Something to think about.

[warsw]

I found this story on the Shadow forum. I do find myself sometimes hurrying through life. This story does make you think.

Don't know how many of you knew my husband Paul, who's login this is. But, I just wanted to say that he was killed in a motorcycle accident on November 19th. Earlier this summer (July 4th) he laid the bike down and walked away with a sprained ankle. The cause of his first wreck was his impatience in traffic. He was in a hurry, and got tired of stop-and-go so he swung out from behind a truck without looking over his shoulder and was clocked by an oncoming automobile. He swore to me that he had learned his lesson and was going to be more patient while riding the bike.
Nov. 19th he was going too fast (very fast) on a road he was unfamiliar with at 1:30 in the morning. There was a car ahead stopped at the red light. When the light turned green, my husband decided not to slow down (as you would be forced to do in a car) and passed the stopped car on the left not knowing that the road was about to veer sharply to the right. He lost control of the bike and hit the retaining wall. I believe he was killed instantly, but "no one saw him hit the wall" even though the evidence is clear.

I took the riders safety course with my husband a few years back when he first got the bike. Over time, the lessons we learned in that class slipped away. An uncontrollable sense of urgency and traffic congestion frustrated my husband, even when we were in the car. Though I tried to remind him of what we learned about riding a motorcycle safely, he wouldn't listen.

I just hope that any of you out there who think that motorcycles are for going fast, or cutting around cars and maneuvering quickly will maybe get a little out of this story. My husband was very sure he knew how to ride his bike well, and that he was in complete control. He read many many posts, tragic tales of motorcycle accidents, and was even recently reading the "Proficient Motorcycling" manuals. Driving fast and reckless is going to catch up to you sooner or later, no matter how much you know!

Keep your quick maneuvers for when it's an emergency that you need to escape from.

Take a chill pill, and drive your bike safely so that your loved one's don't have to say "I told you so" into the thin air!

 

[Beal]

As much as we all love to ride.......... we must always remember to "think" so we can stay alive to ride again.

Good Message. So sorry that someone had to die for it to be told.

 

[FJR919]

Thanks for sharing that. We all need a sobering reminder what impatience can result in.

 

[dcarver]

I know that when I drive the big dualie, I cruise at 55, sip my coffee, la-dee-da down the road. On the bike though, average speeds must be 15 - 20 mph higher. This, along with Toecutter's recent safety post are all good reminders. See my sig for details..

 

[Hotboot]

I am really saddened at that ladies loss, she has courage to post her feelings about the accident.

Between the lines I see a girl pissed off at hubby for being so (as she sees it) reckless and impatient, also a rider with only a few years experience.

Learn and live friends.

 

[exskibum]

Very SAD story and a reminder we all need to hear. A good friend I go ski mountaineering with has always had a habit of saying, as we leave the cars: "Remember, the object is to get back to the cars. If you need to make a descent instead of ripping something, make the descent and make it back to the cars." Same thing applies on bikes, but it's easy to forget and to become impatient.

 

[Warchild]

Between the lines I see a girl pissed off at hubby for being so (as she sees it) reckless and impatient, also a rider with only a few years experience.

Concur. And it's understandable, though of course, being pissed isn't going to do her much good now.

Still, his widow sure makes it sound like the dude was an impatient guy. Not anymore, though.

A bummer all the way around....... RIP, Impatient Paul....

Here is the complete thread.... Lessons not learned

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

There are steps to the grieving process and anger is a natural one to have. It just shows she's grieving in a healthy way, as hard as that sounds. I'd be pissed too. He should've learned to chill out when he got clocked in the summer. I know my mistakes have slowed me down.

I just posted this as a result of a riding safety thread...here it is again

https://www.micapeak.com/info/thepace.html

 

[warsw]

There are steps to the grieving process and anger is a natural one to have. It just shows she's grieving in a healthy way, as hard as that sounds. I'd be pissed too. He should've learned to chill out when he got clocked in the summer. I know my mistakes have slowed me down.I just posted this as a result of a riding safety thread...here it is again

https://www.micapeak.com/info/thepace.html

Really good stuff.

 

[Toecutter]

...he was going too fast (very fast) on a road he was unfamiliar with at 1:30 in the morning. There was a car ahead stopped at the red light. When the light turned green, my husband decided not to slow down (as you would be forced to do in a car) and passed the stopped car on the left not knowing that the road was about to veer sharply to the right.

Sorry, but that sounds awful squidly. Some of us really can ride aggressively & safely, and some of us can't. I hope he likes his final destination and he wasn't late for the appointment.
"A man's got to know his limitations"- "Dirty" Harry Callahan

:rip_1: :bye2:

 

[Scab]

"A man's got to know his limitations"- "Dirty" Harry Callahan

I got lucky. I know where mine are.

 

[FJRottie]

Ride smart, ride longer.

Chances taken on a motorcycle can be your last.

 

[FJRMGM]

a widow because of impatience? Man, that is rough.

Leave Impatience in the driveway when you get on board a motorcycle.

Pulling out to pass on the right at an intersection? Stupid.

Speeding at 1:30 in the morning on an unfamiliar road? Stupid.

Stupid - and dead.

 

[Toecutter]

Pulling out to pass on the right at an intersection? Stupid.

Not that it matters, or makes it any more legal, but she posted that he passed on the left (through an intersection). Didn't see in the post which way he went on the July 4th event.
I don't need no stinkin' patience. I can lane-share. If they ever outlaw that here in CA, I'm gonna sell the bike and get a Subaru.

Agree totally on checking your emotions in the driveway before you leave.

I have eased down a few notches from when I first got the bike.

Keep your quick maneuvers for when it's an emergency that you need to escape from.

I prefer to keep my skills sharp & consistent, always striving to maintain good fundamentals and expand my limitations as experience allows. "Saving" your best moves for a panic situation is probably best applied to video games, IMO.

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Keep your quick maneuvers for when it's an emergency that you need to escape from.

I prefer to keep my skills sharp & consistent, always striving to maintain good fundamentals and expand my limitations as experience allows. "Saving" your best moves for a panic situation is probably best applied to video games, IMO.

So perhaps better wording would have been:

"Keep your quick maneuvers away from traffic and unfamiliar territory unless you have to use them in an emergency."

 

[airboss]

The ladies grief and anger is understandable, she tried to intervene but was ignored, and now the worst has happened.

Prehaps we can take a quote that I saw pinned to many ready room walls when I was in the Air Force.

"There are old pilots, There are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots"

 

[okmac]

The ladies grief and anger is understandable, she tried to intervene but was ignored, and now the worst has happened.
Prehaps we can take a quote that I saw pinned to many ready room walls when I was in the Air Force.

"There are old pilots, There are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots"

+ 1

 

[radman]

So who's gonna start the thread about a recent group ride (with pics of course) proclaiming to the masses about the kraZy sKillz of so and so who led the ride and whom no one could catch and how their chickie strips are down to the rim itself etc? Seems every other thread recently is about a dead or crashed guy intermingled with tales of street hijinks that attract scores of posts as to who can lean farther. Don't know who or why I feel so bitchy right now, but sometimes this place is just so skizto.......... :blink: On the one hand come the cautionary tales, the next the stories that make one wanna go WFO into the nearest bridge support. Someone should toss a GhostRider in here for balance. :glare:

Edit-sure as ****, there's the hang off thread just above this one now.

 

[odot]

Ah....ghostrider. Check out the album from rush called vapor trails. Really cool song.