Article today ref roads crap here, from a riders organisation:

 

http://www.righttoride.co.uk/2015/06/17/suffering-road-cuts/

Absolutely f#cking devastating news today! 

 

John was killed this afternoon doing what he loved to do, riding as medical cover at the Skerries 100. 

 

http://www.u.tv/News/2015/07/04/Irish-road-racing-doctor-dies-40391

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-33396577

 

This is going to rock the road racing world hard, DocJohn was a true legend and ambassador for so much more than road racing alone as this thread was started to illustrate.  :'(

 

Here is another link I meant to post into OP http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/flying-doctor-how-a-medic-is-helping-to-make-biking-safer-31217208.html

 

All thoughts with his family and friends. 

 

Ride In Peace DocJohn  :'(

 

  

R.I.p DocJohn

There is only one other forum I post on and its a small very quiet these days local biker one. Here was his rc45 he had wanted since 94 and only just got and well on the way to making it the track bike he wanted for his collection: Was shaping up real well and had a build thread for it :(

 

 

Far too young  :'( I'd never even heard of him until reading this thread but he sounds a bit like the Sid Watkins of motorcycle racing, very sad news. A small consolation he was doing what he loved. 

Was just about to post about this.

Such sad news :(

I too didnt know him but have read up abit in the last hour or so. Sounds like a true hero.

So many peoples lives he saved in the sport and his wider career, so many messages popping up on here which are humbling to read. https://www.facebook.com/MCUImedicalteam

Sad news, the guy was a legend.  My condolences to his nearest and dearest.

 

RIP dude.

Below are some of DocJohns recent tweets ref the initial topic of this thread. He said it how it is! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A petition was started and has had over 9000 signatures so far in a matter of hours. It's not the most substantial of petitions and tbh its addressed to a department that doesn't exist.... But it's well meaning and good to see, I am sure his family will take comfort from all the support and wishes from around the world that have been flooding in. 

https://www.change.org/p/the-northern-ireland-assembly-lets-push-ahead-with-dr-john-hinds-campaign-to-get-an-air-ambulance-off-the-ground-for-northern-ireland-as-he-no-longer-can-a-lasting-tribute-for-an-exceptional-man-rip-doc-hinds?recruiter=336359103&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_page&utm_term=mob-xs-share_petition-custom_msg&fb_ref=Default

He seemed like a very nice guy and passionate about getting the right medical cover for his country a real shame rip john let's hope someone takes up the fight !

As others have already said - very sad news when something like this happens.

RIP DocJohn

Well at least we can all do something that he would have liked.

 

https://www.change.org/p/the-northern-ireland-assembly-lets-push-ahead-with-dr-john-hinds-campaign-to-get-an-air-ambulance-off-the-ground-for-northern-ireland-as-he-no-longer-can-a-lasting-tribute-for-an-exceptional-man-rip-doc-hinds?recruiter=65645368&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=des-md-no_src-reason_msg

Well at least we can all do something that he would have liked.

 

https://www.change.org/p/the-northern-ireland-assembly-lets-push-ahead-with-dr-john-hinds-campaign-to-get-an-air-ambulance-off-the-ground-for-northern-ireland-as-he-no-longer-can-a-lasting-tribute-for-an-exceptional-man-rip-doc-hinds?recruiter=65645368&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=des-md-no_src-reason_msg

Sadly as I said above, as well intentioned as it is the petition that has been started is poorly put together and not really in line with his specific campaigning as he answered to in the pic below I left in the quote. A helicopter is useless without a trama network on the ground firstly, which we just don't have. Even without a chopper or 4 (which we would need geographically speaking) an established trama network alone would turn the tides in living or dying). As I said the public response to the petition on it's own will mean a lot to the families, but there has never been a single person in NI right to the top of government who doesn't think it's a good idea. Public opinion on it is not really needed and has been campaigned for, for decades. With the population of the entire country 5 times smaller than that of just London, money per head is the issue to date. The on the ground costs to prepare the current system for an air ambulance asset would run into the hundreds of millions and take years (only hospital in the country that you'd want to be brought to in a critical condition, you cannot land anywhere near it due to building too much around it now). We have 100% tax payer funded police ASU, I can't see personally why or how in government funding terms a life first asset could not come before a small fleet that's just to follow people. Could make a mixed unit with multi fitment airframes and joint staffing etc, priority to be given to life. Without anything changing people here can expect to just die on the road side or while being smashed about in the back of a van for what could be hours from incident to A&E while the rest of the UK can generally receive an air ambulance for going over on an ankle up a hill side.

 

All there was on FB and twitter yesterday from the police here was their ASU posting pics of them flying around looking at the tall boat show in Belfast........ seems such a waste. The government doesn't fund air ambulances, at least not fully anywhere else in the UK, but they do for police forces. Just seems a bit morally wrong to me. For the lower number of call outs NI has due to smaller population, each usage of an air ambulance here would cost substantially more 500%. That's why I think a joint unit would be sensible. The Police ASU even have a plane here and use it at christmas to fly to random EU cities to have their shifts Christmas **** up..... all on the tax payer.

 

If you come over here and have a serious RTC you are 40% more likely to die than you are in the rest of the UK due to these deficiencies. Our road death rate is not only down to the state of the road network and driving standards, but in the event you will have to be taken to the nearest hospital who won't have anyone who can deal with you only try to keep you breathing then load you into a van to be driven 2+ hours to the one place they have some actual specialists. It's like being critical and an ambulance taking you to your local GP's surgery, being taken to A&E here. And my local A&E failed to meet it's be seen within 4 hours for emergency cases with 10 per month waiting over 12 hours to be seen. 

 

A petition was started and has had over 9000 signatures so far in a matter of hours. It's not the most substantial of petitions and tbh its addressed to a department that doesn't exist.... But it's well meaning and good to see, I am sure his family will take comfort from all the support and wishes from around the world that have been flooding in. 

https://www.change.org/p/the-northern-ireland-assembly-lets-push-ahead-with-dr-john-hinds-campaign-to-get-an-air-ambulance-off-the-ground-for-northern-ireland-as-he-no-longer-can-a-lasting-tribute-for-an-exceptional-man-rip-doc-hinds?recruiter=336359103&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_page&utm_term=mob-xs-share_petition-custom_msg&fb_ref=Default

 

 

 

In summary, DocJohn didn't campaign simply saying someone give us an air ambulance (unlike the petition to a department that doesn't even exist in a government that no longer has money to even fill pot holes, to somehow rustle one up). He highlighted that it is the final piece required after actually restructuring our (in his words) "third world" system. For media and headlines the need of an air ambulance is used as the general public will see or hear that and go "hell yea!!" if the headline was 'we need a trama network', not one person would notice it, understand it or bother to read into it. Having an air ambulance today would be like ordering a taxi to pick you up, when you have nowhere to go.

Working on the theory of 'no publicity is bad publicity' I thought it worth while posting the link. 

 

As regards Police helicopters being funded by Government.  Humberside are about to lose theirs due to budget annihilation.  I believe they are having to share with South Yorkshire.  In any event as important as crime is especially if you are affected I personally do not see value for money in chasing stolen cars around in a helicopter.  Yes they catch more than they use to but at what expense?  Couldn't that money be shared/divided with emergency care?

Working on the theory of 'no publicity is bad publicity' I thought it worth while posting the link. 

 

As regards Police helicopters being funded by Government.  Humberside are about to lose theirs due to budget annihilation.  I believe they are having to share with South Yorkshire.  In any event as important as crime is especially if you are affected I personally do not see value for money in chasing stolen cars around in a helicopter.  Yes they catch more than they use to but at what expense?  Couldn't that money be shared/divided with emergency care?

 

Likewise why I shared the link too. 

 

We have 2 helicopters and one islander here (islander may be going or gone now). Total number of car chases I would hazard a guess to being zero here. They do not have the range to cover all of NI which gives it real limitations needing to stop and refuel, but where?. Ironically police barracks here have helipads still but all the hospital ones are more or less gone now :( The police in my region in 2009 publicly stated that they would not respond to any calls in the western half of the county unless it was by air (impossible to use the PSNI's ASU due to range and time it would take, they chartered a private one to be on call for them 24/7 and spent half a million on that alone in a matter of months before the cost started hitting the press. That got scrapped and they just went back to responding to 999 calls in a few days or sometimes more than a week later, inc after, armed robberies, bombs have gone off..... Risk to the highest paid police force in the world is unacceptable, but the general public must take their own chances. Due to the lack of venturing out of their fortified barracks there was a big wave of ATM robberies that lasted a few years where any town with building work going on would result in someone stealing a digger and knocking down banks and shops around the full sized permanent ATM's and strong rooms and then loading it onto the back of a lorry and drive off. Crime scenes like that with locals, staff and media all over them, then builders repairing the damage before the first sign of the police days later lol.

There are risks and threats, but that's unfortunately part of their duty and why a constable here will see close to £50K on his P60 each year. Also in money loss terms and waste, the police last year here declared an emergency as they were going to run out of money and hit the government for £16million emergency funds. Said they were going to have to cut back on recruiting and will cause the world to end, blamed it on having to spend £80million policing one event (G8). At end of financial year having spent as much as they possibly could on overtime and new toys (like fleet of audi's and corruption investigations into that now) they had £18M left over and last I heard was crying that this year their budget would be cut to reflect the shortfall LOL. 

Some Tribute videos have started to pop up now. All are pretty much the same early efforts, but someone uploaded this which I really liked 

 

The flying doctor in the thick of it! Used to be so funny to see him overtaking some of the racers when he was bored at the back  :clap:

 

Must of been a properly good rider!

Saw a picture of him wirh his knee down that showed all the kit on the bike too. Top stuff haha

Must of been a properly good rider!

Saw a picture of him wirh his knee down that showed all the kit on the bike too. Top stuff haha

 

 

 

Aye, he was pretty bang tidy on two wheels, absolutely loved bikes! 

 

Great video following him around Almeria

Epic pic from this season! 

 

Best way to explain DocJohn's personality is to show this video of him telling it like it is at an international seminar in Australia.  :clap:

 

 

and a pic from another shared online by another doctor today. In the stuffy world of modern day stringent guidelines there 'was' a man!  

 

John coming back up the road home today and despite real nasty weather conditions and flooding roads etc what a spectacular entourage! This would have taken several hours, bloody impressed and gutted I couldn't be there! 

 

https://www.facebook.com/MeaneyWeatherUpdates/videos/1661194394094078/

 

 

And one final lap of his favourite road racing course 'Tandragee'  :clap:

 

https://www.facebook.com/ulstergazette/videos/720365054753377

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhKM2s5_1Js

Wow.

https://www.change.org/p/the-northern-ireland-assembly-lets-push-ahead-with-dr-john-hinds-campaign-to-get-an-air-ambulance-off-the-ground-for-northern-ireland-as-he-no-longer-can-a-lasting-tribute-for-an-exceptional-man-rip-doc-hinds?recruiter=55499059&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_responsive&utm_term=des-lg-share_petition-no_msg

Been chatting to Red Torpedo yesterday after sending them a message a week ago asking if they would be producing any DocJohn products with charitable donation/sponsoring. They are now up for it with all proceeds to charity of families choice