Column | A little extra care might save a bikers life By Kathy Adams The Virginian-Pilot © June 23, 2014 VIRGINIA BEACH June 3 was like any other Tuesday for me. I went to the pharmacy and then headed to The Pilot’s Town Center office. I was almost there when the other cars and trucks on Virginia Beach Boulevard started moving over. Police had blocked off the two right lanes because of a crash. As I passed I spotted what I most dreaded: a motorcycle and what looked like blood on the pavement. “Please, God, don’t let me recognize that bike,” I prayed. It could be my fiancé’s or belong to any of the bikers we call friends. This time, it was a maroon Harley-Davidson with chrome accents. The rider, a stranger to me, ended up in a hospital with critical injuries after striking a sport-utility vehicle that crossed into its path, police said. The SUV driver got off easy by comparison with a failure-to-yield ticket, which carries at worst a $250 fine. Another motorcyclist died two days later after a crash with an SUV on Colley Avenue in Norfolk. Yet another died the following Sunday after a pickup on Interstate 664 in Newport News swerved to avoid slowing traffic and struck her motorcycle, ejecting her from the seat. The truck’s driver even left the scene, Virginia State Police said. Troopers later charged a woman with felony hit-and-run. The story is all too common in Hampton Roads, especially in Virginia Beach, especially when the weather gets warm. There were 488 motorcycle crashes in the seven cities last year, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. A third of them were in Virginia Beach. And 32 percent of those 488 resulted in deaths or serious injuries. If, like me, you ride a motorcycle or love someone who does, those stories and those numbers fill you with dread. My biker – my fiancé, Darrell – is thoughtful and funny and one-of-a kind. He’s the kind of guy who leaves cash on the fridge so I can buy lunch when I’m tight on money before payday. The kind of guy who doesn’t get mad at me for leaving clothes and shoes all over our bedroom. The kind of guy who always says yes when friends ask for help moving, even when it’s 100 degrees outside. He’s the man I spent 28 years looking for and he loves riding his motorcycle. I would never ask him to stop, even though I know it’s dangerous. It’s part of what makes him, him. But sometimes it terrifies me. It terrifies me because I know people in much larger vehicles are not always paying attention. They’re texting or talking or doing any number of things that distract them from watching out for other cars and motorcycles. I’ve driven by the wrecks on my way to work, such as the June 3 crash. I’ve seen the police news releases announcing the dead riders will be named after their next of kin is notified. Who wants to get a phone call like that? I pray I never do. The rider from the June 3 crash was still hospitalized last week, two weeks after the collision. How terrible for him and his family. Every biker is important to someone. They’re husbands, fathers, friends and fiancés. So this is my plea for them and for my biker: Please be careful driving. Put your phone down. Check your blind spot twice. Look out for motorcycles, which can be easy to overlook. Motorcyclists have to do their part, too. I know the crashes are sometime their fault if they’re going too fast or weaving in and out of traffic. But, in my experience, it’s more often the case that another driver isn’t paying attention. And motorcyclists have far more to lose. A fender-bender with an SUV can be a fatality on a motorcycle. That doesn’t have to happen if we all just try a little harder.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 15:38:06 +0000
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