Non-presidential topic: Marine motorcycle deaths top their Iraq combat fatalities

[cobalt1999]

As a fellow motorcyclist, I believe drivers just have too many distractions. Cell phones, loud stereos, texting, GPS devices, etc. It's dangerous out there now. When I ride, I assume 1/2 the folks are actively trying to kill me and the other half can't see me.



www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/30/marine.motorcycles/index.html

QUANTICO, Virginia (CNN) -- Motorcycle accidents have killed more Marines in the past 12 months than enemy fire in Iraq, a rate that's so alarming it has prompted top brass to call a meeting to address the issue, officials say.
Despite crashes, Gunnery Sgt. Art Tucker rides a sport motorcycle. "I enjoy it. ... It relaxes me," he says.

Despite crashes, Gunnery Sgt. Art Tucker rides a sport motorcycle. "I enjoy it. ... It relaxes me," he says.

Twenty-five Marines have died in motorcycle crashes since last November -- all but one of them involving sport bikes that can reach speeds of well over 100 mph, according to Marine officials. In that same period, 20 Marines have been killed in action in Iraq.

The 25 deaths are the highest motorcycle death toll ever for the Marine Corps.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. I've been considering learning to ride.

Problems with inattentive/evil drivers aside, it seems to me that part of the problem here is people getting motorcycles that are far too powerful for their skill level, and riding them way too fast. I was absolutely astonished by the performance characteristics available from something costing about as much as a beat-up pickup truck.

[cobalt1999]

4. I remember growing up and a 750cc motorcycle was considered huge

Now the Harley Sportster is 883cc and is considered small.

The sportbikes now are basically track bikes from a few years ago too.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

9. The sportster's not even *that* fast.

Engine displacement does not necessarily equate to performance. The bike I'm looking at getting is 750cc, about 42horsepower, and *might* be able to do 100mph if you pushed it, but you wouldn't want to.

The manufacturers of the faster sportbikes have in many cases started limiting the top speed to somewhere in the neighborhood of about 178mph. Which strikes me as about 90mph faster than is in any way sane or safe. Nonetheless, you can still get your ass killed at 20mph if you're not being careful or a driver decides it's time to put you into the side of his truck. Hell, I get that just riding my bicycle, and I doubt I'm moving much faster than 12mph most of the time.

[cobalt1999]

10. That's the point, it used to be considered fast.

Now, it's considered average to slow. People are just getting too much bike performance too soon.

[CreekDog]

2. One of them lanesplit between me and another car at 50mph

that's insane.

[cobalt1999]

6. Yes, their are some insane riders out there.

The bikes are just so responsive and powerful that anything under 75 mph feels slow.

[dysfunctional press]

3. i remember having my bike up to 95mph...

and thinking- if i had a blowout, i'd be dead.

i gave up riding not too long after a guy went thru a stop-sign and hit me broadside, and sent me sailing over his station wagon. i had a helmet on- and landed on it...i endede up with a broken collar bone and a broken shoulder blade.

[cobalt1999]

5. I've had more close calls and seen more distracted drivers in the last 5 years too

Drivers seem to be noticing the road less and less each year. Scary. Glad you were wearing your helmet. They aren't mandatory in Florida, but I wouldn't get near the bike without one.

[cherokeeprogressive]

13. This summer I had a rear blowout on the Road King with my fiance and about 100lbs of luggage onboard

We were on our way from L.A. to San Antonio, TX. At about 75mph I ran over something in the road too small to see. POP!

If I weren't an expert at the "panic stop", they'd still be scraping us off the pavement. By the time I got stopped, the back end was wobbling about 18" in either direction. Any longer and we would probably have high-sided.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Young men + Motorcycle + Beer = bad things happening.

As a young marine, I had a BSA (Bastard Stopped Again), drank way too much, drove it drunk, and probably only survived because the friggin' thing broke down so often.

[cobalt1999]

8. True, but the increase in the rate has to have some reason

Either riding is more dangerous now, the bikes are more powerful now, or more people are riding now, or a combination of all.

Young men + Motorcycles + Beer is the constant.

[Edweird]

11. After you've seen 'action', normal day to day life isn't the same.

The thrill seeking is a way to get your adrenaline 'fix'. Throw in a little PTSD that makes dying seem like not such a bad idea, and it gets even worse.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

12. That might be true of the Marines, but the Navy?

Maybe this is just my ignorance showing, but aside from the SEALs and the pilots, how much action has your average guy seen during this war?

[cherokeeprogressive]

14. Day or night, war or peacetime, the flight deck of an aircraft carrier is a rush.

Imagine putting an airport with a hundred planes in a space 1000' by 350'. The whole airport. Runways, taxiways, and flight line parking. Then picture yourself running around during flight ops trying to keep from getting either run over or sucked up into the vacuum of a jet engine intake.

Not like combat, I readily admit, but a rush the likes of which I'd never experienced. Especially at night.

Here are a couple of videos. Pay real close attention to the 3:30 mark in the first one. You can see the canopy come off the airplane just before it impacts the flight deck upside down. The flying canopy means the pilot ejected straight down into the flight deck from about 30 feet going about 140 mph. The second clip shows a Sailor getting sucked into the jet intake of an A-6.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGNQp3nm-_M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRpBSzNjnYE&feature=related

On edit: Gosh I did a little research and found out that the pilot's name in the first video at 3:30 was Ens Steven Ponsell and his brother died in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. God bless their family.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. Jesus Christ.

I, um, stand corrected.