Police say driver turning left didn't see approaching motorcycle
CBC News
Posted: May 22, 2013 9:35 PM AT
Last Updated: May 22, 2013 10:32 PM AT *
I'm talking to my buddy Mike, late last night, catching up in the usual after a long day/before us old farts** hit the sack, phone call.
He tells me he's had a very hard day. Struggled all day with selling his V Star. "have you not seen the news laddie?" he asks, oblivious to my bewilderment. Another Island rider, is dead.
"What's the point?" he throws out there.
And of course, not simply because I ride and am crucially aware of his concern for his safety and the fact that I was a motorcycle instructor for 2 decades... and given my own experiences over my 45 years riding two/three wheelers, I know it is valid.
Shortly after buying my first new bike, a '72 350 Rebel, I was hit by a station wagon with a full load of family, riding back from Ft Mac to Edmonton at age 17. Young woman driving, blinding dust in front of her and me hidden by the cloud, too thick to see anything. Whether she was trying to pass the car ahead, or just wandered on the gravel highway 63 into "my lane"... I will never know. She clipped my left handlebar, knee, hand and had she been just 12" farther left, well... you wouldn't have found much left of a young Dr. N. Thusiast in training, no siree! It took me a year to recover from that, and I still have the scars to prove it.
Over the years, even when on a road race circuit, or flying through the air on an MX bike, or sliding along on my ass as my YZ/KX/CR/RM's studded tires whirred by my head on the ice oval... I've had little cause for major concern. Even in 2002, on an otherwise gorgeous sunny Sunday, heading over to meet my Japanese friend Kazue, having just stopped at a red light on MacLeod Trail in Calgary, upon hearing the tire shriek... training and instinct gained from countless miles and practice sessions most likely saved my life, as a young male this time, driving Dad's Mazda, having seen me approaching the intersection, stepped on the gas ("but officer... motorcycles always run yellow lights!") instead of the brake, and very nearly ran me over!
The father and son in the car to my right told me afterwards during my long rehab, that I would surely have won at least a third place ribbon at the Stampede bareback competition.
The father and son in the car to my right told me afterwards during my long rehab, that I would surely have won at least a third place ribbon at the Stampede bareback competition.
The combination of quick reaction without time to think, gained me the distance of perhaps 20' and let's say, 20-25kph speed differential, coupled with the height of my XT600 (he hit no hard parts) most likely saved my life that day, as I did a reverse wheelie, bike near vertical, legs above my head, doing an unwanted handstand, bars whacking against their stops hard enough to twist the front end.
So, after a lifetime of riding and far too many Gillette like close shaves to count, plus some genuine doozies, I'm still fortunate to sit here to write about it to you.
Far be it from me to tell Mike, or anyone for that matter... that riding, is just as safe as walking the dog. It isn't. It can and sometimes is, hazardous to one's health. His health, my health and your health if you choose to ride.
For the elderly couple that failed to see that motorcyclist as they entered the highway east of Charlottetown Wednesday, they should be forever thankful that it wasn't an eighteen wheeler whose path they pulled into. It would be them in the headline, and their families and friends shocked and grieving. As so often happens, that driver made a fundamental mistake while using a motor vehicle on a public roadway... he wasn't paying close enough attention to his responsibility to drive carefully, and not just to save his own life... but that of another human being.
For the elderly couple that failed to see that motorcyclist as they entered the highway east of Charlottetown Wednesday, they should be forever thankful that it wasn't an eighteen wheeler whose path they pulled into. It would be them in the headline, and their families and friends shocked and grieving. As so often happens, that driver made a fundamental mistake while using a motor vehicle on a public roadway... he wasn't paying close enough attention to his responsibility to drive carefully, and not just to save his own life... but that of another human being.
I ride because in my lifetime I have found little else that supplies me with the feeling, the thrill, the enjoyment, the freedom that having a motorized vehicle between my legs under my control, does. Is there risk with that? Of course there is. Am I aware of the risk? Yes... I am. Has it stopped me from riding? No it has not.
For Mike and anyone else... no one can answer that question for you. You have to do it yourself/daily. There have been many days when I had planned on riding my bike to work, or to the mountains or a date, and changed my mind because simply put, I didn't feel 100% "on."
We drove to Holly's graduation in Halifax along the Fundy coast this week, took the scenic route with the PT Cruiser (turbo) and I'm sure Brenda was probably exhausted hearing me say, time and again... "What an awesome motorcycle road, we've got to come back here this summer..."
*CBC News
** I use this term loosely
PS only 3% of collisions are actually accidental, that rest are avoidable.
PS only 3% of collisions are actually accidental, that rest are avoidable.
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