Oh, and BTW, exactly what “beliefs” are you referring to here? The belief that there are traffic laws and they are as applicable to motorcycles as they are to cars?
No, I’m talking about you taking it upon yourself to kill people that don’t follow the rules. Who the fuck do you think you are!? I guess you’ve never broken a traffic law, EVER. I don’t care if the guy is doing a wheelie down the center line. Threatening to kill someone for it is beyond psycho. There is no justification for what you said.
And I understood your first post quite clearly. You are playing judge, jury, and executioner on every motorist who breaks a law. Oops! No. Just the motorcyclists. Nothing mentioned about four-wheelers. Just those damn bikers. You’re wrong on this one.
Oh, for great green gobs of . . .
Main Entry: hy·per·bo·le
Pronunciation: hI-'p&r-b&-(")lE
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, from Greek hyperbolE excess, hyperbole, hyperbola, from hyperballein to exceed, from hyper- + ballein
to throw – more at DEVIL
Date: 15th century
: extravagant exaggeration (as “mile-high ice-cream cones”)
- hy·per·bo·list /-list/ noun
Also, please point out exactly where I said I don’t, for example, “brake test” cars who ride my ass when I’m already going 15 over and they have a clear lane to their left where they can pass me. You’re gonna have a tough time finding it, because I didn’t say it. Since the thread is about motorcycle laws, I restricted myself to the topic of motorcyclists, you twit.
Making assumptions is a really, really bad idea, ain’t it?
You said, “bikers who feel the rules of the road don’t apply to them”. Just because someone doesn’t feel the rules apply to him (or her) doesn’t give you the right to give him a hard time on the road, regardless of whether or not you truly intend to “kill” him. It’s dangerous, and it can throw a motorcycle off balance way easier than a car.
You said, “bikers who feel the rules of the road don’t apply to them”. Just because someone doesn’t feel the rules apply to him (or her) doesn’t give you the right to give him a hard time on the road, regardless of whether or not you truly intend to “kill” him. It’s dangerous, and it can throw a motorcycle off balance way easier than a car.
Er . . . they have the right to ride up the yellow line between cars, but I don’t have the right to move towards the line and make them get behind me? Huh. How exactly do you reason that one out?
Maybe if they don’t want to be thrown off balance, they shouldn’t do crap like that, huh?
It’s called not being a fucking dick. I have no right to enforce laws on you, and you have no right to enforce laws on me. I’m surprised that, through the lax gun laws and Darwinism, the dick-head gene still survives. But I doubt you’ll be invited to breed, based on your shitty demeanor, so I guess that’s some consolation.
Myndephuquer (whew!) wrote:
I don’t necessarily disagree with the sentiment, that is, if I thought that person A was literally threatening person B with vehicular homicide, person B would have a right to react as above. And who knows? Maybe pldennison roams the highways as a self-styled avenger, dealing hot death to the breakers of motor vehicle laws, notching his bumper for each fresh kill. But I doubt it.
Myndephuque,
I’ve been impressed with and glad to know most of the bikers I’ve encountered in my travels. As a class, I find them to be likable, intelligent, helpful, and refreshing to talk to. But there’s a bias out there that isn’t served well by comments like the one above. It just reinforces the outdated idea that all bikers are thugs and gangsters.
Just my coupla pennies.
And to justify this post… I’ve worn a helmet every time I’ve ridden. You don’t want to wear one, that’s fine by me. But I’m freaked out enough in the brain bucket at sixty five, can’t imagine going without it.
LETS GET READY TO RRRUUUUMMMMBBBBBLLLLEEE!
Pldennison,
Lemme get this straight, you observe someone breaking a traffic rule and you feel justified in breaking the rule against murder? Or was that merely your way of saying you would take their licence plate down and report them?
Anomaly22,
I challenge you to produce the study you cite.
Quoting you,
“To state it simply, a motorcyclist has about 100 times more potential to suffer a fatal or debilitating head injury without wearing a helmet than with one.”
Care to back that load of crap with some real figures?
Quoting again,
“Trying to make car accidents fit into this whole thing is not relevant because a person in a car has a crash cage about them.”
Why aren’t car fatalities relavent? Do a little survey next time you are out on the road. Count the number of bikes you see compared to the number of cars. If your state is typical, you will note that the ratio is somewhere between 1/2-1 per 100.
Know what that means? Well since you hadn’t noticed up to this point I will clue you in. It means that the next 90 fatalities on the road will be car drivers. Same with head injuries. In fact Better than 90% of head injuries suffered in accidents are by car drivers. See anyone clamoring to require helmets in cars? Know why? Again I will clue you in. It is because people like you are the ones calling for the regs. Typical “It can’t happen to me, I’m a normal Joe” mentality. Wheres your public burden now?
My advice is, Stop quoting studies that exist only in your head and get the real facts.
PunditLisa,
I almost forgot. No, no they aren’t. The plastic spaghetti strainer scenario I make reference to is based on an actual case. I believe it was somewhere in New York State. The Judge found he had to throw out the helmet violation because the state sought to avoid the very same liability I refered to. This tactic is often used by ABATE members to challenge the validity of helmet laws. To my knowledge no state has current laws defining what a “helmet” is. The resons are exactly as I stated.
So I’m cranking the old GSXR1100 into my favorite back road. Done it lots of times. My knee is lightly dragging, I’m hanging off the tank, life is good. I slide the rear tire just a bit coming out of the turn… and I’m doing tank slappers, my full face Snell rated helmet speed slamming off the handlebars for a moment before I manage to step off. Some asshole in a battlewagon Buick oiled the turn for me.
I’ve never been accused of being good looking, but I bet I would scare kids if I hadn’t been wearing that brain bucket.
HOWEVER. I wore the thing before the helmet laws were stuffed down our necks by the insurance companies. I wore it because even at 19 I knew I wasn’t tougher than asphalt. Now in our lame ass state you have to wear a fucking helmet to ride your bicycle down to the corner store. Pretty soon we will all be required to strap pillows all over before we dare venture out the door.
I decide if I wear a helmet or a seatbelt, or a goddam parachute. I have a mommie and she does a fine job, I don’t need another one thanks very much. All you hankie twisting sob sisters can line up and kiss my ass. It’s about freedom, you know, that concept that our country was based on?
Aaaah to hell with it. I’m gonna go get drunk while it’s still legal.
Actually, you’re wrong. All citizens have a right to enforce the laws of the land on each other. I’m surprised you don’t know that. No, wait–I’m not. If I’m a shopkeeper, and I catch you stealing from my store, I have certain rights to search and detain you until police arrive. If I’m Joe Schmoe, and catch you raping a woman on the street, I have the right to attempt to stop you. It’s a pretty basic democratic principle.
Married almost nine years now, jackass.
"I prefer shows of the genre, “World’s Blankiest Blank.”
Yes, EvilGhandi, I literally murder motorcyclists that I see breaking the law. I do it each and every time. Then I reach down and slap a little tiny magnetic motorcycle on my car door, adjust my goggles, rakishly toss my scarf over my shoulder and shout, “The Red Baron strikes again! Bwaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha!”
Look, folks, when I’m in my car, I have two goals: Get to my destination, and protect myself from the increasing number of nimrods who have no clue how to safely operate a motor vehicle.
If traffic is cruising along around me at around 70-75, and passing me by constantly because I’m going 56, I’m going to speed up. Otherwise, I’m posing a danger. Cops expect this, which is why you don’t see hordes of police cars pulling every car in sight over even though we all know damn well they’re exceeding the posted limit.
Similarly, if I am keeping up with the prevailing traffic flow, and some jerkoff is zipping in and out at 90-95mph like Jeff Gordon, he’s a danger, and if he gets behind me, he’ll be slowing down, I assure you.
Likewise, if I see some bike trying to slip between me and another car right next to me by riding up the yellow line, well, sorry, you can wait for a break in the lane like everyone else. I will hug the line as closely as I can without endangering myself or the car next to me.
I have no intention of being killed by someone who feels he’s above basic rules of safety.
PLD, I can’t believe you are putting the acts of stopping a rape and detaining a traffic law breaker in the same basket. Besides, you aren’t “detaining” a traffic law breaker when you do what you SAID you would do. You are putting his life in imminent danger. YOUR approach wouldn’t stand up in ANY court in the land. YOU would go down for attempted murder, or at least an assault charge.
It seems as though the greatest argument for helmets would be coming from the “Barney Fyfes” of the world, those rightious folks that don’t NEED a police force. They handle these things themselves. Four-wheelers are, and always have been, the greatest safety concern of motorcyclists.
Quoting PLD, “I will hug the line as closely as I can without endangering myself or the car next to me. I have no intention of being killed by someone who feels he’s above basic rules of safety.”
Hmmm. Your only concern seems to be the “car” next to you. Not the guy on the bike? Pretty aggressive, road-rage-like attitude. And guess what! Your actions are breaking the very “basic rules of safety” you proclaim to cherish.
Holy Jumped-Up Jesus, woman, would you go take your fucking GED or something? I didn’t say they were equivalent crimes, I was informing Jackoff #1 that he was simply incorrect that everyday citizens do not have a right to enforce the laws. Plain and simple. Get it? Here, let me try it set off by quotes:
“Everyday citizens have the right to enforce the law if they see it being broken.”
That is correct. I am not detaining him. I am preventing him from breaking the law.
No, HE is putting his life in imminent danger by attempting to ride up the yellow line between two cars travelling side-by-side. Do you need pictures, here? Are you having that much difficulty understanding what I’m describing? Here, on a two-lanes-per-direction highway, it would look like this:
Car A ---- Motorcycle ---- Car B
Get it yet? I mean, this is pretty goddamned rudimentary. Your attitude appears to be, “How dare you not just allow some cyclists to do whatever they want on the road, even if its patently dangerous and incredibly illegal?”
For moving over within my lane so I’m close to the line? Hardly. I mean, get a grip.
“Barney Fife” was a cop, you nitwit, albeit a fictional one.
Maybe law abiding motorcyclists. What exactly does that have to do with the people I’m describing? You really are missing a very, very basic piece of the puzzle.
OK, fuckface, I’m going to explain this one more time. In two lanes:
Car A ---- Motorcycle ---- Car B
The bike has no business being beside me in the first place in that situation. He’s riding up the yellow line. If he doesn’t want to get squeezed, maybe he ought not to do something so astoundingly stupid, huh? Maybe he should drop back and ride along with traffic like the rest of the other boys and girls. Or do you actually approve of that kind of motorcycle operation? If you do, please never, ever drive in a state I’m in. You’re a menace.
Nope. It’s called “protecting my ass from dangerous fuckups.”
I see. So I should just let vehicles zip around between cars up the lane divider, or speed up to 95 just because some jackass in a Camaro has a hard-on for NASCAR? Uh uh. Sorry.
Ok, Let me give my answer to the O.P., while ignoring the trip to Cuba this thread has undertaken.
IN MY OPINION <-- be sure to note that
Helmet laws, Seatbelt laws, Speed Limits, School Zone Speed Limits etc. have come about because others have spoiled it for the rest of us.
Whenever a safety measure exists, there will be someone monitoring its usage, and judging probable outcomes if it was used. Of course if seatbelts improve your chances of survival significantly, mother-government will try, via PSA or education, to increase usage. Failing this, a law just might be forthcoming.
As for helmets specifically, IMO (still), perhaps, since there would be a financial benefit, helmet manufacturers lobbied for this sort of law. They would have doctors, EMTs, insurance providers, surviving spouses, parents, safety institutes, etc. on their side. It’s possible.
make that “surviving parents.”