This past Saturday night my wife & I headed out for a bike ride & ended up at a popular biker bar/pub hang-out in Bristol RI. While having a bite to eat I said to my wife, "Hey...isn't that my sister's friend Jessica over there"? My wife said, "Yeah" & then called her over to come have a drink with us. Jessica, who's about 27 yrs old or so was out riding with a friend of hers, Jason, who'sabout the same age as her. Jason & Jessica were out riding on a Rice-Rocket as he kept bragging about how fast they were going earlier on it. He & Jessicahad beenriding with a group of 3 other riders on Harleys. I told Jason "Hey man, remember you gotta respect the bike, especially with a passenger on the back who's life is in your hands." It was obvious that Jason already had a few drinks in him & it was only about 6:30 pm. Jason replied back to me, "Oh I know Bro...believe me...I have a daughter so I know when it's time to take it easy". As the next hour went by Jason had gotten louder & drunker, even knocking over his beer bottle with glass smashing all over the floor. At this point my wife & I were getting really embarrassed by his voice getting louder & louder as all the people just trying to enjoy themselves in this bar all started to look our way. I then told my wife, "Let's take these beers outside & get away from this guy". My wife agreed & then called Jessica over to talk to her. She said privately to Jessica, "if you feel uncomfortable at all about riding home with this guy please call someone for a ride". Jessica had already looked somewhat worried about his condition & said back to my wife, "I will...definately". My wife & I then went outside, finished our last beer & headed home at about 7:45 pm.

Yesterdayafternoon while my wife & I were out with enjoying the day with our 2 kids we got a call from my sister Kristal who again, is close friends with Jessica. Kristal had learned that both Jessica & Jason were in the hospital recovering from a serious motorcycle accident that occured at about 12:00 am late Saturday night...about 4 hours after we had left them. Jason had lost control of his motorcycle at a very high rate of speed & went off a highway hitting a tree. Jason has no feeling from his waist-down & is currently "hanging on by a thread". Jessica amazinglycrawledover50 ftback to the highway road & used Jason's cell phone (he was unconscious) to call police. She remembers being in a complete daze & used a highway sign that was nearby to help police locate her & Jason. The police said that it's amazing that Jessica wasn't hurt more than what she was...having mostly just torn ligaments all over her body. They said that she had tightly held on to Jason the whole time, using him as somewhat of a protective shield when they hit the tree. Jessica checked out of the hospital late yestersday afternoon. Jason is still listed in critical condition as of today.

Needless to say, my wife & I have had a sick feeling in our stomach since hearing this news yesterday. We both feel a strong sense of guilt as if we should have done more seeing Jason's already not drunk, but really buzzed condition before we left. When your in a bar you always tend to see atleast a few bikers like this all the time & never imagine that something as tragic as this is going to happen. After having this happen to someone we know as closely as Jessica, I can definately tell you this though...we'll NEVER let another person we run into ride home with someone we don't think is capable of handling a bike. It was a tough way to learn such an important lesson, but I guess sometimes you gotta get hit in the face with the ball in order to realize how important it is to catch it.

The reason I posted this story here is in the hopes that maybe the next timeyou run into someone who'll be getting on a b

 

Thanks for the story Rider. Sometimes it does take something like this to scare up some responsibility on people. Riding season is among us, so let's all have some fun and be careful.

 

Don't beat yourselves up too badly over this. Tough lesson to learn and thanks for sharing.

 

Sorry to hear your story. But hopes it makes others think. I'm a beer or two tops when on the bike. I've been called every name in the book from others. But when it's me and the wife on the bike. Two is tops for me.

 

You did more than your part. They were two adults, not kids.

Just another reason why Idon't drink alcohol when I ride. Not one drop.

 

Thanks for the story. Dont carry any guilt bro, what you did not do, unfortunatly you will not be able to do next time. Just post a thread talking about not drinking on the bike, or not drinking to much and you will see the kind of responce you will recieve. testosterone,+ HP+ alcohole= azhole.

We are killing ourselves at a high rate and so far the answer from many is that the goverment should make us wear better helmets. Hate that your friend is hurt, hate that your other friend is still in the hospital, and hope he pulls through ok. Keep telling the story and hope that some will hear it and use better judgment.

Ride safe!

 

+1

 

Thank You for the reminder, Rider.
But you should not feel guilty you're their friend, not babysitter/guardian.
Prayers to them, their families and to yours.
Hopefully he'll recover, but maybe not ride again.
And your female friend may be scarred for life and never want to ride again.

 

Not to pile on, but you learned a very hard lesson: BUZZED = DRUNK. Period. If someone is buzzed, they're not capable of operating a car, let alone a bike you have to control in 3 dimensions.

Glad your friend is OK.

 

plain and simple don't drink and drive.... glad she is ok