Please be careful everyone

huskerchic · Post by **huskerchic** » Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:44 pm

I hate these stories.

http://www.thedailydarien.com/news/norw ... ailydarien

Be safe everyone.

skully93 · Post by **skully93** » Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:53 pm

Awww..

I hate those stories too, heard too many of the "just bought it and then crashed' stories.

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Fri Apr 20, 2012 8:00 pm

Disaster waiting to happen

The man met Miller at the DMV to walk him through the process of registering the bike, and showed Miller the ropes of using what was his first motorcycle. Miller didn't have a helmet. The man loaned him one and told him to always wear a helmet.

Riding a bike is risky, folks.

Mousenut · Post by **Mousenut** » Fri Apr 20, 2012 9:08 pm

This story was updated at 4:08 p.m. Friday:

NORWALK, Conn. — A motorcyclist died after a collision with a car on Main Avenue in Norwalk on Thursday afternoon, according to Sgt. James Boff. He was Michael Miller, 29, of Glenndenning St.

Both the motorcyclist and the driver of the car, an 18-year-old Wilton woman, were taken to Norwalk Hospital after the collision at about 3:30 p.m. in the area of 632 Main Ave., according to firefighters on the scene. Boff said Miller was pronounced dead at the hospital.

A Greenwich police officer was applying CPR to Miller when firefighters arrived, Boff said. He was lying in the road, and his helmet was several feet away. Police seized the red helmet as evidence.

The driver of the car, a 2008 Suburu, had been traveling south on Main Avenue when she decided to turn around by going into the Town Fair Tire parking lot, Boff said. She saw the motorcyclist heading north. As she turned into the parking lot he hit her car. The motorcycle, a 2007 Kawasaki, sustained heavy front end damage, Boff said. The Suburu had heavy damage to the rear passenger side and the back windshield was smashed.

Police are investigating. Traffic was backed up on Route 7 after the accident.

Miller previously lived on Grove Street in Darien, according to Intelius.com.

edited:
Door is really smashed in bad too.

gitsum79 · Post by **gitsum79** » Fri Apr 20, 2012 9:47 pm

That's really tragic, I hope the motorcyclist didn't leave behind a wife and children.

I think inexperience and speed are the biggest factors contributing to the accident.

The damage on the side of that car shows he was going pretty fast at impact.
Even being a new rider, he must have been on the brakes before actual contact.
Makes me wonder how fast he was actually going???

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Fri Apr 20, 2012 10:27 pm

I think no matter what a rider chooses as his or her bike speed is a blessing and a curse. Proper riding judgement, skills, perception and awareness and vision....all of it and all that goes with riding in traffic...is more important then any amount of speed and power or lack thereof.

Some seem to think a bigger, faster motorcycle is safer in the streets. And it might be true if your skills are honed. But what if not? And even if so riding skills and courses will not replace good judgement in many instances.

When people turn in front of me, ride into my lane, or cut me off I always think of the posts I see all over the internet about "power equals safety." Afraid not. Because if I had been going just a bit faster in those and many upcoming instances I'd be flat on the pavement, rather then blowing my Stebal at the offenders.

It's not what you ride, it's how you ride. Let's all remember that

AWinn6889 · Post by **AWinn6889** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:23 pm

This is why I tear my hair out every time my bf takes his bike down to work in Norwalk... I'm glad he's saving the money on gas ($20 vs. $75), but it's not close to home and, well, sorry for anyone who is from CT, but people there drive like hardcore IDIOTS.
I don't even feel safe going down there IN A CAR.

Although I do have much more confidence in my bf's riding than a guy who just bought his first ever motorcycle, was planning on riding it and didn't have a helmet, and probably had no experience on it at all.
...I still worry my brains out.

Rudie · Post by **Rudie** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:43 pm

JHScoot wrote:
It's not what you ride, it's how you ride. Let's all remember that

^This!^

As a new rider reading this can freak me out but it make me extra cautious when riding. It is really tragic.

NathanielSalzman · Post by **NathanielSalzman** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:32 pm

Yeah, statistically riders with less than five months of riding experience make up a significant percentage of two-wheel fatalities. Yet it's encouraging to look at the numbers and see that experienced, sober, helmet-wearing scooterists and motorcyclists are actually at a pretty low risk, statistically speaking.

Each year there are significantly more deaths from more common activities such as climbing ladders, crossing the street, and things like accidental poisoning than there are deaths in two-wheeler accidents. Significant numbers of people are also killed each year in automobile crashes and other activities that most people think of as "safe" relative to riding a motorbike or scooter. However, rare as they may be, accidents involving a two-wheeler and a car can definitely be hazardous.

Understanding the hazards is really important, but it's also important to have perspective as to the likelihood of that event. Plane crashes are nearly always fatal, nasty events, but they're also incredibly rare — mostly because the people who fly take it very, very seriously. It's easy to focus on the outcome of a motorcycle or scooter wreck and lose perspective on its likelihood. It's also a reminder that taking riding, gear and all the other aspects of life on two-wheels very seriously is the best defense against something horrible happening.

rkcoker · Post by **rkcoker** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 11:34 pm

Fortunately, I had my crash a whole 10 days after getting my 125. So, I know I'm good to go!

Post by **jrsjr** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 12:08 am

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012 ... r-1865334/

michelle_7728 · Post by **michelle_7728** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 2:24 am

jrsjr wrote:http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012 ... r-1865334/

That could so easily have been me.... When I had only been riding less than 3 months, a woman pulled out of a blind driveway in front of me...and stopped in the middle of the road...on a drizzly day (after a bunch of sunny days). The road was slick, I was inexperienced, and down I went. My head (thank God for the modular helmet) ended up right behind her front left tire--actually, if she would have gotten out of the SUV she would have stepped on me.

Thankfully she put it in park.

Proficent Motorcycling starts out telling the (true) tale of a horrendous motorcycle wreck (with fatalities). Reason being that when you go to buy a motorcycle or scooter you won't hear any of the negative side, since they just want to make a sale. The author wants you to read about it so you will take the rest of his book very seriously. Awesome book. That book is the ONLY reason I was wearing the modular (basically full faced) helmet when I was in my wreck..and I can thank if for at the minimum not having to have plastic surgery, and the worse, not being here any more--since the chin and nose area of the helmet and viser were seriously scratched/chewed up.

It was also part of the reason (of course how fun the Buddy is to ride was part of it) I wanted to get another bike immediately after the wreck.

Luckily I was uninjured. The ambulance driver said that when he heard a scooter was involved in the wreck he assumed the worst.

Post by **jrsjr** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 3:31 am

michelle_7728 wrote:My head (thank God for the modular helmet) ended up right behind her front left tire--actually, if she would have gotten out of the SUV she would have stepped on me.

Thankfully she put it in park.

Yikes! That's about as close as it gets.

Rusty J · Post by **Rusty J** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:18 am

rkcoker wrote:Fortunately, I had my crash a whole 10 days after getting my 125. So, I know I'm good to go!

I read somewhere that most vehicle accidents happen within 2 miles from home.

So I moved.

-Rusty