Just wanted to add; see the "ghostrider" series on YouTube. Talking about a death wish.

Sherwood

I've never tried to ride a motorcycle. I'd like it too much, and I don't trust myself to ride conservative. I'd rather live without that risk and not know what I'm missing.

That's great advice.

That said, it's not possible to always have a way out. I gave up riding a couple of years ago after an accident involving an oncoming minivan that decided to turn left immediately in front of me. I was merely bruised - but it rattled me sufficiently that I sold the bike and hung up the leathers for good.

You can be the most experienced and defensive rider in the world - but it only takes one ********* in a minivan talking on his cellphone to punch your ticket.

That's why I quit.

I've never tried to ride a motorcycle. I'd like it too much, and I don't trust myself to ride conservative. I'd rather live without that risk and not know what I'm missing.

yeah, in town it's those guys 'turning left' in the intersection right in front of you, opposite direction, that were in my experience riding a motorcycle in miami the greatest danger to me. a couple of times when i had the right of way, driving properly, someone just turned in front of me, causing me to stand up on the handlebars hitting the brakes..

and normy..i've been there, too and did what you did - write something right after the experience. i was first on the scene of an accident where an 18-wheeler hit a ford taurus, crossing over on the interstate at 70 mph, each vehicle. the impact cut the driver in half at the waist, permanently crippled the passenger who survived, and i crawled in through the back to be with the woman passenger in the rear until she died. paramedics made it a half hour after the accident. for one, it was his very first call. when he opened the back door and found the upper body of the driver in the back seat with me, he lost his lunch. not a pleasant memory. of course there was litigation afterwards and i was deposed for testimony. eventually it was settled out of court. my sympathies for having witnessed something similar..it stayed with me for a while, but will get better.

There was a story in the last couple of years where a motorcycle rider who was a strong mc safety advocate, wrote for a mc magazine, was on some sort of safety council or something and had decades of experience on two wheels was killed when someone hit him.

I found myself a little "overexposed" the other day when I was waiting for the green left turn arrow. It must have malfunctioned and didn't come on, but solid green in both directions did. So I had to ride out to the middle of the intersection and wait for a clear spot. Looking all around myself there, I felt like a target holder at a firing range. I made it no problem, but intersections are where the real danger is. On the hwy. I'm not too worried.

Wear gear.

http://www.t-mobilepictures.com/phot...ecb9ad8a30.jpg

I don't understand a lot of you folks.

Dying in bed, at 85lbs, after 5 years of suffering from cancer, aids, or any of a number of various debilitating ailments is a tough way to go. Getting mauled by a Tiger, or dying of mindwracking pain from a snake bite, or eaten by a shark, or even just drowning- those ways are all horrible. How about burning to death? How about those poor "infidel" bastards getting their heads cut off by the muzlum savages in Iraq and Afdirtistan and Darfur?

Going out at 120mph -instantly- on a Hyabusa....now THAT is a good way to go. A 100% surge of pure adrenaline as you rocket- painlessly- into the belly of hell. Here i come Satan, i'm comin' to getcha....

Ha ha! Agree, but it gives bikers a bad name.

Nah, I want to go at age 92 with a couple of Russian hookers who have screwed me silly, dying with a smile on my face and bum ticker... :)

I feel sorry for the folks in the acura.

Sniper, Gotta agree with you on that one. The guy didn't feel or see it coming. Much worse for the few who had to witness it.

I'm sorry you had to see this and of course I'm sorry for his family.

As a rider, especially one that rides on the edge, you have to know where and when you have decent odds of making it. This wasn't it.

As for CPR, I take yearly first aid training at work by firefighters. When it comes to traffic accidents they say you don't usually use CPR because their trama is the problem not their heart stopping.

saw a bike planted into the side of the mountain on skyline drive in va. recently. rider was not moving and in a ditch with several people around him. not an easy thing to see.

i also can still recall passing a vehicle accident on I270 just south of Frederick many years ago and seeing a white sheet covering a human form.

not long after the above i was rear-ended on the same road in my then two month old Honda Civic. it had 8000 miles on it, no scratches and was the first nice thing i had ever owned. i was just a year or so out of college working my first 'real' job and was so proud of that car. i was stopped in traffic and the other lanes were moving fairly quickly (which is always scary) and this older civic switches lanes right into the back of my car at roughly 40mph, never touched the brakes. once the merry-go-round stopped i was facing sideways on the road and looking at a very confused indian dude in a tercel. my glasses were in the back seat. within a few seconds i became so angry i actually got out of the car to kick the living ***** outta the jackass that hit me-except when i got to the car it was missing all of its glass, crumpled badly and the sole occupant was a teenage girl who was, at first, completely unresponsive. i immediately forgot about my car.

i'm not sure what we should do with experiences like these other than share them. i do make a point of reminding myself that these stories are why i will not go out and buy that Triumph Sprint ST i lusted for not long ago or the R850R (i know, kooky choice but it seems right for a newb) that i have a small model of in the garage. i do ride a Honda 50 scooter to work once in a while (maybe 1.5 miles through a very small town) and i feel soooo exposed on it. but it's also very, very fun.

I saw a few dead bodys lying in the road in Vegas a couple years ago. White sheets over them. High speed rollover at like 10am in the morning. Bizarre.

Thats interesting. I look at those scooters and say no way I'm riding that on the road. They just don't look safe to me.

Curious though. Would would this story make you not buy a motorcyle. Do you typically drive 100mph down 35mph streets in the middle of the day?

Nice thing about a bike is you can escape a lot more easily if you see trouble coming. You can be sitting in bumper to bumper traffic in your cage, see a car coming to hit you and not be able to do anything but watch in horror. On a bike you can either haul out of there or drop it and step out of the way. Having a serious throttle response can kill and it can also save. Depends on how you use it.

Gear wouldn't have helped that guy. Not that I'm advocating riding without it (I always do) but it's like saying "wear a bulletproof vest" and then thinking it'll protect you when you jump on a grenade. Not gonna' happen.

lol, that's why I just won't ride if it's too hot to wear my gear because I won't go anywhere without it. as for that last part: amen, brother