Modern Vespa

http://www.autonews.com/article/20080807/COPY01/896001336/1193 .

First time I've heard the term "Vespa motorcycle scooter." Do they just not want to say it was a scooter, period?

Hi,
according to:
http://www.repubblica.it/2008/08/sezioni/economia/muore-pininfarina/muore-pininfarina/muore-pininfarina.html
a 78 year old cager did not see him coming on the scoot.

foto of the scoot (looks very bad):
http://torino.repubblica.it/multimedia/home/2671449
further than no. 5 of the gallery, pictures are getting really ......

bye

That is sad! Looks like the car pulled out into the intersection to turn left and Andrea broadsided him/her. Must have crushed his legs, at the least. (Don't let my wife ever see these images.)

Drive safe...and defensively, everyone.

Two pictures of this accident.

Wow, that is horrible.

I wonder if he was wearing ATG...

judging by the pictures posted there it was a GT60...

Obviously didn't make any difference.
In most of these types of accidents,the victim dies of a broken neck.
Toreador Pants does not work in such an instance.
Only a neck/back support would possibly mitigate such a circumstance.

The photos are graphic, and possibly in questionable taste. By the same token, it does none of us any good to marginalize the dangers we face on our cycles. And it helps cagers understand the dynamics we all face in driving.

The article indicated that police at the scene stated the dynamics of the accident were clear, the 78 year old driver didn't see the Vespa, pulled out, Pininfarina impacted the car. The driver was in shock.

Does one have to wear a helmet over there?

Manny

That is just awful, heart breaking. It would seem to me the GT60 was moving pretty swiftly however I am not a CSI guy.

God bless him and his family, a real shaker in the Italian business world.

Shaking my head....

SDG

Yes it is the law....but from what I see (I'm in Milan right now), very very few wear full face. Almost all scooter riders sport the very cool looking MOMO type "jet" style helmets. All I know is that it is hot and super humid and smoggy here in northern italy today so I doubt that ATGAT was in play.

As a car-design fanatic, I am really saddened by this news..... It is a top story here today. Pininfarina design is part of the culture - in torino especially. Very sad news indeed.

Left behind wife and three children. Ugg. Ride safe people.

very sad.I love the designed Alfa spiders from Pininfarina.

Horrible. It's getting really sad to hear of so many accidents.

wow, that's a stomach turner.

Never under estimate the effects of being hit. People, of all ages, can take their eye off the road for a moment and if they do you could be toast.

This guy was a month older than I am... this really hits home.







And here, holding the Pininfarina design for the 2006 Olympic Torch:

hm he looks like a cross between bill gates and stephen colbert. That olympic torch is cool look.

very sad story, ride safe everyone.

remember THEY DON'T SEE YOU. EVER.

See my sig...

I've driven motorcycles, scooters and bicycles in Italy. Naples was the worst. In Italy they are very respectful of 2 wheeled transport especially bicycles. I felt the safest on my bicycle for the most part the Italians love bicyclists. When I ride in the city I always wear a full face helmet and clothing with protection in it. I need to put a louder horn on my scooter. I have an airhorn on my Beemer and that helps alot. Most people think I'm a 18 wheeler. I lost my baby brother in a motocycle acccident in May this year. Trashed his newly refurbished 1970 Motor Guzzi Police Bike in to a tree trying to miss a deer. Life sucks sometimes.

A very sad day and a huge loss. Another reminder to keep your eyes up and moving all the time. Drive like everyone out there is out to get you and you are usually in good shape. Life is not predictable, nor controllable. Obeying all of the good rules is not a guarantee. Stuff happens. We all know the risks we assume every time we ride. Ride safe, everyone.

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Life simply isn't fair.

Please can folk not keep posting new threads on this sad subject, and in particular not include any inline images of the scene.

I'm sorry to have started a new thread, I haven´t checked the forum, it's just that I think we're all shocked with this kind of news, we all know these are our daily risks.

In particular, I feel very sad for him, his family and in adittion, I think if this things happen in a country that has a lot of story impulsing scooters use, imagine our fear in cities as mine, where there is not any motorcycle education!

We'll keep riding anyway, enjoying and being as careful as we can...

This is really disturbing. I went and looked at all the pictures just to keep the reality clear in my mind, that these are the risks we take. I feel so sad for his family.... he looks a little like my dad

Sadly, a somewhat graphic example of the laws of inertia/mass. Caio Bro.

I agree. I am leaving on our 10 day ride tomorrow and I hate this to be the last thing I read before bed.

Hi,

it is a reminder for anybody here, to be aware of any stupidity others on the road may start and don't count on your right.
I am wondering, why this accident happened because ecspecially in Italy they don't use their mirrors but watch out very carefully, what happens in front and react quickly. Somebody taking your right of way is everyday practise there.

Very sad indeed.

safe riding to everybody

Very sad.

At least he made his final exit from the seat of something stylish.

For those that may not be aware 'farina' designs go way back.
This interesting car in the photo is one of a limited number of handbuilt cars that were a collaboration between Healy (Brittish), Farina (Italy), and Nash (USA). Farina collaborated on several innovative designs with Nash.
This is a sad loss.

Yeah, the photographs are stark -- I know what you are saying.

Rather than seeing the pictures as merely sad, upsetting or disrespectful -- I can bear their starkness if I look them, not in vain, but with compassion to learn something -- anything -- from his life, including the raw, unfiltered facts of Andrea Pininfarina's last moments.

I trust he would be ok with that. I trust his wife and three kids... and his father Sergio, would be ok with that.

We tease fate when we ride on two wheels -- I for one would rather strike a deal with fate while I look directly into its eyes.

The story as updated:

That was low! what difference would that make? The guy is DEAD!
Was that the best comment you could think of?

Shame on you, jimc! I was expecting more from you than such tasteless comment!

I don't think it's that deep and meaningful. Italian media is just different. I'm sure lots of accidents are reported this graphically.

Not really. It's a good question.

This is a fair question, was he wearing all the gear, even though asked and answered here once already... if we are going to learn anything. The question could more sympathetically be interpreted like this: "if I were in a similar situation, would my choice to wear or not wear all the gear have made the difference?" Probably not. The scooter driver's neck was most likely broken severely on impact.

Reports indicate he was wearing a helmet. The complete set of photos indicate that the Vespa was traveling at a sufficient speed to crush the entire front of the scooter. The scooter basically fell to the ground where it hit the car... the scooter driver's helmet crashed through the car driver's window and the scooter driver's body only slumped to the ground when and where the car came to a rest. This is all reported and depicted here, in Italian.

These are the stark realities of what happens in a scooter to car accident. This isn't to blame anyone: but rather to bring into focus what happened.

This was a classic example of an insufficiently conspicuous cycle t-boning into a car driven by a distracted driver (he had just maneuvered around a parked truck, delivering sand, he stated he was sure he was driving pianissimo, slowly) who failed to yield the right of way... with the classic absence of time for the scooter driver to brake. Conditions at the time of the accident were foggy. The photos give no indication of skid marks.



According to The Hurt Report: In multiple vehicle accidents, the driver of the other vehicle violated the motorcycle right-of-way and caused the accident in two-thirds of those accidents. The failure of motorists to detect and recognize motorcycles in traffic is the predominating cause of motorcycle accidents. The driver of the other vehicle involved in collision with the motorcycle did not see the motorcycle before the collision, or did not see the motorcycle until too late to avoid the collision.

We should all know how exactly how and just how easily these classic accidents happen... and what we can or can't do to prevent them.

I have the utmost respect for Andrea Pininfarina and his family... and I think it's ok for us to ask honest questions here.

So if he wasn't, what would your comment be? "No one to blame here but yourself"?

c'mon... show some respect to his familj. Ok?

I'm not seeing where I did disrespected the family, but just to be safe I am sorry if I did.

I myself go back and forth on ATG. I always wear a helmet but I don't always go ATG.

In my sport of skydiving we always look at incidents, much like this, and see what the person was doing and what they were or were not wearing. We take that information and we learn from it or improve gear in order to prevent similar accidents. That was all I believe jimc's intent was. I myself am a very logic based person and have many question that I would ask, like: did he have ABS, what was his estimated speed, weather conditions (which was answered), ect, ect.

Please don't judge those who want to know facts about this tragedy.
~El Josh AKA Ruby

I noticed the wall street journal decided it was a motorcycle. "Mr. Pininfarina, 51 years old, was killed in a motorcycle accident."

The very first reports did report that it was a motorcycle accident -- more than likely from an initial news feed. Besides, many view the scooter as a subset of the broad term motorcycle.

The Italian reports called it a scooter accident -- describing in precise detail the color and model of the Vespa that Pininfarina rode.

So is the driver going to be charged or was it the riders fault?
Does anyone know?