Posted by Mike in NM on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 12:25PM :
In Reply to: Off topic post posted by Gordon Maney on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 1:27AM :
I have ridden for 25 years and I am amazed sometimes at how little some people "see" while driving. When I was a stupid teenager, we used to ride in tight formation on sportbikes running in excess of 80 MPH... We are all very lucky to still be alive after some of the antics that was pulled...
The best defense against having an accident on a motorcycle is superior peripheral vision... The accident you spoke of would have been much less fatal, had the bikes been in a looser formation and all drivers been practicing active peripheral vision (difficult to do)... The other thing to keep in mind is not to get in situations (which these people didn't but it needs saying) that compromise your vision (racing, monkeying around, not paying attention while riding, darting in and out of traffic lanes, etc...)and get you into trouble.
I have lots of road rash scars on my body, but I never got into a serious accident ( had MANY close calls) because of being observant...
That is an awful, awful, news story Gordon... Thanks for the wake up...
Mike in NM