March 12th, 2010 
admin Seriously Drivers…what the hell is wrong with you??
What makes your need to shave a few minutes of time off your commute worth endangering the lives of those around you? You have no respect for other drivers, you sure as hell don’t have any respect or regard for motorcycles, and in fact loath them even though that motorcyclist riding near you has done NOTHING to you personally…actually, you have no respect for yourselves or your own life either.
You talk on your cell phones, eat, shave and even paint your damn toe-nails while driving. You pay more attention to everything else but the task of driving! What the hell is wrong with you? Driving is the most dangerous thing you do every day and you don’t give a damn. You don’t take it seriously and take it for granted.
All you care about is shaving a few minutes off your drive. Obviously the lives you put at risk means nothing to you. You don’t bother to stop and think about your own life either, or your family, or the families of the people you may injure; husbands, wives, sons and daughters. Human beings for Christ’s sake! Not that you care…you care only for yourself…getting home a few minutes sooner. Maybe you will give a damn when it’s your child who is clinging to life in a hospital bed because someone else was careless or inattentive behind the wheel. You drive around in thousands of pounds of steel like a child playing with daddies gun, without any damn clue or understanding of the possible consequences.
Our roads are suffering from a disease and much like a cancer, that disease is killing us. Call it ignorance…call it complacency…call it not giving a damn. It IS curable though. Through education and training, our roads CAN become safer. Safer roads start with safer drivers…that means YOU!
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Absolutely true!!!! I see this all the time and I am always leery about going for a ride because i just don’t trust anyone! Another fact to be mentioned is that when the weather approaches double digits, bikers ARE out there…..keep your eyes open! Not all bikers are JUST fair weather riders! We pay too much for Insurance NOT to ride whenever we get the chance!
Can’t help but wonder what impact (if any) loud pipes had. Darlene’s bike looks pretty stock but, still not quiet…
I would suspect that loud pipes had NO impact in this case. Even stock Harley pipes get your attention when pointed directly back at you. The minivan driver who hit her from behind didn’t even hit the brakes until after he hit her.
I agree that there are a lot of bad drivers out there but you somehow imply that people on motorcyles do no wrong. In this case, yes, she is totally innocent in every way but, let’s face it, there are as many bad motorcylists on the road as bad car drivers (in proportion, of course). I’ve seen guys blow by me at 200 km/hr and have thought to myself, if I was changing lanes, that guy would be dead because I wouldn’t even have seen him at the speed he was going. It’s not always the fault of the guy in the car but it is always the guy on the bike who pays the ultimate price.
Hey John, I fully realize that many riders are their own worst enemies. The number one cause of motorcycle crashes don’t involve any vehicles and was the rider’s fault. However when there is a bike and a vehicle are involved in a collision, the fault is usually the driver by 2/3.
I’m not a rider (though I’d like to be), and I certainly don’t profess to be a perfect driver, but I will say that I get shaken up sometimes by other people’s attitudes and distractions when I’m BEHIND THE WHEEL. I could only imagine what it must feel like for bikers.
It’s one thing to feel annoyed by decisions people make, but there is absolutely no reason for the malice and ignorance that I see out there sometimes.
With 4 comedy books including a humourous driving manual, I completely agree that MOTORISTS are illiterate, inconsiderate, and blind to what’s happening around them. They possess a ME SOCIETY attitude and simply cannot contemplate being behind anyone for any reason that they throw their rectangular cars into triangular lanes to prove they never read the diamond shaped road sign. I will say however that many motorbikes have the same disease, cutting between doorhandles in heavy traffic turning a line into a lane, “a” is wider than an “i” and a reason not to confuse the two. DRIVING is a courtesy not a priviledge, give courtesy and you get the priviledge of getting it back.
Drivers have a complacency that riders don’t. Riders by default have to pay more attention to whats going on around them instead of just toddling along in la la land. Yes some are reckless, so are some drivers. Car drivers can weave in and out of traffic often too. However, unlike the average driver, the average rider is acutely aware of their surroundings.
Unlike in a car the ONLY distractions for a rider are the ones on the road…that’s where 100% of their attention is focused.
I ride a lot and am always careful of the other drivers, because they just don’t care to look or if they do, they just treat you like a bug on the window. Always remembering your safety block, doesn’t seem to help too much. I try to stick to country roads and low traffic times but I ride so much that is hard to do. I think all people who go for their license should do a motorcycle course no matter if they ride or not. It should be mandatory. It just doesn’t just teach you about bikes, but about safe handling, driving and awareness.
Lonely,
I agree with you on that. Bikers have to focus on what they are doing at all times while some people who drive cars barely even focus on driving at all. But I look at that picture of the minivan rammed into the bike and I can honestly say that could be ANYONE who has ever driven a car (good or bad driver). Perhaps the guy was being distracted by his kids in the back seat for a second or two and, boom, he almost kills someone. I consider myself a fairly good driver but I realize that could have been me who rammed into that lady and it would be me having to live with the guilt of almost killing her. I’ve seen some of her friends raging at the driver on facebook (I can understand their anger) but unless he was texting or on the phone at the time (or even worse drunk), they have to realize that anyone could have made that mistake, including them. A split second of looking away would have caused that, nothing more. I’m sure you drive a car as well and have done things that have taken your focus off the road for a second or two (phone, radio, kids, etc.). It’s pure physics, if she was in a car and not a bike, it would have been nothing more than a fender bender. But when 2 tons of steel hits a person on a bike, even at a slow speed, the motorcyclist is going to be injured or killed. I don’t drive a bike but if I did, I would assume every single car on the road was going to cut me off or not stop for me. And I still think that wouldn’t be enough to prevent an accident.
This is my third year of riding, it isn’t much when you look at seasoned riders that have been riding for 10-20 years. But i also put 3000 k on a bike in 2 1/2 months. It is said that when you drive a car you are in a mode of passiveness because unlike a bike you are not part of the environment. People believe they can do no harm and create no danger when in a vehicle because it has walls surrounding them. Motorcyclists are constantly examining the road ahead, around and behind them. We know the dangers of the road. Motorcyclists are observationalists, you must think at all times that the car making the left infront of you is going to turn because if you don’t have that mind set and you’re going 80 in a 60 they wont be able to judge where you are, possibly making the turn and you t-boning the car. I have yet to be in an accident only because of my caution. It is true that most motorcycle accidents were preventable except for all the ones where the car hits the bike. It doesn’t matter the danger we still ride, always will. Gear up, always observe your surroundings and watch out for those 2 ton pieces of metal coming for you.
Keep the shiny side up