My friend died in a motorcycle accident

Texanne

Texanne

5,000+ Posts
It was Saturday. He was out riding in Morgan's Point in the early afternoon, and a woman driving an SUV failed to yield on a left turn and slammed right into him. She just didn't see him.

Alan was only 55 years old.

This makes five friends I have lost to motorcycle accidents. One of them -- my friend David -- I saw get hit and killed, back in high school. The odd thing is that none of my five friends were doing anything reckless or foolish. They were all abiding traffic laws, yet all are dead.

If you ride a motorcycle, you must view every car as a potential threat. A bike will almost never win against a car.

And when you are driving your car or truck, pelase take extra care to watch for motorcycles. Somebody's life depends on it.
 
Sorry to hear about this and all of your other losses. I never ride a motorcycle because of other drivers, that and the fact that motorcylists have relatively no protection in an accident. You just dont know what some people will do.
 
I worked in head injury rehabilitation for many years and there were many motor cycle accident victims who had head injuries.
 
Sorry about your friend.

When I was a teenager I made the decision to stay away from motorcycles because I knew I would die on one. It was the first "responsible" and "grown up" action I think I ever took and I honor it today for that reason.

I have a friend that picks up totalled motorcycles for two major insurance companies (Progressive and another). He says that a HUGE percentage still have paper plates and he has to deliver personal effects to crying widows and guys with half a face and casts. Makes me comfortable with my decision to stay away from them. I didn't fall for the cigar craze either. If I wanted to smell like a smoldering turd, I know how to make that happen for a lot less money.
 
Sorry to hear that Texanne. I'll say a prayer for his family.

About 15 years ago, one of my friends got hit and died on a motorcycle by an elderly lady who ran a 4-way stop. He was not wearing a helmut, but he was taken to the hospital in a coma and became an organ donor. I was the anesthesiologist on the case, and it was one of the hardest (emotionally) of my career.

Hang in there.
 
Sorry to hear about your friend, Texanne. I have had similar losses, but from friends bicycling over the years.
Include them in your vigilance as drivers, please.
 
sorry for your loss. I recently lost a friend myself (to something else). He was only 30. I've heard EMS personnel generally will not drive motorcycles because of what they have seen.
 
Thanks, guys...it helps.

I have another friend, an ANESTHESIOLOGIST, for crying out loud, that rides a donorcycle. I just don't understand it.
 
I lost a friend in the Army who was on his motorcycle, doing nothing wrong. A drunk driver clipped his wheel and he flew off. I arrived as the cops brought his head out of the bushes. It became detached as it hit a road sign.

I later that night got to be the one to tell his fiancee about it at the Airport when she arrived home from a two week business trip. Brutal.

That is the thing about a motorcycle. You can do everything perfect all of the time, never a foul up. But you are trusting people you don't know with your life every second of the way. People who tinker with their radios, talk on a cell phone, text on their phone, get drunk and drive, you name it.

No way in hell I would trust these people out there. I see some, many cyclists out there who most def. do not follow safety or laws. They weave in and out of traffic, ride on the medians or shoulders, accelerate in front of cars/trucks and cut them off. Stupid. It is just a matter of time.

I am so sorry for your loss.
 
Just the other day I almost pulled in front of a motorcycle. Without typing a 1,000 word set up of how...the basic problem was he came out of the shade of some trees on a very bright day. I never saw the guy until it was almost too late. I think it scared me more then him.
 
I wanna ride/have/buy a motorcyle, but ever since I moved to Texas I've notice a lot motorcycle deaths, also a lot of Texas drivers are very careless. I've dismissed the thought of ever owning one...I'm paraniod in driving my truck, due to the erractic drivers in this state. I can't stand how many drivers don't use a turn signal (blinkers)!!
Sorry for your loss Texanne.
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Morgan's Point up on Lake Belton? Sorry for you loss, my Dad is on the council up there it that's where the mishap happened. As has been echoed here, motorcycles are just dangerous. They are a BLAST to ride, but a fender bender in a car can be a life changing or ending incident for even a well clothed driver. When I see a person riding a motorcycle in sandals I just shake my head knowing that a person who will do that will likely make a life changing error in judgement relating to their motorcycle if thye keep it long enough.

Again sorry for your loss and the loss his family feels.
 
What a horrible tragedy. I indulge in dangerous activities which threaten my life to varying degrees. I love food, and too much wine, and dark draft beer to excess, and 6th street, and fast cars, and cigars, and unchaste women, but God, do I love food. I can go without a bike, but it would be sanctimonious for me to highlight the dangers of riding them.
 
I have been thinking of getting a motorcycle. I grew up riding dirt bikes, but stopped riding after going off to college. Yesterday, I was pulling out of a business driveway onto a street and cut off a motorcycle that was turning from the street into the parking lot. I don't know how I missed seeing him, although there was a big rig that I had to pull around - That's probably just an excuse though. No harm was done. However, it made me think. I'm an observant driver and have never had an accident. But all it takes is once.
 
Texanne - I am so sorry for you and your friend's family. Motorcycles bring up so many conflicting feelings, it is hard. They are fun, yes, tremendously so! But witness the aftermath of one motorcycle wreck and the scales start to tip. Prayers to you and Alan's family. I hope they are finding peace in great memories of him and in his friends.
 
i just got a motorcyle. my early self-imposed rules are to stay off 35 at all costs, avoid rush hour, daytime only, and keep duct tape in my saddle bag.
 
First off, I'm sorry for your loss. Deaths, especially those cause by careless people, are horrible. Not only did you loose a friend, but now a clueless woman has to live with the fact that she is now a murderer.

I've been riding motorcycles for a couple of years. Before I started riding on the street, however, I did some research. I advise everyone thinking about riding to do the same.

Most deaths on bikes are young kids on sport bikes, followed by middle aged men on large cruisers. A large percentage are not wearing a helmet and have alcohol is involved. So I vowed to always wear a helmet and armor (All The Armor, All the Time), which is hard to do on hot days but I do it. I also NEVER touch a drop of alcohol when I'm riding.

I also took the motorcycle safety course. Some of the best money I ever spent. Since then, I ride (and drive for that matter) like no one can see me. I'm constantly thinking "Can they see me and what can I do to make them see me". Something as simple as lane position can make a huge difference.

Doing this kind of stuff won't guarantee you won't get into a wreck and die, but you'd be surprised how my close calls with cars while both riding and driving have virtually disappeared.

BTW, I've known more people to die in SUVs than motorcycles. When it's your time to go, it doesn't matter what you're on or in. Fact is, when you get on the rode in a bicycle, motorcycle, car, truck, or SUV, you are taking your life and others into your hands. Act like it.
 
Yes, more people do drive SUVs. But that wasn't my point. My point is when it's your turn to die, all the manhood compensation metal around you isn't going to matter much. We have a trend here that people are "afraid" of the "crazies" out there, so they buy the biggest vehicle they can, regardless of if they need it or not. How many people do you know that own a truck and the only thing they haul is their fat butt and groceries?

How many times have you heard or said "motorcycles are dangerous" or "I couldn't drive a small car, those are death traps"? But yet I bet most hear have said or agree with "Guns don't kill people, people kill people". You can't have it both ways, either the inanimate object is the problem or people are the problem.

So you say that you can't fix people? Wrong. The people that are the problem are your sister, your mother, your brother, even you. People I ride in the car with know that I consider driving serious business and not to try talking on the phone, texting, etc.. Ya, I'm real fun to ride in the car with but I'm a LOT more fun than cleaning up a fatality wreck, loosing a loved one, or being a murderer.

Sorry about the soap box folks but I have my reasons for this mattering to me. Hopefully, it should matter to you too.
 
You can be as careful as you want, but the fact is a motorcycle is more dangerous to ride than an SUV...I'm four months out from a wreck on my bike. I was going 40 mph when a truck pulled out in front of me with no chance of reacting in time....if I had been driving an SUV, I would have in all likelihood not been hurt at all (aside from the fact that I would have been seen, and the truck wouldn't have pulled out in front of me)...being on a bike (with a helmet, or I'd be dead right now), I got 7 broken ribs, a partially collapsed lung, a couple of ****** up fingers that still haven't healed, and a good bit of road rash.

You can talk about defensive driving all you want, but the bottom line is that when a wreck happens, you're much more likely to be seriously injured if you are on a bike than you are if you're in a car/truck/suv.
 
Stop blaming the vehicle, and start blaming the driver. Start demanding that people (that means you too) pay attention while driving.

Last stats I saw where 115 people a DAY die in automobile accidents. Can you imagine if we lost 115 a day in Iraq, what the media and public would be doing?

Note: I really do think that people should NOT feel safe in their cars. It's a false sense of safety anyway and it leads to people not paying attention. And I firmly believe that negligent driving should involve jail time.
 
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