Dude! That was like the first thing my drivers ed teacher said 30 years ago. Emergency braking for animals causes accidents. Do not stop for animals in the road unless they are gonna cause massive damage to you. That is read - Stop for anything larger than a dog (deer size) cause it is gonna hurt.

You can swerve if able to but you should never try to do a panic stop for a small animal. BTW I have mashed a ground squirel or two on the fatboy. Just have to remember to hose off the floorboards afterwards.

My condolences to the family. But it is a testament for proper bike training. Learn how to stop and avoid accidents.

 

man TAWoody - you are cold

most accidents are someone making a mistake - but i bet that everyday you ride you make a mistake or have a lapse in concentration - but thus far you have not had to pay the price

you can do most everything correct - like don't drink and ride, don't ride when tired, etc. but then just that one second when your concentration got broken, or your attention was averted, or your interpretaton of the situation was just slightly offand bam, there you go.

you just never can tell, might have been going along pretty nice, keepin her distance, rounding a turn, leaning nicely into, and suddenly the sun comes out from behind a cloud and the position and the angle are just right so she can't see the taillights are on and doesn't see the animals and then realizes just a bit too late that she has to stop quickly, and she has to straighten the bikeand just maybe there is some junk on the road and she slides and there yah go

if
the dogs had not come out
the sun had not come out from behind the clouds
if the angle had been different to see the taillights
if she had already been riding straight instead of on a lean
if the junk had not been on the road
she would have been fine

i just hope that noone ever has to say of you - probably some idiot following too close

 

I think it's a leap from the article to the conclusion that the person in the suv braked recklessly and irresponsibly. I'm not going to slam on my brakes and stop as fast as possible with a semi right behind me, but I most certainly will stop at a stoplight, to turn or because the car in front of me stopped. The idea you aren't stopping no matter what with a semi behind you is an unrealistic claim to say the least. Running over an animal you could easily avoid is nothing but an act of blatent cruelity and I do not trust anyone that would do so somehow places a reasonable value on human life either. I've certainly run over animals because there was no reasonable way to avoid it, but I've also avoided plenty of animals because I had no reason not to do so. I might well curse the squirrel running up my driveway ahead of me instead of getting off the road, but I'm not going to run over him simply because I can. Heck, it's worth avoiding him just so I don't have to go back and scrape him off the driveway.

 

Hi Heather, it doesn't seem like I have seen you on here for a minute.

I work construction and accidents happen, I was reading about some of them and at one time or another I had done whatever had resulted in whichever accident. That lady's husband was on the news and he seemed like they had their act together about as much as anyone could. Bikes are a risk, there is just not anyway around that.

 

Although I agree that if you are in a 4 wheeled vehicle, being followed by other vehicles, you should NOT stop for SMALL animals...

On a BIKE, hitting anything over 30-40 lbs is gonna CHANGE YER LIFE, if ya live ta tell about it!

I know, I hit a coyote on another bike years ago. 35 lbs, maybe? I musta hit it just right, 'cuz I only had a mild wreck and went away with minor damage to both the bike and myself. That lil' critter coulda killed me. The bike was going DOWN, no matter what, tho!

And up front, I am sorry that the whole wreck we are discussing happened. My condolences to the husband and family.

As ta WHAT GETS ME, and WHY I put that stuff in BOLD:

I think y'all are missing the big picture here...

WTF ARE DEAF PEOPLE DOING RIDING BIKES??? Much less operating ANY type of motor vehicle???

That Sh*t is F*CKED UP!!! IF YOU CAN'T HEAR, YOU SHOULD NOT DRIVE!

Old people, young kids "texting", and plain ol' dumbasses who can't pay attention while they drive.
Hmm, I think we have enough ta worry about! DEAF people on the road?

I thought that was illegal...
Well, I think it is HERE! It oughta be illegal EVERYWHERE!

I can see it at the MVD, in sign language, of course:

"OK, you can't hear a car horn or a loud engine, or tires squealing from hard braking?"

"Nope."

"You can't hear a TRAIN whistle?"

"Nope."

"Well, OK, here's yer motorcycle license, ride safe!"

 

Deaf people can legally fly, just not in controlled airspace unless they have a hearing person with them.
It's the dammed idiot cell phone users that should be banned from doing anything.

 

Are not you discrimination against disability people?
What if one of your relative is disability and would you treat them differently?
You don't know what deaf person is likely and it is not likely what is in your imagation of what is deaf person is like.
They have the ability to adjust and develop the skills to overcome than what they can't hear.
Deaf people can do anything but hear.

 

DUDE!!!

PLEASE either learn how ta type or write, maybe both!

I am not sure what y'all are tryin' ta say...

Lemme take a stab at it, tho.

It is NOT "discrimination" in the new-age sense of the word, but it IS DISCRIMINATION in the old way.
To discriminate is to weigh values, options, and a LOT of other relevant information and arrive at a logical choice of action.

If I had a relative that was totally DEAF, I would NOT let them drive or ride a bike!
WHY? 'Cuz they would get KILLED! Not only here, but most anywhere. If ya can't HEAR, you have eliminated HALF of the senses it
takes ta operate ANY vehicle. (Sight and HEARING, right?) I guess taste, touch, and smell don't matter too much in going down the road. In a "relative sense" of course! hehe!

Of course, if my cousin, "Fat Freddy", was deaf and wanted ta ride a scoot, well...

I WANNA

 

That's brutal! She was obviously following too closely, but I'm sure that is of little consolation to her husband. A horrible story.

 

I have a pretty severe hearing loss medically speaking?? Gee, maybe I shouldn't drive??? I will tell you this 99% of riding is sight. 1% of it is actual hearing. And your an idiot to say something like that....pretty amazing how rude some people are. The lady died, show some respect fool...