Military rider crashed today

[kabagram]

I'm an officer in the Air Force and am working a job where I have access to real time significant event alerts from all over the world. As I sit here glancing over the past couple of months, the leading causes of death among Air Force members is motorcycle & suicide. It's ironic since we are flying hundreds of missions in theater landing aircraft on blacked-out dirt LZs on NVGs while being lit with small arms, RPGs, and SAMs. Haven't kept an exact tally bike and suicide deaths, but they are within single digits of each other. Occassionally, I may see a cancer death or vehicle accident, but the vast majority are the bikes and self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Some are the fault of the rider, some are clearly not. Reading the grisly reports on a daily basis have certainly tempered my enthusiasm to ride and the enjoyment of it. Ride safe...

[ohgood]

so the best advice for kids is:

don't ride motorcycles
followed by
don't shoot yourself

if you want them to live a while?


orrrrr maybe that's just military specific, dies not apply to the general public?

[iRoC_nOtU]

I am also in the military service out here @ Ft. Irwin and kids can ride all they want the point is to imply proper riding skills and using them 24/7... that means only do what your confortable at in all situations. which means if your going 80 mph in a 45 mph zone and spilting lanes you might end up as road kill... so sit back and enjoy the ride and if you like to speed do it when there are no cars around to run your butt over after you eat pavement. facts dont lie the bike is only 1-10% of the problem the other 90-99% is rider error.. so ride safe and repectfully and you'll be ok... there are thoose accidents where you can help other vehicles do play a factor so use caution and safe riding skills and you should overcome close calls.. riding 150 miles a day to and from work i put myself into more risk of a close call then other and i ride the I-15 everyday one of, if not the most deadlest HWYs in the USA. so ride smart, react smarter.
Alot of the soldiers i see in cases where they are killed and/or seriously injuryed is due to poor riding habits. Speed plays a factor in alot of these cases and lack of EXP. What i tell my soldiers and my civilian counterparts is to be safe and always wear your PPE no matter if its a 200 mile trip or a 1 mile trip. Anything can happen.

Just be aware of your surroundings. Just my 2 cents.

[tattoogunman]

You know what they say - it's not *if* you have an accident on a motorcycle, it's *when* you have an accident on a motorcycle. I don't care if you're one of those guys on here touting a 100 year history of riding with no problems, one day something is going to be outside your realm of control and you're going to take a dive. I don't care how much gear you wear, what kind of bike you ride, whether you have ABS or not, how much experience you have, how old you are, what your job is, etc. - one day you're going to be having a bad day or be in the wrong place at the wrong time and it's going to happen. It may be something as simple as wiping out in deep sand or something, but it's going to happen.

[D R]

Originally Posted by kabagram

I'm an officer in the Air Force and am working a job where I have access to real time significant event alerts from all over the world. As I sit here glancing over the past couple of months, the leading causes of death among Air Force members is motorcycle & suicide. It's ironic since we are flying hundreds of missions in theater landing aircraft on blacked-out dirt LZs on NVGs while being lit with small arms, RPGs, and SAMs. Haven't kept an exact tally bike and suicide deaths, but they are within single digits of each other. Occassionally, I may see a cancer death or vehicle accident, but the vast majority are the bikes and self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Some are the fault of the rider, some are clearly not. Reading the grisly reports on a daily basis have certainly tempered my enthusiasm to ride and the enjoyment of it. Ride safe...

When I worked in a FLTCOM Operations Center, we would see reports on motocycle accidents all the time. One young Marine came back from the Middle East, bought himself a motorcycle (don't know if it was his first) and he was dead from it less than 24 hours later.... lost control in the barracks parking lot, jumped the curb and impacted the side of the building.

A tragic loss.

[ohgood]

Originally Posted by K0m4

Is it just me, or is the information that this guy is in the military a totally redundant piece of information? The cager is no more or less of an idiot because of it, and the guy got hurt no more or less because of it. Are we supposed to feel extra outraged because of it? Well, I'm not.. the cager, as the situation is described, is an ass no matter what the guy does for a living.

agreed. the immediate public bows down to anyone in the military for some reason. they can't be smart asses, assholes, jerks, dumb asses, or just plain stupid like the rest of us because of an enlistment?

[dolomoto]

Many of these same issues have been debated at length...


GI's and Motorcycle Crashes

[Genehil]

Originally Posted by ohgood

agreed. the immediate public bows down to anyone in the military for some reason. they can't be smart asses, assholes, jerks, dumb asses, or just plain stupid like the rest of us because of an enlistment?

I concur

I spent 22+ years in the military - and I agree... some of the biggest douche bags I've ever known were in there with me. Criminals, domestic abusers, axxholes, you name it and it's there. The military is just a reflection of our own society with the same basic ratio of personalities... and personality disorders.

And, BTW - once I was on my Kawasaki W1 (BSA 650 clone) way back when I was a young airman in 1969... and a Thai taxi pulled a U-Turn ahead of me and I locked everything up and she laid herself down (on the mandatory front and rear crash bars that the USAF required for bikes that were operated on the base) and we both slid yards and yards and yards down the muddy asphalt toward the taxi that had stopped mid U-turn when he saw us go down. Because of the front and rear crash bars, I was able to scramble up on the top of the sliding motorcycle to get my right leg out from under things... and after everything was over - I convinced myself and everyone around me that I made the decision to lay her down. That was my 22 year old ego talking, I just farked up and was merely along for the ride. Those front and rear crash guards were ugly and uncool - but they sure did save a beautiful bike.

[mach1charlie]

Originally Posted by wfopete

Hmmm. All this reminds me that I need to practice some panic stops in a somewhat "Controlled" environment along with other maneuvers taught by the multiple MFS schools that are mandatory to attend as part of the military. Just got a new Super Tenere' and the braking/ABS capabilities are in a different world from my KLR.

I ride a KLR, it may stop faster laying it down, than useing the brakes !

[kabagram]

I had been following this story here on the local news since Sunday PM and this morning they identified the guy. He could be one of the military dirt bags, but I doubt it. He was an Air Force Capt, just home from a two year desert deployment, likely without having ridden the whole time. Less than 24 hours after getting home, he gets on his bike and heads out at night, in the rain and drizzle we were having from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac, loses control on a curve, and smacks an oncoming vehicle.

It completely goes against my theory that most military bike accidents are young enlistees looking for an adrenaline high.

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A Louisville family is dealing with the heartache of losing a loved one this Labor Day. A motorcyclist died Sunday night after an accident on Brownsboro Road near Springcrest Drive.

The victim in the crash was Will Davis, 28. WAVE 3 spoke with Davis' mother on the phone, she said her son was in the Air Force and had just gotten back to Louisville from Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Brittany Holeman and her family were heading home Sunday night on Brownsboro Road after the UK U of L game. They came upon the accident and knew it didn't look good. Holeman, ironically a dental student at U of L, had just gotten her re-certification for CPR.

"I got out of the car and ran over to him and I assessed his vitals and he was breathing and had a pulse it was weak, but it was there," said Holeman.

In the backed up traffic was a doctor and nurse practitioner, they also rushed to help.

"I had guessed he was military of some sort because I saw his bag on the motorcycle with his name and American flag on it," said Holeman.

Davis was serving as a Captain in the Air Force. He hadn't even been home 24 hours when he headed out to visit a friend. Police said it was raining when he lost control of his motorcycle on Brownsboro Road near Springcrest Drive and hit a car.

[Josephvman]

+1

I'm not sure I could "lay it down" if I was trying to. I guess you just stand on the rear brake and cut the bars hard? Or lock up the front and wait for it to wash out? I'd be curious how the police bike training instructs the officers to "lay it down".

Originally Posted by 4wheeldog

"Had to lay it down" usually translates to "I grabbed all available brakes, locked the tires and fell!"
It is an outcome, not a choice.

[JettPilot]

Originally Posted by Genehil

I convinced myself and everyone around me that I made the decision to lay her down. That was my 22 year old ego talking, I just farked up and was merely along for the ride. Those front and rear crash guards were ugly and uncool - but they sure did save a beautiful bike.

A motorcycle stopping on rubber tires, even skidding rubber, will stop on pavement much faster than when it is layed down sliding on plastic and steel. Plastic and steel has very little stopping power on pavement.

So when someone says " He layed it down to avoid crashing into the car in front of them ", I think they either do not know what they are talking about, or they are just plain dumb.

There are always exceptions to the rule, but if we start telling everyone to lay down thier bike when confronted with a car in front at speed, it will end much worse than needed. The best stopping is on your tires, preferably not skidding. Skidding happens when you are panicked, but if you can stay on the bike, and stay on the brakes, you will have a much better chance of a reducing your speed impact. Sliding on the bikes side is more like sliding on ice, you will slide a long long way, or into the car in front of you much faster than you needed to.

Thanks for being honest on this one. We do not want to give new riders bad advice.

Mike