Rear ended at light

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Actually Art, i take heart meds strong enough to put lumberjacks in a coma, so i was probably equal to these genetic miscreants...i want to believe that all of them being of color was coincidence and that may well be...as i've unfortunately learned TacoMa Wa is a bit Ghetto and this place wasn't my choice...and i agree with you on the high visibility gear and i need more lights, but the USA is getting meaner without doubt....or should i say more competitively optimistic....semantics...stay careful out there !

 
Any idea what the percentage of uninsured motorists in Washington is?

Statewide, I'm seeing Washington in the Top Ten. Until that improves, you have a high level of motivation for the most accident prone to flee. I would gues that Tacoma could be much higher based on socio-economic factors.

 
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Want to know why Massachusetts is the lowest for Uninsured?

Because for a very long time now the Mass. Registry of Motor Vehicles has had a requirement that you show proof of insurance before they will issue you a registration (plates).

Furthermore, they require the insurance companies to notify them of any lapse in your insurance policy. When that happens, if you have not notified them, of your new insurance, you are sent a notice that your registration has been canceled.

That means that when you are driving down the road your plate number will come up as canceled for any police authority (of which there are many) that runs the plate.

I can testify first hand that the process is a PITA, but it clearly keeps the number of low life uninsureds off the road.

 
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As for the bike, be sure you have it checked out thoroughly by a professional.....I had a similar situation (fortunately I was not on the bike at the time) and found that when she hit the exhaust in the rear, it damaged the headers where they connect to the engine. My impact was more severe than yours, but a slight bend in the wrong place could cause heat issues in the future.

 
I'm familiar with the Tacoma area and totally agree, you are at risk in that area. I worked for one of the major international container ship lines and we had our PNW port call at the port of Tacoma. During my visits to that area I always made sure I locked the car and selected good visible parking location. On the bright side, Harmon Brew Pub had good beer and food!!

 
Thanks Art....Yoko and i are from opposite sides of the tracks as well as the country...whats ok to her i find abhorrent...such is love i guess...i was told by Washington DOT that NO motorcycle insurance is required here...nothing.....and i thought texas was crazy ? this is a whole new level but at least i can stay stoned here so it doesn't rile me so damn much...my only hope is if someone takes me out, do a good job...this disabled crap is for the birds....

 
Well, you know Washington state has legalized mj so no surprise there are cagers who are high and not able to see them motor bikes down there.
I don't think so. There's some pretty aggressive enforcement of DUI rules rolled in most of the passed legislation. More so than for booze because the current tests for MJ aren't as able to limit it to the past 24 hours yet.

It's a big point in the continuing debates I saw when at the IBA Nationals in Co this past summer. Those who continue to oppose the law are the same ones who had dug their heels in prior to passage. Stats (according to the news outlets there) are showing an initial spike in usage after passage then a return to pre-passage usage numbers. That means there was some initial curiosity then the same people continued to partake as before but were no longer labeled as criminal. By extension, the same number of people who DUI were as before.

Laying the blame at the feet of DUI increases makes for good jokes but bad science.

 
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As said on the movie Heat, "You can get killed walking your doggie!" But seriously, I get the apprehension and it deserves some thought. I felt the same way recently when a friend of the family got into a Moto wreck and lost his leg in the process. This guy was a career soldier and an active outdoorsman. It had to be crushing. There are risks to everything and the only thing we can do to enjoy this sport is to attempt to mitigate and leave the rest to the almighty. ATGATT and be proactive.

 
From my personal observation, cell phone use is more dangerous than marijuana or even alcohol. I know drinking and driving is a dangerous combination, but it has been curtailed a lot over the past 10 years and I rarely see a driver weaving and crossing the lines these days unless he is playing with a phone. Even in states where cell phone use is illegal the law is blatantly ignored.

 
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From my personal observation, cell phone use is more dangerous than marijuana or even alcohol. I know drinking and driving is a dangerous combination, but it has been curtailed a lot over the past 10 years and I rarely see a driver weaving and crossing the lines these days unless he is playing with a phone. Even in states where cell phone use is illegal the law is blatantly ignored.
+1 million

I work for a medium sized municipality transportation dept and am in traffic all day. My view from the passenger seat of a bucket truck shows, among other things
smile.png
, a large percentage of folks out there are busy with their electronic devices including the infotainment systems in the dash. One of my biggest fears is being taken out by a text message.

 
+1 millionI work for a medium sized municipality transportation dept and am in traffic all day. My view from the passenger seat of a bucket truck shows, among other things:) , a large percentage of folks out there are busy with their electronic devices including the infotainment systems in the dash. One of my biggest fears is being taken out by a text message.
Yeah, I'm in the traffic bidness, too. Every year a State Trooper comes by our professional meeting and tells us how they're cracking down on texters .... and I just don't see it happening.

Want to piss somebody off really quickly? Honk and waggle your finger at them ("No, no, no!") when they're texting. It's enough to get you shot around here.

 
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I got rear ended a few weeks ago in the International District in Seattle (PC term for Chinatown). The guy didn't even get out of his car to say/do anything. I got off, he rolled down his window, and looked really confused. There wasn't any damage to my bike, but his bumper lost a little paint to my muffler in the process. I should've called the cops, as soon as I let him go, he changed lanes in the middle of an intersection and hit a car.

Bobby - check out Ruston, it's a little more mellow/safe than Tacoma, and still affordable.

 
I've had a few close calls on the bike, all from phone talkers/texters. Two of them was when I was stopped at a sign/light and if I hadn't moved I woulda been squashed. I also had a pickup totaled last yr when a lady yakking on her phone blew through a stop sign.

And my wife doesn't get it when I don't immediately reply to a text when driving....

 
*snip*And my wife doesn't get it when I don't immediately reply to a text when driving....
My wife doesn't get it when I don't immediately reply to a text when I'm not doing a darned thing.

Sometimes I don't even look at it, and that really bugs her.... :)

 
Spousal texting angst solution: My wife and I don't text.
Mine and I work different schedules so phoning is completely useless. We'll text if we know the other is oot and aboot but the most effective communication device we've found over the yrs uses no electricity or batteries at all- leave a (O M G!!) handwritten note on the kitchen counter. Ya know, if more people wrote notes there'd be less texting on the road.....

[/hijack]

 
All this text msg'n and cell phone use while driving is bull shit. When I got out of the military in 1968 and began a civilian career there were no cell phones. I called into the office first thing each morning from either my home or a pay phone. Several times a day I called in and got my messages from a pay phone. Later came the car phone even before the small cell phone. Using that phone to call was very expensive so looking for a pay phone was normal. People by nature are lazy and as technology advanced to the low cost cell phone and cost became minimal, people naturally became dependent on its use. Smart technology would have the systems programmed that use in a motor vehicle the devise is disabled.

 
I still remember being issued a satellite pager, later followed by a text pager. You had to call an 800 number, where a live operator took the caller's message, entered it manually, and sent it to the bearer's pager. The huge bag phones and brick handheld phones? I had those.

 
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