Yesterday at closing time, I get a call. It never fails - it's been too quiet today. Never mind that I've been here since 6:00 am, a full 90 minutes before anybody else shows up. I do my best work early in the morning. The solitude helps me concentrate and usually about 2:00 pm, I'm not worth a crap. But no.... the accident happens when it does, and so at 4:57 pm, off I go to the football stadium.
It would appear that a 23 year old non-student has chosen to use our parking lot as a test track for his wheelie and stunt practice session today. His 2017 Black R6 with the ______ aftermarket open exhaust has been singing up and down the lot for a while now, thanks to the video evidence we would later watch. Well, he gets a little too aggressive and loses control about 200 feet from the end of the lot. At T-minus 125 feet (if not before), we know he was ejected because that is when the skid and scrap marks on our asphalt lot tell us that the bike started doing cartwheels. At T-minus 50 feet, the bike stops flipping and starts sliding on its right side. According to witnesses, at zero feet the bike goes through our fence, strikes the raised perpendicular raised sidewalk, is hurled about 6 feet into the air, flipping violently, and strikes a moving vehicle heading left to right on the adjacent public roadway.
Initial unofficial on-site traffic analysis, based on our traffic crash scene expert (who is HIGHLY trained and we are dam lucky to have him) indicates that his initial speed at loss of control was between 80 and 90 mph, the bike's speed at the fence was at least 30 mph, and it struck the moving vehicle at no less than 20 mph.
The kid was wearing a helmet and fingerless gloves. Paramedics responding do not think he suffered any broken bones, miraculously. He does have road rash all over his body, including bad rash on his arm, leg, and foot. His designer jeans didn't fare so well, nor his T-shirt. Also, the road went through those "Vans" sneaker shoes like a fart in the wind. When his mother arrived on the scene, after I calmed her down to some level of sanity, I informed her that I am an avid motorcyclists and have well over 150,000 miles to my credit. She seemed a little surprised that a "safetyman" was a rider, and immediately told me that her and her husband begged the kid not to buy the bike. I told her that a riding jacket and boots would have greatly reduced his injuries. She then informed me that for Christmas, they bought him "that $400.00 jacket that he asked for, and he still doesn't wear it!!".
Oh brother, sometimes you just can't fix stupid.
The University has about $7,500.00 of fence to fix, and the moving vehicle that was struck (with no one injured thank Heavens) is worth about $7,500.00 and it surely totaled. So if the kid has only the minimum $15K of liability insurance (I'll bet you a sandwich that's all he has), then the moving vehicle owner and I are going to be fighting over the crumbs. We'll see what happens there.
So the scene clears and I'm waiting for after hours maintenance to bring some zip ties so we can temporarily do something with this fence to keep others from cutting themselves. I look across the large parking lot and a familiar sound catches my attention. On the other end, another kid in a naked bike is standing on the rear wheel going back and forth. OMG!!! I called the police and that dude is now in a bind.
We've got to increase our patrol in some areas of our parking lot..... HOLY COW!!
Edit: Just realized that even if he has the minimum liability, it's 15/30/xx - that means both the moving vehicle and I have $15K to work with. We should be ok unless the lawyers come calling. I don't mean to dwell on petty things, but that's what they pay me to do. I can't help but think in these terms.
bigjohnsd, Full House, Uncle Hud and 1 others loved this
"I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living. Or get busy dying."
- Andy Dufresne, Shawshank Redemption
wheatonFJR wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 9:48 am
ego and stoopid make for dangerous friends.
Multiplied 10x by being a young male idiot. Well, damn, now that women have gone from 10% of all riders to 20%, it looks like they are infringing on young male's previously exclusive domain of young and stoopid.
Glad there was enough left of the young idiot for the sponge squad to haul off. Since y'all don't have snow plows, it may be time to invest in a few speed bumps...
bigjohnsd, Hppants, wheatonFJR and 1 others loved this
Rode it to work in the bright sunshine of a mid-February morning, despite the bitter cold of 45F.
Refrained from doing wheelies in our parking lot, because there are a bunch of rather sturdy concrete columns every 7 or 8 parking spaces that would break me like a toothpick. (Sympathies for you Mr. Pants. Seriously. That's a pretty grim story despite the non-lethal outcome.)
Last edited by Uncle Hud on Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
*** You can't get into trouble in second gear. *** IBA 62517
wheatonFJR wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 9:48 am
ego and stoopid make for dangerous friends.
Multiplied 10x by being a young male. Well, damn, now that women have gone from 10% of all riders to 20%, it looks like they are infringing on young male's previously exclusive domain of young and stoopid.
Looked at it while putting the snow blower in the shed beside it. Just for a long moment, like as long as you look at a set of boobs before you get caught staring.
I believe the length of time one should (or could) stare at a set of Ta Ta's is directly proportional to the visibility and presentation of said Ta Ta's. In other words, to gawk at the poor librarian, with her neck line well above her neck, for longer than a momentary second of weakness would be excessive, inappropriate dare I state. On the other hand, the "dancer" (wink wink) that is entertaining you at that "Gentlemen's Club" (wink wink again), with her bikini top that is obviously meant for someone 3-5 sizes smaller than her, is welcome and actually encouraged to a stare that is at least 3 songs long (IIRC).
Ah... a boob man's work is never done....
Cav47 loved this
"I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living. Or get busy dying."
- Andy Dufresne, Shawshank Redemption
wheatonFJR wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 9:48 am
ego and stoopid make for dangerous friends.
Multiplied 10x by being a young male. Well, damn, now that women have gone from 10% of all riders to 20%, it looks like they are infringing on young male's previously exclusive domain of young and stoopid.
Nice boots.
Back tire's a little low on air, dont you think?
Keep yer stick on the ice........... (Red Green)
Duct tape can't fix stupid, but it can sure muffle the sound.
ionbeam wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 10:19 am
Multiplied 10x by being a young male. Well, damn, now that women have gone from 10% of all riders to 20%, it looks like they are infringing on young male's previously exclusive domain of young and stoopid.
Rode it to work. Took off the left side highway peg mount that got damaged back in December when I went down in the slush and snow. One of our machinists has already flattened out the bends and repaired the damage. Should be in the 50's when I leave this afternoon. Might take a while to get home.