Dumb beotch at the track

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

What if there were 100's of large green garbage dumpsters scattered all over the run off area?
Also, scattered construction equipment like bulldozers and excavators just a few inches off the track.
Riders know they are there. Would you think that is negligent? Or is the track ready for use?

Why are you being so ridiculous? First you are talking about cinder blocks, now you are talking about 100's of dumpsters and bulldozers. If you have nothing to add to the discussion, you don't have to post anything.

The more I look at this, the more I think the guy crashed on purpose for the payday.

[vash]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

I can't imagine anyone choosing to jump off a bike at 60mph+ Maybe I'm just a wimp.

He was taken away with a broken femur, right? It could have been a lot worse if he had really met the bike again.

Have you ever raced (edit - or tracked) a bike?

i'm with you.

i can barely inject myself with a needle. i couldnt plan my snapped FEMUR for any payday. you cannot calculate the long term implications..hell, a blood clot could ruin everything.

we thinking he was hoping for a more gentle get-off?

[javadog]

Originally Posted by vash

we thinking he was hoping for a more gentle get-off?

No, this wasn't planned. He crashed, because of his own stupidity and while recovering decided to try and collect a big fat check.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

Have you ever raced (edit - or tracked) a bike?

What does that have to do with anything?

[matthewb0051]

Originally Posted by speeder

This can't be the first time someone has tried to sue past the waiver in a trackday crash. Not in America. Can't be the first or even in the first hundred.

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I agree. And that makes me think this lawyer is looking at a different angle. And I'm pretty sure every track waiver will be getting updated after this is all said and done.

His lawyer's record included this nugget taken from the article on page 1:

lawyer named Sarah London, who has a record of exacting big payments from powerful opponents. (She got a $3 million judgment from RJ Reynolds Tobacco for the family of a Florida smoker who died of lung cancer.)

I would imagine that verdict was given over the label warnings on cigarette packs, which would be similar to the track waiver.

This is exactly why I don't practice in the tort law arena. When you know what you are getting yourself into but do it anyway and blame someone else, your payday should be zero and a swift kick in the behind.

[Tobra]

He was not on a race bike. I have seen people that have done all sorts of things for money, cut off digits, shoot themselves all sorts of things. I would cut off my thumb to get disability, shoot myself or crash a motor vehicle on purpose. Just because I would not do so, it does not mean I don't believe someone else would not.

What makes you think that just because you would not be able to do it, no one else could? How do you know? Have you asked these other people if they would do it to cash in for millions of dollars and save their failing business? People have been murdered over a little bit of money, you do realize that, right?

[matthewb0051]

Jalopnik ran a story on this today. Here is a quote from Kim in a Lit Motors memo:

On a personal note, I have difficult news that I wanted to share with the Lit Motors community. Recently, I was involved in a motorcycle track accident. The accident was a high speed (75-80 m.p.h.) collision with a misplaced sandbag as I came off the track. Though I broke both my legs, very thankfully, I did not suffer any brain or spinal damage.

We all know motorcycles are dangerous and not for everyone. In retrospect, if I had been driving a C-1 in that collision I would have been safer and likely incurred far fewer injuries. This event has further galvanized my dedication to bringing the C-1 to market. Creating a safer ride for millions of people and making dangerous two-wheeled vehicles with no gyroscopes a thing of the past. I have decided not to return to the track unless it is with an AEV C-1 platform with similar performance and greatly increased safety.

https://jalopnik.com/this-track-day-crash-lawsuit-could-be-bad-news-for-trac-1824270453

[sammyg2]

Greg all(wo)man bragged about how he shot himself in the foot to keep from serving in the military. he and his friends even planned it out and drew a target on his shoe so he'd miss the bone and wouldn't do much permanent damage.
I'm surprised a coward would have the guts to do that.

[Tobra]

Peter, I would not say it if I did not think it possible, even likely. Why do you find it so hard to believe? Again, what makes you think that just because you would not be able to do it, no one else could? He was not really gong that fast. Pretty much everything he has said and done since certainly makes it sound plausible.

[greglepore]

I'm frankly not grasping it either. I went off on the street at lower speed and was almost a permanent quad. Your cervical spine is a fragile thing, and anyone who has tracked bikes knows that.

BTW. 15 mill for bilateral fractured femurs? Man, I shoulda been a Cali PI atty (ducking as I say that).

[ted]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

For what it's worth, I raced Willow Springs one time on a motorcycle and went wide off Turn 8 into the soft stuff. I stayed on and rejoined the race. It can be done.

Video of an airborne big willow T8 off hitting the wall.
No where there I'd care to go off.

https://youtu.be/PuVgkSIuouY

[speeder]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

Even likely? Crashing sucks. That part is simple.

The idea of deliberately aiming for a sandbag so you can fly over the bars to crash head first (and potentially get nailed by your bike) for money? I'm just not grasping it. Perhaps I have too little knowledge of lawsuits.

Maybe it will be a great deal for him.

You need to go easy on the guy you are arguing with, he's not very bright. There is no way that the guy crashed into the sandbag on purpose @ 70mph, that would take the balls and skill of a stuntman and not even they would do something that would cause an endo at that speed on a bike. There are things that you just cannot force your body to do unless you are committing suicide.

The comparison to shooting yourself in the foot is a non-sequitur. There is exactly zero chance of winding up a quadriplegic or dead from shooting one's self in the foot. It would be 1000 times easier than crashing a motorcycle intentionally at speed.

I think that the real issue of this story has to do w the power of waivers like the one the guy signed. Most waivers are not worth the toilet paper they are written on and mostly exist to fool unsophisticated people into thinking that they have signed away their legal rights. I hate to say it but he might have a case regarding the hazard of the sandbag. It sucks.

[Rawknees'Turbo]

Originally Posted by speeder

You need to go easy on the guy you are arguing with, he's not very bright. . . . .

And he never shies away from proving it time and again.

[cairns]

Opportunist after the crash? perhaps...

Perhaps?? You don't think he's trying to cash in big time??? And you argue like an idiot that there's no way he would have deliberately crashed??

[cairns]

And he never shies away from proving it time and again.

You're pretty much totally useless aren't you?

[Rick Lee]

In that case, I'd like to see courts reaffirm the power of waivers and make people take some responsibility for things they sign. Don't like it? Don't sign, turn around and go home. But to not read it, sign it and just assume it means nothing because there's always a lawyer out there willing to take your case is, well, it's what's wrong with this country. People need to be held accountable.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

The idea of deliberately aiming for a sandbag so you can fly over the bars to crash head first (and potentially get nailed by your bike) for money?

Where did I say he deliberately aimed for the sandbag, could you point that out for me?

Read his post wreck statement and tell me again there is no way he did this on purpose.

The guy might have a better case on the sandbag if he had not ridden by it all morning and 9 times in the afternoon. He also would have a stronger case if there were not big ruts in the run off area that are going to dump his ass if the sandbag is not there.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

In that case, I'd like to see courts reaffirm the power of waivers and make people take some responsibility for things they sign. Don't like it? Don't sign, turn around and go home. But to not read it, sign it and just assume it means nothing because there's always a lawyer out there willing to take your case is, well, it's what's wrong with this country. People need to be held accountable.

This!

He was there only to have fun, like every other track day participant. He just wants a big payday even if it ruins for everyone else that wants to go play at the track.

[flipper35]

To me the big screw-up was letting him ride after missing the drivers meeting.

[flipper35]

Another note, how does he think a gyro-stabilized vehicle would have saved him in that instance?