2 Bikers In Crash In Mass.
METHUEN, Mass. (AP) ― Two motorcyclists are dead after a crash in Methuen.The story (there's not much more at the link) doesn't get into whether the deceased were riding together or if the second guy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, so right now it's premature to speculate on his part in the crash. Phillips, though, represents everything I hate about squids. 35 years old and you're pulling stupid "Jackass" style stunts on traffic-choked main streets? I'm sorry, but I can't seem to work up much sympathy for his demise.
Police say 35-year-old Matthew Phillips, of Wilmington, was riding a motorcycle westbound on Route 110 at about 9:40 Tuesday night when it crossed into the eastbound lane, struck a car and then collided with two other motorcycles.
What irks me most is that every person on that highway; every first responder; every person viewing that story on the news is going to come away with a more negative view of motorcyclists because of stories like these. Because some immature clown treats a 100+ HP street machine like a toy, I've got every busybody and do-gooder trying to pass laws outlawing my bike or disallowing me from riding in certain areas or pulling me over for my pipes (even though they're perfectly legal and from the factory).
It's a lot like being a gun owner, actually. Every time you open YouTube and see some jerkweed hand his 95 pound, never-shot-a-gun-before girlfriend a pistol gripped 12 gauge and then laugh hysterically when she hits herself in the head with the recoil, doesn't it make you want to scream? Wouldn't you - if possible - reach into the video, grab the offending yutz and pound him into a reddish-brown smear? I just cringe every time I see a firearm used like a toy or a prop - it's a shocking lack of respect for a powerful tool, and eventually someone is going to pay the butcher's bill.
Be careful out there, folks, G-d clearly loves idiots, for he made so many of them...
That is all.
4 comments:
Speaking as a first responder, of all the motorcyclist deaths/injuries I've responded to, 90% of them are because the operator was riding recklessly. Also 80% of the cycles are crotch rockets and speed was a factor. I know many skilled cyclists and know that it is a safe sport. As a side note, you generally don't see Goldwing's in accidents.
As another first responder, I'd say it's closer to 95%. Of the remainder, most are because some idiot in a car wasn't paying attention at a critical moment when the motorcyclist couldn't evade properly, the the rest are some surprise obstacle (gravel on the road that he didn't see in one case, a deer in another).
One was a motorcycle cop who was running lights+sirens to a call and got nailed by a drunk who pulled out of a parking lot without looking. You know how some bikes have that cage/roll bar/thing right in front of the footrests? That's the only reason his leg wasn't shattered. He got away with just a broken hand and a little road rash.
That 5% also happen to be the ones who manage to get away with nothing worse than a broken leg and road rash. Go figure.
Long before I ever got a bike myself, the second time I ever seriously contemplated getting rid of someone was after 3 guys on crotch rockets buzzed by my passenger door at at least 90MPH in between lanes, in traffic, at night, on the George Washington Bridge. If I could have caught up with them, well. And clearly motorcyclists were all crazy jerks.
Now that I DO ride a little, I see it from the other side and I feel exactly the same way as you do, Jay - a few clowns give the rest of us a bad name.
I love motorcycles!!! There is a reason summer is transplant season. :)
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