Touchaclass

C'mon guys. We all can agree that the cyclist made a very dumb decision, however, he passed away. Let's have some sympathy. How me times have you been driving and made a dumb decision? He was only 24, I know i was taking some unneccessary of risk at that age. I'm just saying

dallison

luckily he was the only one killed. Usually it's the one who got hit who dies.

dallison

I feel bad for his family that they had to lose someone, but we all do things knowing the consequences.
He was smart enough to pass the drivers/riders test to get his license, so that tells me he knew right from wrong and what might happen in this type of situation.

SouthernBoy

Well you're absolutely right about this part of your post. I know I have done some dumb (read that as dangerous) things in my youth, but not many and thank God no one was hurt. And I have been a passenger in cars where the driver is doing some really insane things.

But the point I think most of us on this thread agree upon is that if someone suffers the consequences of their actions then that's just the cost of an irrational act and could be described as an "oh well" moment.

On the other hand, when there are other people who are endangered by someone's blatant disregard for the safety of themselves and everyone else in their vicinity, compassion and sympathy for that individual goes out the door.

Take a look at the link I posted a few posts back. That bike rider is on a two-lane major highway with other traffic and is acting in complete and utter defiance to the safety of those other people. He is hitting 190 MPH in traffic! Would I feel sympathy for him if he lost it? Nope. My thoughts would be for the other folks, not that fool.

SouthernBoy

Yes it was.

In 2002, my wife and I were heading east on route 66 early on a Saturday evening on the way into Arlington, VA for a birthday party of a former neighbor. Traffic was reasonably heavy as it was a Saturday, but moving fine since where we were it was four lanes wide. Suddenly around Centreville, two bikes went by us on either side of our car doing at estimated 80 to 90 MPH. One of the operators was shirtless (it was warm) and both were DOING EXTENDED WHEEL STANDS!! If even one of the had toppled, there would have been one hell of an accident mess on that highway what with the other vehicles around.

Just plain stupid.... no, criminal is a better word.

Costco

I love the generalization going on in this thread.



This guy must have had a death wish or something. If he didn't, he was probably going at least 150ish because he must have slowed down at least a bit beforehand to collide with a car at over 100 mph. But what I don't get is when you look at the picture of the Lumina, it seems like he hit the car straight on almost dead center..... maybe he was trying to commit suicide? From the article it doesn't sound like he lost control or anything. Maybe they'll get more info after an autopsy

Just guessing, not generalizing I'm sort of indifferent to these kinds of stories. It is sad that someone needlessly passed away, good that he didn't hurt anyone else really, but he was a jackass at that moment... period.


I guess hindsight is 20/20 and knowing the other person didn't get hurt affects my perception, but I don't care how stupid someone behaves (unless they are hurting/hurt someone else), if you see something like this unfold in real life and don't at least come to the aide of someone twitching like they're in their death throes, that's kinda heartless, don't you think? I would probably be furious if I saw it happen, and realistically I'd probably call 911 first, but if possible I'd try to comfort them somehow at least, assuming they were the only one hurt.

The guy in the OP on the other hand, probably died on impact. My point is, yes, this guy won a Darwin award and yes he endangered another human being, but saying he outright deserved to die is a little cold IMO.

Legend2TL

These threads are always touchy to say the least.

I've been riding a sportbike for over 25 years and I've seen my share of aggressive and dangerous riders. First off, to me it's not the majority of sport bike riders who ride dangerously. But I do agree that percentage wise sport bike riders make up the most dangerous group of riders out there.

Part of that is perception, you tend to only notice the dangerous sport bike riders, you hardly or don't even notice the ones riding responsibly.

Although age is a factor, I've ridden with riders as young as 17 who were way more responsible and mature than some riders in their 40's. So pinning the fault on age alone is wrong, sport bikes are addictive in their power but they demand respect and I've seen a couple friends crash due to that (none seriously hurt).

To the original posting, hope the driver recovers fully and condolences to the family of the rider. That other crash into the Honda SUV is also horrific, hard to believe both the passenger and driver of the CRX are alive. Hope they fully recovery as well.

TheMirror

That actually looks like Autobahn.

03tLsNBP

iTrader: (9)

24 isnt that young...no excuse for him.

fsttyms1

I live in the same state as you (and used to be a sport bike owner) and i dont see it that way here. The decent riders far outnumber the idiots. Are you going to sit here and tell us you have never done something that you looking at someone else would consider a idiot move? I doubt it.

silver3.5

Appleton is quite different from Milwaukee. I used to live in Chicago for several years and comparing Milwaukee to Chicago is like apples to oranges.

fsttyms1

Just like saying the few idiots make up the majority. Apples Oranges.

Pure Adrenaline

iTrader: (2)

Head-on collision.
The vehicle seems to have spun from the left turn lane.
The impact (the degree at which the hood was crumpled and the forks are sitting in comparison to the rest of the car) was at a slight angle, which puts the vehicle at a left-ward angle = left turn.

Very good possibility that the driver of the car turned left in front of the motorcycle. In fact, MSF quotes the possibility at over 60%.

If that's the case, the speed was a mere contributing factor. The left turn was the cause of the accident. Yes, the motorcyclist was an idiot for doing a buck plus, but I also hate cagers because they are fucking stupid and oblivious to motorcycles.

Just playing devil's advocate.

F23A4

stangg172004

God I hate crotch rockets... they are too often driven by complete idiots...

SouthernBoy

I watched an accident from before, during, and after between a car (Ford Maverick) and a motorcycle where the car turned left suddenly and for no apparent reason right in front of the motorcycle who, by the way, was obeying the law. I was right behind the Maverick in the left turn lane. The biker didn't have a chance to avoid hitting the front right fender of the car at about 40 MPH. He wasn't killed but he either had a broken leg or a very badly hurt one.

fsttyms1

Come up here, you will see more people on Harley's driving like idiots than people on sport bikes

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Funny enough I see more cruiser riders acting the fool then sport bikes. Of course none of them can hold a candle to the number of idiots I see piloting cars/trucks on the road on a daily basis...

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

hell, people in general just suck at driving and shouldnt be on the roads at all.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

This is very true. It's not an excuse to ride like this guy was riding... but it is true.

A couple times right after I got my new bike I was merging on to a highway. Third gear, just gently rolling onto the throttle while looking over my shoulder approaching the merge. I signal, merge, and look down to see the speedo at 87 mph. It seriously felt like I was going 55 and since there was really no one in front of me, it's not like I was gaining on anyone to realize that a micro movement of the throttle gently got me up to 87 mph from ~45 in a few seconds. As soon as I saw that I rolled off of the throttle and settled into highway speeds of ~70mph (65mph speed limit).

fsttyms1

Agree. I see more idiots in cars doing shit they shouldn't everyday people than on sportbikes doing it.

silver3.5

So I guess we're both wrong to make assumptions based on what we see in our own town and to label it as a whole. Thus, to end this speculation, let's just say both sport bike and non-sport bike drivers can be idiots on the road; and the same goes for car drivers. The end?

silver3.5

If anyone wants to see Harleys, come down to the Milwaukee area!

CL6

He did something stupid and several things went wrong and he died. At least he didn't take the people he hit out, too.

That damage was just devastating.

fsttyms1

I made that assumption from what i see overall in the state. I spend the majority of my working time on the road (50K+ a year) so i see quite a bit of the state.

As long as you arent assuming that ALL or the Majority of them are.

silver3.5

I travel to the Chicago area and the Twin Cities area at least 2x a month for business, racking up 40K+ miles a year. Does that qualify for me to make an assumption like yours too then?