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+--- Thread: Vigilance isn't enough. Please be safe. (/showthread.php?tid=13473)
Vigilance isn't enough. Please be safe. - LongRanger_imp - 10-13-2017
I lost a dear friend yesterday. Suzanne was a 40+ year rider, Iron Butt competitor, always ATGATT (including neon yellow reflective vest and multiple reflective strips on her helmet and the back of her R1200RT), and her bike had a very bright flashing LED Hyperlite brake light. She was a very conscientious and safety-oriented motorcyclist. The accident occurred in the middle of the day. This has shaken me to the core.
Being uncertain who has heard more detail since yesterday’s message, this is going to everyone.
Steve, Suzanne, and another couple were in the midst of an afternoon ride, northbound on U.S. 85 waiting at a red signal to turn left into Sedalia. They were in the left turn lane with Steve leading and Suzanne in the last position. The lights for northbound traffic are red. Steve recalls hearing (a pop?) a helmet bouncing across the southbound side of the road as he was looking slightly left, and he saw Suzanne's helmet moving away. He turned to the right and saw Suzanne on the east side of the road. He did not see the hit & run vehicle that hit Suzanne and ran the light. Three nurses were close by and were the first to assist Suzanne. Someone notified 911, deputies and the Patrol responded quickly, and later the paramedics. Someone gave a good enough description to the 911 dispatcher that an alert deputy further north was able to apprehend the hit & run driver within minutes. It is likely Suzanne never knew what happened. She was a tissue donor. Memorial plans are pending. Steve indicates, "No calls, please, for now."
Thanks to you who used Facebook to spread the news. Suzanne had more friends than we know. Please try to keep them in the loop.
RE: Vigilance isn't enough. Please be safe. - jedd_imp - 10-13-2017
oh my....this is just awful. So sorry to hear about this. Thoughts and prayers go out to Suzanne family and loved ones.
RE: Vigilance isn't enough. Please be safe. - Rocky_imp - 10-13-2017
I don't know the lady, but whenever I hear of these terrible events I am totally dismayed.
What a terrible, terrible shame!
We can only do what we can do to be safe and just take our chances.
I hope they prosecute that idiot to the fullest extent of the law.
Good on the cops for a swift arrest
RE: Vigilance isn't enough. Please be safe. - LongRanger_imp - 10-13-2017
Thanks guys. I know there are motorcycle fatalities every day, but this really makes me furious. She wasn't speeding, she wasn't drunk, she didn't overshoot a curve, she didn't lock up her brakes, she wasn't unprotected, she wasn't inconspicuous, she had lots of training, she had her endorsement, she wasn't a newbie, she wasn't on an unfamiliar bike, she wasn't fatigued, she wasn't lost, it wasn't nighttime, it wasn't raining... All the stereotypical risk factors that can increase the odds of an accident, and all the stuff we all try to avoid to just survive a ride.
RE: Vigilance isn't enough. Please be safe. - emptysea - 10-13-2017
Sorry for your loss, LR.
RE: Vigilance isn't enough. Please be safe. - the Ferret - 10-13-2017
(10-13-2017, 05:30 AM)LongRanger_imp Wrote: Thanks guys. I know there are motorcycle fatalities every day, but this really makes me furious. She wasn't speeding, she wasn't drunk, she didn't overshoot a curve, she didn't lock up her brakes, she wasn't unprotected, she wasn't inconspicuous, she had lots of training, she had her endorsement, she wasn't a newbie, she wasn't on an unfamiliar bike, she wasn't fatigued, she wasn't lost, it wasn't nighttime, it wasn't raining... All the stereotypical risk factors that can increase the odds of an accident, and all the stuff we all try to avoid to just survive a ride.
So sorry for your loss LR, truly.
but it just goes to show you can do everything right and still terrible things can happen. Every time we mount up we are at risk. I try not to think about it too much.
Glad they caught the SOB and hope he/she gets to stare at 4 concrete walls for a long time contemplating what they did.
RE: Vigilance isn't enough. Please be safe. - silverbub_imp - 10-13-2017
LR...I do not know you personally... nor her that you mention who suffered this tragedy...I do have moist eyes right now & it is not just because of the dilated eyes from my eye exam a couple hours ago... over 11 years ago the motorcycle-safety journalist/instructor Larry Grodsky wrote that we should/need to constantly be checking our mirrors because in his words: "They're coming to get us from the rear"!... and then a deer crossed his path a few short month after his monthly column & that was his fatal "accident"... Too many personal demerits I have given myself on my rides where someone from behind has come within my personal "safety-space" on a ride... we do the best we can & then we take our chances... and the distracted drivers are decreasing our chances it seems... truly sorry to read your post of sorrow & grief...
RE: Vigilance isn't enough. Please be safe. - clearviewx - 10-13-2017
My condolences. Did they say if the driver who hit her was impaired or distracted?
RE: Vigilance isn't enough. Please be safe. - LongRanger_imp - 10-13-2017
I haven't heard yet. Another good friend, a lady R1150RS rider, was stopped in a construction zone on the interstate about an hour north of here and was rear-ended by a drunk. Same thing -- middle of the day, conspicuous ATGATT... She was killed and the drunk got 3 years probation.
RE: Vigilance isn't enough. Please be safe. - kvdv_imp - 10-13-2017
So very sorry to hear this, LongRanger. I think about this sort of thing ALL the time, on or off the bike, wishing I could come up with a fool-proof way to avoid just such a situation. I guess the only answer is to not ride at all, but that just wouldn't do. Such a sad thing...