ride2die.

[Draken]

Love that site, has some very good info on it, and is not trying to deter people from riding, but trying to get them to ride safely is all, and for those that don't ride, trying to get them to be on more of a lookout for riders.

[acropilot19]

Like i always say "Motorcycles are idiot proof, Act like an idiot and the motorcycle will prove it true"

...I get to see that stuff on an almost weekly basis. After we had two Harley riders get decapitated in seperate incidents two summers ago through NO fault of their own, I sold my Harley and have not gone back.

I do miss it, but the reality is, most car drivers today dont care, and most motorcyclists dont have the skillz to handle their bikes.

I was not going to let some Idiot pull a left in front of me and take away my ability to walk or breath, and I sure-as-Hell could not live with the sight of my wife or child hitting the ground, or a car, at 70mph.

Enjoy your bikes dudes, but just remeber the old saying; Its not "If" you go down, but "When" you go down. And you dont get to choose the "When".

[acropilot19]

Hey Dudes, I thought I'd include a snippet from a newsletter I was sending family & friends about the stuff I got to see on the road every day. It was a fun little way to blow off steam & poke fun at all the lousy female drivers I would get to meet. This one sorta goes with the topic of the thread. Picks wont upload, sorry...

Hello All,
With this third installment of our now World Famous newsletter, I am going to shift gears a little and get semi serious with this one. I normally prefer to keep it light and airy, sorta like a good pair of boxer briefs. But lately we've had a rash of near-fatal Motorcycle-cop vs. women driver crashes, and it needs to be addressed. I know I said in the last letter that "Oh darn, I smudged my mascara!" was the next planned episode, but when safety is threatened, I must respond! So here it is, special episode #2.5 "Look at all the pretty lights!"

Case study #2.5a: "Lights, Sirens, U-Turn!"
-(October, 2006, 2000 hours) Female driver in large SUV eastbound in #1 lane of SR 126. SR 126 is a four lane undivided highway with a center turning lane for both directions of travel. Traffic is stopped in both directions due to head-on collision that has just occurred. Female driver is impatient, wants to get home. Decides since there is no oncoming traffic, will bang a U-turn thru the center lane and go back from whence she came. At this time, our motorcycle Sgt., Sgt. #####, was responding to the big crash Code-3 (Full Lights and Siren), driving eastbound in the center turning lane (as it was the only open lane) at approximately 35-45 mph. With timing that can only be described as "Perfect", Female driver (without signaling) initiates U-turn thru center lane directly in front of Sgt. #####. With no time to brake, Sarge instinctively swerves left, and nails large SUV almost dead-center on its left side. Sarge goes down hard, but lives. When asked if she looked to see if it was safe to turn prior to doing so, female driver responds "I never saw him", this is code for NO.
Cause: Failure to look were you're going. This is one of the most common "Primary Collision Factors" with drivers who think they are the only vehicle on the road. You will see this again Very, Very soon, I promise.

Case study #2.5b: "Lights, Siren, U-Turn! (again)"
-(March 2007, 1600 hours) Female driver (Strike one) in Saturn compact sedan (Strike two)(The Saturn Sedan is considered by many to be the "Yugo" of American manufacturers). She is parked in front of her house facing northbound on the right shoulder of Santa Clara Ave., in the City of Oxnard. Santa Clara Ave. is a two lane, north-south city street with family housing lining the east side of the roadway. There is a wide dirt shoulder with open fields on the west side of the road. It is a very heavily traveled roadway with commercial trucking and overflow traffic from the nearby US 101. At this time, Motor Officer ##### was traveling southbound on Santa Clara Code-3, responding to another big crash (starting to see a trend here, are we?). Traffic in both directions yields to right in front of him, giving a clear path, as they are supposed to do. Female driver, who was waiting for a break in traffic, see's all these vehicles in both directions pulling off the road. What a GREAT time to make a U-Turn! With timing that can only be described as "Supercalafragalistic-expealidocious", she executes a perfect U-turn right in front of #####. ##### has no time to brake or swerve, and nails the Saturn in the right-rear tail light at approximately 50 mph. ##### and his bike become airbourn. Saturn is spun off the road to the right from the force of the collision. ##### and his bike come to rest in the roadway approximately 100 feet south of the Saturn. Female driver, who is shaken but not stirred, realizes what has happened, gets out of her car, walks past ##### and his bike lying in the road, walks into her house, and closes the door (Strike three). As he is lying in the road with a shattered right leg (among other things), ##### has the presence of mind to pull his cell phone from his shirt pocket and call his wife, then to call Dispatch and tell them he wouldn't be able to make it to the crash he was responding to, and oh, could they send a unit his way. Female driver was later found having lunch in her house (Strike four). She never bothered to call 911 (Strike Five). She was found to be unlicensed (Strike six), and uninsured (Strike seven).
Cause: Failure to look were you're going (see, I told you). Style points are also awarded for the completely inhumane performance of our female driver post-collision. This is the type of person we normal human beings refer to as a "Turd".
*As a side note- Officer ##### got out of the hospital 2 weeks ago, and will be spending the next year of his life re-learning to walk. Sgt. ##### just returned to active status after six months of rehabilitation.

I know, I know, I promised a fair and balanced report citing equally noodleheaded male driving exploits. But since this is a "Special Edition", I'm gonna go for the loophole in the rulebook that allows me to omit said exploits in the event of special circumstances. In this case the "special circumstances" are that we're getting ready to drive south to visit family, and Jo's been nagging me to getoffthecomputerandgetintotheshowersowecanpackupt hetruckandgo!

I know I said it before, but...

Join us Next Week for Case Study #3: Oh darn, I smudged my mascara! (This one's got Pictures too!)


The thing to remember in both these incidents is- These are professionally trained riders with manymanymanymany years of experience, going Code-3 (Lights & Sirens). 99.9999% of the riders out there (That means YOU) do NOT have their Skill, and you cannot get any more visible than they were, and they still got taken out. Think about it...

[Beemer]

My head is on a swivel, look around, know what is ahead AND behind. If you took off your mirrors to look cool, PUT THEM BACK ON!!!! People are idiots, assume they are out to kill you, and you should be fine.

I hear ya on that. I have been riding for thirty years now and every time I do i ride like I am invisible and EVERYONE is out to hit me.

Love that site, has some very good info on it, and is not trying to deter people from riding, but trying to get them to ride safely is all, and for those that don't ride, trying to get them to be on more of a lookout for riders.

Ya drivers have to be more aware. Reminded me of this vid. "How Close"

Look, Look then look again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWpFPeiRpIA

[Bear_Claw]

The thing to remember in both these incidents is- These are professionally trained riders with manymanymanymany years of experience, going Code-3 (Lights & Sirens). 99.9999% of the riders out there (That means YOU) do NOT have their Skill, and you cannot get any more visible than they were, and they still got taken out. Think about it...

Very good post and very true.

That being said if i lived my life avoiding all risk i doubt id have much of a life. Face it we all take risks for the things we love its a fact of life. Now sure were not all dare devils in life but i do not consider the average motorcyclist a daredevil either. Heck Paint ball has its risks to you could get seriously hurt running around on uneven ground with a some what heavy object in your hand that has a 3000-4500psi container against your shoulder, Never mind the risk of some IDIOT turning up the velocity to shoot paint balls at you well past the safe limits of your gear. In fact i re injured my knee playing paint ball years ago after a fall and also have had many lacerations from said idiots shooting hot. so should we ll stop playing??

I ride cause i enjoy it. I am ATGATT (All the gear all the time) when ever i ride (with the exception of down the street runs when working on setup on the bikes). I ride a bike thats appropriately powered for my need/skill sets. And i invest in training every few years to help make me a better rider. I do not ride too fast on the street and take even more caution after watching my mothers bike crash. So as you see i take as many precautions as sanely possible while still enjoying the sport i love. Oh and as for the saying (its not if you crash its when) i have gone down while riding once and was lucky to walk away unharmed.

Can i still get seriously hurt mamed or killed?.......... Sure can

Is riding a motorcycle dangerous?........... Sure is

Are all motorcyclist hurt injured or killed when riding?.......... Deffintly not FAR from it.

[punkncat]

I hear ya!!! This stuff hits close to home with me as I AM now a statistic.

I don't know if I will ever try to ride again, I am really on the fence about it.

[MANN]

Eh Nothing on that sight deters my love for riding. Nore has witnessing crashes happening right in front of me.

I have to say Im with you on this. I personally watched a car hit a goldwing and drag it ~ .5mi. As myself and others try to stop on the interstate to help the guy (dead when we got there) the car just left. Local authorities found the driver 2 days later, and it was a little old lady who didnt realize what she had done. She got away with minimal punishment (probation iirc). It was sad to see another biker mamed like this, but also sets in stone what I had already known. Cars are the DEVIL. when on a bike you have to treat them this way.

Dont let pics/stories set you away from riding if you really enjoy it. Just be careful when you do.

[acropilot19]

"That being said if i lived my life avoiding all risk i doubt id have much of a life. Face it we all take risks for the things we love its a fact of life. Now sure were not all dare devils in life but i do not consider the average motorcyclist a daredevil either.

Oh and as for the saying (its not if you crash its when) i have gone down while riding once and was lucky to walk away unharmed."

Is true. But riding a motorcycle these days is akin to free-climbing El Capitan whilst a bunch of idiots at the top try and drop rocks down on you.
Any turd with a pulse can get a drivers license, and alot of 'em dont have one at all. I've been to sooooo many collisions where the car driver gets a bent fender, & the rider gets 6 months of rehab.

Is why Aerobatic flying is my drug of choice. High-Speed, High-G, Engine-Screamin' FUN, and no little old ladies waitin' to pull a lefty in front of you.

The BEAUTIOUS thing about flying tho, is that you near never meet a stupid pilot, because they're all DEAD.

Out on the roads, you're surrounded by stupid drivers.
Is True.

[Bear_Claw]

I have always wanted my pilots license but could NEVER afford it. I came close to getting it a long while back but ran into some trouble with the house and needed money for that. I am still hopeful to get my Rec license eventually but till then i will have to get my kicks on the ground.

As for other drivers its true a good percentage of em are complete morons and i have had my share of close calls due to other drivers. But its all relative to were your riding. I personally am riding around farm country 90% of the time (including my commute) and spend very little time in anything one would call traffic. I do take the bike to Toronto now and then and i can instantly see the increase in moronic driving the second i enter the city but its simply a matter of adjusting ones riding for the situation. And as bad as it can get riding in the city even riding a bike down the 401 (Canada's busiest highway) in rush hour is a far cry from a "free-climb up El Capitan whilst a bunch of idiots at the top try and drop rocks down on you" . And as for having an adrenaline rush while escaping all the idiots on the road that what TRACK DAYS are for. I going to be going to a few next summer. I'M sure my bike will look out of place but it will surly be fun.

I guess my point i am trying to make is YES riding is significantly more dangerous than driving a car but its really not as bad as some would make it out to be if you just are smart about riding.