trees - along comes my mate on his MTB at relatively (for pushbike) high speed and comes off and ends up with a broken arm. Hence I 100% agree with Russel, decapitation would be completely possible with wire.

[vanman_75]

mate i nearly lost my life to wire tore my fingers off and ripped open all over the place ,i also have friends with the treasured mark on their throat with 1 loosing his life when i was a teen ,these traps are very real no mith and stupid ,if i caught anybody friend or other i would knock ten shades out of them.

[Kamshaaft]

I've almost been seriously farked up by some stupid s that put clear pallet wrap tightly between two trees either side of the trails at my old favourite riding spot. I came around a wide berm pretty hard on the throttle and then next thing I'm locking the brakes up in a cloud of dirt and manage to stay on my moty as it plows through the growth beside the track. Lucky I reacted or it wouldn't have been fun.

This is even worse though, since it would garrot or decapitate any rider if at the right height. Like anyone I've made the same promise to myself that if I ever find out about someone responsible or this I would put them on life support without a second thought (same goes for those heads who light dogs on fire).

[old_mate]

i suffer from morons on bikes riding around my place and local streets all the time. While wire is definately and utterly stupid, if i could figure out a way to trap the front wheel of a motorbike and send its rider over the bars i'd do my best to teach all the morons who ride on private property/local parks and biketrails a lesson...

around here they crap on about not having anywhere to go, yet they are quite happy to jump in the car and drive down the coast for a swim. If they jumped in the same car (ute or van) with the bike on the back and drove the same distance they'd be at an area designated for motorbikes.

[Elks]

Originally Posted by au3xr6

I can never condone such action but I do understand why people are driven to do things like this .

And the difference is you have the good sense NOT to do this.

This could easily kill someone and the perpetrators should be dealt with harshly. The attempted murder thing thong would be difficult to prove but seems appropriate to me. 5 years jail.

If people were doing burnouts the cops would be there.

[XR6_190]

Two wrongs don't make a right, all that happens is an innocent third party is injured or worse. Some people truly have no idea.

[OLDFORDNUT]

only a few years back just out of Hervey Bay near Howard a moron put a wire out on a public bike track that ran close to his house,result was exactly as he(middle aged moron)hoped,killed a young bloke when he rode his dirt bike under it and got him in the throat, the property owner was not even charged.i think he shoud have been ,and if it had been one of my children he would not be on this earth today,but alas he still lives there last i heard

[onfire]

Originally Posted by Russell

Spell what out mate? You don't think that a decapitation is possible from this?

While it very possible and true, and the entire stupid idea of putting wires up has caused great damage.

He's stating theres urban legends, particularly in American culture about wire and fishing line traps set in the woods. Alot of the times, urban legends are eggagerations of actully events, and travel through word of mouth rather than national media. Usually via the traditional " A friend of a friend of a friend.. " and usually the story goes along the lines of a head being found at the bottom of a hill by campers, or a torso found without a head, and of course the evidence of the wires is long gone once the idiots realised what they did.

[RG]

Originally Posted by onfire

While it very possible and true, and the entire stupid idea of putting wires up has caused great damage.

He's stating theres urban legends, particularly in American culture about wire and fishing line traps set in the woods. Alot of the times, urban legends are eggagerations of actully events, and travel through word of mouth rather than national media. Usually via the traditional " A friend of a friend of a friend.. " and usually the story goes along the lines of a head being found at the bottom of a hill by campers, or a torso found without a head, and of course the evidence of the wires is long gone once the idiots realised what they did.

Yes but stating something isn't true when you don't actually have a clue about it is what I was challenging.

This did happen and decapitation doesn't necessarily mean a "movie like" head rolling down a hill.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by old_mate

i suffer from morons on bikes riding around my place and local streets all the time. While wire is definately and utterly stupid, if i could figure out a way to trap the front wheel of a motorbike and send its rider over the bars i'd do my best to teach all the morons who ride on private property/local parks and biketrails a lesson...

You don't think that is potentially just as dangerous to a rider? Teaching a bike rider riding their bike on a bike trail a lesson? What lesson are they to learn as they're sailing over their handlebars... that there are some real cruel people in this world?

Inflicting harm on the odd bike rider isn't going to solve a thing.

[Rob's 76 Effy]

Originally Posted by Russell

Yes but stating something isn't true when you don't actually have a clue about it is what I was challenging.

This did happen and decapitation doesn't necessarily mean a "movie like" head rolling down a hill.

Wait there i didn't say this wasn't true or doesn't happen, but a lot of it is as i said urban legend, mate i grew up with this stuff in the late 60's early 70's with rumor's that ppl had been setting wire across tracks and ppls heads being severed, all was bunk and codswallop nothing proven and no news or local out cry and no evidence that it ever happened, funny someone bring s up something and all kinds come out of the wood work and say this happened to me and happened to friends of friends, i haven't heard of this kind of thing happening in over 40 yrs, never even seen anyone with franky stitches around there neck, like i said most is crap just rumours spead to stop riders doing there thing

[old_mate]

Originally Posted by Rodp

You don't think that is potentially just as dangerous to a rider? Teaching a bike rider riding their bike on a bike trail a lesson? What lesson are they to learn as they're sailing over their handlebars... that there are some real cruel people in this world?

Inflicting harm on the odd bike rider isn't going to solve a thing.

Sorry, i was meaning referring to the trail bike riders who fang down the footpath for walkers and bicycle riders, hence why i said i could invent something that was 100% only to catch out a moto and not any other form of two wheeled fun

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by old_mate

Sorry, i was meaning referring to the trail bike riders who fang down the footpath for walkers and bicycle riders, hence why i said i could invent something that was 100% only to catch out a moto and not any other form of two wheeled fun

But my point remains... you want to potentially kill one of them?