Our prayers go out to the family.

 

I hear you ! Reckless driving, unfortunately, is handed out in many motorcycle accidents that deserve a more serious charge. There is this common acceptance within the courts and within our society when the responsible party states that they did not "see" the motorcycle until it was too late. Yes, bikes are smaller than cars/trucks but a bike is also bigger than a human being - especially a big old Harley FL. In most cases, if a driver hits a pedestrian, the excuse of I did not "see" him/her is far less likely to be accepted by the DA's office and society in general. There are always different circumstances in each case such as night time, day time, weather, speed etc. but often hitting and killing a pedestrian will result in a more serious charge than reckless driving. Older drivers also seem to get more leniency from the courts as we are a society that does not like to send "older" people to jail for causing a fatality. Now with that said, have maybe 3 beers at a gathering, which is often enough to blow above a .08 and be stopped at a traffic light minding your own business and driving very safely, and someone comes along and hits "you". Guess who's going to jail for drunk driving! Unfortunately, this is our system!!

 

A horribly messed up system, the wealthy can get away with almost anything, the poor go to jail...

 

Was In a accident Friday with almost the same situation however I sustained minor injuries because slow speed and seen it coming but nowhere to go.I contacted my state representative to.Probably will do no good but somebody has to start somewhere and make these at fault drivers have consequences when injuring a motorcyclists.This is my letter


Mr. Daley I was involved in a accident on 7/25/2014 in Lapeer on Oregon St and Suncrest Dr.I was on my motorcycle and a driver failed to carefully look and turned left taking me out. I was taken to Mc Laren Lapeer Region hospital by ambulance.I am happy to say my injuries were minor and I will not go into those.My wife and myself have been motorcyclists for over 30 yrs and am proud to say this is my first incident.Your probably wondering why I'm contacting you? As you know Michigan No Fault is not kind or fair when it comes to motorcycles.The Driver was ticketed and will pay a small fine and that's it.As for me I have no recourse against this person,yes my bike will be fixed and I will deal with my injuries.I would like to ask you to propose some legislation to make careless at fault drivers who injure motorcyclist take motorcycle awareness classes and pay fees that will support these awareness classes.I also understand that your term is ending and I wish you well in your next election to the state senate.I believe if you show support for the motorcyclist of this area it will earn you trust and respect from the thousands of motorcyclists who travel these roads. Respectfully,Michael

 

We should all write letters

 

Was probably on her phone with the Grim Reaper!
I agree with jail time to think about it and NEVER driving again!

 

I'm not going to read the rest of the thread as its too depressing. If someone else has said this, I'm sorry for repeating. I've rarely seen the motorcyclists estimated speed reported in these articles. I'm not saying its always the motorcyclists fault. I'm bringing up a topic I rarely see discussed. A motorists making a left turn is expecting opposing traffic to be approaching at a particular speed. They may see the motorcyclist and determine there is sufficient time to turn. When in fact, the motorcyclist is traveling at a high rate of speed. I've seen this many times. If you're traveling at 85 in a 55, you're going to cover 1.5 times more acreage than the opposing motorist is expecting. I've been passed by motorcyclists easily doing over 100mph. That's almost race track speed. Have you ever timed how long it takes to cross a race track and then compare it to how long a race car takes to complete a turn and the ensuing straightaway. The pedestrian is woefully prepared for that matchup.

 

Yea except for the part that says I was in an accident.

 

What scares the bajesus out of me is when I see motorcycles going down the road with their turn signal on (for like a mile because he/she didn't turn it off).. On my 2014, it goes off automatically, but on some older motorcycles, they have to be turned off manually.

I just saw it the other day.....a motorcyclist going down a street with his signal on. Its still VERY wrong for a car to turn in front of a bike with a signal on, but we all know it happens.

Im NOT saying this is what happened here, but just a reminder.......turn off your signals!!!

Prayers to the family!

 

I agree with most points made, but still, you can have a couple of beers, get pulled over and go to jail, pull out in front of someone, kill them, and just get a reckless driivng ticket??? Something is wrong with this in my opinion.