patrick.net

I was rear-ended once. I had to stop for a highway obstacle. That guy hit me at 50mph+.

The report said that his "reasonable or prudent" speed should have been 0mph, since I was stationary.

Peter P

I clearly stated that I was not talking about legal judgments. People win judgments in which restaurants are liable because customers spill hot coffee on their own laps, yet I've heard you cite them with being at fault.

I clearly stated that I was not talking about legal judgments.

Sorry. I misunderestimated you.

I was rear-ended recently on 101 in a crash-a-trois: Car 1 hit Car 2, pushing Car 2 into Car 3 (me). Very slow speed though, as we too were slowing for an ostacle ahead (an accident). Turns out, the guy in Car 1 turned his head for a split second because as people were merging (to avoid the accident), someone honked.

It occured to me that few Bay Aryans honk, at least compared to some of the East Coast cities, where people use the horn as much as they use the brake and accelerator. So when someone does honk around here, it's kinda startling.

We're just not honkers out here.

I'm sorry about your mom Randy. It's the kind of tragedy that just continues, and my heart goes out to you. It's good to tell the story to others. It reminds us to be alert at all times and watch our speed, no matter how late we are running to that next important meeting/party/errand.

"You can't take out someone with a motorcycle..."

Are motorcycles these days getting down to zero weight with fluffy pillows on the sides? I rather imagine hitting one laying in the road in front of me is going to be as deadly as hitting a washing machine that fell off a MJT.

So someone going under your wheels, or being crunched between you and the 18-wheeler next to you, or a motorcycle cartwheeling through the air, none of those things are likely to cause people to panic and swerve or slam on their brakes? No pileups ever occur because of a motorcycle? This must be a very interesting planet, where only the driver of a motorcycle is ever endangered by their whacky impatient antics.

Yeah motorcylists may occassionaly cause an accident.

But what does your liability insurance cost? on my last bike, it was about $100 a year, which is 1/5 of what a honda hybrid costs and its not like hybrid owners are a bunch of dangerous racers either... Gotta figure the insurance companies have an idea about the dangers of injuring others in every vehicle class

Find me an incident where a motorcyclist hit a car and the car driver was killed as a result of the collision. It may have happened once or twice, but it is exceedingly rare.

Sure, people might swerve to avoid someone and end up dead, but that is not the same thing. Your contention is that motorcyclists need to be more severely regulated because automobile drivers are incompetent and unable to handle being startled by a motorcycle? That is an interesting position to take, but not unusual for your typical self-centered automobile driver.

Find me an incident where a motorcyclist hit a car and the car driver was killed as a result of the collision. It may have happened once or twice, but it is exceedingly rare.

It can happen if the motocycle broadsides the car at very high speed.