Would you Recommend Family Members And Friends Not To Drive A Motorcycle; 7 Dead After Motorcycle Crash (speeding, driver)
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My condolences to the families of the 7 folks who died. I sold my Harley a couple of years ago because moving it from Hawaii back to the mainland is a hassle. I plan on buying another one soon, probably an Indian.
btw, I'm almost 73, and my thought is I don't have that much time to lose
Guess I'll be the contrarian, I used to ride all the time (rain or shine) and I plan on riding again. My kids ride dirt bikes and I would be ok with them riding street bikes. Being a motorcyclist for so long I've heard the stories (amazing how when folks find out you ride they feel the impulse to tell you every horror story they know), I've seen the videos, I've witnessed first hand, and I've been down a few times myself. But then again 13 church goers in a small bus die when they got head-on'd by a pickup not far from here, almost every day there is a report of someone dying in a auto accident in the local news so there you go, those roads are a dangerous place.
I see people riding the NYC area, its a death wish on the parkways. There was an incident with a motorcycle tail gating a vehicle in the left lane, when the car moved over to the right the motorcycle did the same to pass and was almost hit They motorcycle pulled up next to the car and continued to argue with the driver for a few miles.
I spent almost 5 months in hospital after multiple trauma MC accident....Rebuilt that bike and rode it for years until the widow of a friend gave me his to rebuild and ride.... Crap is going to happen regardless of what you do.
Chances are you are going to be in accident sometime in your life no matter what you are driving. A minor accident in car is major accident on a motorcycle. As one example I have hit two deerduring my 30 years of driving and if I was on a bike at least one of those accidents probably would of been fatal because of the speed I was traveling. I would never suggest people shouldn't be allowed to ride a motorcycle but I think they have to be nuts, it's a very big risk no matter which way you look at it.
I've been upside down in a car, was in a boat that flat spun at 80mph, stuffed my boat at 70ish, hooked my boat at 70ish, had several "offs" on a snowmobile at 50 plus, and wiped out on my dirt bike plenty of times. So yeah, I've been in accidents before. But in all those, the reason was operator error, most motorcycle accidents are caused by someone else, no matter how reactive one can ride. Many of us do dangerous activities, we know the dangers but eliminating just one , especially one that is not controlled by us, is key.
My condolences to the families of the 7 folks who died. I sold my Harley a couple of years ago because moving it from Hawaii back to the mainland is a hassle. I plan on buying another one soon, probably an Indian.
btw, I'm almost 73, and my thought is I don't have that much time to lose
I ride 25-30 thousand miles a year. What should be done is to charge anyone who "didn't see them" or otherwise murders a biker through their incompetence or inattention with vehicular homicide and lock them up for long periods of time. Pass and enforce cell-phone laws. Start cracking down on stupidity.
I'll admit-part of it goes both ways. There are a lot of riders that don't ride enough to build the skills, reactions and muscle memory to react properly in any kind of incident. That don't practice things like swerving to avoid an object in the road or emergency braking. And that ride without a helmet.
The biggest thing as a rider-ride as if most people are morons and out to kill you and be prepared to react if they do something stupid.
BTW the driver that murdered the 7 bikers has a long history of incidence including multiple DWIs and driving without a license.
I've been upside down in a car, was in a boat that flat spun at 80mph, stuffed my boat at 70ish, hooked my boat at 70ish, had several "offs" on a snowmobile at 50 plus, and wiped out on my dirt bike plenty of times. So yeah, I've been in accidents before. But in all those, the reason was operator error, most motorcycle accidents are caused by someone else, no matter how reactive one can ride. Many of us do dangerous activities, we know the dangers but eliminating just one , especially one that is not controlled by us, is key.
I have had my share of "operator errors", in hindsight diving off a 30 foot cliff after drinking a six pack was not the greatest plan I ever had. Almost broke my arm on that, water is hard. Closest I came to death was actually on a mountain bike, ripping through the woods probably going 30 or so and my head missed a tree by inches during crash. Nearly everything is a risk but riding a motorcycle is unacceptable IMO, a lot of the risk cannot be mitigated.
I guess seven of them won’t be smacking off any more side mirrors.
I read these were a group of ex-marine who had formed a sort of an impromptu group to enjoy riding as a group together. I hardly think these folks were the types to go around smacking mirrors off the sides of cars.
As a veeeery long term biker from the get-go age of 15 to the last year of biking for me being just before my 71st B'day I can attest to the fact that cagers are the problem and not primarily or even for the most part, bikers.
I road raced amateur class campaigning a self built Triton for years before giving that up after high-siding a couple of times and the one serious road accident I had was due to a guy driving an Oldsmobile four door pulling into an intersection right smack dab in front of me after looking at me coming with a 100 watt high beam headlight on full time; his comment "I didn't see you" I was riding an 87 Harley FLHS bagger at the time and was only 50 yards from him when he pulled out. I bailed by putting the bike down and that Harley with me slidiing behind destroyed that Olds. My only injury was road rash on one hip.
Today's distracted four wheel drivers are at a whole 'nuhter level of disconnect so yeah I'd discourage anyone I cared for from ever getting on a motorcycle today to go out there amongst the nutcases that think driving a car is just another text exercise.
We won't even begin to discuss the semi-drivers you witness wandering all over the highway with lane discipline a totally foreign concept to them.
These poor people were killed because they were in a tight group having just pulled onto the highway from where they spent the night. I gave up riding in groups in the 80's after witnessing and almost being involved in a similar accident to theirs. A tight group of riders can all be taken out by one person sneezing or swatting a bee behind the wheel.
These folks are deserving of sympathy; not snark!
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Almost broke my arm on that, water is hard. Closest I came to death was actually on a mountain bike, ripping through the woods probably going 30 or so and my head missed a tree by inches during crash. Nearly everything is a risk but riding a motorcycle is unacceptable IMO, a lot of the risk cannot be mitigated.
