I'm sorry to hear about your co worker.glbedd53 wrote:I used to ride in my teens, wasn't scared at all. I am now. I have been a passenger in my daughters car too many times. She texts, tailgates, and textgates. She is not the only one. I see things when I'm in my truck that give me chills every day, ain't no way I could enjoy a bike again. You can take that safety course all you want but that didn't help my co worker from the wrecker that hit him from behind while he was sitting at a red light. I'm sure he remembered everything from the safety course while he was lying in the hospital. Wrecker driver was talking on the phone and looking at a clipboard. The only way to protect yourself from something like that is to have some steel around you. I'm sure that the years I rode made me a safer, more alert driver. It's almost like a 6th sense, like I can tell what they are gonna do before they do it. I'm 57 years old and I've never had a wreck, my fault or otherwise. I'm gonna go thank the Lord now and find some wood to knock on.
But I must say, part of the training one receives from an experienced riders course, and learns is vital over the years.. is.. To know what is behind you at a stop light, sign or restricted turn.
You always leave yourself an out.. and are ready to move that direction. You keep your eye on the rear mirrors till you have a few cars built up behind you at a complete stop.
Still even then it can happen I admit, drive in a auto trans car, falls asleep, misses the brake and steps on the gas, etc ..
But doing the above is the 90% solution. Bottom line,, arriving alive at the end of the ride is the riders responsibility. if you ride thinking others will control there vehicles, obey the traffic laws and pay as much attention to others around them as the rider should be.. You will end up being a road traffic accident statistic.
