Dwight
Fe Butt
Reged: 02/03/05
Posts: 17827
Loc: Sedona, Arizona
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Read this "Street Savvy" article in the lastest(May2010) edition of "Motorcyclist" magazine here...
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/..._way/index.html
...and then reply as to YOUR guess of what lesson you THINK young Mr.Harvey M. Broadway here should have learned, because it's never truly expressed in this article, AND because I have a feeling he didn't learn the REAL lesson he SHOULD have.
I feel this way because, if you click onto the lower picture of his damaged Buell, the "Motorcyclist" editor's caption states: "A caved-in frame from a low-speed accident effectively totaled the author's Buell because he didn't have collision insurance. Even worse, he was blamed for the accident, which wasn't his fault."...and I believe Mr.Broadway WAS somewhat "at fault" here.
You see, after 43 years of riding motorcycles, I have learned that a rider should ALWAYS slow down and approach with caution whenever coming up on a line of slow moving cars in any adjacent lane to them, even if the rider's lane "seems" clear ahead! Because, it's VERY likely that at least one of these cagers WILL pull out and into this cleared lane "of yours" at any time.
In other words, NEVER assume somebody in a car ahead of you is NOT in a hurry to get to where they're going, and that they will not take any opportunity they'll suddenly see before them to "get ahead" too.
(...and, as I stated above, I have a feeling THIS wasn't the lesson the young Mr. Broadway really learned here, because the way I read this article, it unfortunately seems the primary lesson he learned was not to mouth-off to a cop!)
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Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)
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Keith
Stickman Yogi
Reged: 03/21/09
Posts: 11605
Loc: BC, Canada
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Of course I agree that the accident might of been avoided with a little defensive riding skills. One must NEVER assume what another vehicle operator will do... or go ahead and assume, but assume the stupidest things WILL happen. It's kinda like the ol' Murphy's Law... if sh!t CAN happen, it WILL. That's what this young lad could learn from this situation.
To quote the article's heading... "Motorcycle Lessons Learned-The Hard Way." I sure hope so!!
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Live to love, love to live.
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moe
Bearing Changer
Reged: 01/11/05
Posts: 9807
Loc: Merritt Island, Fl
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ya don't argue with a cop. Argue with the judge. oh yeah and something about passing on the right too. Picture the robot flaying his arms about and talking to Will. Given this particular situation, if you don't have an escape lane, no matter what side you pass on, then proceed at extreme caution, slow enough to come to a full stop should a cager pull out from their lane into yours. Better yet, being in California, he should have been splitting the two left lanes...
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Blowing gravel off rural roads
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Pete777
Adjunct
Reged: 03/24/08
Posts: 144
Loc: Chalfont, PA
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Geez, you guys are tough on this guy. The mini-van driver was completely at fault if this accident went down as the rider described. Not riding defensively isn't smart, but it doesn't make the rider liable in this case. I've talked myself out of many speeding tickets by talking nice to cops, but in this case I would have been livid! Some a-hole cuts you off, causes you to crash, then lies to the cop, cop takes his side, then threatens to "taze" you. What if this kid had been really hurt or killed?
How many of us are 100% "on" while riding? Maybe it's just me, but I say cut this guy some slack. All JMHO of course!
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'05 America, 904, K&N pods, British Customs Bomber Exhaust
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Dwight
Fe Butt
Reged: 02/03/05
Posts: 17827
Loc: Sedona, Arizona
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Well Pete, I had a fellin' somebody would take on the kid's defense, and you sure didn't let me down here.
Yeah, maybe we were a little "tough" on him, AND yeah, was the cager who pulled out in front of him without making sure that somebody wasn't coming up relatively fast(relative to their own slower speed, that is) and was in the wrong and at fault LEGALLY also...sure!
BUT, here's the deal Pete...over the years I've seen first-hand all these sorts of motorcycle and car involved accidents which very possibly COULD HAVE been avoided IF the rider(and of course this also would apply to us when we're inside our "cages" and not on our bikes) would endeavor to keep that "healthy sense of suspicion" about not only how truly competent ALL of the motorists around them are at all times, but also how well their fellow motorists can see other motorists(and especially riders, as we're a fraction the size of most other vehicles out there) if and when a motorist attempts to make that last second decision to change their course on the road in front of us.
THAT, I believe, SHOULD have been the PRIMARY "lesson" Mr. Broadway should have taken away from this incident, as the next time he's "not at fault" in something like this, COULD be the last time that he'll ever have the chance to BE "not at fault" ever again!
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Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)
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bigbill
Worn Saddle
Reged: 01/11/05
Posts: 6136
Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada
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Right-O.
Who's at fault is completely irrelevant if you're toast.
The lesson he should have learned is that avoiding crashes is always your (our) responsibility.
'Cause dead is dead. And totaled is totaled.
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"I miss Kansas": Dorothy
"I miss the rains down In Africa": Toto
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brindle
Loquacious
Reged: 08/02/09
Posts: 2503
Loc: Burton-on-Trent, England
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Dwight and Bill are right, avoidance is the better option, and the guy should have been extra careful when there is a van in the equation as they have really bad blind spots. He was also unfortunate to have what appears to be an anti-bike cop turn up
Here's a couple more stories to show that just because someone is on two wheels doesn't make them innocent little angels
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/...cops/index.html
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/...ider/index.html
Maybe the cop who attended the accident had just delt with a biker like one of these?
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Wherever I go, there is an unwanted presence
Too old to die young, too ugly to leave a good looking corpse
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Dwight
Fe Butt
Reged: 02/03/05
Posts: 17827
Loc: Sedona, Arizona
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Two absolutely PERFECT additional links to this thread, Bryn! Great finds there, Ol' boy!!! 
Great finds, because of course, they give us the perspective from other individuals involved in encounters which very much parallel Mr. Broadway's experience on the road that day.
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Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)
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Keith
Stickman Yogi
Reged: 03/21/09
Posts: 11605
Loc: BC, Canada
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Thanks a bunch there Bryn for your contribution to this thread. Very good reading and strikingly pertinent to this thread. 
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Live to love, love to live.
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Gurdy
Adjunct
Reged: 04/24/05
Posts: 576
Loc: New Paltz NY
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he learned that cops are little more than gold crested criminals, he should have dealt with witnesses & driver info himself, and that tasers don't penetrate leather.
ride like everyone is out to kill you.
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"Got the wind in my face the road goes on for miles...."
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