Roads are crazy

[motocross269]

Gas prices haven't slowed people going north.  I live in almont on M53 and traffic was backed up 2 miles south of town.  Wall to wall motor homes, campers and boats.

[Langer]

Great, thats the way Im heading in an Hour!  Any back roads around it?

[motocross269]

PM sent..Hopefully it makes sense..

[SODY]

Got word today that some friends lost a brother in a Motorcycle accident over the weekend. the person failed to yield and hit him...

[djkimmel]

Sorry to hear that. I truly believe that song about stopping to smell the roses once in a while could make this country a safer, less stressed place. People are just too darn selfish and in a hurry too often for their own good. I've seen so many accidents just because of selfishness and driving too fast for the conditions.

By the time people realize there are consequences eventually to this behavior, it can be too late for someone. People always regret their actions after it is too late? I see overly aggressive and selfish driving every day driving to work 65 miles one way. During high traffic times, the problem just multiplies.

I never want to have a lifetime of guilt because I thought I had to get there 2 minutes faster by speeding and/or not paying attention or some other driving lapse.

How many times just in the city do people fly by you only to have you end up next to them at the next light as you stick to the speed limit? How many repeat this sometimes several lights in a row with the same type A person? Off they go in a cloud of dust. You accelarate smoothly without squirting unburnt gas out your tailpipe. You hit the speed limit and get up to the next light and there's good ole type A leaning into the light, gas chugging out as they chomp at the bit waiting to floor it again as soon as the light changes. I always smile at them - yup me again. The one you left in your cloud of dust back at the last light. Looks like all that rushing around only got you up to the next stop a few seconds ahead of me, but now we get to go again at the same time. Hey - see you at the next light.

Saw a lady the other day come off a side street onto the same main drag I travel from my house to the highway. She squealed around the corner on two wheels off her residential side street (like mine) and floored it down the 40 mph MLK Blvd RIGHT PAST a waiting Lansing Police car in the very first parking lot from her street. BAM! He's got her pulled over a block further down. She's really 'saving time' now thanks to all that excess, unsafe speed and rush - PLUS she gets to dip into her gas money to pay a nice speeding ticket too! She had to really floor it to get up past the speed limit in such a short distance, but she pulled 'er off in time to get the prize.

"Ding ding ding... what do we have for her Johnny?" We have a nice fat speeding ticket plus points on the license, plus extra penalty fees on the next registration. Win - win. I just don't get it??

I see those nice people coming the other way on the highway who are kind enough to flash their headlights... cop ahead... look out. Hey, here's an idea... SLOW DOWN! STOP SPEEDING!!! You don't have to worry about those bad old cops then. Too simple a solution, I guess. I know - a lot of people I know, even a few family members, have radar detectors and always push the speed limit, sometimes going past pushing it. But again, I do NOT EVER want someone's life or health on my conscience because I felt I had to get there a few seconds or a few minutes faster.

Cameraguy and I actually saw a guy who had run off the 25 mph dry road in the Sleepy Hollow State Park this afternoon hitting a small tree?!? Now how the heck did someone run off that smal road at that speed and get stuck??!? The only thing we can figure (the Park Rangers were working on that as we past with a CO coming in to get involved to) is he was probably going too fast - so many people go 40mph or better on that park road - and had to swerve to keep from hitting another vehicle or pedestrian or something similar. Lots of people walking the road edge and on bikes on Memorial weekend. There's a nice finish to the holiday weekend for someone. Guess it could have been worse. Sorry again to hear about your friends' loss. Very tragic and probably completely preventable.

[motocross269]

I had to give up road riding about 10 years ago.  I buried 3 friends within a 2 year span.  After I drove home from the last funeral I pushed my bike in the front yard and put a for sale sign on it.  These guys were all great motorcycle riders and top notch motocross racers.  Every single one was killed being struck by a car.  I would really like to buy a road bike again with the way gas prices are, but I am haunted by those deaths and really don't think I will ever be comfortable on the road. Don't have to worry about hitting a buick on a MX track.
I am sorry for your friends loss.

[djkimmel]

I will never forget watching a car exit the highway (when I first started driving) up ahead, only a motorcycle was already in the exit lane, and the car, with an elderly couple in it never saw the motorcycle.

It happened so fast all the biker could do was swerve out into the hilly grass off the road and take a hard fall. I did see him get back up, albeit with the bike still laying on the ground. Maybe the ground and grass was soft, because he just flew off the road like a shot.

Meanwhile, the car kept going and I could see the driver looking around like he knew something had happened, but never had any idea what. That's when I knew my Mom was really smart and really did know what she was talking about all those times she told me I couldn't go on the motorcycles and dirt bikes.

Other motorcycle things had happened in our family sphere, but the speed, and impersonal nature of this particular incident, along with seeing how the accident causer never even knew what he'd done, drove it home for me. The risk is very high to me.

This whole aggressive driving thing with the excessive speeds is, as you can see, a major pet peeve of mine. But an important one because I really believe many peoples' lives would not be changed or ended if other people just slowed down a little and got a little less selfish on the road.

[Revtro]

Since we're on sad stories, I found out that my next door neighbor was killed in a bike accident recently.  Here's the really sad thing.  Neighbors are so "keep to themselves" these days that we did not even know this happened until months after the fact.  How sad is that?  Since then, my wife and I really want to make the effort to get to know our neighbors.  We miss the sense of community we had in our last neighborhood.

Oh, the other day a friend of mine told me he wants to get a motorcycle.  I think I'll send him this thread. 

[motocross269]

A guy I work with's son took a road bike for a test ride last year.  It was going to be his first bike.  He was killed during the test ride.  His dad begged him not to get a bike.  I have more stories than there is room for on this thread.
Believe me I am not anti-road bikes.  My dad was the president of a motorcycle club for years.  I have been riding and racing bikes of all sorts since 1969.  I guess my point is that no matter how good and safe you think you are it really doesn't matter, the cars will always win.  There is pro motorcycle legislation that puts a harsher punishment on drivers that take out bikes, but I don't know if it will ever be enough.  Maybe if they banned cars during the summer and we all rode bikes. 
I guess I appreciate life too much now to take as many risks.
   

[djkimmel]

Appreciating life... if only everyone kept that foremost in their mind most of the time...

I figure I should be getting all my higher risk driving adventure just from owning a bass boat and living between all these Great Lakes. Every time I stop to think about some of the stuff I've done with my Ranger, I wonder if maybe I might really be a type A crazy too? I bought a Ranger because I knew the Great Lakes is as mean as it gets in fresh water (did you know that more ships and planes have disappeared in the Great Lakes triangle than the Bermuda triangle?). That is jus the simple truth of the matter.

But I'm talking about water that has swallowed up hundreds of ships 10 to over 40 times as long as my little boat. I'm not much help with motorcycles, but I have seen quite about bit about how to be safer in a fishing boat. I can offer a lot there from myself and all the knowledgeable boaters on this site. All I can say about cars and bikes is to set good examples of how to be less selfish and slow down a little.

Rev might be on the best route with the neighborhood thing. More involvement usually makes things better. Involvement at all levels.

[Skulley]

My wife and family has always made it a point to get to know our neighbors here in our "hood".  We know just about everyone in our subdivision.  It is great to have that sense of community.  We just lost our Grandfather to the ripe old age of 94.  We buried him this morning.  We have had many condolences sent to us from our neighbors and friends.  It is nice to have that sense of community.     I have that same feeling as I have gotten to know people here on this forum.  Hopefully we can all smile and say hello to all our acquaintances in life.  We should all hope to live as long as Grandpa.  It is wonderful to be 47 years old and to have still had a Grandfather.  My children got to know their Great Grandfather.  That is pretty rare these days.

BD               

[Revtro]

BD, I'm sorry to hear about your Grandpa, but it is awesome to hear that someone lived such a long and rich life.  Obviously he was loved and will be missed. 

[motocross269]

You guys are absolutely right about the community issue.  When I deployed to Iraq our community (Almont) was 100 percent behind me.  It would have been alot tougher to get through it with out that support.  When I got back into town the Middle school kids had all made signs and every business had a sign up welcoming me back.  It still almost brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. It was a long hard mission and knowing that I had the community backing me really helped. You never know when you may need that support.  No man can stand alone for long.
It is funny how these threads work their way into different subjects.  I guess that is the great thing about these forums.