[Jeff Higgins]

Years ago, I used to participate in and lead large group rides with our local HOG chapter. The only reason I wound up leading these rides was out of pure frustration with the snail's pace these people liked to hold; typically 5-10 mph under the posted limit - all in the name of "safety". You should have heard them ***** when I started leading rides at 5-10 mph over the limit, or at whatever pace it took to actually keep up with traffic. They would have none of that... that was "unsafe".

With that in mind, and seeing a bunch of wrecked Harleys, I'm left to wonder just what preceded this pile-up. A pack of a dozen, twenty, thirty, or more motorcycles traveling in a group, and not keeping up with traffic, presents an all but impossible to pass obstacle. I have seen the mounting frustration in other motorists as I followed these parades in the "sweep" position, wondering if the group leader had the common sense to perceive what was going on behind him, or the common courtesy to pull the group into a pull-out to allow the delayed line of cars following us to pass. It never happened, and the cars behind us would simply be stuck. I've been in one of those cars myself, stuck behind a large group of Harleys puttering along, blithely unaware of what was going on behind them. Hey, it's their world - we're only guests in it...

I could definitely see where the driver of the as yet unfound car simply got frustrated/pissed and decided to go for it at any reasonable opportunity. I've seen this happen with our group. Funny, too, the group of motorcyclists then become rather unyielding, not allowing the interloping car to return to its own lane if it cannot complete the pass of the entire group. It got pretty damn dicey a few times with our group. When the car wants in, it's going to "win", one way or another.

I quit riding with those boneheads after just a couple of years. I saw the handwriting on the wall for something like this to eventually befall those knuckleheads. To my knowledge, they are still getting away with it, but I would wager their day is coming. It's simply a very discourteous, thoughtless, maddening situation for other motorists to encounter. I bet that's at least a part of what happened here.