Why Motorcyclists Get Killed

We haven't done a Traffic Asshole in a while, so I figured it'd be a good time.

Jenn and I took a trip up to the Empress Palace last week to do some wedding preparations. Traffic was pretty heavy and Jenn was driving, so I hung out with the camera on the lookout for traffic assholes (as is my wont).

It really didn't take long.

Check this guy out:

This is why motorcyclists get killed.

How many thousands of motorcycle deaths do you hear about each year? Normally I feel bad, thinking that cars should pay more mind to the other lesser-wheeled vehicle companions.

Not so with this guy. This right here is why motorcyclists get killed. It has nothing to do with a car's ability to see you and everything to do with obeying the fucking traffic laws. Look, stud, you are a vehicle on the road just like the rest of us. You have to ride in the lane, just like the rest of us. If traffic is at a standstill or is moving slowly, you're fucked just like the rest of us. You don't get to skinny between cars regardless of your size. You, too, must sit and cook in the heat.

If someone had knocked this guy down, I wouldn't have stopped. In fact, I'd have laughed. It sounds hard, but you get what you deserve. Obey the law, dumbass, and maybe you'll live to ride your motorcycle tomorrow.

Print | posted @ Wednesday, August 02, 2006 6:52 PM

Comments on this entry:

Gravatar # Re: Why Motorcyclists Get Killed
by J at 8/3/2006 4:44 PM

Not that it makes much difference, but in California, it is legal to drive between lanes. I guess back in the day, if motorcyles weren't moving, they would overheat. Not so much anymore, but the law hasn't been struck down. Maybe it is the same in Washington? Who knows. This guy was probably in Oregon, though, so he is on his own. No ambulance for him!
Gravatar # Re: Why Motorcyclists Get Killed
by edeslaur at 8/14/2006 2:45 PM

Heh, Travis is reiterating a common misconception about lane sharing - that it's dangerous.
http://www.laneshare.com/content/view/30/39/#risk

In California, it's not illegal (distinctually different than legal) to lane share. People are very polite when I pull up through stopped traffic and they're too close together for me to get by - the vast majority scoot over for me to get by.

I've only ever had someone intentionally try to block me/brake test once (SFO), and they didn't have California plates. I waited 3-4 minutes for him to tire of straddling two lanes and for traffic around him to start giving him the finger, and then scooted on by, never to hold hm up or seem him again.

In fact, lane sharing is considered a safety and benefit to motorcycles, so much so that the CHP sided WITH the groups who banded together to save it some years ago. "Lane-sharing may actually be safer for the motorcyclist than being sandwiched between two larger vehicles in stop-and-go traffic"

Being a motorcyclist, I profoundly agree. It's much harder for me to get rear-ended when I'm between two cars. I can't tell you how many times I've almost been rear ended/run over (didn't see me, whatever) in Oregon, and how it's become an almost negligible concern now that I live in California.

I've had significantly more close calls in OR (not lane sharing) than I have in all my years of lane sharing in California. I currently have a 65 mile commute, about 30 of which involves significant lane sharing at all speeds.

Most of the time, I find those who are the most aggravated about lane sharing A) aren't from California and B) are POd that they're in a line and we're not held to the same rule. It's like taking "cuts" to them. There's an easy answer - get a bike.

Here's more than you ever wanted to know about lane sharing
http://www.laneshare.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

As far as this guy, you can be as PO'd as you want, just remember that ya'll break the traffic laws sometimes too, so careful which stones you throw. :)

Eric D
98 BMW K1200RS

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