My gear saved me on Wed 03-26-2014

[Greg 03]

4/1/14 Plymouth Ma Two Plymouth officers were riding side by side when one veteran officer fell off his motorcycle and later died. The motorcycles did not touch and they have no idea why the officer fell off his bike. It has been reported that the bike and officer slid down the road the length of a block. FWIW, the officer was wearing a half helmet.

Police Chief Michael Botieri said Maloney was traveling with another motorcycle officer at the time of the crash, but it does not appear that the bikes touched each other and there is no obvious reason why Maloney's bike went down."There's nothing evident at the scene that would tell us what happened," said Botieri.

Possible medical condition such as stroke? Wondering if the autopsy will determine that the type of gear and helmet participated in the death?

 

[TomInPA]

Greg, what kind of bike does your department authorize? Sounds lke you're on Harley motors.

I completely support your fight to get efficient safe gear. I have pulled alongside the motor officers in their half helmets, short sleeve shirts and combat boots, while I'm in full face, textile CE padded jacket and pants and riding boots, and thought that's just nuts...and a poor example. Little wonder as states repeal helmet laws, we see so many riders with zero protection. All they have to do is point to the motor officers as having essentiallly no useful MC gear.

I recall leaving an intersection red light next to a motor officer, and I let him get a bit of a lead. 1/4 mile down the road a car pulled out from a store driveway from the right. The motor officer lit up his tires, smoking to slow down, while my ABS bike quickly and quietly slowed. He pulled a quick U-turn and someone got a ticket, but it was his skill with no help from the bike that saved his ***.

 

[Greg 03]

Greg, what kind of bike does your department authorize? Sounds lke you're on Harley motors.
I completely support your fight to get efficient safe gear. I have pulled alongside the motor officers in their half helmets, short sleeve shirts and combat boots, while I'm in full face, textile CE padded jacket and pants and riding boots, and thought that's just nuts...and a poor example. Little wonder as states repeal helmet laws, we see so many riders with zero protection. All they have to do is point to the motor officers as having essentiallly no useful MC gear.

I recall leaving an intersection red light next to a motor officer, and I let him get a bit of a lead. 1/4 mile down the road a car pulled out from a store driveway from the right. The motor officer lit up his tires, smoking to slow down, while my ABS bike quickly and quietly slowed. He pulled a quick U-turn and someone got a ticket, but it was his skill with no help from the bike that saved his ***.

Yessir we are on 2013 Road Kings for the moment. We did a full uniform proposal including Sidi boots, Shoei Neotec helmets, Tourmaster gear, etc... and it never went anywhere. Part of what killed us is Harley tried a bait and switch on our lease agreement and the city threw the brakes up on that quick. We've had last year's lease extended for now and are in the midst of a red tape battle trying to figure out what we're doing next. I don't quit easy though and the only way they'll hear me quit complaining about riding gear is at my funeral or my retirement. Or when they see things my way of course!

 

[Greg 03]

Oh and on an additional note our bikes do have ABS although I've had it fail on two different bikes. So it kinda works? That's one of the reasons I push the envelope when we're training. I'd rather crash in a controlled environment than on a code run on my way to an injury crash.