Weekend fatality

A friend just called and told me about this:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/8358125.htm


John Beck

 

In some ways, I wish I hadn't read this. It is getting harder and harder
for me to take my street bike out. This doesn't help, at all.

I wonder if UCB can be held liable as an attractive nuisance.

 

Yah. I'm nervous about riding in the SC mountains. The weekend
afternoons are too dangerous for me anymore. The thrill of riding is
overshadowed by a mixture or astonishment, anger and terror induced by
other motorists. Either I get my riding in before the idiots wake up or
I don't ride.

Motorcycling is like flying into a dogfight with jammed machineguns.

The Japanese and Brits come from places where the laws of the road are
different - what about the drivers who come from places where the laws
of physics are different? [eg. where there is no inertia or where two
solid bodies can simultaneously occupy the same space]

We need to raise the bar for driver's licenses... without a doubt.

 

The tone of the article really irritated me. The Merc has
a very overt anti-motorcycle bias.

I commute them every day. I'd rather deal with skyline than freeways, except
perhaps when it's foggy.

They need documentation from the proper interstellar authorities.
Otherwise it's back on the saucer and off to their home galaxies!

While I don't disagree, it wouldn't have helped in this case.
The "international license" the killer was driving under wasn't
valid; he was supposed to get a CA license but didn't.

At least the cops put him in jail instead of immediately writing it off as
an accident. He'll get off later though, mark my words.

The crash happened right where the gravel lover's pullouts are, south and
up the hill from old la honda.
The road's level there; the article was in error in that respct as well.
It's a place where I'm extra vigilant for cars pulling in or out, as drivers
are intent on the view or making out and are not paying attention.

So far in my commuting I have come around a corner or over a rise to see:

-two deer jump out in front of me
-two mountain bikers, one on either side of my lane
-a large lumber truck BACKING UP to get to a driveway he overshot
-a medium-sized oak tree in the road
-SUVs or mountain pickup trucks pull out in front of me
-rocks in the road (too many times to count)


So be careful when you ride up here.


Eric

 

Agreed. The headline "Life, Death on Motorcycle" seemed disrespectful
as if he was a "Life fast - die young" kind of guy who accidently made
it to 49.

Hmmm. During rush hours I agree with you - A sunny Sunday afternoon
I'll take the freeways over skyline.

You have a point. This raises another set of issues: Did he rent the
car he was driving? If so - how did he do that without a valid license
(car rental agencies should be savvy enough to know vehicle code in
their state). If he didn't rent the car - not having a license - that
must mean he was not insured. Great.

Also, watch out for low-flying birds!!

 

We came across the scene a few hours after everything was cleaned up and
just by looking at all the roadmarks and CHP spray paint on the road, we
were guessing that the car made a u-turn just before the accident, but I
guess we were wrong, but then again, there is no way that idiot drove his
rent-a-car all that way on the wrong side of the road. I look like a
wobbler for sure when it comes to canyon carving, unless I can see through
the turns, then I'll twist it like heck and scrape some peg. Always
expecting a medicated senior 10-pointing an RV in a u-turn on Skyline makes
for some boring sportbiking, maybe I'll buy a jetski......

Then we were down by Felton I think and saw some awesome four-wheeled
skidmarks that went right over the hillside.....that must've sucked
too......

Anyway, prayers for the biker......
Later!
Alex

 

I know where you are coming from. I got into motorcycling later in life, at
age 40, and rode a lot from age 40 to 60. Then having felt I may have used
up much of my luck, sold my sixth bike, a CB1000, four years ago, after
having done a fair amount of S.C. Mtn riding, including Doc Wong's clinic.
Chuck Frisbie was a "hello how ya doin" neighbor of mine, just 3 blocks down
the street here in El Granada. I didn't know his name, and was devastated
to find out this way.
A real tragedy.

 

Well John... before you go to guns in a dogfight... first you need to
out maneuver your opponent...

I think we should join together to discover the real cause of this
tragic motorcycle fatality so the honorable Mr. Frisbee lost of life
might save another...

A motorcyclist makes 400 decisions per mile... if we make 399 good ones
and 1 bad one... the resulting shock wave may reverberate to the
farthest reaches of both new and old riders alike...

Good decisions to review are...

Do we mentally review your options should an emergency situation arise???

Do we give ourselves a way out if a driver swerves in your path???

Motorcyclist must adjust to conditions in order to enjoy and survive
this sport... How each rider reads and adjusts to the circumstances
encountered affects his or hers longevity and enthusiasm for two wheel
travel... Good defensive riders are able to decipher the clues given
them by their surroundings... As riders we must habitually analyze each
situation and prepare ourselves for any likely event...

Larry L
94 RC45 #2
Have a wheelie NICE day...
Lean & Mean it in every corner of your life...
If it wasn't for us the fast lane would rust...
V4'S are music to the seat of my pants...
1952 De Havilland Chipmunk...
Yank and bank your brains loose...
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/-xlax-/
http://home.comcast.net/~netters2/
http://www.fox302.com/index.pl?s=vg&user=netters2

 

We make that all the time and will keep on doing it. It's an illusion to
think we'll manage to be perfect riders in every instance every minute we're
out on the road. All we can do is hope we're not made to pay a high price
for either our own and hopefully far and inbetween mistakes - or someone
else's, as clearly was the case here.

It's also an illusion that we can plan for every eventuality so that it can
be avoided. Defensive riding does not mean *every* possibility is planned
in. If we have to plan for someone driving in the opposite direction at
normal speed in the middle of our lane in every blind with oil patches and
rocks in every possible escape route, come on, we might as well walk.

And automatically implying the rider made a mistake and that this accident
could have been avoided if he had been more defensive is offensive to his
memory, in my opinion. The only "mistake" that he seems to have made is the
one we're all guilty of: riding our bikes and just winded up at the wrong
time in the wrong spot - and it can happen to each and every one of us,
because it's happened to better, more experienced riders than most of us
will ever be. Some riders have a hard time accepting it, that is why when
they hear it's not some young kid that's in over his head that manages to
get himself killed, but rather the typical experienced, skilled rider with
many years and many miles under his belt, and a long track record of safe
riding - that hits close to home because it shows us how vulnerable we can
be. Then they start looking for "reasons", speculate about what the rider
should have done, etc. We *can* be in control, always, right? Please? We
experienced riders -I have been doing this for 25 years now- like to think
we're in control. Accidents such as this one are uncomfortable wake up
calls.

Tricky little devil luck can turn on us very nastily. That's all there is to
it sometimes, and all "analysis" in the world will not change that.

....pablo

 

Well said, Pablo. Thanks for making this point. I think if we believe
that we can plan and adjust for _every_ possibility (such as the one
that killed this rider), we are simply in denial.

 

I agree w/ Denise & Pablo on this one. No matter how flawless a rider
may be there are elements beyond his/her control. I was thinking the
same thoughts as they wrote as I read Larry's post (BTW: the "jammed
machineguns" doesn't mean I feel the need like being more aggressive
toward cagers, rather, I feel like a target.).

Whereas it is true that we must ride to the best of our mental and
physical ability to manage the risks of motorcycling sometimes that's
not enough. Sometimes all the skill and planning in the world cannot
compensate for bad luck. It reminds me of a story of a friend of a friend:

He was a physicist working with radioactive materials and had to wear a
badge to keep track of his exposure - after a while he realized that his
job was increasing his risk of cancer and all sorts of future problems.
He didn't want to take that risk so he changed fields to physical
oceanography to do work on mapping the ocean floor: on his first trip
was lost at sea.

WARNING: I'm not saying that Nuclear physicists should stuff their
pockets full of refined Plutonium - I'm just saying no one can reduce
their risk to zero.

JGB

 

You're so right. The belief in the ultimate power of control
and proficiency is an attempt to defeat mortality with the
power of reason. Death is not impressed. Phenomena are
not entirely predictable. You pays your money and you takes
your chances.

Once you're dead, though, the future is pretty much a risk-free
proposition. Entirely safe.

 

No. The owner of the vehicle is financially responsible, as is the
operator, licensed or not.



R, UB

 

Or perhaps we just have no idea what the risks are. I can imagine
with equal ease an afterlife similar to the one that Dante envisioned,
but where souls get misdirected at about the same frequency that
airline luggage does. Death is only certain because we've imagined it
that way.

R, UB

 

But without insurance (or deep pockets) financial responsibility is
irrelevant ... especially if the responsible one flees the country. If
it were a rental car the agency could be liable (but they must be
indemnified otherwise they'd be constantly in court defending lawsuits)

Of course this is all moot: how does one take responsibility for
killing someone?

 

No disrespect implied Pablo... but a mistake was made because Mr.
Frisbee's mental imagery did match his ride... I can't bring him back
but I can add the metal image of a cage in my path and formulate a good
defensive action under my personal SEE system...

S... search for potential hazards...
E... evaluate potential hazards...
E... execute proper action to avoid the hazard...


The only "mistake" that he seems to have made is the

If we subscribe to the "just winded up at the wrong time in the wrong
spot" mind set then that's a debilitating not mobilizing mind set that
invites defeat and we already lost the prize... our life...


We *can* be in control, always, right? Please?

We control our minds... and to kept from being surprised our minds
should never relax completely even if you riding down a absolute
deserted rural road or your own block... there are dangers awaiting and
the motorcyclist who isn't ready to face a cage in their path will come
out second best...
The Hurt report taught us that 47% of the impacts between a cage and a
bike happen at the 11:00 O clock position... 17% happen at 12:00 O clock
position... and another 17% happens at the 1:00 O clock position... so
are 81% of your thoughts focus towards the front???

We control our actions... When's the last time you practiced the
Obstacle Swerve???

To swerve right press hard right until you have cleared the obstacle...
then press hard left to resume straight ahead...

Keep head and eyes up and focus on your escape route and not on the
Obstacle...

Keep knees in against the tank...

Do not brake and swerve and the same time...

Larry L
94 RC45 #2
Have a wheelie NICE day...
Lean & Mean it in every corner of your life...
If it wasn't for us the fast lane would rust...
V4'S are music to the seat of my pants...
1952 De Havilland Chipmunk...
Yank and bank your brains loose...
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/-xlax-/
http://home.comcast.net/~netters2/
http://www.fox302.com/index.pl?s=vg&user=netters2

 

Larry,

Could you clarify two of your statements for me please? First, I
agree with your general philosophy of M/C safety. I also think that we
can honor the memory of a downed biker by re-committing to safe riding:
I was flamed for comments after Randy Scott was killed by Janklow
because my words came across as if I were blaming Randy Scott. If it
looks like I am arguing or attacking you - please blame my poor writing.
I seek understanding.

I don't understand this.

Do you mean we can exercise total control? Or do you mean we *should*
exercise control over all factors we can? ... If the later, I agree 100%
- if the former, I disagree.

 

Realize that shit happens whether you think you're in charge or not.
Some shit that happens is stuff you wouldn't want to happen. But, it
happens. Certainty is not your friend. And shit doesn't necessarily
happen sequentially. Pheasant blasts past your nose, causing you to miss
the herd of deer and the tanker truck.

Sounds like you took the Dianetics Motorcycle Rundown...har!

barbz

 

None of us know what exactly happened. But none of those things happened
in this case. Clearly, Larry is talking about controlling what is in the
rider's power to control.

 

I agree 100%. A rider certainly can't predict everything that could
happen to them while riding. But he/she can predict a lot. They can also
learn from the times they make mistakes or fail to predict something
dangerous, or fail to respond in the best way, and add that to their
mental checklist.

Subscribing to the "just in the wrong place" mindset means giving up that
constant learning process that's honing your prediction and reaction skills.

Of course no rider is perfect, and you may get killed anyhow no matter
how good you get. But does that mean that you shouldn't try?



Note that I'm not criticizing Mr Frisbie's riding, or anyone elses
for that matter.


Eric