1 motorcyclist dead in foco

[RajunCajun]

The motorcycle is ALWAYS speeding and the cagers are never at fault.Hell,you could be sitting still at an intersection on a sportbike and people are gonna say you were speeding and the good ol' soccer mom in her SUV or minivan was texting,applying makeup and looking for something in the backseat all at the same time,but she is never at fault.Rip rider.

Granted, it is sad when anybody dies in an accident, but I don't know about the "always the rider's fault" comment. I think that all too frequently, when the suv pulls out, and kills the rider, the rider is driving at a ridiculous speed. I've had plenty of suvs, cars, truck, other bikes, pedestrians, ect. pull out in front of me and I was doing my job, paying attention, anticipating other driver actions by driving defensively and at a safe speed (sometimes over the speed limit, I will admit, 5-10mph) and not getting in an accident or dead. I don't know how sorry I'm supposed to feel for a rider, if he is doing 30 r 50+ over the speed limit in suburban areas or city streets. Kinda seems like natural selection to me. I'd b more inclined to feel sorry for the other car, if they didn't also break traffic laws in the process. I don't really know if that's what happened here or not, though.

Yeah, I know accidents happen but too many of the fatalities of these young riders, at least that I hear of, are from the rider being a complete idiot. If anyone has statistics on this, I'd be interested to know how close to base I am.

Anyway, Condolences to his family

[THoward]

Yeah, I know accidents happen but too many of the fatalities of these young riders, at least that I hear of, are from the rider being a complete idiot. If anyone has statistics on this, I'd be interested to know how close to base I am.

Anyway, Condolences to his family

Here are some fatality stats from CDOT for 2008, and yes much to our dismay, many are what they deem "single vehicle accidents". Unless there are witnesses as to exactly what happened, they are recorded as the "riders fault".


98 riders and passengers were killed in motorcycle crashes in Colorado in 2008, the highest
ever recorded.

Of the motorcycle fatalities in 2008:
• Over 2/3 were not wearing a helmet
• 34% of riders were under the influence of alcohol
• 39% did not have a motorcycle endorsement
• In 8 out of 10 cases, the rider was determined to be at fault
• 86% were men
> Motorcycle fatalities occurred in every month of the year.
• August was highest fatality month with 18, followed by July (16), June (12), May (10),
October (10), April, September, November (8 each)
Fatalities by county:

• 82% of victims were from Colorado
• 2/3 of fatalities occurred in rider’s home area/county
• El Paso County had 15% of state’s motorcycle fatalities
Other 32%
Weld 4%
Mesa 4%
Jefferson 13%
Adams 4%
Arapahoe 6%
Boulder 4%
Denver 11%
Douglas 7%
El Paso 15%

> Motorcycle fatalitites span all ages
In 2008:
• 36% were age 18 to 34
• 40% increase as compared to 2007
• 23% were age 35 to 44
• 39% were age 45 or older


“Definition of Statistics: The science of producing unreliable facts from reliable figures.”