Posted on 06/22/2019 6:18:46 AM PDT by libstripper
RANDOLPH, N.H. (AP) — Seven people were killed in a crash between a truck and several motorcycles in New Hampshire, state police said Friday, in what witnesses described as a "devastating scene" as bystanders grabbed first aid kits and blankets to treat injured motorcycle riders scattered along the highway.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
“Why are there so many instances of the ends of guard rails being hit, damaged, destroyed?”
And the guard rails look like tinfoil rolled up. Time was, guard rails were made of heavy gauge steel and even a glancing collision with one could be fatal.
“Legalized” weed is causing a lot of it, too.
In the old days, guardrails just ended abruptly and made a very nice skewer for your automobile. About 30 or more years ago they made the logical safety change of smoothly ending the guardrail into the ground. It ended a lot of the skewering, but not all of it.
The NTSB always gets involved when there are three or more fatalities.
I don’t motorcycle on the road anymore. I off-road, because a tree is not going to move to get in your way. It is safer in the woods...
“I don’t trust anybody driving behind me these days and gave up riding and driving sports cars. I’m not going out there with my back exposed and now only drive big heavy SUVs.”
I became an involuntary member of the Broken Angels Motorcycle Club on Memorial Day, 1988 when my BMW R75/5 developed a wheel wobble at 65 mph, sending me off the Richard Russel Pky. in GA. Ever since about 1998 I’ve owned nothing but Lincoln Navigators. Performance wise my 2018 Navigator will do 0 to 60 in about 6 seconds and handles very nicely, letting me do all the hill and mountain driving I want to.
There have been incidents hereabouts of scooters and motorcycles being run over from behind on one straight 30 mile stretch of two lane that connects the city with a small town that is known for its residents’ attitude and for driving fast. I have experienced it. The pickup trucks on that road drive at 80 to 100+ mph and if you are a scoot they just run over you with no thought to pass or slow down. I went off the road and managed to stay upright through a boggy shoulder and got back on the pavement. A fellow was killed on his Burgman a month ago by a truck that way. It was witnessed by a driver coming the other way but he saw no identifying details. Truck owners in that town have an attitude that if they run over a small scoot its no big deal. The damage to the truck will be minor and Bubba across the street can fix it all in his shop real quick. A big bike gets sideswiped in a very high speed pass. My daughter now lives off that road and drives it every day to work. I have her own scooter not running in my yard. She has used it for a lifeboat when her car doesn’t run. I am putting off fixing it because I don’t like the thought of her driving it on that road. I doesn’t have enough acceleration to get away from those trucks and the shoulder area is, itself, very dangerous to drive on.
That is good defensive driving in any case. People seem to have more difficulty staying in their lanes these days. As a defensive driver, I try to stay a healthy distance away from everybody on the road if I can. I don’t let other drivers pace me.
RIP to those killed in this awful wreck.
Harley Riders are “yuppie bikers”? LOL! Maybe a very few!
I always ride like no one can see me.
They usually do send a team to any big multi vehicle crashes that aren’t weather induced like fog pile ups.
One reason is to simply increase their knowledge and practice evidence gathering skill sets. They don’t just investigate, they study accidents in order to understand the chain of events that led to it.
There is no excuse for these good weather accidents in broad daylight. It’s almost always driver error, usually involving an unlawful activity like driver impairment or inattentive driving (texting).
We have so many single car rollovers these days, it’s just ridiculous. They are all phone related. People look up from their phone, realize they are drifting and overcorrect and end up upside down in the ditch. And it’s not all teenagers.
Eventually cars are going to be equipped to disable some or all of a phone’s apps. The phone will only work when the car is in park or the engine off.
And bicycles. Here people are riding bikes without any consequences. They go on the wrong side of the street, riding no hands, crossing in front of cars and dump the bikes in front of the door to stores.
This happened in AZ a few years back. A dump truck hit 8 bikers, killed 7. The driver tested positive for meth, if I recall correctly.
https://www.glocktalk.com/threads/horrifying-accident-dump-truck-slams-into-7-bikers.1201682/
RIP.
Cover up or reason for war?
I would advise people to temper their strong opinions until more information comes in.
This could be anything ranging from a deer in the road at the worst place and time to a truck driver or bike rider being a dummy, with a medical event sandwiched in between.
People on the roads can be idiots. Odds are, we have all done something at various times that might place us in that camp. My theory is “We are all a**holes.” Who hasn’t pulled into traffic and misjudged a traffic pattern, causing someone in another vehicle or motorcycle to certainly swear?
And yes...some people do it more often than others. There are people who shouldn’t be allowed to drive bikes or cars.
There are jerks in cars, but when there is an accident, it isn’t always their fault. Same with bicycles and motorcycle riders. There are a fair number of dipsticks who ride on two wheels rather than four, so auto riders don’t have a monopoly on this.
I don’t ride a motorcycle, but I don’t think you have to be a genius to understand that, even more than any auto driver, anytime you pull onto a road on two wheels , your head must be on a swivel and you must drive as if every auto driver on the road is a potential cause of death or injury.
I know a guy who was prominent in his local Harley chapter in New Hampshire, and he gave up riding. He gave his expensive bike as a gift to his nephew. With all the people out there distracted by everything from cell phones to fast food, it became too nerve wracking to him to ride anymore. Sucks, but I think that is the only way to maintain your own personal safety on the road when your vehicle has two wheels (or four, for that matter)
There have been several posts providing facts about guard rail ends. Designers have developed lots of ways to prevent the impalements or other such damage.
My obverstaion is that there seems to be an inordinate number of hits on guard rail ends as oppposed to say hits some where in the middle or perhaps damage to ground where the vehicle ran off the road.
It seems like the guard rail ends are vehicle magnets. Why?
“A bunch of 40-plus executives where I work got motorcycle mid-lifes. The were not amused when I referred to it as “cosplay.”
That being said, they were sensible about it - they would tow their bikes to empty parking lots and ride around there. They knew they didn’t have skills for the open road.”
You must be a young 20-something liberal to think 40 is old and that parking lots are where people are safe to ride motorcycles.
“Why?”
My guess is it is related to the phenomena of trailer parks being twister targets. Strange forces at play in the cosmos.
I have a mate in NSW and I don’t recall him bitching about ice/snow like we do here in the upper midwest. Must be a much milder climate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.