Be aware of the cycles on the road

starrynitecudsstarrynitecuds
in General

Motorcycles, bicycles, trikes/Spyders - whether kids or adults - please watch for them and give a wide berth. There are more on the roads than ever before. Helmets mean little to nothing against vehicles.

Sadly, 19 years ago today, I gave huge hugs to 3 men before they pulled out of my driveway for a leisurely Sunday motorcycle ride. Only 2 went home to their families. The third wasn't yet 40. He was dead before he hit the pavement. Before the car that hit him could stop.

Before his kids graduated high school.
Before he walked his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.
Before he was a grandpa.

In one split second, all that was taken away from him and his family.
With one dumb mistake, so many lives were changed.
In one tragic event, so many lives were changed.
(Although laws allowed the fatal accident to be eventually expunged from the 18 year old boy's record, the heart and mind aren't so kind or generous. That one moment haunts him like it was yesterday.)

RIP my dear friend, you - and our hug - aren't forgotten.

Comments

  • TxTomTxTom

    Agree, but... some motorcyclists need to obey the damn traffic laws and traffic control devices if they want that respect from other motorists. I'm tired of seeing some of these guys ignoring stoplights or slipping between vehicles at a high rate of speed.

    The good motorcyclists need to call out the bad ones.

  • [Deleted User]donhulio (deleted user)

    I also highly agree.

    Because I am so concerned about the safety of cyclists, I was absolutely livid a couple months ago when on a darker cloudy day, I didn't initially see a motorcyclist who was wearing all black on a black bike. Fortunately I looked twice and saw him in time, but it scared the hell out of me. 😡

  • MonkeyNeedsAHugMonkeyNeedsAHug

    A person is dead.

    A mourner asks that people exercise care to avoid more needless death.

    How the hell can “… but some motorcyclists drive aggressively” be viewed as a decent response?

    I think CC needs to add the captcha check because it appears some among us have no humanity at all.

    Sorry for your loss, @starrynitecuds

  • JohnR1972JohnR1972

    @starrynitecuds
    Thank you for this timely reminder. I ride my bikes about 2,000 to 3,000 miles per year, most of that is on county roads. Last year on one of my rides was a 100+ mile ride on county roads all the way around Indianapolis. The following day, one of my friends from that ride sent me a link to a story about a cyclist who was struck by a SUV and killed on one of the roads we had been on. The accident occurred less than an hour after we had been in that exact spot.

    I still ride on roads but I am starting to do more of my riding on bike trails. Over Memorial Day weekend I went to Clare and Traverse City, MI to ride some beautiful trails up there.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    @MonkeyNeedsAHug I was going to write something along the same lines but you did a wonderful job. I mean what do these guys do? Go to a funeral of a kid hit by a car and tell the mother “I am sorry for your loss but these kids running out in the road after a toy really piss me off!” They love to say what they do not like as if they matter more than anything.

    @starrynitecuds Sorry for your loss and sorry for his family. Someone close dying is tragic but someone dying so young feels like a cosmic punch in the gut you never really get over.

  • JubalJubal

    I've been clobbered twice while riding. Both times by drivers who were yappity-yakking on their Gorram cellphones. Was fortunate that I could walk away both times, albeit with a few scrapes & bruises. Have had several more close calls from cellphone yammering drivers.

    (You might get the impression that I don't like people who are preoccupied with their ******* digital devices while they're supposed to be maintaining control of a massive four-wheeled assault weapon. You'd be right)

    I do agree with the comments about riders who choose to do stupid things - splitting lanes, weaving in & out of traffic, flying down the highway like it's a racetrack. But those idiots don't absolve drivers of the responsibility to watch the road - not just for motorcycles, but for bicycles, pedestrians, little old blue-haired ladies with walkers, children who might run out into the street chasing a ball, pets or other animals trying to run across the road, etc.

    I've been lucky so far. There's too many riders who haven't been lucky.

  • Katelyn_BKatelyn_B
    edited June 2024

    @starrynitecuds: I'm very sorry to read of your loss 19 years ago. I can imagine the pain never goes away.

    When I think of friends and loved ones of my own who have passed, I keep my friends and family I still have close to my heart day by day because we never know what life will bring.

  • TxTomTxTom
    edited June 2024

    My comment was made in anger at the completely avoidable and prematurely tragic loss of life snuffed out right in front of me that I cannot unsee.

    Motorists of all vehicles need to pay attention, stop with the distractions, stop with the games, and treat motorized transport with the serious attitude it deserves, and come to undertand the life-altering ramifications.

    But what I witnessed was someone with a life and loved ones do something incredibly stupid on a motorcycle. And I saw that person snuffed out right in front of me.

    I am filled with rage by such pointless loss of life.

    I was in no way implying that this was the case in @starrynitecuds post. I am sorry that my comment was not clear.

  • [Deleted User]Fematheist (deleted user)

    @starrynitecuds~ I'm taking a silent moment for your friend. Sometimes, life seems so senseless..

    When I was a truck driver, my oldest daughter told me that she had adopted a policy of hanging back, making room, for any professional driver she encountered. I was deeply, deeply touched by her willingness to honor me by assisting other drivers on the road. I felt the warmth of that, again, when I read your title.

    For me, I guess it boils down to remembering that we ALL live in the world with other Selves... That making room for one another really is the best policy.. When I was driving my "Womb with a View," I was ALWAYS careful to make room for the "little ones," the skinless, two-wheelers that sometimes did crazy things.. Let's face it--- they have NONE of the metal/ fiberglass box protection that the rest of us have! :(

    As Summer comes on in, this is a very needed reminder....

  • TxTomTxTom

    @Fematheist I, too, was OTR. Logging hundreds of thousands of miles on the road, I should count myself lucky for not having witnessed or being involved in more accidents. So I guess I'm not numb to it.

    When you witness what happens to the fragile human body as it collides with metal and concrete....

    I'll never get over it.

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