Where exactly did it say they were on Harleys? :|
I actually said HD, but I said HD/cruisers, because somebody did say the other bikes were cruisers.
Connie, you know how much I respect all of the work that you do with riders. But if I may say something that is over 25 years old now... my first day in motor-school the LAPD instructors told us that the person who was most likely to kill us was the late teen to twenty something rider who was riding the high performance motorcycle. Studies had shown that they have very little risk awarness or concern about other using the roadway.
Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and it seems like we still have a 25 year old problem.
Oh and don't even get me started on the Sons of Anarchy want-to-be riders. I am equal opportunity on what riders put all of us at risk.
Not quite sure what the point of your post is. I'm NOT blaming the
cruiser riders (happy, Jason?)... I'm saying that there was no intent on the part of the young n dumb riders... that happenstance took what
would have been a pucker moment and turned it into a multiple tragedy... if the
cruiser riders had got caught by a light when they set out, and were two minutes later, it wouldn't have happened.
My point was that most of us who have been riding have had pucker moments... accidentally blew a DY... misjudged a corner... (hell, I did that last weekend on Pesky) how many of us stop to think about how it could have ended up just by happenstance? Most of us don't... we give it a brief "fuck- that was stupid" and continue on... when we
should be thinking about the "what if's"... and adjust accordingly.
Connie, I understand about 'young and dumb' having suffered that myself. But an innocent person was killed due to very risky, reckless, selfish behavior.
A group of squids set out to recklessly _race_ on public roads, knowing all along it was very risky.
If the cruiser rider was killed by a drunk driver how would you respond? Most of us get mad big-time when a drunk driver kills someone (with good reason). It's time we got mad big-time when careless, reckless, selfish, racing squids kill someone.
I ask you what's the difference between drunk drivers and squid racers: That unfortunate cruiser rider is the same kind of dead from the same careless, risky, selfish behavior.
OK, first of all, nowhere in that article does it say they were RACING. They were mashing along at a pace that at least one of them wasn't qualified to be running... but that does NOT make it "racing". Riding fast- even TOO fast- with your friends is NOT "racing".
Second, you COMPLETELY missed my point. Most of the people on this forum who ride sportbikes have, at some point, ridden at a pace that was unwise. They've exceeded the speed limit, and gone out and railed through the corners. Some of them have crashed. How do I know this? Because I've spent a fair amount of time picking them up off the side of the road and driving them home. Luckily for them, they didn't smash in to another rider. Note the use of the word "luckily". NONE of these guys were selfish arrogant pricks only out to feed their selfish, reckless need for speed... they were just some guys who wanted to have fun. Many of the guys I've spent time either picking up from a crash, or working with at the track, or working with on the back roads, aren't thinking about the possibility of killing other people because they're riding too fast for their skills... at that age, they're mostly invincible.
Or so they think.
I do what I can to explain to them the consequences of poor skills and sportbikes... and I think it's a responsibility more experienced riders have to the crops of Newbies. How else are they going to know?
Hope that clears it up for you.
I must have missed it.
I guess you completely MISSED the part where I said "ridden at a pace that was unwise"... way to take shit out of context... and BTW, driving under the influence is NOTHING like exceeding the speed limit. Driving drunk impairs your judgement and reflexes as opposed to riding over the speed limit or stunting on the freeway. I've seen guys with mad skillz loft it on the freeway and ride a wheelie up the Dublin Grade on 580. Would I do it? No. Did he do it in heavy traffic? No. Was it dangerous? To him, no one else- as there was no one else around. And judging by the ease with which he did it, and how skillfully he rode it, I'd have to say it wasn't particularly dangerous to him, either.
