I too am sorry for your loss Tom.
First off, Tom, damn, your friend lost his wife and he’s hanging on. I wish him the best, man.
While I haven’t checked in on any of Dr. Penis’ other works (although I’ve peeked at’em), and you, Jack, should hardly take this as one rallying to your side, I must ask, since there’s a lot of scooter folk here. Does he have a point about passengers in bike wrecks? What he said in this thread does not conflict with my generalized knowledge - if I scan my memory banks for bits to which I have not really been paying attention, it does seem like passengers fare less than well in such.
Tom, I’m really sorry.
I gotta ask, why the title of your post? The “turn left” stuff.
Are you saying that if I’m making a left turn, and if something big like a semi is in front of me, I should leave extra time to get a clear view before making my turn, because there might be a bike coming from the other direction?
??
As the sister of a biker near San Berdoo, and cousin to a husband and wife with gorgeous matching Harleys, my condolences to your friend, Tom, and God rest his wife.
I don’t think people realize that the guys or gals on those bikes most of the time are good drivers, or actors like my brother or businessmen or bankers like my cousin, etc. I can’t drive one myself but when I’ve been a passenger I’m always impressed by the care and caution the drivers have to use around cars.
I was in the car with my mom, when she braked to avoid a kid who lost control of his bicycle and got rear-ended. The bitch that hit us drove off. We ended up having lunch in a restaraunt where, coincidentally, a driver who had witnessed the accident was also eating. He gave mom a good dressing down about her careless driving. She asked him if he had seen the kid on the bike. He hadn’t. Moral of the story- careful drivers cause accidents.
Not too long after this incident, we were driving down the main drag through town and saw a motorcycle under a Cadillac. The old geezer driving the Caddy had turned right out of the center lane in front of the bike. Fortunately, the guy on the bike had managed to lay the cycle down and walk away unhurt.
Also, speaking as a frequent pedestrian in a town where the walk lights are not necessarily set to allow anyone but a marathon runner to get across the street before the don’t walk signal, then the yellow, then the red light appear, I’d like to say-
For God’s sake, if you’re sitting stopped at a red light and there’s a pedestrian in front of you who didn’t get across the street before the light changed on them, ** do not start rolling until the pedestrian is out of the way. Repeat, do not start rolling until the pedestrian it out of the way**.
We lose about a dozen people a year in Vegas because drivers think that Green Means Go, Even If There’s A Human Being In Front Of Your Car.
Ed is doing better considering. There is a memorial run in the works soon for Peggy. Another 'In Memory of" patch for my vest, damn! I’m getting way too many of those!
AuntiePam. I have numerous biker friends killed and injured by oncoming drivers turning left in front of them. I was just inviting people that pull this hurried and inconsiderate maneuver to do it in front of something else.
As far as passengers go, I have no statistics. My opinion is that a lot depends on the rider. Adjust your riding style accordingly to reflect the added weight and change of center.
JDT is an ass.
Send my condolences too, hflathead. Besides I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say.
A drunk broke my leg in '84. Just reading this thread is making it hurt.
For the riders: I once griped about tailgaters to a friend. He suggested spitting. It works. While drivers may ride your back wheel if you slow down or hit your brakes (which isn’t that safe to start with), everyone backs off if you spit. Furthermore, it takes about two seconds for the stuff to hit the ground, so their windshield won’t get dirty unless they’re tailgating.
I dig that spitting maneuver.
I don’t buy the “I just didn’t see him” escuse. A motorcycle is plenty big enough to be visible to the naked eye.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a very hight percentage of motorists who have deep contempt for anything on the road that is not wrapped up by a ton of steel. This includes motorcyclists, bicyclists, (you wouldn’t believe the number of people here in Vegas who use the seldom-seen bike lane as a passing on the right lane), pedestrians, even cars that are smaller than theirs.
You saw the guy on the motorcycle, asshole. You just consider the biker’s life less valuable than the five extra seconds it would take for you to let him clear the intersection.