Modern Vespa

A local man riding a scooter was killed this Wenesday in my hometown. The driver of the car had 4 prior DUI tickets, a revoked liciense, and an open container in the car. The paper and news have not given to much other info except to say the car driver was in jail with $100,000. bond. They did say that for now he was being held with death by motor vehicle.
This all occured at 3:00 PM, I did not know the scooter rider. Please everybody be carefull. I debated for a day about even writing this. I felt that as a community we need to remimber a fellow person, and rider, Beale.

In my town as well. I own a small business and one of my competitors was just in a serious motorcycle accident. He was riding his first motorcycle ever, a Yamaha sports bike. He swerved to avoid a car and could not straighten up in time, he hit a truck. He fractured his skull, broke his hips, one arm, and had a rib break and puncture one lung. He was wearing no helmet and was in a T-shirt, shorts and sandals. Also he was only doing 30mph. I hope this teaches some of those, too cool for scooters, biker types, that it only takes a 10mph hit to fracture your skull. Even skate boarder wear helmets now, and they do not do much more than 10 mph.

Tragic news, but thanks for posting it. We all know that scooting brings with it some serious risks to life and limb, and even if you take all reasonable safety precautions you can't control what other drivers do.

Was the rider wearing a helmet?

Yes scooter rider was wearing a helmet, Beale.

Well, again, there's only so much you can do. I wonder what percentage of fatal accidents involve repeat offender drunk drivers?

Friday was one year since I was hit by a car who ran a stop sign and ran into me head-on. I was very lucky it wasn't worse. I've been told by one person that the photo of my accident could stop people from buying a scooter, but mostly people have thanked me for reminding them to ride safe, to wear a helmet, etc. Thank you Beale, for the solemn reminder. JNV, I hope your competitor recovers soon. It's can be a long process, I'm still in treatment for and in constant pain from injuries.

I've been re-reading Proficient Motorcycling, someone in another list had asked about the frequency of accidents in first-year riders. According to the stats, we are all more at risk in our first 6 months, then the risk drops with experience, but then rises way up again between 2 and 3 years. According to the author, this is the timeframe when many riders get cocky about their riding experience.

The book quotes a lot of stats, but not whether or not drivers of cars that hit motorcycles are drunk or otherwise under an influence. It does say "86 percent of riders surviving a crash had no drugs or alcohol in their system, 11 percent had alcohol or drugs, 3 percent had 'unknown'."

Crystal - I've just started reading Proficient Motorcycling as well, although for me it's the first time. I'm hoping that it will at least reduce my risk level while riding. I hate being a statistic. Thanks for sharing about your accident. It does actually serve to remind me to ride safe.

I offer my sympathies for anyone involved in an accident. Its sad.

There was a scooter accident in NYC Friday night too. As reported, a police car collided with a scooterist. An announcement was posted on the local scooter forum within an hour of the accident.

Stay alert and safe.

-=winces=-
That's my only fear in using a scooter as my solo form of transportation out here, the drivers suck. I don't think a day goes by without the traffic report including at least one car/motorcycle or bicycle or pedestrian accident. Hell, I've had a few near misses in my work truck (Isuzu NPR!!) with people that don't seem to have seen me. Still, with the cheap operating costs of the scooter over a car, I'm certainly going to take the risk.