After reading the whole article, IMO Fultz should be charged for what he actually did, and the sergeant who told the trooper, “It’s up to you,” should be disciplined for not doing his job. Making unpopular decisions is one of the reasons supervisory people get paid more. That guy dodged his responsibility, laying the risks he should have taken himself onto the trooper - risk of punishment for ignoring the infraction, risk of ostracism by other officers for making the arrest. When a subordinate specifically consults you for advice, it’s your job to give it. This guy plain and simple let his trooper down. If he isn’t stepping up right now to take 100% of the heat, his superiors should be penalizing him for still not doing his job.
But have you considered how much easier it would be to speed if 90% of the other drivers were in a train instead? There could be so many fewer potholes if oversized vehicles were restricted. The roads could be for local commercial vehicles and enthusiasts - all speed all the time.
I really didn’t think the Lemmy consensus would be “speeding is okay actually especially on a motorcycle”
I’m not surprised, it’s basically the same group that will argue that if you’re travelling at the speed limit in the inside lane that you are literally eats-babies evil because they want to go 20 over and you’re the asshole slowing them down.
Stay right except to pass!
Failing to move back right to stick to a number arbitrarily chosen for esoteric fuel economy regulations predictably incites speeders behind you to make the passing situation 5x worse. Check out India sometime if you want to see the absolute worst version of this. Lorries do 50kmh at best in the inside line. Scooters do 35kmh in the shoulder. The “outer” lane does anywhere from 50kmh to 120kmh between lorries and scooters.
The number is chosen for safety reasons
Breaking law is kinda badass but also still fuck police and florida.
Oh so Trump is badass?
Ok I admit I was wrong there.
I just don’t understand how people are conflating speed differentials at highway speed and speed differentials when driving past a parked car.
A faster vehicle takes longer to brake and imparts more energy in a collision. Even in scenarios where the relative speeds are always the same, an accident will be more deadly, and accidents will always happen because people make mistakes.
All proponents of speeding do not have an intimate understanding of KE = 1/2mv^2
crazy
Isn’t this the same piece of shit that shoved his service weapon down someone’s throat during sex, used Flock to stalk his ex, casually used racial slurs in texts, and threw the Nazi salute in photos? Don’t worry, I already know it is, but it’s probably just your average Tuesday for most county deputies in Florida.
Don’t worry, I already know it is, but it’s probably just your average Tuesday for most county deputies in Florida.
I wouldn’t say it’s average, but it isn’t something Florida sheriff’s offices are worried about.
- Ex-county deputy in Florida
Isn’t this the same piece of shit that shoved his service weapon down someone’s throat during sex, used Flock to stalk his ex, casually used racial slurs in texts, and threw the Nazi salute in photos
You’re gonna have to be more specific /s
Funny meme, but pretending all cops are the same is how you avoid weeding out the worst of them and making the situation better.
Oh, you mean the guy with the “unrelated administrative investigation”
I believe it is.
Besides speeding, records indicate Fultz did not have an endorsement on his driver license that is required to operate a motorcycle.
What’s the phrase? “Never commit two crimes at the same time”. I guess we need to add “…unless you’re a cop, and then its all cool, bro”.
“one crime at a time”
It’s not a crime if you’re above the law /s
LAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW
I got a motorcycle permit 18 years ago, but never did the (1) driving test where you have a friend bring a car and a trooper rides with them and follows you around or (2) a motorcycle safety course. At some point they removed option 1.
It showed as an AM license (CDL also) with a restriction of licensed MC operator over 21 in sight. For the one year I actually rode a motorcycle, I hoped I could talk my way out of it. “Ah shoot where did Uncle Joe go? He didn’t see you stop me?”
My last license renewal, the worker and I were friendly, and she was impressed how fast I did the hazmat test without missing any. She asked about the permit and I told her I’ve just never gotten around to it, but for some reason have paid $6 extra per renewal to keep it on there.
Without saying anything, she must have removed the restriction. So I now have a motorcycle license.
I basically did the same and rode on a permit the entire time I owner a motorcycle. The difference was in my state the only difference between the permit and license (other than the permit times out sooner) is that you can’t drive after sundown. Worked fine for me, got a little sketchy in the fall, but I basically had the same plan as you “shucks officer, I lost track of time and am right on my way home to Papa”
Damn it sounds like it’s easy over there. I get AM category (scooters up to 50cc) free on the account of having B category, but I have to go through a course costing over 600 euros and then do the full theoretical + riding exams like I did for B cat (those cost a bit of money too, not too much). This is also cheaper than getting it from scratch which would be 900 euros for the course (more theory lessons) and be limited to 250cc at first.
I’ve been contemplating it for a few years now, but something important is that if I want to get an exam time the same year, I’d have to do the course in March or April (when it might still be snowy lol) because exam times are always booked up… And particularly last few years since I’m not working full-time or even half-time due to burnout, I’m broke as hell after winter because of the heating costs and dropping nearly a grand on getting a license and then another grand or 2 on a fixer-upper first bike doesn’t seem like a great idea anymore :/ Will have to wait until mid-life crisis.
There’s a reason USians are known to buy 1000ccs as starter bikes and yeehaw into a coffin. They generally only need either a 15 hour class or 6 month permit on a 125-250cc to be qualified for any motorcycle at all.
I will support “beginner” bikes forever. 90% of the “little bike” woes of my 250 ended up being skill issues. You know what 250s won’t do on whiskey throttles when poor grip on the throttle and poor core body reaction tilts your torso back and pulls a little throttle jolt into a full throttle expedition? They won’t power wheelie. I always see them say just use self control, but that’s hard to do when your body is physically not experienced for a 3 second 0-100kmh rocket that only contacts your fingers and taint.
The “beginner” bike I want is actually nowhere close to 125cc, but it’s not a deadly liter bike either. I’m looking at a 620cc Ducati Monster. Why? Because it looks nice, sounds nice and despite the Monster name, it doesn’t seem to be the “one mistake and you’re dead” kind of bike, has a more forgiving throttle response from what I’ve heard. And I already buy ridiculously depreciated German luxury cars for funsies and fix them when shit breaks, I think I could handle anything an Italian bike throws at me too, especially since it wouldn’t even be my primary vehicle.
But then when I start thinking about the finances, it no longer makes sense. Besides the license and the bike itself, I’d also obviously need gear (ATGATT after all) and I’m hoping to lose some 50 kilos in the next few years so that also means buying expensive pants and a jacket again. Might put it off for another year or 2 at this rate so things align better.
I do love the Monster on paper (and by ear, and by eye) but I’ve generally signed off on Ducati for now and the foreseeable future. I could see it being my 3rd or 4th concurrent bike. Even my Honda needs maintenance that I seem to defer a little too much. While I have experience with depreciated Jaguars, I don’t have the time to do that luxury maintenance on them all. In good weather, I just want to ride, in bad weather, I handle more pressing chores. But I did chase the sound with a VFR (V4) sport tourer. While Honda has two V2s, they’re both sport/race oriented (VTR1000, RVT1000). And yet, I beleive I already have a street bike, so my dream is a 1098 sport, not a monster. Of course, you could always just get a 300 or smaller Japanese bike and have two bikes!
Anyway, since I haven’t followed the Monster with any serious thought, I’d recommend just seeing if it’s a wheelie machine. The Suzuki Sv650 (definitelynotaMonster) is twitchy in that regard. The SV won’t loop in 3rd gear, probably not even 2nd without a clutch-up, but it’s known to lift the wheel in spirited cross-traffic turns. Not so deadly, but can still ruin your day.
The weight fluctuation with atgatt struggle is real. The timing worked out well for me where I was down a fair amount after a rough couple years when I picked up riding. Only 10 kilos down though and could stand to lose another 10. While I wouldn’t want to wait 2 years, I do acknowledge 50 kilos is a bigger swing. Sometimes the gear is tight in early spring, sometimes it’s baggy by fall. Surely I think I’ll make it down a full size for next season, but winter takes a toll. With regret at the time, I’ve already re-bought all my gear at about the same sizes because the first set wore out (all textiles, regular wear and tear, couple mild slides).
I was an adult when I started. I wish I started as a good, but I’ve accepted starting as a teen would have come with consequences. I’ve been active on bicycles all my life and credit that for good understanding of bi-cycle physics. Antics on a pedal bike cost less. Learning countersteering on pedals to command lean is invaluable to me. Everybody countersteers to lean, but most people think they’re just leaning their torso. They’re inducing a countersteer every time without realizing it because bi-cycle geometry is already worked out for the.
Stay shiny side up, wherever the road takes you.
MotoGP’s Moto3 class is 250 cc currently, and was 125 cc in the past. That should tell people all they need to know.
(Apparently the classes are made much closer in displacement and power gradually from 2019 to 2028. And the top class will actually lower the displacement from 1L to 850 cc next year.)
Then you commit multiple crimes all day long.
“But there’s a fairly decent amount of traffic. He was not weaving. He wasn’t doing anything like that. He was in a straight line in the left lane.”
I don’t care at all about a motorcycle riding at those speeds under those conditions.
ACAB because of cop favoritism, and fuck this scumbag in particular, though.
I’d even say motorcycle is optional. If you’re going in a straight line, not changing lanes at all, in the left lane, on a highway or other controlled entry/exit road…you can be going mach fuck for all I care. You are not the problem.
Until he’s moving too fast for normal reactions and some poor victim smears him because he wasn’t in their mirror 1 sec prior. 111 mph is ~150fps. That’s 10 car lengths. And the victim is only absolved if they can prove speeding - good luck if that’s a smeared cop.
It is exactly the problem.
I see this often. Going that much faster means an average car still in the other lane simply will not be in the motorcyclists lane at all before the bike passes. The bike will pass while the car just has its tires on the line. The motorcyclist is looking ahead for vehicles already in the same lane. Higher risk? Obviously. But I’m tired of people acting like they’re a victim because a bike blasted by and they think “I could have killed that biker” (or “that biker could have killed themselves on my car”) while barely on their second signal flash. They traveled 10 car lengths, you got your tires on the lane, they pass, you complete your lane change, they’re now 30 car lengths ahead.
That situation does not crash the bike into the changing car. It either makes the bike swerve out into a median or the bike passes without incident. The actual cause of speeding bike crashes in traffic is weaving when dipshits riders switch lanes and inadvertently box themselves into a dead end.
Want to avoid lane-change crashes of any type? Change lanes smoothly and predictable. Use your signal, take 4 seconds to change on the highway, and do not swerve to grab the faster lane every 15 seconds. Be predictable, go home without a collision report. You don’t have to give motorcycles special treatment but collision avoidance works the same.
or you could just obey the fucking laws like everyone else.
why you gotta go put your death on someone else’s life because you’re an impatient prick?
I obey the law. But somehow, this speed differential works just fine here in Germany where people share responsibility and cooperate. Your speed limits are arbitrarirly low for some esoteric fuel economy logic.
I obey the law.
doubt!
arbitrarily low for some esoteric fuel economy logic.
pfft sure bud.
it’s not about reaction time, or the physics F=MA, nah you’re above all those concerns.
what a fuckin toolbag
I get it, it’s the only experience you’ve known, so it must be right.
[USA] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law
Meanwhile, your whole interstate system was inspired by the German autobahn. Look at an interstate circling a city. Most of them are 65mph, often with minimum 12ft lane width, awkward turns skirting district borders, interchanges every mile or more, and persistent dense traffic. Then look at your middle states with incredibly straight interstates, significantly wider 20ft lanes, miles between exits, no commuter traffic. It’s still 65mph except for some brave areas that increased it a whopping 5-15mph in the early 2000s. Absolutely no one in that engineering company concluded 65 was the maximum safe number. It wasn’t 80, either. The average car has become far, far more capable and stable than those present in 1974. Try one of those on a current 65mph highway some time.
So the “victim” you describe, the guy blindly merging without adequately paying attention to their surroundings and causing a crash.
That guy is the problem.
111 mph is ~150fps
It’s a freeway. Everyone is going the same direction. Speed differential is what matters, and it was only around 45mph. You drive 45mph past parked cars all the time and don’t blink an eye. All it takes is one parked driver to pull out and it’s all over for you, apparently.
It is exactly the problem.
You people making shit up is the problem. You’re literally sitting there imagining scenarios where you can feel threatened by a man sitting on a 400 - 500 pound machine, who is traveling at 45mph relative to you. You’re ignoring the actual situation being discussed and inventing scenarios in your head so that you can feel threatened and express your righteous indignation while clutching your pearls. It’s really weird.
Comparing parked cars and cars moving at ~65mph on the highway is pants-on-head stupid
Parked cars enter the travel lane faster than cars on the highway change lanes. Travel speed is irrelevant, rate of change is. Rotating a car 30deg off parallel to leave a space is a faster action. In both situations, I’d be riding the far side of the lane to give as much berth as I can.
I’m not your prior commenter. And no, I dont fly past traffic like that because there’s always a high likelihood of someone jumping out into the faster lane. “Open lane pattern” is something to look for. But to not realize how often and how quickly parked cars leave parking spaces is pants-on-head blind
I can’t believe you actually think passing parked cars at 45mph is more dangerous than passing someone on the highway doing 45 over the limit. Like I’m actually speechless
You’re literally sitting there imagining scenarios where you can feel threatened by a man sitting on a 400 - 500 pound machine, who is traveling at 45mph relative to you
no, they’re imagining scenarios where some selfish prick who can’t stand to wait in traffic like a normal human with the rest of the normal humans SPEEDS THROUGH A CLOT OF MULTI THOUSAND POUND VEHICLES like a dumbfuck. You’re inventing reasons why people shouldn’t care when you murder people with your 500lbs of crotch rocket, starting with yourself but often involving innocent people in your carnage.
grow the fuck up.
this is the fuckhead you’re defending: https://nypost.com/2026/08/30/us-news/florida-deputy-of-the-year-resigns-after-claims-he-tracked-ex-with-flock-cameras-used-n-word-did-nazi-salute/
Somehow read this that he avoided arrest because of the “Super Speeder” law. Like if you speed fast enough, it’s so impressive, they let you out of the ticket. Didn’t realize this was NOTtheonion. Made for an interesting interpretation on my first read.
That’s exactly how my brain read the headline.
So once upon a time, a long long time ago (well past all applicable statutes of limitation) I noticed a pattern when people would get pulled over for speeding. If they were speeding a little, it was a speed trap and the cop was there to write tickets, it would take a whole lot of charm and luck to get let off in that situation.
If they were speeding a lot, like a whole lot, they’d get pulled over by officers who were more interested in where they were going in such a hurry rather than handing out tickets. Having established that the driver isn’t fleeing the scene of a crime or something like that, they’d generally be let off with a warning - often just a verbal warning, but even sometimes a written warning on the official forms.
You’re basically talking about the difference between traffic cops and regular patrol.
More pedantically, it’s “Traffic enforcement unit cops” or “Cops who went out of their way to take a speed measurement certification course and get issued the equipment and thus are expected to use them or lose them” vs. “Cops who didn’t.”
As you can imagine, the latter doesn’t care nearly as much about traffic enforcement.
- Ex-cop
Ironically enough, I am pretty sure I got let off by traffic enforcement units a couple of times when I was far enough over to qualify for “the expensive ticket”, but very rarely when it was just 12-15 mph over. Also, even though I tend to drive about 9 over most of the time, I seem to get an awful lot of tickets for 15 over - where the fine takes a bump up… Their word against mine…
In my area (HCSO, PCPD) you could tell by their boots: jackboots = traffic enforcement.
Of course there’s also FHP, who are basically an entire agency of only traffic enforcement.
I’d recommend getting a dash cam and your speedometer calibrated, just in case you got a wheel resize or gear configuration change that made your speedometer inaccurate. We were required to calibrate our patrol cars every year if we used it to measure speed, but there is zero such requirement for random motorists. I think the LIDAR and RADAR guns were yearly too, but I never applied for the class required to use one so I’m not sure.
I “calibrate” my speedos vs GPS every so often, they’re reasonably close (+/- 2mph at 70).
I waffle about the dash cam, of course I’ll want it after something happens and I don’t have it, but on the other hand I also hate the thought of a protracted court fight for what?
There are tons of nightmare scenarios you can avoid by having a dashcam including the police lying about something you did while driving, which could lead to all sorts of awful things for you.
For $50, it’s a no-brainer to me.
Yeah, and I’ve faced a couple of those potential nightmares… unfortunately, my experience has been: the cops act a lot worse when you have “anti-cop tech” visible in your car, for instance I got the most bogus speeding ticket of all time when a radar detector was visible. Times I’ve been “at their mercy” where they could plant anything, claim anything, do anything, no witnesses around just me and them, they’ve always been more decent - almost never wrote anything up, just waved me on about my business after the stop.
For awhile, I ran around with 10 old registrations in the trunk but “couldn’t find” the most recent one, even though the sticker on the tag was updated. I must have gotten 3 written warnings for “no valid registration” when I thought I was going to get a speeding ticket. They got a free look inside my trunk, got to write something up, and didn’t have to hit me with a speeding fine. It’s far from ideal, in the ideal world everything is on audio/video record and we base everything on the actual truth, but cops being human (and subject to human pettiness) sometimes having that record just makes them want to show you everything they can do to you without you being able to effectively fight back - including dragging your ass in to court for no reason whatsoever, they don’t even bother to show - or maybe they do and they lie when they get there and they know (and in some towns are related to) the judge… If they know they have nothing of substance to present in court (like that radar detector cop) they just don’t show up.
Is that really why they ask where you’re going? Like coincidentally they think they are also going to solve some massive crime? Like “I’m in a rush to get to my drug deal! Oops.”
The thing is, smarter people think better than to speed while carrying a body or a kilo of cocaine in the trunk, but smarter people tend not to commit crime as often, on average.
So as much as it makes no sense to you, it does when you factor in common criminals. Supervisors monitoring your KPIs don’t care if the arrest was made on a dumb person or a smart person.
- Ex-cop
I’ve had luck with “I really really need to go to the bathroom!”
If it were me, I’d respond: “Okay, I’ll follow you to the nearest public bathroom, but you’re still getting the citation.”
Someone pulled that on me once, but I saw them pass a few public bathrooms as they cut around a line of cars in traffic to get to the turn lane a bit faster by going down the wrong way of the roadway, so they were obviously lying.
You might have more luck with your lie among lazier/less discerning/dumber cops, it’s true.
- Ex-cop
Oh, I wasn’t lying.
Fair enough, it looked like you were implying it was a trick you’re passing on to others.
Obviously it doesn’t matter either way and I can’t prove or disprove what you’re claiming now.
Yeah I’m suggesting they say that if needed, but lie convincingly.
Before I was old enough to drive, I once was riding with a friend who’d recently gotten food poisoning and who really needed a restroom. He was speeding to get there and, when he got pulled over, told the officer so.
I don’t remember the exact words, but after issuing the ticket, the policeman basically said “just pull over and shit on the side of the road if you need to.”
Hey it was worth a shot. I’d ignore that advice because the next cop will brand you a sex offender for it.
As far as I’m aware that depends on the state; few states have the “peeing in public = sex offender” laws. Mine certainly doesn’t.
Not aware of a “pooping in public = sex offender” law, but they might be covered under the same statute in the states that take issue with it.
Well, I think the first clue is when they put their lights on and tell you to pull over, if you don’t then they have reason to call in the cavalry and “maintain order and justice in the land” by forcing you to stop, comply, lie face down while they cuff you first and ask questions later.
If you play nice (darn) then they ask the questions politely first and look for “tells” - you know: blood dripping from the trunk, piles of loose cash in the floorboards, a dark complexion (driving while black) - all the “usual suspects’” signs - probable cause. A remarkable percentage of actual criminals are not stone cold liars who are able to cooly answer the questions and act like nothing unusual is going on.
The Florida Highway Patrol caught Brevard County Deputy of the Year Michael Fultz riding his motorcycle 111 mph while off duty in February but did not arrest him under Florida’s ‘Super Speeder’ law, News 6 has learned.
Instead, the FHP trooper issued Fultz a civil traffic citation for exceeding the posted speed limit by 9 mph, records show.
“I’m not going to take you to jail, Fultz,” Trooper Joshua Provencher told the deputy, according to a video recording of the traffic stop obtained by News 6. “Obviously you and I are buddies. I’m not trying to show favoritism, either.”
Well, to be fair, as long as he said he’s not showing favoritism, that means he’s not showing favoritism. I see nothing wrong here and I’m glad these stand up guys don’t get in trouble.
Oh well if there’s no favoritism. So you or I could do that and he obviously would do the same thing. Or someone who was a different color or religion. No favoritism.
FHP also did not address how it might respond to public concerns that the deputy may have received special treatment.
mhm
That’s how they’re going to respond. By not addressing it.
Isnt this the guy that also stalked his ex with Flock, put his service gun in her mouth, etc etc?
He looks like a husky version of Dangle from Reno 911.
New boot goofin’
if thier “vehicle” moves and the speed of the sound, would it mega speeder law.
178.6 kph
So slightly above regular Autobahn cruising speed, definitely not super speed.
It’s far more dangerous to drive this fast when the rest are driving like 110 kph though than in Germany where everyone below 130 kph is seen as holding up traffic. A good amount of the danger comes from speed difference between cars.
It depends on the road.
3-lane Autobahn? No prob.
Single-lane stroad? You should lose your license.
P.S. Most of the Autobahn has a speed limit
P.S. Most of the Autobahn has a speed limit
And where there isn’t, around 160kph is cruising speed for regular cars (not trucks). People in a hurry drive 200kph legally where possible all the time. It’s really not uncommon. 178kph on a highway is not super speed.
German driving skill is far above the average US citizen. Germans expect a Porsche with an itching trigger finger on the high beams to be passing at 200. USians can’t be arsed to check their mirrors because they’re entitled to the road and anyone going faster deserves a crash. Just look at how much road rage they have because people drive the exact speed limit in the passing lane and get passed on the wrong side.
Oh scheiße, ich muss gleich gähnen.
(And to everyone who doesn’t know: The Autobahn is built for high speed cruising and people keep mostly to the right - so there’s no high speed “weaving” through traffic. Mostly. Idiots also exist over here, but sometimes traffic is low enough to go fast in a very relaxed way. I’ve driven in the US and there 180kph would be wild)
So, you have never driven on the Autobahn, you say?
Not die deutsche Autobahn.
that speed is not legal anywhere in the world.
that speed is not legal anywhere in the world.
Objectively wrong. I drive that fast completely legally regularly in Germany.
It’s far beyond the posted speed limit anywhere in America, which is where this cop was riding his bike.
Highest posted speed limit in this country is 85mph, on a small stretch of toll road in Texas. Which converts to a “mere” 137kph. We don’t have un-restricted highways here.
There are places in the US where there is no speed limit. They’re mostly in places like Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, but they do exist.
So? I’m just pointing out which lame duck speeds are considered super speed in Trumpistan.
You are very smart, and need everyone to know it
Hot take: every motorcyclist who is driving fast in a responsible way should be shown this leniency, not just pigs, as motorcycles are not cars and the risk is born by the rider instead of the public.
motorcycles are not cars and the risk is born by the rider instead of the public
Someone still needs to pick up the pieces. Plus, organs keep better if the impact force doesn’t turn the body into mush.
The biker can only kill himself once.
500 pounds of bike and rider impacting another vehicle at >100mph can easily kill everyone in that other vehicle.
“The Public” bears much greater risk than the motorcyclist.
500 pounds of bike and rider impacting another vehicle at >100mph can easily kill everyone in that other vehicle.
Maybe if the other vehicle is a tandem bicycle. Nobody is dying in a modern car or SUV due to being rear-ended by a motorcycle with a ~45mph speed differential.
You’re not going to be personally harmed under those conditions on a freeway. A side impact due to cross- or turning-traffic on a two-way road? Maybe. Even then, a modern car is going to fare phenomenally well and much of the impact energy is turned into catapulting the rider into the air.
Maybe if the other vehicle is a tandem bicycle.
Those are actually ridden by members of the public, you know.
Nobody is dying in a modern car or SUV due to being rear-ended by a motorcycle with a ~45mph speed differential.
Even if you were correct (you’re not), you’re ignoring that the modern car or SUV is still going to be a total loss. That property damage is another risk born by the public.
And you’re completely disregarding the head-on collision when that biker comes across the median and hits the car with a ~180mph speed differential. Or the T-bone when the car doesn’t see the >100mph biker and turns across his path.
I’ve damaged plenty of vehicles, including being rear ended by a semi at a similar speed differential. If the semi didn’t total my kia soul, a motor cycle doing it isn’t going to total an SUV. A trip to the body shop would definitely be required, though. Modern vehicles can take a staggering amount of impact force and survive.
I agree with everything else.
Those are actually ridden by members of the public, you know.
Are there a lot of tandem bicycles out on the freeway, where this event occurred?
Even if you were correct (you’re not), you’re ignoring that the modern car or SUV is still going to be a total loss.
I am entirely correct and, again, where was the collision in the event being discussed?
You want to make absurd hypothetical claims (that car drivers are terribly endangered by a motorcycle speeding in a single lane) and when that’s shown to be false you want to talk about a “total loss”. This is also pretty baseless. A motorcycle rear-ending a hypothetical car at a 45mph speed differential is unlikely to be a total loss of the car.
And you’re completely disregarding the head-on collision when that biker comes across the median and hits the car with a ~180mph speed differential.
Oh, neat, more absurd hypotheticals that are phenomenally unlikely. Meanwhile, motorcyclists are killed all the time by oncoming drivers turning left across their path or simply veering into the motorcyclist’s lane because dicking around on their phone is more important than controlling a multi-ton box.
Or the T-bone when the car doesn’t see the >100mph biker and turns across his path.
Do you make a lot of turns on freeways?
Meanwhile, motorcyclists are killed all the time by oncoming drivers turning left across their path
Yeah, I’ve been involved in one of those. Driver was traveling at more than twice the speed limit. Had he been traveling only 20 over, he would have been where the driver would have reasonably been able to see him. But he was traveling more than twice the limit. The driver couldn’t foresee that he would cross his path. Couldn’t even see him before it was too late to stop his turn, or for the motorcyclist to evade.
Car was totaled. Motorcyclist went to jail.
It actually sounds better than I expected, a jail is still not a cemetery
the risk is born by the rider instead of the public.
This is some bullshit. A motorcycle may be smaller than a car comparatively but one being hurled at you at highway speeds is still lethal. Both pedestrians and people in cars die to speeding motorcycles every day.
people in cars die to speeding motorcycles every day.
No, they fucking don’t. It’s phenomenally rare. It’s utterly unheard of in one-way, divided traffic.
which is why the personal injury law firm i consult with from time to time has absolutely no business. none.
Are you sarcastically trying to claim that “people in cars die to speeding motorcycles every day” is keeping a law firm in business?
i’m not going to explain the finances of a case to you.
Compared to a fucking truck or SUV at highway speeds? No shot.
How is the comparison even relevant?
Last time I checked SUVs are required to adhere to speed limits too.I wasn’t arguing about cars vs motorcycles, I was arguing that
the risk is born by the rider instead of the public.
is complete horseshit.
It’s relevant because the truck or SUV are far far more dangerous to the public when doing the same behavior as the bike, yet are treated the same.
So, normal cars should be also allowed to speed because those are safer to everyone than SUVs
The risk is bourne by the public in three ways:
- The public pays for the cost of their injuries, either directly through a state healthcare system or in the form of increased premiums. An insurance company has no way to differentiate reckless motorcyclists who are lucky from responsible motorcyclists.
- A crash on a road will close one or more lanes while emergency services attend the site of the crash, causing congestion. While the overall inconvenience per motorist is small, it happens to many hundreds to thousands of motorists and thus collectively wastes hundreds of hours of people’s time.
- Normalising reckless behaviour increases its social acceptability, and I think that as soon as it becomes widely known that you won’t go to jail for operating a motorcycle at double the speed limit, the first people to try this will be teenagers
The public pays for the cost of their injuries, either directly through a state healthcare system or in the form of increased premiums. An insurance company has no way to differentiate reckless motorcyclists who are lucky from responsible motorcyclists.
The cost of the injuries is far less than the same behavior in a car.
A crash on a road will close one or more lanes while emergency services attend the site of the crash, causing congestion
I have only seen this happen once, when a guy did suicide by bike by driving directly into the back of a dump truck doing like 100 on a bridge at 4 AM about a year ago. The bike was ripped in half and the body was so messed up nobody wanted to touch it.
Every other time, someone just walks/drags the bike and rider to the side of the road and helps them get recollected.
Normalising reckless behaviour increases its social acceptability, and I think that as soon as it becomes widely known that you won’t go to jail for operating a motorcycle at double the speed limit, the first people to try this will be teenagers
So by treating the far more dangerous car behavior the same way, are we encouraging people to behave dangerously in cars?
But my point isn’t that reckless behavior should be legalized, it’s that cases where it’s much more dangerous to society should be punished accordingly.
Driving a motorcycle at double the speed limit is far more dangerous than driving a car at normal speeds. That’s why driving a car at those speeds will also get you a driving ban.
I ride my motorcycle everyday and ride strictly to the letter of traffic law. The safest way to ride is to be predictable. With that said, I am not wholly in disagreement with you, in that obviously risk levels for others are less than a rider in any circumstance on the road, even ones where it is the motorcyclist travelling with excess speed. That does not mean that consequences for an accident due to the unpredictablity of someone speeding are not shared with society. The trauma of witnessing a lethal accident and traffic delays due to cleanup have different severities but each can have lasting impacts on people. Riding and travelling on roadways in general already are filled with hazards and risks. Anecdotally, it seems as technology in cars meant to keep people safer makes gains in the industry, what it actually accomplishes is that it allows people to be less involved in driving, or even just complacent to not pay as much attention. This is not the rider’s fault, but adding the element of excess speed is a recipe for disaster. Ride and drive predictably. I rarely see accidents that are ambiguous. An all too common thread between accidents is excess speed.
The trauma of witnessing a lethal accident and traffic delays due to cleanup have different severities but each can have lasting impacts on people.
You may not have noticed, but there was no collision in the article being discussed. He was speeding in traffic that was so light that he didn’t even need to change lanes. There was no collision. He had something like a 45mph speed differential versus other traffic.
How about you stop pontificating on hypotheticals and look at the actual situation being discussed?
Also, if you’re so concerned about the trauma of seeing motorcyclists injured, then you should be focusing on driver training and PSAs about scanning the road for more vulnerable road users. Motorcyclists are injured or killed by inattentive or reckless drivers at a rate vastly higher than the reverse.
You seem so hostile to a comment I made about riding predictably and safely. You also seem to misunderstand the thread of comments. I was replying to a person who had a hot take about leniency of the law toward motorcyclists who speed, not discussing the specific situation in the article. I am aware that inattentive and reckless drivers are a much larger problem, and provide a little commentary on that as well. I didn’t intend to inflame anyone, we’re having a discussion, and as a daily rider, I encourage everyone I ride with to be as safe as possible. I also tell every car driver I’m with to pay more attention and to be more aware.
What a stupid take. Have you tried to change lanes with someone zipping by 40 mph faster than you? Now lets let everybody on a motorcycle do that. Sounds so fun!
An all too common thread between accidents is excess speed.
The influence of road conditions and traffic on what is and isn’t a safe speed is way greater on a bike than a car, so even in optimal conditions, where the speed limit was determined for motorcycles, it would have to be understood as a guide of “This is what an average bike could ride with minimal traffic and sunny road conditions, if there’s traffic or poor conditions, you should go slower”.
consequences for an accident due to the unpredictablity of someone speeding are not shared with society.
True, there aren’t zero consequences born by society, but it is far, far less than if you were speeding in a 2 ton steel box designed to protect you at the expense of anyone else, and that should be reflected in the consequences. Same reason I think it’s insane that a bicycle DUI in Japan can get you the same consequences as a car DUI, though in practice, cops understand the law is insane and only apply it to foreigners.
