Saw a fatal today

[fdcg27]

I was on the way home and heard on NPR of an accident a couple of miles from our house at a location I'd have to drive past.
Got there and saw the back half of what was a crotch rocket along with a Buick sedan with heavy driver's side damage to the right.
Given the damage to the car and the position of the remains of the bike, it was hard to see what might have happened, but given the severity of the impact to the car, I'd doubt that the bike's rider is still among us.
A gorgeous day with sunny skies and no clouds at all and fifty degree temperatures. Great day for a little ride.
Too bad it was this rider's last one.
As I posted in a thread a year or so back, once you have a wife and kids your bike days are over.

 

[Mr Nice]

It's unfortunate. I read the local online news and evey week a motorcyclist is getting killed.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Passed a really bad crash on I95 with my daughter late Saturday night and she said she thought she saw a corpse.
I told her that it would have been covered up in that case so that wasn't what she saw.

I was lying for her sake, of course.

 

[dbias]

As a retired firefighter ive pretty much seen it all and bike wrecks are the worst. A friend of mine was killed when riding her bike she was hit by a light pole that fell off a flat bed tractor trailer from the bridge above. When its your time to go your gone.

 

[jay929]

Not a pleasant sight
I actually have two children and I still ride, my wife is always giving me [censored] I just ride to and from work 2 to 3 times a week. I probably should get rid of it though

 

[JustinH]

Its terrible. We seen a group of crotch rockets come up on stopped traffic travelling north from Key West towards the mainland. They were probably going 120+ mph, and one drove directly into the back of an econoline van.

Terrible sight.

 

[Snagglefoot]

My neighbour is a retired fire department Captain. He calls the bikes Ninjas. Not because they were Kawasaki’s, but because they were inexpensive two cylinder crotch rockets that the youngest kids can afford to ride. He said there were more victims on those types of bikes than any others.

 

[maverickfhs]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
I was on the way home and heard on NPR of an accident a couple of miles from our house at a location I'd have to drive past.
Got there and saw the back half of what was a crotch rocket along with a Buick sedan with heavy driver's side damage to the right.
Given the damage to the car and the position of the remains of the bike, it was hard to see what might have happened, but given the severity of the impact to the car, I'd doubt that the bike's rider is still among us.
A gorgeous day with sunny skies and no clouds at all and fifty degree temperatures. Great day for a little ride.
Too bad it was this rider's last one.
As I posted in a thread a year or so back, once you have a wife and kids your bike days are over.


Sad, hope biker is alive and will recover

Honestly, these days drivers are extremely distracted and some bikers put a bad name on such an amazing sport.

 

[Chris B.]

Originally Posted By: jay929
Not a pleasant sight
I actually have two children and I still ride, my wife is always giving me [censored] I just ride to and from work 2 to 3 times a week. I probably should get rid of it though


I rode 12,000 miles a year on my Harley Sportster. I would even ride in snow storms all through winter and in temps well below zero! I LOVED LOVED LOVED riding! My wife was on her own Sportster right beside me the entire time. When our first child was born and a couple close friends were killed on their bikes we made the decision to sell the bikes. Our children need us and are far to important to risk riding a bike. When they are grown and gone we will buy new bikes and start riding again.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Spring is just around the corner and bike riders will be on the road again. Ride safe guys, and people driving cars please look out more for bikers and pay more attention to the road. Too much road chaos as it is. Hope the guy made it.

 

[Kira]

In addition to common carelessness and ineptitude on the part of drivers of BOTH motorcycles and any other vehicle, I believe there's a big contributor of crashes and it is this.

Categorize bikes as small and everything else as big.

Drivers of big things can look at a bike and it will not register as a big threat.

I'm not a shrink but you know what I mean. The sight of a bike simply doesn't alarm the brain as much as a big vehicle.

I believe it's always been a contributing factor.

PLUS bike can do more random things than big vehicles so they can add to the "party".

Just the way it is.

 

[SZR48207]

I love riding and if I’m gonna go it may as well be while I’m doing something I enjoy.

This may be irresponsible thinking but there is nothing like riding a motorcycle.

 

[andyd]

I love riding and if I’m gonna go it may as well be while I’m doing something I enjoy.

Frank Muller was the top narrator in Books on Tape/CD. The guy was beyond good. Bought himself a Harley in NV but no helmet. Wiped out with massive head trauma. It took him 5 yrs to die from seizures. If you're gonna end it find a surer way

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: Kira
In addition to common carelessness and ineptitude on the part of drivers of BOTH motorcycles and any other vehicle, I believe there's a big contributor of crashes and it is this.

Categorize bikes as small and everything else as big.

Drivers of big things can look at a bike and it will not register as a big threat.

I'm not a shrink but you know what I mean. The sight of a bike simply doesn't alarm the brain as much as a big vehicle.

I believe it's always been a contributing factor.

PLUS bike can do more random things than big vehicles so they can add to the "party".

Just the way it is.


I had a friend who worked in a bike shop and one year he told me that he knew of 10 people who had died that year and in half the cases, it wasn't even the rider's fault. Was enough to convince me never to ride.

 

[Lolvoguy]

Death is a part of life.
Once you learn and accept this, you can be comfortable with your choice.

 

[Leo99]

A lot of bikers ride as if they have a death wish. Guys going 120 mph wearing a tee shirt weaving in out of lanes and around cars. If you're going to ride, be safe.

 

[Inspecktor]

Originally Posted By: Leo99
A lot of bikers ride as if they have a death wish. Guys going 120 mph wearing a tee shirt weaving in out of lanes and around cars. If you're going to ride, be safe.
Amen to that.

 

[SZR48207]

Originally Posted By: andyd
I love riding and if I’m gonna go it may as well be while I’m doing something I enjoy.

Frank Muller was the top narrator in Books on Tape/CD. The guy was beyond good. Bought himself a Harley in NV but no helmet. Wiped out with massive head trauma. It took him 5 yrs to die from seizures. If you're gonna end it find a surer way


DNR on file

 

[MCompact]

The fatality rate drops significantly when you subtract the unlicensed riders, drunk/drugged riders, Darwin's assistants(no helmet or other gear), and those that haven't taken the MSF RiderCourse or similar.

Still not as safe as a car, but better odds than a lot of people think.

When I ride I assume I'm invisible- and that any driver that can see me will try to kill me. I assume every oncoming car is going to turn in front of me if it can- and that every car on a side road will pull out on me. I don't crawl along, but I do cover the front brake and roll off the throttle a bit.

It's sad to read of accidents that a little training would probably have prevented- I recall a news story where an SUV turned in front of a bike and the rider said he had no choice but to "lay it down." He missed the SUV but hit the curb- killing his pillion rider.
I'd bet the farm he never even touched his front brake lever...

 

[ammolab]

Originally Posted By: MCompact
The fatality rate drops significantly when you subtract the unlicensed riders, drunk/drugged riders, Darwin's assistants(no helmet or other gear), and those that haven't taken the MSF RiderCourse or similar.

Still not as safe as a car, but better odds than a lot of people think.

When I ride I assume I'm invisible- and that any driver that can see me will try to kill me. I assume every oncoming car is going to turn in front of me if it can- and that every car on a side road will pull out on me. I don't crawl along, but I do cover the front brake and roll off the throttle a bit.

It's sad to read of accidents that a little training would probably have prevented- I recall a news story where an SUV turned in front of a bike and the rider said he had no choice but to "lay it down." He missed the SUV but hit the curb- killing his pillion rider.
I'd bet the farm he never even touched his front brake lever...


Roger all this. Riding a bike will make you the ULTIMATE defensive driver....this or a statistic.