Posted on 11/30/2006 10:29:41 AM PST by absolootezer0
A Suzuki racing bike screaming at 80 mph in a 25-mph zone slammed into Gigliotti on Oct. 4 as she was leaving her job at Long Beach City College, igniting a fireball inside her Ford Escort.
"It is not uncommon to see these kinds of accidents with motorcycles, particularly high-powered super bikes," said Raymond Dennison, the Long Beach detective who investigated the crash. "The whole function is to go as fast as they can."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
"There are very very few (Sport) bikes on the road today that can be used to their full potential by anyone"
Try telling that to they guys who race down Mulholland drive from the 'Rock' store.
The first time I ever went up there, there must have been 10 police cars and two ambulances for the idiots that went over the cliff. Literally.
I think this case is one of (paraphrasing Tom Clancy) too much power under the tank and not enough brains behind the handlebars.
"I'm no physicist but how much worse could the impact of a 500lb Suzuki GSX be than that of this 680lb "oversized" harley??"
500/680 = About 7%
As always, the fatality rate is compared to the low, just like oil prices.
Not one peep about other major changes out there...little things like cell phone use while driving cars (two out of three motorcyclists who die in collisions with other vehicles are nailed or cut off by a 4 wheeled vehicle which fails to yield or left-turns in front of them), like the shape shift of the frontal impact area of vehicles, especially with the SUV, removing the bumper as a protruding object, and replacing it with a more monolithic impact area.
When I started riding, cars were built so that no vehicle short of a Semi would ever push the passenger door past the centerline of the vehicle.
The biases of the authors are blatant. The fact remains, that if she was pulling out of a parking lot and he hit the passenger door, he was on her right, on the main thoroughfare, and likely had the right-of-way. If they were both on the main roadway, she left-turned or tried to cross in front of him.
Now, whose fault would that be?
I've put over 100,000 miles on Sport bikes (crotch rockets) and never felt that. What am I missing?
You shouldn't oughta give away straight lines like that. You'll get somebody banned.
Counter-steer, is that like turning into the direction of the skid in a car to get straightened out?
Those who own 'eeevil assault weapons' have had to deal with the same from not only the gun control folks, but some of their hunting bretheren as well.
Divide and conquer is an old, but effective tactic.
Drat, there goes my minivan. :)
My age at the time was an invincible 26 years in the summer of 1988. It was just too easy and very entertaining. 3 lanes of open expressway and the police would sit in the median at 7:30 pm, just north of the Syracuse Airport. A group of bikes approximately equal in speed, and ability. Kawi Ninja, Suzy GSXR1100, Honda Hurricane.
but such action is simply arrogant and stupid... in your opinion. Good for you that you have only had one speeding ticket in 1969. This is relevant how?
Most traffic laws are intended to protect the public from ignorant people generate revenue. No law can protect the public from idiots. nor are they intended to.
For you I have a single word.....KILLJOY
Why is this important?
ANSWER:
Lautenberg is now chair of the transportation committee and he is anti-states rights on this issue.
This is a fluff anecdote story with no real facts.
The rider was listed as 21 and was in a mandatory helmet state. Did he have a motorcycle license? Not just an auto license, an full motorcycle endorsement.
How long was this 21 year old riding? Per some of my personal injury attorney colegues, motorcycle cause accidents generally if not always involve a less than 6 month experience rider AND/OR no license. The less than 6 month survival rate increases IF the rider has taken a safety class.
The cold fact of life is that 70% of all car / motorcycle accidents are the auto drivers fault. This is why Personal Injury attorney's like motorcycle cases. Also motorcycles are generall NOT part of the no fault insurance systems.
Ironic this comes from the LA Times since more motorcycles on the road mean a friendlier environmental impact.
On a bike it is : Push right to turn right. Push left to turn left. This does not apply when "walking" a bike through a parking lot....sitting on the bike doing the duck waddle at 2 mph.
Go figure.
BTW, Bury me with all the parts. I don't want some gung-ho scavenger jumping the gun and yanking out essential parts because some nitwit failed to yield the right-of way.
Read the eyewitness account in #78.
"LBPD Public Information Officer Nancy Pratt tells LBReport.com that the motorcycle driver (aboard a GSXR-style high-performance motorcycle) was near the LBCC entrance/pedestrian crossing on Carson St., facing west between two cars (straddling two lanes of traffic) when -- the new witness indicates -- the motorcycle driver revved his motor, then took off "like a rocket."
gsxr weighs in around 400lbs wet. so 280lbs difference at 100mph.
Where does it say she pulled out in front of the biker? It's just unfortunate the punk took somebody with him.
if they went off the cliff they weren't living up to their full potential.
Thank you for reiterating that part of the eye-witness account. Failure to yield? Please. *rolling eyes*
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