Sad Motorcycle Accident in AZ

www.seattlepi.com/national/1110ap_us_motorcycle_crash.html

Wow, that sucks.

When I started riding I never worried about getting hit from behind. Maybe it's because I live in a more densely populated area now, but that is the thing I fear the most when commuting now. Too many people stop way too close to other cars, much less motorcycles. I always stay in gear and watch my mirrors so I can move if I need to.

That is just horrible X2 DoubleD, you're most vulnerable where you can't see and react. But by a garbage truck? Thats as bad as it gets, and a wake up call that this can happen to anyone, anytime.

Heard this on the CBS radio news this morning at 6 AM. Not good.

I second what DoubleDub says. I stay in gear and watch my mirrors until that car behind me is stopped. I find that it helps if you flash your brakes as they are pulling up.

X-3 always without fail...try and hit me...i ain't having it...Never...ever take your eyes off of the other guys....EVER


testarossa wrote:

I second what DoubleDub says. I stay in gear and watch my mirrors until that car behind me is stopped. I find that it helps if you flash your brakes as they are pulling up.

That staying in gear trick is one of those tidbits that makes the MSF course worth the $200. I'm not sure when I would have learned to do that on my own, but unfortunatly you don't usually get a second chance in this type of collision.

Unfortunately, here in AZ, we rank among the highest for RED light running & hit and run offenses... One of our intersections (Bell @ 7th St) ranks number one in the country!

Our brilliant public service officials (Sarcasm) just turned down a bill regarding cell phone & text-ing use while driving. :blush: She's an idiot... Don't care what party she belongs to, she's an idiot...

Did I say she 's an idiot....

Several years ago, a driver on one of the highway loops caused a 15 car pile up... She had a bowl of cereal in her lap and was doing her make up while driving at 55mph yet....

When confronted about that, she replied don't blame me for I have been doing this every morning for the last 15 years and never had any issues what so ever... :blink:

For those that haven't been here, the Phoenix valley holds ~ 4.5 million people... Mini LA....

All in all, one of the reasons I only ride here on Sundays (less traffic)... too many whack jobs driving out there these days...

Same time, let's be real for a moment, this could happen any time, anywhere... Sad, just plain lousy luck for those riders and their families...

OMR

I got rear-ended twice in my life, both times on the same bike. Once in 1979 Hawaii by a young local kid who was screwing around. I got the plate # and there were witnesses. Miraculously the Police could not find him. He was someones relative as the case always was in Hawaii. Fortunately all he did was bust up some plastic on the bike. The second time I was not so lucky. It was on the same bike 1983 in southern IL a young woman hit me with a 1973 Olds Cutlass. She had a bunch of little kids in the car and one dropped its bottle on the floor, so she stooped down to retrieve it. She wound up bending the entire back of the frame with seat, upward and the swing arm down ward. I wound up sitting on the tank with the seat against my back. Fortunately I was stopped about three car lengths behind the car in front of me. She launched my bike off the ground and I landed about 12' behind the car in front, on my wheels. I managed to veer around the car in front and come to a stop on the shoulder. I never laid the bike down. She did $3500 worth of damage, and that was to a 1979 bike in 1983. The dealer replaced half of the bike. I still have it today. This picture was taken after the bike was fixed.

Wow, I can't even imagine....... :dry:

Man that story sucks. It doesn't say if the truck driver was charged or not. I stay in gear till cars stop behind me too. I learned the hard way when my bike was knocked out from under me at a light, I herd skids and looked back just in time to kick my right leg out of the way as this Camaro hit the right foot peg. The A-hole looked at me and punched it burning rubber to get out of there. I got REAL lucky on that one, I also found the car a couple of weeks later on the side of a house and put the driver under arrest for hit and run.

Mark

Mark Wing wrote:

Man that story sucks. It doesn't say if the truck driver was charged or not. I stay in gear till cars stop behind me too. I learned the hard way when my bike was knocked out from under me at a light, I herd skids and looked back just in time to kick my right leg out of the way as this Camaro hit the right foot peg. The A-hole looked at me and punched it burning rubber to get out of there. I got REAL lucky on that one, I also found the car a couple of weeks later on the side of a house and put the driver under arrest for hit and run.

Mark

Score one for the good guys. That sounds close to my Hawaii incident. except the cops are so corrupt there that even if you found the car they would not do anything about it. The guy behind me was trying to do a burn out to impress me and his brakes didn't hold. Even with the witnesses and the plate # the cops told me that they could not find him. How hard could it be on an island that is 30mi long and 12mi wide, and 2/3 of it are military installations restricted to civilians.