TREE CUT DOWN ACROSS RURAL ROAD AT NIGHT

[scootertramp]

Some one cut down a tree and let it fall across a road that a respected two wheel rider would be going down towards home at night.
He was killed as he was thrown from his wifes motorcycle that he was riding home from the tavern he owned.
in short it was murder most foul.
No one has been arrested or charged although investigations continue and a suspect will soon be in custody I'm sure.
 Or not.
HE was killed because he OUT RODE HIS LIGHTS, was going at too high rate of speed to see the obstruction untill it wasa literally TOO LATE.
There was a  thoughtless choice he made when he chose to outrun his lights and ten miles an hour less  may have saved his life. Twenty miles an hour less could have saved the bike too.
I've avoided many deadly and hurtful accidents because of safety gear and being aware of how quick it can all go south.
Be aware there is a real danger to the careless rider.
Look for the accident down the road.. If you cannot see then take it down a few notchs for my buddys sake.  for your sake. for PETES SAKE! make it home..

[kiawrench]

now that just blows big time ,,,,
   maybe someone was just waiting for him to ride his yobo's scooter home?
   any way that turns out ,, is justification for switching stock headlights over to halogens and in a hurry.
  (and slow down a bit at night .)
 With the halogen conversion kit i got thanks o H2O i have managed to see a lot of things with feet and tails way sooner than i ever could . and dressing for the fall does add a sense of security .

   by the way, where does your granny live,,, ol blue hair was out and about today,, tried to help me ride in the woods ,,,, lucky for me- was waiting on her,, lol

[Sable]

One of the few things I remember from Driver's Ed is that at 55 mph at night time, you are over-driving standard low-beam headlights.
Not sure about high beams.. but you are right Scoot, slow down at night.. I had a buddy of mine get seriously injured from a 5 pointer Deer that jumped out in front of him at 2 am. Never seen a helmet so scratched up in my life.

[scootertramp]

a dead animal in the middle of the road any time can throw you down but at night it seems it's way worse.
I had my sweetie pie on the back one night and we were zippin' along bout ninety or so and a curve came up with the splattiest dead animal ever splatted. it was over with I thought and I knew we were going down so I stood the bike up and rode  directly through the sharpish curve and a ton of animal guts and over bones and stuff and leaned it back over when I got through it. I rode the edge of the road for a bit.
needless to say I washed my bike and my pants when I got home.
I did'nt get home till late the next day cause i run us out of gas at three in the morning and so we slept in a soy bean field next to a gas station and were eaten alive by huge mosquitos and we got all wet and my wife did'nt talk to me for three hours. it was the best three hours ever..
the end..  

[Walt_M.]

Scootertramp, are you ok? Why aren't you standing up for the right of the tree-cutter to freely express himself? Don't tell me you are developing some kind of moral or social conscience! But, seriously, it does suck.

[wolfman]

Last summer a 60+ year old guy out riding with his wife (seperate bikes) at NIGHT for no reason (not going anywhere in particular just out riding) struck a MOOSE and was killed just down the road from my work.  The moose walked away.  Keep in mind a decent bull moose stands 6 ft + at the shoulder and weighs in around 600-800 pds +. Riding at night is dangerous to begin with, doing so with out any reason other than wanting some saddle time is foolishness.

[CH3NO2]

My younger brother was riding home one night when something hit his helmet and nearly knocked him off the bike. He had lost his grip with both hands and was lying on his back, but still managed to save it somehow. He turned around expecting to find someone had thrown a rock at him, but instead he found a large bat twitching in the middle of the road. Good thing he had MY full face helmet on. The face shield was toast, but his face was fine.

[Silver_Bullet]

Bat?, Louisville Slugger or the flying mammal? ;D  Seriously,  strange things happen at night, seen people do weird stuff that endangers other motorists.  Scooter's right, overdriving headlights is a big error, glad I got PIAA's for mine.  Actually like driving at night, but around here weather has to be just right, lovebugs are out right now, they cover a faceshield so fast you'll be blind in minutes.

Mark

[MotorPlow]

My first bike was a Suzuki GS650E.  I got it cheap because the guy who owned it prior hit a deer with it at low speed on a foggy night.  He replaced all the cracked plastic and broken mirrors.  The bike looked good, however he never got back on it.  He said that if it wasn't foggy, he still would have hit that deer because he would have been driving at a speed where his visibility (at night) would have been the same (going fast outside the headlights).  And instead of tipping the bike over on the side of the road, he would be dead.

Chris

[h2olawyer]

Around here, we've got elk, deer & moose.  Not to mention cattle and horses.  The elk and moose don't seem to move around as much at dusk and the domestic livestock are generally well fenced out of roads but the deer are everywhere.  It seems worst from sunset to a couple hours after, then things settle down a bit until shortly before dawn.  I still prefer riding in daylight hours when outside of town.

I hit a black angus one night in my old Toyota PU several years ago.  I was going about 40mph (20 @ impact) on a state highway in western CO.  Came around a curve and saw a vehicle with its high beams on but parked a little ways off the road.  I turned my beams to low to be nice to the "oncoming" car.  His high beams affected my vision a lot and I didn't see the cow running away from me until it was about 20 feet in front of me.  Nailed it right in the middle of the grille & bumper.

The bright lights belonged to a county mountie who was looking for the cows that had broken through a fence.  Cow was unhurt.  Truck needed a new grille and bumper.  Nobody hurt in the impact.  No ticket or warning either - deputy felt bad about leaving his vehicle parked with the brights on and no rollers, though. ::)  Remembered thinking I was glad I wasn't riding a bike when that happened.

Lots of good advice here about not outdriving your lights and taking extra care when riding in general.  Not to mention to expect the unexpected.  Remember, there are two types of drivers out there - those that don't see you and those that are aiming for you!  (especially little old ladies backing
Cadillacs in parking lots ;D)

Hope they get the &@# of a %&!*# that cut that tree down!  Sounds like a good case of criminally negligent homicide to me.  I'd really enjoy prosecuting someone like that.

Take a good riding course, dress for the crash and ALWAYS wear your helmet!

H2o

[scootertramp]

Scootertramp, are you ok? Why aren't you standing up for the right of the tree-cutter to freely express himself? Don't tell me you are developing some kind of moral or social conscience! But, seriously, it does suck.

walter!
was I supposed to send you a ceedee and did'nt? cause if I forgot you I apologize.  hey,hey ! i'll jet one to ya'!
is that why you seem perturbed?
cause you seem perturbed in some very definable way.  
is it cause I typed:walt,walter,waltest?
or cause I call you walter?
 hey WALT:
a cat died...
 a goode dude died at the hands of a real desperado who maybe would'nt have suceeded if somebody would have told my budd to look out at night and to drive slower and be freakin' careful.
what about a wind storm? that tree could be in ANY of our paths on any given day or night.
one thousand one onethousand two. BAM!. ANY OF US.
that's what this post is aboot. SAFTY and being watchful and realizing they ain't any seconde chances at sixty on a bike.
My jacket weighs fifty pounds seems like  and I always wear engineer boots  and leather riding gloves with jersy inserts. Heavy pants and a tightly cinched helmet insures that if I go down and I have, hard I mean roughly..if I go down that insures I have a better than average chance I get back up and go home.
whats the for real problemo mi amigo walto? que pasa?

[Walt_M.]

gotcha!