TODAY was a sad day for us on several fronts.
Sad news from Ontario via Calgary... and here on Prince Edward island, another senseless death of a motorcyclist. See headline below:
A 24-year-old South Freetown man has died after the motorcycle he was driving collided with an SUV.
The Yamaha motorcycle was travelling on Route 113 in South Freetown when it collided with a Chevrolet Equinox making a lefthand turn into a driveway just after the noonhour today.
The lone occupant of the motorcycle was pronounced dead at the Prince County Hospital.
The 71-year-old female driver and lone occupant of the SUV was uninjured.
The Department of Transportation assisted with the closing of a section of Route 113 while the RCMP’s collision analyst surveyed the scene.
There have been no charges laid to date. The RCMP is continuing its investigation to determine the cause of the collision.
It was only last month that the headline read, "Accidents down on PEI..."
In my 45 plus years of riding, my near twenty years of teaching National Motorcycle courses and my 25 years in the industry, I harped ad nauseum to anyone that would listen about the hazards of riding, the need for education for riders and especially the public at large.
Problem was and still is... it feels at times that NO ONE is listening. The public still thinks we're a bunch of crazy cowboys/girls hooligans, the politician's think we are a nuisance, the medical profession, terms us as organ donors, the media does little to make the general public, rider's, politicians and professionals aware of us as responsible users of public highways, with every right to be there as anyone else.
I don't for the life of me, know what the answer is to this. Well, I guess I do know... but the thought, the Everest facing us is, I'll admit freely, too much for me at times. Lately, since my return to the Island, many of my old customers/friends etc have approached me about "doing something"
"What do you want me to do?" I answer quietly and calmly. I've been doing it for 47 years... I'm tired and hurting from my last major collision whereas a young man in broad daylight on a perfect Sunday on a Calgary street, saw me approach a yellow light and proceeded to step on his gas pedal, believing that I was going to run the yellow, because "that's what all those bikes do..." he explained to the city policeman on the scene, after rear ending me and punting me across the intersection on the front wheel, with my legs in the air... I survived that only only because I didn't take the second to think. I hadn't yet slipped the transmission into neutral and accelerated as soon as I heard the howling and shrieking of locking tires.
Look... that makes two riders in the last two weeks, one 24 the other 53. Both killed by elderly drivers that failed to do their jobs, they failed to correctly view and assess the situation. In both cases, those drivers are very fortunate the bikes weren't eighteen wheelers loaded with potatoes... and unfortunate, in both cases we have two men dead, killed while riding their bikes.
People are quick to point out that riding a bike is dangerous, and it is... but it would be less so if there was far more effort than I can make, to ensure that the other guy kept an eye out for us.
Sad news from Ontario via Calgary... and here on Prince Edward island, another senseless death of a motorcyclist. See headline below:
A 24-year-old South Freetown man has died after the motorcycle he was driving collided with an SUV.
The Yamaha motorcycle was travelling on Route 113 in South Freetown when it collided with a Chevrolet Equinox making a lefthand turn into a driveway just after the noonhour today.
The lone occupant of the motorcycle was pronounced dead at the Prince County Hospital.
The 71-year-old female driver and lone occupant of the SUV was uninjured.
The Department of Transportation assisted with the closing of a section of Route 113 while the RCMP’s collision analyst surveyed the scene.
There have been no charges laid to date. The RCMP is continuing its investigation to determine the cause of the collision.
It was only last month that the headline read, "Accidents down on PEI..."
In my 45 plus years of riding, my near twenty years of teaching National Motorcycle courses and my 25 years in the industry, I harped ad nauseum to anyone that would listen about the hazards of riding, the need for education for riders and especially the public at large.
Problem was and still is... it feels at times that NO ONE is listening. The public still thinks we're a bunch of crazy cowboys/girls hooligans, the politician's think we are a nuisance, the medical profession, terms us as organ donors, the media does little to make the general public, rider's, politicians and professionals aware of us as responsible users of public highways, with every right to be there as anyone else.
I don't for the life of me, know what the answer is to this. Well, I guess I do know... but the thought, the Everest facing us is, I'll admit freely, too much for me at times. Lately, since my return to the Island, many of my old customers/friends etc have approached me about "doing something"
"What do you want me to do?" I answer quietly and calmly. I've been doing it for 47 years... I'm tired and hurting from my last major collision whereas a young man in broad daylight on a perfect Sunday on a Calgary street, saw me approach a yellow light and proceeded to step on his gas pedal, believing that I was going to run the yellow, because "that's what all those bikes do..." he explained to the city policeman on the scene, after rear ending me and punting me across the intersection on the front wheel, with my legs in the air... I survived that only only because I didn't take the second to think. I hadn't yet slipped the transmission into neutral and accelerated as soon as I heard the howling and shrieking of locking tires.
Look... that makes two riders in the last two weeks, one 24 the other 53. Both killed by elderly drivers that failed to do their jobs, they failed to correctly view and assess the situation. In both cases, those drivers are very fortunate the bikes weren't eighteen wheelers loaded with potatoes... and unfortunate, in both cases we have two men dead, killed while riding their bikes.
People are quick to point out that riding a bike is dangerous, and it is... but it would be less so if there was far more effort than I can make, to ensure that the other guy kept an eye out for us.
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