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 ...
In this one horrific instance, the rider deserves the lion's share of the blame.
That does not account for the vast number of situations in which the onus is on the auto operator, nor does it justify the sweeping conclusions at the end of the article which would give the reader the impression that all motorcyclists are some sort of crazed kamikazes, out to inflict fiery death on the motoring population.
The favorable horsepower to weight ratio posessed by most motorcycles gives the motorcyclist the ability to 'power out' of an accident before it happens, a valid and often effective evasive technique, and one which has kept me out of the hospital more than once. Remove that, and the kill rate will go up, not down.
So who decides how much is too much? Whether we be discussing the engine displacement of motorcycles or the amount of fat in a person's diet, it should be up to the individual.
There was a brainiac on a crotchrocket who did something like that on a heavily traveled road in front of me just yesterday. Idiot. I just laughed and prayed that the only person he killed would be himself.<<<<<<
Had two of them cut in front of me with inches to spare on the 710 freeway in Los Angeles last week. Naturally they were splitting traffic, which ought to be against the law if people can't ride any better than this.
I used to drive a mountain road to a job site, one frequented by lots of motorcycle riders due to the scenery and the road. The only times I ever nearly got forced off the road on the dropoff side were from these types of motorcycles. The real bikers were never a problem, just the speed demons who drove the curves too wide and too fast.
At age 26 I enjoyed the power and speed and handling of that Ninja. It was significantly better than the other bikes I had been riding up to that point.
While you may consider such activities as buzzing the police at 170mph idiotic, I considered it fun, and still relish the enjoyment I had doing it.
And when you die, eternity: smoking or non-smoking?
Have you ever read Milton?
Yep. A lot of them are talking on the cell phone, monkeying with the stereo, and 'driving' at the same time.
I love all motorcycles, always have. I've written often about Harleys. One of the main things in their favor, according to riders, is that they're LOUD and BIG so automobiles can both hear and see them. The true Harley guys I know, the ones who seem to enjoy tinkering on the bikes as much as riding them, are usually very cautious drivers, perhaps in part because they completetly understand the physical workings of the machines they drive and respect them all that much more.
As a long-time city driver, I can attest to how dangerous the quiet rice-rockets are. They're on you before you know it and God help both of you if you've chosen the split-second to change lanes at the same moment some small, quiet, hard-to-spot rice-rocketer who's riding at high speed between lanes of sluggish traffic has caught up to you. I know it's legal for them to do this, but it's also ridiculously dangerous at the speeds so many of them take.
Have never owned a motorcycle myself (someday, maybe!!), but have a brother who is a true Harley guy (has built countless ones from scratch) and an uncle and a cousin who are also both Harley guys -- uncle is one of those genius mechanics with an IQ way, way up there. The guy can fix anything with two or more wheels.
I was at a state fair, and one of the knife salesman guys was asking everyone in Officially Licensed Hardley Gear what color their bike was. About a third said black, and a few other colors, but the vas majority said something like "The bitch won't let me get one" or "I had to sell it 20 years ago" (AMF days).
After a few of these, I started laughing my ass off. My kids were busy watching something else, so I played a game with the knife slaesman. He would point out his next victim, and I'd guess yes or no to a bike, and sure enough, at least 2/3 of the dudes in Officially Licensed Hardley Gear did not own a bike. He gave me a ginsu just for sharing the laughs at the heroin addict wanna-be's in Officially Licensed Hardley Gear
Where did you pull that statistic from? Biker's World?
I LIVE IN DAYTONA AND WORK IN ORLANDO FLORIDA. WHEN TRAVELING I-4 I WOULD SEE ALMOST ON A DAILY BASIS THESE KIDS RIDING WHEELIES AND DODGING IN AND OUT BETWEEN CARS. THIS PAST BIKETOBERFEST THERE WAS ANOTHER RACING HIS FRIENDS ON INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY BLVD IN FRONT OF THE DAYTONA SPEEDWAY. HE DID NOT SEE THE MAN AND WOMAN THAT WERE CROSSING THE HIGHWAY IN THE CROSS-WALK. HE HIT THE WOMAN AND DRAGGED HER FOR A 100 FT OR SO KILLING HER. I CAN SAY THAT I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE HARLEY RIDERS RIDING IN THIS FASHION.
180 is screaming on the interstate. 60 is screaming in a 25mph zone.
Probably the Hurt report (yes, that's what it was really called, compiled by Dr. Hurt) back in the mid-80s. It's way out of date though, and apparently single-vehicle accidents have become more frequent. Still, a large percentage of car/bike accidents are a result of the failure of the car's driver to yield the right of way.
" I know it's legal for them to do this,"
And it's legal to dress up as a Klansman and walk through Harlem or Compton:-)
I do believe the Hurt report is where that stat is from and that there may be more single vehicle accidents now (bikes). What hasn't changed is that cager pullouts and left turns in front represent the majority of bike v. cager crashes. As for single bike accidents, I'd think getting into a corner too hot and riding under the influence are the biggies.
I was talking about the GSXR Habanero...Hayabusa, whatever. I guess it eats Mexican rice. (:^D)
Yep - experienced sport bike riders out pushing their limits and exceeding them. New, young sport bike riders who don't know their limits. And another big group, apparently, are middle-aged re-entry riders who haven't ridden for years, and have bought the largest, heaviest, most powerful bikes they can afford. I fall into the first of those categories - I've "crashed" twice, although only one was a typical too-fast-into-the-corner, the other was an extremely slick corner in the rain where I had to hit the brakes part way through to slow down for the tractor that was pulling a Honda Civic out of the ditch. That corner was so slippery in the rain that I could hardly stand on it. The first "accident" I don't have any excuses for. Neither resulted in any injury to me or involvement by the cops, however.
Excellent thought! I drive a full-size pickup truck and I KNOW I do not have a very good field of vision behind me, so I am very careful when changing lanes so I don't squish an econobox. The problem comes when somebody in a sports car or on a sport bike comes up fast behind me - it is really hard to judge whether it would be safer to move or stay put. Usually I will signal and move right if I can if someone wants to go faster than me.
Yes, of course, any sensible person does that, and it's my rule of thumb. I'm a stickler for using turn signals when changing lanes, as well. The problem is that such wise advice is irrelevant when spotting a very fast-moving small, low, biker is nearly impossible in the first place!!!.
I'm talking about freeway traffic that's going between 25 and 35 mph. Fortunately, most of the rice-rocketers are smart and split the lanes at cautously safe speeds so that you CAN spot them coming up, and Harleys -- well, you see AND hear them, and they're too big to go real fast between lanes of cars. But more times than I care to think about, as I'm crusing along at 30 mph with two lanes of cars doing the same speed on either side of me, some fool on a quiet rice-rocket slips between my car and one next to me so fast that had I been changing lanes, no matter how safely I did it, there's not a snowball's chance in hell that a collision could have been avoided.
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