I have goosebumps! That is unreal - it is things like that that make me believe in guardian angels...beenhere10years wrote:When I was quite young, I want to say 15 or 16 or so -- I was asked by a friend of my oldest brother's to help him out with a photo shoot in New York City. Now before you imagine Victoria's Secret lingerie ads, this was for educational film strips (does anyone remember those?) depicting verbs to use in primary schools in the US.
The photographer's name was Jerry and he was about 32, very promising career -- had already accumulated quite a portfolio. He was tall and handsome a rode a big bike, don't remember the make or model. For 2 days we zipped around the 5 boroughs of New York on his motorcycle: Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights, the Bronx to take photographs of me running, jumping, hopping, etc... Quite a heady experience for a young girl from the suburbs.
I was a bit rattled riding on the back of that bike, I have to tell you. In and out of traffic, splitting lanes, but figured he was in control and knew what he was doing. Sunday came and I hopped, skipped and jumped and onto the MetroNorth train to take me home -- and on Monday my brother claimed his body at the morgue. He was hit head-on by a truck.
Never got on a motorcylce since and never will.
Had quite a bad accident about a month ago (and this is 10 years of riding on and off) along the AYE on my way to work.. Put me off riding for a while, and now I don't ride to work.. It is really dangerous and scary especially with all the big lorries / trailers around.beenhere10years wrote:When I was quite young, I want to say 15 or 16 or so -- I was asked by a friend of my oldest brother's to help him out with a photo shoot in New York City. Now before you imagine Victoria's Secret lingerie ads, this was for educational film strips (does anyone remember those?) depicting verbs to use in primary schools in the US.
The photographer's name was Jerry and he was about 32, very promising career -- had already accumulated quite a portfolio. He was tall and handsome a rode a big bike, don't remember the make or model. For 2 days we zipped around the 5 boroughs of New York on his motorcycle: Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights, the Bronx to take photographs of me running, jumping, hopping, etc... Quite a heady experience for a young girl from the suburbs.
I was a bit rattled riding on the back of that bike, I have to tell you. In and out of traffic, splitting lanes, but figured he was in control and knew what he was doing. Sunday came and I hopped, skipped and jumped and onto the MetroNorth train to take me home -- and on Monday my brother claimed his body at the morgue. He was hit head-on by a truck.
Never got on a motorcylce since and never will.
On a more serious note, I don't think your family will give rat's ass about any of this when they are throwing fistfuls of dirt on your coffin...Strong Eagle wrote:There are very, very few situations where an "accident" cannot be avoided. An accident is the culmination of a chain of events and a series of decisions, and in that respect, is no "accident" at all. Rather, it is the logical outcome of a series of actions.
This is why it is so important to become a proficient motorcyclist... to be able to identify what is happening and to take the actions necessary to prevent the actions from culminating in an accident. From my motorcycle safety course I learned SIPDE:
Scan - continuously look for all the variables and happenings.
Identify - determine if any of the happenings can have negative consequences for you.
Plan - given the circumstances, what alternatives are available to you?
Decide - decide which plan of action you will take.
Execute - do what you have decided to do.
Combine this with a good understanding of factors which affect driving (and particularly motorcycling) and the chances of having an accident are no greater than having an airplane crash.
Lots of people insist that there is no way the accident could be avoided but I disagree with that. Even with my one and only accident (which was a whopper - http://www.herberts.org/wayne/valk/valkwreck.htm), in retrospect there were actions I should have taken to avoid the wreck. I did not pay enough attention to traffic coming the other way. I should have slowed even more when I saw the car begin to spin. I could have changed lanes. A split second is all it would have taken between a hit and a miss.
BH10Y, I can only say that I know lots of bikers who have travelled 100,000 to 500,000 miles without incident. And I know bikers who have wrapped themselves around a tree trying to negotiate a curvy road.beenhere10years wrote:On a more serious note, I don't think your family will give rat's ass about any of this when they are throwing fistfuls of dirt on your coffin...
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