Sad Day...

egclassic

egclassic

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 16, 2016
Messages
558
Location
Cincinnati, OH, United States
Today, I finally sold my Harley.
I bought her brand new in '06. I had planned on selling her when I first got the jeep almost 2 years ago, but couldn't go through with it. Since then, I hadn't ridden it much, but still knew it was waiting for me in the garage in case I wanted to take a ride.
The more I see people with their cell phones in their hands while driving, it made the decision easier. I have had some sort of bike since I was a kid but I think times are getting more dangerous on the road for bikes today.
 
egclassic said:
Today, I finally sold my Harley.
I bought her brand new in '06. I had planned on selling her when I first got the jeep almost 2 years ago, but couldn't go through with it. Since then, I hadn't ridden it much, but still knew it was waiting for me in the garage in case I wanted to take a ride.
The more I see people with their cell phones in their hands while driving, it made the decision easier. I have had some sort of bike since I was a kid but I think times are getting more dangerous on the road for bikes today.
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I'm in the same boat. My 98 Valkyrie is listed. Had it since May '07 when I totalled my first Valk. I agree on the more dangerous. A 31 yr old girl died last month just a few hundred yards from my house.
 
I don't blame you one bit. I don't ride like I used to, and that's primarily because I have 2 kids (soon to be 3), and putting my life at risk is just too much of a chance. I pay attention like crazy when I ride, and I've never seen so many distracted drivers (always texting) in my life. I'm always worried one of those idiots will hit me. It would be interesting to know the statistics on motorcycle accidents these days due to distracted driving. IMHO, it's probably more dangerous than drunk driving. More people are doing it, that's for sure.
 
I still ride almost daily to work if the weather is nice..and it's sometimes very scary with the distracted driving. More than once I've knocked on a window to ask someone to please put their phone away. Your text message is not worth my life.
 
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Same boat. I listed mine last year and had a bite but couldn't go thru with it. I bet this year I have only put 5 or 600 miles on it. I have had so many close calls with distracted drivers.
 
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basic said:
I still ride almost daily to work if the weather is nice..and it's sometimes very scary with the distracted driving. More than once I've knocked on a window to ask someone to please put their phone away. Your text message is not worth my life.
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Same here, but I usually don't say anything. I have knocked on the window of a car coming into my lane with my hard plastic knuckles of my glove, and once I had to kick a door as she was coming over so fast I knew she didn't see me, but a quick hard kick in the door got her attention.

but luckily my R1 will go 0-60 in like 3 seconds, so for the most part, I can just get out of the way.

I have been riding for over 15 years practically daily, and have never had an accident despite the 2 close calls above. Knock on wood.
 
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something needs to be done about phones and distracted driving, some kind of jammer that activates when the car is moved out of park. As for passengers who won't be able to use their phones, oh well, lives are more important. Its unfortunate that people are generally too stupid to not exercise common sense.

Until the manufacturers are forced to do something about it, fines should start at $1500, go to $2500 for the second offense and loose your license for 6 months on the 3rd.
 
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Flib said:
something needs to be done about phones and distracted driving, some kind of jammer that activates when the car is moved out of park. As for passengers who won't be able to use their phones, oh well, lives are more important. Its unfortunate that people are generally too stupid to not exercise common sense.

Until the manufacturers are forced to do something about it, fines should start at $1500, go to $2500 for the second offense and loose your license for 6 months on the 3rd.
Click to expand...
I have said the same thing to many people.
The phone should be disabled once it detects that it is moving more than 5 mph.
 
I came to the same conclusion & sold my last Harley, an 02 Superglide Sport, years ago. There's just far too much stupidity on the road & you can only guard against so much of it before your ticket is punched.

Thing is as time marches on the risk is only increasing with more congestion AND more distractedness, it sucks
 
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This is why I have a TJ. I sold all of my motorcycles after a soccer mom van tailgated me into a low side spill in my gravel driveway, I was so certain I was going to be hit. After laying there a few minutes trapped under the bike with gasoline pouring on me, my decision was made to set aside the joy of riding for the relative safety of four wheels. The number of vehicles on the road has doubled since I learned to ride and the skill set seems to be halved, starting with that ridiculous two second gap rule. Folks are already distracted, mobile phones just amplify that way beyond any two second reaction time. Just my 2¢
 
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I told my wife that we should just count our blessings and be happy we got to enjoy riding as long as we have without incident.
I found over the last couple of years, I wasn't really enjoying the ride as much because I was always looking for the next threat.
 
All of this makes me sad, because I still love riding so much. Motorcycle riding is like driving the TJ. Motorcycle no matter what motorcycle wave to each other as we pass. Sometimes I am an idiot and wave to a motorcycle in while in my Jeep haha. Now I just wave to everyone no matter what. I cover all of my basis.

I did notice that when driving me RAM 1500 nobody waves back. It is like I am the devil himself! Poor Poor Ramsy!
 
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