I see you are off your meds today.
So if a dork creams me with his car because he was jerking off reading Playboy while driving, it's on me because I choose to ride a bike instead of driving a f.cking TANK?
On the same way of reasoning then a mugger could plead "It's his fault he got shot: he could just hand over the cash".
Take your pills, and think again!

The charges have to be proportional to the damage done.
You hit a guy in a Hummer, and it ends in a bent fender? You are lucky. you pay the damage and everybody is happy.
You hit a guy on a bike and send him to hospital for three months? You will be punished in a proportionally higher way.
You kill somebody? You get charged for manslaughter. You were drunk or high? That's murder.
And so on.
There is such a thing called "responsibility", you know?
You have to be careful, and take into account that there are weaker categories on the road, and that hitting another car at 10 mph may be a little monetary inconvenience, while hitting a pedestrian at the same speed WILL get you in the slammer big time.

 

What I don't understand is, when the Hurt Study did a survey or motorcycle accidents, they found that automobiles were the predominating factor . Not giving the right of way to a motorcycle. In almost every situation, the driver said they didn't see the motorcycle. But in automobile studies where autos were hitting autos , the same reports came in. Failure to give right away and the driver didn't see the other car. There's a lot of blind people driving these day's. I personally think people don't look or get preoccupied while driving. But with findings like these, you would think someone would do something about hitting motorcycles. The public safety counsel said quote- We feel that the public need's to have a higher awareness that motorcycles are out there sharing the road with them. Better training and skills are needed for the motorcyclist. With better training and skills, the motorcyclist can learn what to look out for and thus prevent many accidents. Alcohol and drug use is another problem among motorcycle accidents and needs to be addressed.
You don't here to much about doing something about the law or accountability do you ?
Here's the findings on the Hurt Report -

Findings from the Hurt Study
Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures
A motorcycle accident study offers you and your students a wealth of information about accidents and how to avoid them. The Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures, is a study conducted by the University of Southern California (USC). With funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, researcher Harry Hurt investigated almost every aspect of 900 motorcycle accidents in the Los Angeles area. Additionally, Hurt and his staff analyzed 3,600 motorcycle traffic accident reports in the same geographic area.

Reprinted here for your information and use are the findings.

The final report is several hundred pages. If you choose to have this document in your resource library, the order information is:

Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures, Volume 1: Technical Report, Hurt, H.H., Ouellet, J.V. and Thom, D.R., Traffic Safety Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles,

California 90007, Contract No. DOT HS-5-01160, January 1981 (Final Report)

This document is available through:

National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, Virginia 22161
(703)-487-4600

Vol.I (The Main Report and Summary) is PB81206443 (~400 pages)
Vol.II (Appendix: Supplementary Data) is PB81206450 (~400 pages)
Either document is $42.95 plus $3.00 shipping. (circa 1990)


Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures

Findings

Throughout the accident and exposure data there are special observations which relate to accident and injury causation and characteristics of the motorcycle accidents studied. These findings are summarized as follows:

1. Approximately three-fourths of these motorcycle accidents involved collision with another vehicle, which was most often a passenger automobile.

2. Approximately one-fourth of these motorcycle accidents were single vehicle accidents involving the motorcycle colliding with the roadway or some fixed object in the environment.

3. Vehicle failure accounted for less than 3% of these motorcycle accidents, and most of those were single vehicle accidents where control was lost due to a puncture flat.

4. In single vehicle accidents, motorcycle rider error was present as the accident precipitating factor in about two-thirds of the cases, with

 

It's not up to me to do anything. The info is out there, if you want to read it google it yourself. If you don't want to read it, then don't. No skin off my nose either way.

 

Too bad about your friend,a lot of my friends are gone prematurely.Bad drivers are never going away,and it is only going to get worse.

 

Seems to me people is so overconcerned with their rights that they constantly forget about the consequent duties.
Here in Italy law stated that in case of a car-bike accident the car driver was automatically guilty and responsibile, as he should have foreseen the chance of hitting a less protected person and therefore been more careful. It's obviously a wishful thinking kind of law, and pretty idiotic at that. Recently responsibility has been more equally subdivided and, guess what? Motorcycle accidents rate seems to be decreasing, with people being more careful. Weird that somebody would value his own health less than being forced to pay for the damage he caused, but it is so.
Anyway, the moral is: the one who screws up has to pay. Screw-ups involving damage to property and screw-ups involving damage to people are two very different things.

And, Ithin that it is important to state a very important principle, whatever moronic laws may state, so that we get a clear view not biased or distorted by political or personal convenience, and we are well aware of what we do while riding or driving.
Carelessness is not an excuse: it's an aggravating circumstance.

 

Bottom line_________ .Trust no one out there.. C.Y.A...When you elect to ride your bike on the highway everyone has the opportunity to kill you..We all get complacent whether in a cage or on a bike..

 

Are you accustomed to putting words into people's mouth just to justify not addressing the subject?

 

You've made the false allegation that cell phone use is equally as dangerous as D.U.I. Now after Kolni and I have asked for "the research" you claim to have read you flatly refuse to produce said document.

So what you are saying is you just made the $#(t up to justify your own perspective. I can live with that.[sm=lame.gif]

 

Very true....

When riding just assume that everyone is out to kill you... Be defensive and pay attention to traffic, road conditions, and everything else.

I see careless people on the roads everyday, and most of them are just an accident waiting to happen.

Some of them drive cars, some drive trucks, and yes, some of them are riding bikes.

Bad riders and drivers are going to be bad rider and drivers, no matter how many laws are on the books.

Riding a bike is, and has always been a risky business.

If a person gets to the point where they are so concerned about the possibility of bodily harm that the 'ride' is no longer fun and enjoyable, maybe it's time for them to hang up their spurs and save themselves a lot of grief.

 

This was avoidable and the girl was negligent. Damn skip she should go to jail and NEVER be allowed to drive again. PERIOD. Alot of people have NO right to frickin drive and most states hand out a liscense like candy. I'd vote for a 3 strikes rule for minor crashes etc. If a life is taken or someone is mamed, throw the book at 'em.