| Author | Message | ||
     Bads1 |
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=34988 | ||
| Skinstains |
I really effin' hate cars more every day. | ||
| Bosh |
I love cars. Hate some of the IDIOTS that drive them though. Bad news, crashin SUCKS. Hope he gets his legs back. | ||
| Garyz28 |
I hate hearing about anyone going down. Although the article said the accident was caused by a car making an illegal U-turn it also said he was testing tires. So excessive speed on his part may have been a contributing factor. | ||
| Iamike |
I wish there was a way to get these morons off the road, I see this stuff all the time. But in reality there is no reasonable way to stop it so we just have to be vigilant. | ||
| Miamiuly |
Testing tires doesn't mean he was speeding. Could have been testing road feel, compliance, transition or even just logging miles for wear ratings or whatever. But it does clearly state that the car made an ILLEAGAL U-Turn. Hope he manages to recover and can walk/ride again. (Message edited by miamiuly on November 11, 2008) | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Terrible news, hope he as well as all the others who've been injured recently heal up quick. Keep your eyes open guys, there's plenty of fools out there not paying attention so we have to pay their portion for them. Be safe guys. | ||
| Spatten1 |
If he was testing tires on Angeles Crest you can bet your ass he was speeding. That is why you ride that road. It is right outside of LA, so you get a lot of city drivers up there. A friend of mine T-Boned a minivan that was doing a three point turn in the middle of a curve on the same road. He was doing 80, probably nearly double the speed limit. When I lived in CA there was a medivac or four every weekend up at the Crest. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Wish the bloke all the best and hope for a full recovery. | ||
| Miamiuly |
If he was testing tires on Angeles Crest you can bet your ass he was speeding. That is why you ride that road. Gee...what was I thinking giving the benefit of the doubt and pointing out that the car was definitely in the wrong. Guy was riding a motorcycle... it must be his fault and he must of been speeding. Don't we get enough of that from cagers?? | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Don't know about US insurance, but in the UK testing would invalidate standard road insurance. Everybody says it "If you want to race, go to the track" My opinion the same goes for testing. It may be that if he'd been concentrating more on the road & less on the testing, he may have avoided the pileup, but who's to say. I wish the fella well all the same, nobody likes crashes. | ||
| Seanp |
He had facial fractures, damage to a couple of thoracic vertebrae, and a broken pelvis. All of these are pretty serious injuries. I'm not a physicist or a doctor, but I'd think a person would have to be going at a pretty decent clip to have those types of injuries across his whole body. However, regardless of whether he was speeding or not, if the car was making an illegal U-turn, it's the cager's fault. And no matter who is at fault, I hope he makes a full recovery. | ||
| Miamiuly |
You people are unreal. "Testing" for a magazine article is a very loose term. MAYBE he was going over the speed limit, MAYBE at that moment he was not. The car WAS pulling an Illegal U-turn. If one is "testing" how tires feel on a normal road, why would that need to be done on a track. I wonder how this thread would be going if he had been "testing" a Buell. Or even better if SportRider had only given glowing reviews to Buells... My friend broke his femur on a slow mountain bike accident. As in not even fast for a mountain bike. But I guess he must have been speeding too. That horse that Chris Reeve fell from must have been hauling ass too. At least 80mph. (Message edited by miamiuly on November 12, 2008) | ||
| Spatten1 |
Miamiuly: 1) It's friggin "SportRider" not "Rider", they don't do tests to see how long touring tires last on Kawasaki Vulcans. They report on how well sportbikes work when hauling ass. You should pick up a copy of the magazine and you'll understand better what type of riding they report on. 2) It's Angeles Crest, which you apparantly have never ridden. It's pretty much a mountain road with sport riders hauling ass all the time. That is why you ride Angeles Crest, to break the law. This is not Florida where you drag race and wheelie for fun, it's SoCal where you haul ass on mountain roads at double the speed limit or better. 3) Yeah, the car was in the wrong, but any mature sport rider knows that when you are moving rapidly on public roads you have contributory negligence. 4) Maybe he was riding slowly and conservativley, but the odds are he was not. It ain't Miami and he didn't work for Rider Magazine or American Iron. | ||
| Spatten1 |
BTW, I'm not saying that he shouldn't haul ass on public roads, I'm just saying that you can assume cars will do dumb shit and you might get hurt bad. Weigh the odds and make your decision. | ||
| Miamiuly |
I give up, you were obviously there and KNOW that a fellow rider was in the wrong. I subscribe to sport rider and it isn't all about tearing up public roads. | ||
| Bill0351 |
The problem with this whole thread is that none of us knows what really happened. If the motorcyclist was speeding way over the limit, he is at least as at fault as the guy who made the illegal U turn. People in cars have the expectation that other people on the road will be going 110-120% of the speed limit. Once you cross that threshold, you lose the right to place the blame completely on the other driver. Last weekend I was on a country road doing 150-200% of the posted limit. If someone had taken me out with an illegal move, the majority of the fault would have been mine. If I had been going at or near the limit, the majority of the fault would have been the other guy’s. Since none of us knows the particulars of this crash, the only intelligent thing to say is “I hope everyone involved makes a complete and speedy recovery.” | ||
| Reepicheep |
Whatever he did or didn't do wrong, nobody is happy he is paralyzed. Unless you are on the track with corner workers, don't outride your lines of sight.  | ||
| Spatten1 |
I too hope he is not paralyzed. Then man is a great rider and writes like a good guy. Sport riding on the street is a very weird "sport", where we see friends get serious injuries and die fairly regularly. Getting somewhat jaded is necessary to keep doing it, or you'd get out of the scene in a hurry. I'm just happy about how track days have proliferated in recent years, which will hopefully cut down on this type of tragedy. | ||
| Jb2 |
+1 Miami Uly Guy's hurt. He's one of us. Prayers sent. | ||
| Anonymous |
I actually know the facts. He was not running excessive speed, but simply trying out street tires. Andrew is a very quick rider with lots of race experience and does his race testing at the track. The fact that he T-boned a car and is alive would tell you that he wasn't speeding. Do some research on injuries before you assume excessive speed is involved. 30 mph into the side of a car will kill you. Be careful out there, and do not ever be arrogant and think you are smarter than the guys who get hurt. It can happen at any time. Andrew's only mistake was in assuming the driver was pulling over to let them by. Never, ever underestimate the stupidity and poor driving of people in cars. Thank God he is alive, and we can all hope he heals. | ||
| Spatten1 |
The fact that he T-boned a car and is alive would tell you that he wasn't speeding. Do some research on injuries before you assume excessive speed is involved. 30 mph into the side of a car will kill you. My buddy T-boned a minivan on the Crest back in 1997 on a ZX-9 doing 80 mph and he is still riding today, albeit a bit more conservatively. Another guy from the Ortega crew hit a minivan head-on around that time and died. It's kind of goofy to say with authority what speed will kill someone. They might go over or under the 4-wheel vehicle, or impact it directly. Way too many variables to make such black and white assumptions. | ||
| Doughnut |
Someone was hurt. I wish him a fast recovery. | ||
| Spatten1 |
By the way, riding the Crest at the speed limit is only done when you beleive there are cops around. It is torture to go that slowly otherwise. The speed limit on mountain roads is always brutally low for a motorcycle, and it feels like riding in a school-zone all day. Anony, who are you and where does your information come from? | ||
| Seanp |
Anony - it's good to actually hear from someone who was there. This is a perfect opportunity to find out exactly what happened so we can learn from it. Was he wearing a full-face helmet? If so, how did he end up with facial fractures? What other protective gear was he wearing? How fast was he going? And what kind of visibility was there? Was it a long straight stretch, or in a corner? How much traffic was there? What time of day was it? Was the sun in his eyes, or behind him so that the cage couldn't see him? Did he have time to apply the brakes? Was there ABS on the bike he was riding? You say "Andrew's only mistake was in assuming the driver was pulling over to let them by." So the car pulled to the right-hand side of the road, then swung out in front of the rider? Did the motorcycle strike the car toward the front or rear of the car? Did the rider swerve left toward the oncoming lane or right toward the shoulder? | ||
| Spatten1 |
Feedback on street tires will not be of any use at the speed limit. A goldwing does as well as a GSXR at posted speed limits, and Cheng Shin tires work as well as Pirellis. I've read Sportrider articles on how tires perform on the street, and they talk about "brisk" or "spirited" pace. They discuss effort in changing direction. I don't think you would gain any information worth sharing if you rode the speed limit on a sportbike on mountain roads. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Anony, who are you... Spatten1, this particular Anon has permission to post anonymously on BadWeB per Blake and the custodial crew. unless he/she chooses to divulge his/her identity, it shall remain anonymous. best regards, Ferris | ||
| New12r |
Heal well! | ||
| U4euh |
+1 Charlie | ||
| Ulywife |
Thoughts and prayers for Andrew during his recovery. Let's please keep this thread for well wishes for Andrew. |
