I talked to someone today that was telling me how dangerous motorcycles are and how there are no helmet laws in their state so whenever there is an accident they shut the highway down and it's usually a fatality. She told me of the horrible deaths and she was surprised when I told her I will be riding again when I get my bike back, she knows I was rear ended etc etc...
So just as I start to reply about that's the risk we take and the no helmet law thing is just Darwin-ism; law or no law I am wearing a helmet and the people that don't clearly understand the risk they take.
Then she goes on to tell me how she was driving with her son and he was text messaging while driving! I simply replied, "bikes are not dangerous, people like your son are."
I just hate hearing about people texting while driving, and the fact she told me he does it all the time... [bang] When will people wake up and realize the bike itsself is not dangerous but the morons and their stupid multi-tasking while driving is the problem?!
She agreed it is awful that her son texts and drives, the reality is there are more and more people turning 16 every year and it's only going to get way worse. For the record he is in his mid 20's... [drink]
let's face it, the only way to make the roads safe is to take drivers (cagers) out of the equation. ie automatic pilot that acutally works, not cruise control and a moron behind the wheel reading a text message.
WTF is wrong with that lady?? I'm thirty-two, my Dad would still kick my ass if he saw me doing that.
Quote from: WannaDucBad on August 10, 2008, 06:56:03 PM
WTF is wrong with that lady?? I'm thirty-two, my Dad would still kick my ass if he saw me doing that.
I think a lot of people are like this... they sit there and say bikes are dangerous but they are actually the dangerous part of the equation.
My mom gives me a hard time about the bike, yada yada etc etc... Meanwhile she is a terrible driver so I just tell her the bike is safe it's people that drive like her that are what I need to watch out for... [laugh]
Quote from: eesnas on August 10, 2008, 07:00:15 PM
I think a lot of people are like this... they sit there and say bikes are dangerous but they are actually the dangerous part of the equation.
My mom gives me a hard time about the bike, yada yada etc etc... Meanwhile she is a terrible driver so I just tell her the bike is safe it's people that drive like her that are what I need to watch out for... [laugh]
Actually you are right to some degree. I can say on the positive side that my wifes awareness of motorcycles has increased dramatically since we got together. From me she is now much more aware of the dangers we face on motorcycles and she makes sure to be aware and gives space to motorcyclist now. [thumbsup] My Stepmother is beyond help though, my Mom is a rider and has been hit by cars before so she needs no help in that regard, the rest of my family rides too.
Quote from: WannaDucBad on August 10, 2008, 07:21:45 PM
Actually you are right to some degree. I can say on the positive side that my wifes awareness of motorcycles has increased dramatically since we got together. From me she is now much more aware of the dangers we face on motorcycles and she makes sure to be aware and gives space to motorcyclist now. [thumbsup]
My gf is the same way now too, spread the good word!
Having just (luckily) escaped injury when a deaf, dumb, blind & distracted cager changed lanes into me on the freeway, I can heartily endorse what you're saying here. There's very little dangerous in motoring down the road on my motorcycle. But put a car out there with me, piloted by someone completely absorbed in anything but actually driving their vehicle, and I'm in serious jeopardy. That's why I wear all the best gear money can buy and ride with a keen awareness of the numbnecks around me. Cars don't kill people, people in cars kill people.
Teens aren't the only ones texting.
Obviously this won't happen, but just imagine if all cars had:
manual transmissions
charging systems just powerfull enough to operate the car
no sound system
no GPS
no cup holders
and would immediately stall from a cell signal insied the car
Cell signal cancelling the the car running!!!! That's great. Put that into production
i wonder if those cell signal blockers are powerful enough to block calls as you ride by the car?
eh,....hm.
disregard. that would probably make them more dangerous
Quote from: howie on August 11, 2008, 03:47:24 AM
Teens aren't the only ones texting.
Obviously this won't happen, but just imagine if all cars had:
manual transmissions
charging systems just powerfull enough to operate the car
no sound system
no GPS
no cup holders
and would immediately stall from a cell signal insied the car
That's Hilarious! I'm all for that until I'm the one forced to drive it in offseason...
I'd like to see some public service ads on primetime with some basic physics lessons in them. I don't think 80% of people could tell you how much their car weighed.
Have some line about you being responsible for 4,000 lbs of steel. Then have that car crush a motorcyclist, or another car. Then have voiceover say 'get off your phone, stop texting, put the drink down, and be responsible for the two tons of metal you so casually use to get around.
take her son out for a burger..... then chop his fingers off
Quote from: Statler on August 11, 2008, 07:43:17 AM
I'd like to see some public service ads on primetime with some basic physics lessons in them. I don't think 80% of people could tell you how much their car weighed.
Have some line about you being responsible for 4,000 lbs of steel. Then have that car crush a motorcyclist, or another car. Then have voiceover say 'get off your phone, stop texting, put the drink down, and be responsible for the two tons of metal you so casually use to get around.
That would be a great commcercial how do we go about getting something like that aired? Im sure someone on the DMF has a connection, anybody?
Quote from: howie on August 11, 2008, 03:47:24 AM
Teens aren't the only ones texting.
Obviously this won't happen, but just imagine if all cars had:
manual transmissions
charging systems just powerfull enough to operate the car
no sound system
no GPS
no cup holders
and would immediately stall from a cell signal insied the car
my "fun" car was/is kinda like that. 5 speed, exhaust is too loud talk on the phone or to hear a radio (which im pulling out anyways), no cupholders, and the cigarette lighter doesnt work so i cant use gps.
not that i would ever need gps as im a male and have an innate sense of direction built in to my brain.
Quote from: howie on August 11, 2008, 03:47:24 AM
Obviously this won't happen, but just imagine if all cars had:
manual transmissions
charging systems just powerfull enough to operate the car
no sound system
no GPS
no cup holders
and would immediately stall from a cell signal insied the car
And I thought you were talking about an older Duc......... ;D
it's not hard to see where people get that idea of riders being reckless, though, whether from the squids with no gear on doing wheelies and tank stands at highway speeds, in traffic of course, or from a dude on a chopper with just oakley's on, at 2am on his way back from the bar.
i just try to ride safe and smart, be ready for everyone to be a complete idiot, but on the same token try to be somewhat courteous and don't be an asshat trying to weave in and out of traffic at 110 and feed that stereotype that people in cages have to begin with. i try to be defensive without being a douche basically.
I'd like to see HUGE penalties in place if you are texting when you have an accident.
GPS is standard on many phones - which would allow you to establish the location of the phone when the accident occurred (i.e. was it in the car). If an accident occurs, police should be able to as a matter of course apply for and be granted the call & sms history of the drivers phone - so they can check if the driver was otherwise occupied when they should have been paying attention.
HOWEVER, just thought of a problem: if the driver runs over you BEFORE they send the sms, no one will know. :-[
Here in the UK, if you have an accident, your phone will be checked and if it is found that you were using it at the time of the accident, you will face a charge of dangerous driving, a serious offence carrying a jail sentence.
i don't think enough could ever be done to modify people's need to do other things while driving...
there are 11ty billion distractions in a cage. take away the cell, gps, phone's, ipod's, cup holders, etc...
you'll still have the baby crying in the back seat, the folding map, newspaper, smoking, make-up mirror's, etc...
my awareness for motorcycles, and my style of driving all changed for the better when i started riding.
i drive my car like i'm riding my bike. i look WaY ahead, and i'm much more aware of other driver's.
i like statler's idea for the awareness ad... but the people who really need to get it, probably won't.
Quote from: roy-nexus-6 on August 12, 2008, 02:31:56 AM
I'd like to see HUGE penalties in place if you are texting when you have an accident.
GPS is standard on many phones - which would allow you to establish the location of the phone when the accident occurred (i.e. was it in the car). If an accident occurs, police should be able to as a matter of course apply for and be granted the call & sms history of the drivers phone - so they can check if the driver was otherwise occupied when they should have been paying attention.
HOWEVER, just thought of a problem: if the driver runs over you BEFORE they send the sms, no one will know. :-[
You'e talking hundreds of man hours added for a case. Hell, they can't even get tox screens done on time and done properly. So easy to have thrown out too...my phone often won't send a text right away due to signal strength. It will beep at me that a text was sent an hour after I wrote it.
You cannot prove someone was texting...just won't happen...unless an officer saw and will testify that someone was typing and he/she saw it. Then there is the issue of how the officer knew it was typing and not dialing (which is legal). Or scrolling through a call menu (which is legal). The more specific the law is written the easier it will be to get out of it, and no state is going to have time or resources to go after cell phone records.
I agree it should not be allowed, but I don't see an easy way to accomplish it.
Of course I'd be happy if the laws in place were actually used and enforced. PBJ for third drunk driving offense? problem.
Quote from: Capo on August 12, 2008, 02:45:31 AM
Here in the UK, if you have an accident, your phone will be checked and if it is found that you were using it at the time of the accident, you will face a charge of dangerous driving, a serious offence carrying a jail sentence.
wow...amen. not sure how you pull that off to be able to prove that someone was on the phone when the accident happened...but i like it [thumbsup]
Down in the Dominican Republic you can land yourself a NICE spot in the local jail for talking/texting on a cell phone... But on the contrary, they actually promote drinking and driving by selling beer with about 9% alcohol on almost every street corner... Take your pick, which is worse?
Quote from: eesnas on August 10, 2008, 06:40:21 PM
When will people wake up and realize the bike itsself is not dangerous but the morons and their stupid multi-tasking while driving is the problem?!
The problem will get better when our society realizes that negligent driving is worse than drunk driving will ever be and our laws and penalties reflect this fact. I can rant on and on about negligent driving and how you can kill a person while driving negligently and get off scott-free because there is no "malice" in the driver's actions.....I always figure that if you consciously do something to distract yourself from driving then this can be viewed as "malice" since it is a conscious act, but the laws and courts don't view it this way.....BTW, my wife is disabled because a dumb 18-year old girl was on the wrong side of the road in a blind curve.
I like the idea of ignition interupters, if a call is recieved and answered while the vechile is on it beeps and gives you like 15 seconds to pull over before it shuts off. Ergo people learn is it really this important to take this call RIGHT NOW, or can it wait til I get where ever I'm going.
i had a dream a few years after i started driving a car that i was speeding in my gti, came up over a blind hill, and killed 2 young boys riding their bikes in the road...
it scared the bejeezus out of me... really shook me up, i slowed it down in residential neighborhoods after that dream.
would it help to simulate similar accidents to all young drivers, the day you get your license?
Quote from: roy-nexus-6 on August 12, 2008, 02:31:56 AM
GPS is standard on many phones - which would allow you to establish the location of the phone when the accident occurred (i.e. was it in the car). If an accident occurs, police should be able to as a matter of course apply for and be granted the call & sms history of the drivers phone - so they can check if the driver was otherwise occupied when they should have been paying attention.
Yeah except it tells you where you are +/- roughly 8 feet or so (this may have changed since I was in the maritime industry). The phone may have been safely stowed in the trunk and show up in the same location as in the driver's hand. Not accurate or useful, really.
Perhaps we need some mothers to get angry or some such. :P
I just saw something the other day that gave the same thoughts about upcoming drivers. I was driving home through the neighborhood, I see a girl, about 12ish, riding her bike slow down the street. The bike is swerving around as she is going very slow. As I got closer I saw she was texting while riding her bike.
My only thought was that she will make a swell driver in a few years.
Mike
Quote from: JoeChieftain on August 12, 2008, 10:11:22 AM
I just saw something the other day that gave the same thoughts about upcoming drivers. I was driving home through the neighborhood, I see a girl, about 12ish, riding her bike slow down the street. The bike is swerving around as she is going very slow. As I got closer I saw she was texting while riding her bike.
My only thought was that she will make a swell driver in a few years.
Mike
Its too late they are already on the streets i almost got hit by some lady in a big GMC Yukon today, no signal just decided to change lanes thank god there was a shoulder. I proceeded to do the full 180 with my arm outstretched with a nice one finger salute!! Seeing into her window there was another blond in the car and i was sure her hands weren't even on the wheel [bang]
I am a much better/safer rider than I am a driver. I wont lie. Having all that tons of steel around me is...safe so I don't drive as aware as I do when I ride. I bumped my front bumper the other day on somthing because I thought I had tons of room to spare. After that, I decided to start riding more. I am much much more alert while riding....strange. ???
Quote from: robartlum on August 12, 2008, 09:29:53 PM
I am much much more alert while riding....strange. ???
[roll] maybe cause your life depends on you being alert.
That lady is just very irresponsible for letting her kid do that,that's accident waiting to happen.Sad.
Quote from: duc996 on August 13, 2008, 12:13:38 AM
That lady is just very irresponsible for letting her kid do that,that's accident waiting to happen.Sad.
Problem is he's not a kid, he's in his mid 20s and she's telling me how dangerous bikes are, it was just the irony and stupidity of it all. He is grown, she can't stop him, but she has no excuse to play dumb as to why bikers are getting killed on her highways when she has seen her son texting while driving first hand. Some people think the bikes fall over all by themselves going in a straight line, I think more people need to pay attention to the real cause of the accident and then evaluate their driving and the driving of the people around them.
I like those "motorcycles are everywhere" stickers, I am thinking of making something like that but more clever. I might put a sticker on the back of my helmet that says "stay awake" after what happened to me already I think it might help, anything to get attention and avoid being overlooked by another idiot.
are you serious? shes still his mother. my mom would smack the crap outa me if i were to do something like start texting while driving and im 24. its her fault in the first place, she should have raised him to know better. thats whats wrong with society today, everyone thinks that disciplining your kids is abuse.
i can only find lame stickers that look like they were printed in 1983 re: moto-awareness.
Earlier this week I was merged onto by a woman in an SUV... Ironically, when I passed her I noticed she had the bumper sticker that reads, "Look Twice, Save A Cyclists Life." Luckily, she caught what she was doing while she was 1/2 way in my lane and moved back over. I figured the bumper sticker came w/ her husbands brand new Harley.