Breaking: Ben Roethlisberger in motorcycle accident... no helmet?

[yin26]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
I'm just going to call you an assmunch on general principles...

Cool! I was afraid I was losing my touch...

[KrazyHorse]

I don't have a problem with people taking risks with their own lives. I want to go skydiving one day. I could be the most conscientious person in the world, yet still die from that. As long as people understand the risks I'm fine with it, especially as motorcyclists in general are less of a danger to those around them than car drivers are.

Motorcycle riding is still dumb. Just like skydiving. Just like drinking heavily. Just like everything else that's fun.

[yin26]

Exactly. Ever tried safe sex? Never again!

[KrazyHorse]

Yeah, it's only barebacking random street people from here on out for me

[yin26]

Random? Choose the ugliest first.

[Asher]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
From a personak standpoint I was run over by a motorist who didn't stop or slow down. People came up the road and helped me.
I spent a year in therapy and on crutches and cane.
Thank God I had a helmet on. Was it me? No. Was it my bike? No. It was a dumb mother****er not paying attention.

There are dumb drivers in cars and there are dumb drivers on bikes. The difference is a bike offers no real protection against that -- which is why it's stupid.

[Asher]

Originally posted by yin26
The point to keep in mind about the stats is that a good percentage of those fatalaties are from young guys in their teens / early 20's doing stupid crap (or "risk taking" athletes with no helmet).

Same with cars. That's why my insurance rate was insanely high.

[Asher]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Because Asher and KH decided to. Simple. Read up.

I didn't blame anyone. I'm simply observing it is stupid to ride a motorcycle.

I really don't care who is at fault. There are plenty of bad drives of cars on the road, and that's a fact of life. Which is precisely why I think it's stupid to drive a motorcycle, you're putting your life into their hands. Their stupid mistake has a high chance of killing you.

[yin26]

I accept the higher risk...and the fun! Life is full of such choices.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Arrian
Sloww,

It really wouldn't surprise me if the driver of the car was at fault here. That doesn't change what I'm saying.

Example:

A person decides to walk home through a crime-ridden slum at 3am. They get mugged.

Is it their fault they got mugged? No.
Did they deserve to get mugged? Certainly not.
Was their decision to walk home through a slum at 3am smart? No.

edit: should making the slum less slummy and crime-ridden be a priority? Yes.

And that's all I'm saying. Of COURSE it's all about people being stupid... that's true for lots of stuff.

-Arrian

Yep. I had a buddy and a friend of his who were riding their bikes and were minding their own business sitting at a stop light. Guy fell asleep at the wheel of a pickup truck and clipped them from behind.

My friend wasn't wearing his helmet and is lucky to be alive. He did have brain damage in that he has lost his sense of taste and has some memory loss. Other than that though he is for all intents and purposes normal. All in all extremely lucky. He would have been spared all this if simply he had his helmet on.

[Arrian]

Doh.

Similiarly, lots of folks get hurt/killed each year because they do not wear their seatbelt.

-Arrian

[yin26]

There, too, I'm on the side of safety. I'm religious about my and my family's using the seatbelts. I won't leave the driveway otherwise. Yet I ride a motorcycle. It's all a matter of how we choose to try to thread our way through the needle of life. Frankly, if I didn't have at least one risk outlet in my life, I'd fall into depression and probably end up dead one day from being so safe and predictable.

[Arrian]

I too always wear my seatbelt. I signal. I try to avoid tailgating (in CT, however, this is simply an invitation for someone else to change lanes).

Yet I speed.

Hell, for ~10 years, I smoked. That's ****ing stupid, I think we can all agree.

-Arrian

[KrazyHorse]

I speed like a ****ing sonofa*****.

Life begins at 80

[yin26]

Hey, I'm in CT, too. When somebody tailgates me (when I'm in the car, that is). I slow down. Love it! One time a guy pulled over for a fight. When I got out and called him a Stupid ***** somehow it wasn't worth his getting out of the car. It was really funny, too.

Jerk Off (sitting in his car): We gonna settle this here and now *******?!

Yin (out of his car at the guy's window): Depends, you gonna get out of the car, *****?

One of those Kodak guy moments. When I get tailgated when I'm on the motorcycle (which seems rare because I think people actually understand when it's a motorcycle that tailgating is stupid), I usually change lanes.