i think that nicely illustrates the misguided nature of many of the "we want you make our decisions" causes.

a.s.

freedom's a big responsibility...  extremely sad, no question about it, and you guys may be "the choir", perhaps, but it's not the government's job to make us make good personal decisions.  it irks me when tragedies are twisted for ill-gotten gains.  it sounds as though a helmet wasn't all she chose to do without, surviving a fall like that with effectively no gear (speculation base on the flip-flops in use) would have been awful too.

here's the mythbuster's thing:

Mythbusters dianamometer of death

furthermore, if the speculation (squared) above holds true and the debris wasn't the primary cause of the fall, but rather the loss of control due to operator inputs, safety gear may have been a good Plan B, but training and experience would have been a great Plan A.  easy to say, harder to do, for sure.

a.s.

This is the incomplete one above:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/06/07/news/motorcyclist-killed/

Motorcyclist struck by SUV on I-694 dies
by Tim Nelson, Minnesota Public Radio
June 7, 2012

ST. PAUL, Minn. — An accident in Vadnais Heights killed a motorcyclist overnight, adding to what state authorities say is a spike in the death toll among riders this year.

The Minnesota State Patrol says that a rider on a Kawasaki sport bike was headed east on Interstate 694 near Labore Road when the motorcycle hit a piece of tire tread on the freeway. The rider was thrown from the motorcycle and then hit by an SUV, killing the rider.

The rider hasn't been identified, pending notification of next of kin.

The accident marks the 14th motorcyclist death on Minnesota roads in 2012. State officials said Wednesday that number compares to just five fatalities last year. They attribute the spike this year in part to a warm winter that had riders out on the road in March -- and in early fatal accidents.

The Department of Public Safety is urging drivers to seek more training and for other motorists to keep a watchful eye out for motorcycles.

Quote from: aschendel on June 05, 2012, 12:47:10 PM

mine was a glib comment too, i was piggy-backing on your poking fun at brent to poke fun at the track is safer/controlled people. 

a.s.

But the track is safer, and I proved it.  If you had a flat at 145 on the street, your bike (or hair) would start on fire instantaneously, and you'd be lucky to survive it.  I didn't even pee in my pants.  Much.

Really, though, the track would be unquestionably safer than the street if we rode at street speeds on the track.

I don't disagree with anything there, but it's not "safe" (which nobody has claimed, safer, yes, safe, no) and it's not as controlled as many believe / would have everyone believe; your cracked valve stem "proves" that, in my humble opinion.  mid-corner intermediate / advanced and people'd have been affected, potentially very seriously.  i don't mean to thread jack and was just sliding a little veiled opinion into your thread at first.

say, what is the primary benefit of switching to the style you picked?  i assume it's easier to use and less prone to failure?

andy

mine was a glib comment too, i was piggy-backing on your poking fun at brent to poke fun at the track is safer/controlled people. 

a.s.

I know we've had our share of discussions, concerns, and near misses (or worse) due to following distances being too short.  I did a search just now to see if I should revive one of the many threads that included this topic and decided to start my own here in the safety forum to discuss a little data I happened to collect.

Last Saturday night I went riding, leaving my house about 9pm and heading down into the good roads (for a photo tag game on the other forum).  I didn't ride too many of the really good roads as I was short on time and didn't want to be way out in the boonies if something happened so late at night.    The whole night was slower than average, as I had assured my wife that hitting a deer or drunk was unlikely, and a deer probably wouldn't kill me... plus I didn't want to talk to the police.

As I was cruising along on 25 in Wisconsin north of Nelson I had a truck (F350?) pull out in front of me at a T and while I "saw" it happening ahead of time, more-so than say, a deer jumping out of the woods or a person in front of me having a mechanical failure, I still feel that the information recorded by my GPS might be enlightening (attached below).  The truck was clearly visible to me well in advance, I didn't know he wasn't waiting for me at first but then I noticed a car was also coming the other direction, hidden from view by the rise / bend in the road.  The car passed the truck and then the truck pulled out in front of me.

Keep in mind that I was riding by myself, no music, I wasn't fiddling with the GPS or the bike or anything, I was hyper-alert, going slower than normal and was watching the truck; on the other hand, I was cold, it was pretty late, I had been riding for a few hours already, and I was mentally getting close to the home stretch.  Notice I was already slowing and then braked pretty hard from 57mph to 17mph, taking about 124 feet.

I know the GPS data presented here isn't perfect / science, especially during acceleration (positive or negative) (so let's not argue about that too much) but I still feel that this shows how long it might take an average person to comprehend an emergency and attempt to stop.  At 17mph or less, broadsiding a truck probably wouldn't have been that bad, but hitting a kid in the road or a friend that had successfully stopped would have been awful.

It was a "close call", and would have been much worse if he would have panicked and stopped covering my lane or had been pulling a trailer, I honestly don't know if I braked hard enough to fully stop.  I do know I did *not* execute a full-on panic stop; I didn't skid, probably only used my front brake and at the time (too much thinking about deer?) didn't consider it a major situation, I remember talking to myself about him once I realized he may have been waiting on only the car.

a.s.

p.s. I should point out that had I just laid 'r down @ 57 I would have had a better story, and new bike and a honor among pirates.

I'd agree with the other assessments too.
This was kind of a perfect storm with multiple failures on both vehicle operators.
How often are you going to roll up on a truck mysteriously slowing down with no brake lights/ turn signals in a no passing lane with a passenger at night?
And let's throw in some inadequate gear too.

And the most innocent of the three participants loses a foot.  Bad situation.

I agree, I never really thought that he was passing in the traditional sense, more like evasive maneuvering during the pending emergency.  I wonder (always do) what gear would have done for her.  How much of a priority is it now?  Suiting up is costly, a hassle and (most) people think I'm crazy... but yet I do it each time I ride.  That's the part that kills me, the regret...  regret I hope I don't have to taste for my own lack of preparation, bad decision-making or back luck.

a.s.