Cager Problems and Safety

[Chuck35]

Screw em, They are all out to kill us!

 

[Top Case]

On top of that, we have the Harley guys out for the first time of the season!

Thursday, OK Highway, saw a string of cages approaching. As they got a bit closer, Harley pulls out, starts to pass, sticks with it as I approach. I move to the fog line, he passes me at full loud, in my lane, three abreast with the lead cager. I've split lanes in CA, but never with opposing traffic!

Friday, Webster Road, came out of the trees to the open farm section, saw the sixth cager pulling to the side of the road. I slowed, saw guy in torn jeans and tee shirt, road rash up left leg, arm, and cheek, sitting on the back of the ditch talking on a cell phone. Cagers standing and staring. Harley partially embedded in the back of the ditch 30 feet away. Conditions were sunny and dry, pavement clean, the open farmland gave a good quarter-mile visibility into, through, and beyond the curve. I've ridden that curve 100 times, at least; posted 35, safe and easy at 70, and he put it in the ditch.

I feel bad for the Friday guy; he was a different one than Thursday, but the Thursday event was a first!

 

[HotRodZilla]

We had one Harley fatality this weekend, possibly two. I say that cuz I don't know if the first guy died. Last I knew they were taking him to surgery. He possibly had a medical episode while riding, so really only a coincidence he was on a Harley. Had on good gear and a helmet.

Second one was a group of French riders on some kind of tour. Like 150 bikes. The female rider swerved because of a semi and crashed without ever being touched. They went down and the male passenger died. That was a bummer.

Feel bad for both groups. No one was being a ******, but the second one has me wondering about the rider's ability.

 

[Fred W]

Photo clipped from Ionbeam's link:

I've never seen a more eloquent argument in favor of legalizing lane splitting not commuting to work.

Fixed it for you, Mike.

The primary reason that you'd want (need?) to lane split is because you're riding in traffic. If you don't commute to work you get stuck in traffic a whole lot less. Commuting sucks, whether you have lane spitting or not.

I used to commute into Boston every weekday. It's a 40-45 mile interstate highway drive that normally takes 45 minutes except during the commuter hours. Then it can take much, much longer. Many days of two hour drives home, especially on Fridays when all the Bostonians drive up to their expensive lakeside vacation homes in NH. Throw a little rain, snow, wind or an accident in and the main N-S interstate is like a parking lot.

Even if there were never any traffic, that 45 minutes/45 miles each way (which I hear is a pretty average commute these days) works out to 1.5 hours each day, or 7.5 hours each week, or 390 hours each year. Yep that's 16.25 continuous days, driving 23,400 miles a year, in the car (or on the bike), just getting to and from work.

Then, if you're lucky enough to work 30 years at that job you'll have completely wasted 487.5 days, (almost a year and a half) of your life and driven 702k miles. How many vehicles will you have worn out?. And even if you got 40 mpg on your FJR, at today's fuel prices of $3.50 a gallon, you'll have spent $61,425 just on gas, never mind the tires, oil, maintenance costs... just to get to work.

Whose idea was all this commuting stuff? What a ****** up system.

(I'll go take my meds now... )