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Check that rearview mirror when stopped at a light!!

Polarbear

Polarbear
Sad Sad Sad;

I even see cops on a regular basis doing the same exact thing, talking on their phones, driving. This phone thing has become epidemic and nobody seems to put them down anymore or ever did. I try hard to always watch my rear view mirror, especially around cities or anywhere for that matter. I'm a professional driver all my life. Trucks and bikes. The driver has to be sick with grief too, not to mention the biker families and he's in for some serious charges here with time away from home. Randy:scratch
 
Been contemplating hanging up my two wheels. Stories like this make me want to more. Too many ignorant and reckless drivers out there doing just about everything EXCEPT paying attention while they're driving. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Be careful out there folks.
 
Driving is the most common potentially fatal thing we do in this society. Every day we are given reminders about how bad it can get yet many feel not only is it their right to drive but that they can drive however they like. Up to 40,000 a year end up taking a dirt nap because someone, maybe themselves, screwed up. Too often it was someone else who paid the penalty for the screw up.

Look around, is the driver next to you doing something other than just driving? Are they giving the task of driving the attention it really deserves?

Look at yourself, are you doing something other than paying attention to your driving? Do you feel traffic laws are binding or just suggestions? Keep in mind that others share the view that traffic laws are not really binding on them because they "know" they are a safe driver and those pesky laws are for the "other guy" instead.

The question we as a society should be asking ourselves when a fatality happens is not why so many die, it's why so many do NOT die on the road.
 
There are laws against the kind of behavior we hear about in the news reports...

As an avid motorcycle rider, all I can say is so feakin what!

This still doesn't outlaw mommy vans being used as mobile playpens while doing sixty-five on the freeway while mommy chastises brother for smackin' sister with a beanie-baby. The Honda breakfast club will still serve cold cereal while negotiating the on-ramp. The Audi beauty salon, with wrap around mirrors and mood lighting, still does a thriving business while stopped at a green light. Not to be outdone, the Chevrolet catch-up business man still has the time to read the Wall Street Journal while blitzing along at 85 in the car pool lane by himself illegally I might add.

Everyday, before I ride, I imagine that there is some dude blasting down the street in his SUV while shaving all the time he's talking on a wireless ear set. The middle aged hippy will still be searching his floorboards for last nights joint while talking to his wickedly skinny girl friend about the three day old pizza they had last night all of this while weaving his way to his job at the nursery. Mommies will have a vocal distraction in their ear in the form of a cell phone and four very vocal distractions in the back seat one of those attention altering distractions being a very sick ****zu.

Do I feel safe? Safer?

Far from it.

When I was in my mid 20's, tooling down the highway with the wind sweeping my hair out of my face, I had the opinion that it would not, could not, ever happen to me. Now I am scared to death that within the first half-mile of home, a scenario I just painted will remove me from this earth.

Can we change it? Not in a lifetime. Why? Because if we were to clamp down on the inattentiveness of driver's in 1 ton missiles, the way we should clamp down, you'd hear the screaming from a mile away.

What all of this has done is instill in me a desire to learn... to figure out ways to keep myself alive when one of these rolling cadaver creators happen by my traveled route. I will practice safe riding skills, leave myself an out, have my head on a swivel each and every time I put two wheels under me. The verbal lessons I hear from those who have the experience will not go in one ear and out the other. What is explained to me will be learned, practiced and augmented to fit my riding style. ATGATT will not be a word, it will be a way of life. SEE is no longer an anacronym, but the defining way I will ride.

Too often we read, hear or observe something that happens... and we talk like we understand, but we never really reinforce those skills that could keep us safe in a similar situation.

I have this gut feeling, that the gentleman driving the rig in the news story posted above will very soon be behind the wheel of a big truck blowing down some side street or maneuvering in and out of traffic on a four lane highway. His attention will be drawn to the Twinkie that just rolled off the seat and onto the floor (or some other stupid excuse) and someone else will pay a heavy price for his non-attention.

Sorry about the long response... but I am like TexasT... this type of thing makes me sick. But the only person that can keep me safe is myself. I cannot rely on the driver's who share my road to be as vigilant as I would like them to be.

While the reaper may have me somewhere on his list, I will make it harder for the bastard to catch up with me.
 
How sad, how sad!

If anybody had been paying attention, the truck driver or the motorcyclists, we would be posting in some other forum thread. Very, very sad.

Being hit from behind while on a motorcycle only accounts for about 5% of all motorcycle collisions. Being rear ended? I think it is the easiest collision to avoid. Most of us know how easy it is not to be rear ended. Just proper lane position, while stopped in gear, and watching your six and you are pretty darn safe.

I saved my live and a cement truck driverÔÇÖs job a few years ago. I was stopped, in good position, in gear and a full size cement truck was getting bigger than I liked in my mirrors. I just jumped the gap, then he smoked his tires and brakes to a stop about a foot from the car that was in front of me. By the time he stopped, I was as least three cars ahead.

Not in any way trying to take the blame of the driver; that man is in some deep poop.

One last minor comment; I have always felt that groups give people a false sense of security, and riders at times spend more time paying attention to the other riders in the group than to traffic.
 
I have a question...

You talk of "Just proper lane position, while stopped in gear, and watching your six and you are pretty darn safe."

What is considered proper lane position? Watching my six? I always stop in gear so at least I'm doing something right!
 
You talk of "Just proper lane position, while stopped in gear, and watching your six and you are pretty darn safe."

What is considered proper lane position? Watching my six? I always stop in gear so at least I'm doing something right!

Position: Always in position to one side of the lane or the other, and far enough back from the car in front of you, so you can jump the gap between cars if necessary.

Check your Six: think of a clock, the sixth position is behind you.

A little different: If you are the first at an intersection, your need to be to the side of the lane is not there, however, you have a bit different task to stay safe. You must stay aware of what is behind you and coming across the intersection ahead of you in case you have to shoot the intersection or make an immediate right to get out of danger.

It really is such a rare occurrence that I think it is easy as a motorcyclist to let your guard down when stopped. In 45 years of full time riding, I have had many a time where the car approaching from behind made me nervous, but only that one time I recounted where I actually needed to the take evasive action.
 
I used to commute on a highway where random panic stops were common. I have learned to align my bike so that I can pull up between or beside the cars in front of me if I need to. Ideally I can get lined up so that I don't need to steer to do this. If I am about to run over, I don't want to have to accelerate hard and maneuver.
 
An update on this...

from an AMA press release:

Sanitation truck driver charged in Phoenix motorcycle tragedy

PICKERINGTON, Ohio -- The sanitation truck driver who ran into the back of a group of motorcyclists stopped at a stoplight in Phoenix on March 25 -- killing four of them and injuring five others -- has been arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the crash, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reports.

Police arrested truck driver Michael Jakscht, 46, on April 6 and booked him on four counts of manslaughter, five counts of aggravated assault and seven counts of endangerment.

Initial toxicology tests on blood drawn from Jakscht on the day of the crash show he had the illegal drug methamphetamine in his system, according to police. He could face an additional charge of impaired driving, police said.

Motorcyclists who died as a result of the crash were Daniel Butler, 35; Clyde Nachand, 67; Stephen Punch, 52; and Dale Downs-Totonchi, 47. Another motorcyclist, Phoenix Fire Capt. Ernie Lizarraga, 52, remains hospitalized suffering from injuries sustained in the crash.

"We commend the Phoenix Police Department for its diligence in pursuing this case, and for getting the initial toxicology results as quickly as possible," said Ed Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations. "We understand that toxicology results normally take about six weeks to process, and the police were able to get initial results in this case in just two weeks.

"We again express our condolences on behalf of the AMA and its members to the families of those killed, and hope for a full recovery for those injured," Moreland said. "We will continue to watch this case closely."
 
Back in 1968 when I had only been riding for about two years I was rear-ended at the interseciton of Commonwealth and Mass Ave in Boston, by a hit and run driver...never saw it coming since my 1951 BMW R25 had no rear view mirror. I was fortunate that the oncoming traffic on Mass Ave. did not run me over. Also I was young and resilient and recovered quicker than I would now, just a few scars from road rash. Since that time I always leave the bike in first gear at a light and constantly look in my rear view mirrors until there is a car or two stopped behind me. I try to be aware of an escape route if I am at a light and there are vehicles stopped in front of me until I have that "cushion" of vehicles behind me. It was a lesson hard learned. Oh ! and I always have good mirrors on my rides. Remember also that more people die in their sleep than on motorcycles and we all sleep everynight. I say this just to keep things in perspective. Ride often and ride smart.
 
Always have stopped in gear, but after this story plus an earlier one by a MOA member who was rear ended at a stop light, I have become almost paranoid watching in my rear view mirrors when stopped this spring. Both bikes have hyper lights and when a vehicle approaches me at a stop, I activate those as an additional warning that I am in front of them. Once they stop, I then take the bike out of gear and release the brakes.

I accept that on occasion, all of us, at one time or another, have become distracted while operating a vehicle. However, how unfortunate that so many have become so obtuse to how recklessly they operate their vehicles and endanger, maim and kill others.

I don't know about you, but being so vulnerable on a motorcycle (and bicycle) has made me a more aware and a better driver.
 
The only time I have been rearended is taking of from a stop, on my old Yamaha 750 triple. I was at a stoplite, behind a cage, and another one stopped behind me. When the light changed, the one in front was a toad taking off, so I didn't let the clutch out right away. The one that was sitting behind me the whole time just ran right into me. How inattentive can these cagers get?

I was taught to stop at an angle in traffic, with the bike pointed towards space between cars next to each other. So if you do get rearended, you are pushed between the car in front and the car next to it, rather than being the pastrami in the cage sandwich. This from PD/CHP sponsored class.
 
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