Commentary on MC Safety in SL Tribune

[Twisties]

Commentary

 

[smiller]

... when a car traveling the opposite direction suddenly veered across three lanes of traffic and hit him head-on.

And of course in a car he would have been unscathed. :smirk:

 

Helmetless rider dies in a crash (that may well have killed him even if he was driving a truck), untrained rider hurts himself, etc., and it's all the motorcycle's fault. Same old ...., nothing new here.

 

 

[Bimmer_Bum]

Seems more a rant with no valuable information save a buried tag line about MSF.

 

While I am sorry for her loss, it is a shame the author couldn't use her soapbox to offer a valuable, proven, life-saving solution like a motorcycle safety course.

 

my 2¢

[RocksforBrains]

The first accident she refers to where the car swerved across four lanes of traffic and hit a motorcycle head on happened two miles from my house on the Eagle bypass. It was certainly a tragic accident. The poor rider was riding to work that morning when he was hit by that car leaving a widow and several small children without a father.

 

I never heard the cause of the accident. There are no cross streets or driveways there. It is a four lane highway with no center median. Speculation at the time was that the older gentleman who was driving the car had a medical condition. If that is indeed true, the title and focus of her article should be changed to "Get older drivers off the road for increased safety". I am not necessarily advocating that but as a previous poster mentioned above, getting hit head on at 55 mph will likely kill you no matter what you are riding or driving.

[tallman]

Deaths like this are tragic.

But, misleading title.

 

Here's from ur local paper this week.

Woman dies after being struck by errant tires

 

A 79-year-old woman was killed Sunday afternoon when she was struck by a tire set that had separated from a tractor-trailer traveling on Interstate 10 in Jackson County, the Florida Highway Patrol reported. Cecilla Gagnon was from Deming, N.M. According to the FHP, Brian Sealey, 35, of Leland, N.C., was driving his tractor-trailer west on I-10 in Jackson County when the left rear set of tires on the trailer separated from the axle. The force carried the tire set into the westbound rest area where it struck Gagnon and killed her.

 

Should we raise an alarm about Rest Area Safety?

 

[Quinn]

Deaths like this are tragic.

But, misleading title.

 

Here's from ur local paper this week.

Woman dies after being struck by errant tires

 

A 79-year-old woman was killed Sunday afternoon when she was struck by a tire set that had separated from a tractor-trailer traveling on Interstate 10 in Jackson County, the Florida Highway Patrol reported. Cecilla Gagnon was from Deming, N.M. According to the FHP, Brian Sealey, 35, of Leland, N.C., was driving his tractor-trailer west on I-10 in Jackson County when the left rear set of tires on the trailer separated from the axle. The force carried the tire set into the westbound rest area where it struck Gagnon and killed her.

 

Should we raise an alarm about Rest Area Safety?

 

 

Was she wearing a helmet?

 

 

[Penforhire]

Should anyone be surprised that m/c fatalities are 35x higher than car fatalities? And as noted above, highway head-on's don't turn out so good in cars either. C'mon lady, state the obvious!

 

I'm sure skiing causes WAY more fatalities than walking. Let's raise a big 'ol "don't ski" alarm too!

[Twisties]

Should anyone be surprised that m/c fatalities are 35x higher than car fatalities?

 

If you read the reader comments below the article you'll find that they are not.

[Penforhire]

But clearly the author was.

[BalancePoint]

Should anyone be surprised that m/c fatalities are 35x higher than car fatalities? And as noted above, highway head-on's don't turn out so good in cars either. C'mon lady, state the obvious!

 

I'm sure skiing causes WAY more fatalities than walking. Let's raise a big 'ol "don't ski" alarm too!

 

I think most if not all of the people on this forum have a pretty good idea of the risks involved in riding a cycle. With the tremendous number of miles accumulated by the members of this forum, everyone has seen more than a few crazy things, and likely had more than one seriously close call.

 

The target audience of the cited post is probably not us. Or maybe it's me, but I'm not a million-miler. Cycling fatalities are going up because more people are riding, and a certain proportion (I can't say whether that proportion is growing) ride with a complete lack of comprehension of the risks. And the result of an accident on a bike is undeniably a hell of a lot more likely to be life-changing or life-ending. I've been in a middling-bad car wreck, and what I recall is the same thing most people say: Damn- that happened fast!

[yabadabapal]

What ever her intentions were in writing the article in such a way so as to produce a desired reaction, it still brings the topic of Motorcycle safety to many of the readers of that paper that may have not thought about it in such detail before. Many of whom might just be cage drivers. This is a good thing IMHO.