ETR
I agree it's not likely to happen on Yonge St., but it is possible on quiet country roads where the residents don't expect anyone to behave in such a fashion. Little kid playing in front yard chases ball onto road (not like that has never happened) and bad things follow. As a rider you assess the possibilities and set your risk level, but at 177 you increase every risk. Imagine hitting a cute bunny rabbit at 177?
As to your accident, I was referring to the 2nd you you talked about (sucks that you have 2 to talk about btw). If it was a bike tearing around your neighbourhood would you feel the same way?
I would encourage you to keep taking the advanced driving courses, I certainly intend to. These are what gives us the edge over the idiots on the road, allows us to see things before they become serious incidents. As riders we are generally so much more aware just by being more vulnerable to other's actions, so anything we can do to improve our odds is a good thing. Doing double the speed limit or driving in ways other motorists can't expect or predict doesn't help us. We all have different skill levels, but there is no practical way to identify who is good or otherwise until the opportunity arises to either have or avoid a crash. I wish there were, other than by insurance premiums apparently, because I would really like to know who to avoid before they reach for the cellphone...
Alan
Yes it is definately possible on quiet country roads, like i mentioned to go that fast there is nothing preventing anyone from getting the urge to blast down at those speeds, the likely hood of a child running down the street is even more slim in the country roads then in the city, but definately not impossible, it can happen, and i try to think possitive that it won't. As i was growing up though i had several friends who lived on these country roads, and growing up, the numberone thing they were always yelled at and taught was to stay away from the main road, for safety purposes i guess.
Personally, if i ever was to get such an urge i would never hit those speeds anywhere except on an open hwy with no traffic at wee hours of the morning. But even then i have come to realise Canada is simply not the place to do this kinda adrenalin stuff, even if you get away, you can get caught the next time round or eventually hurt one self, and then get nailed after with tickets and so on. Also like i mentioned several times before, im not against, neither with the person who this post is about, we all do things sometimes that we can learn from, some of us arn't that lucky, and some are, to get off by a slap on the wrist. But i guess because im a caring person, and i care for people just like i care about the nature we live in and the animals we see, i will defend us against any sort of harm, even the most evil of people against me i tend to think are just confused and just learning and are weak to their emotions or situation and need time to catch up.
I feel that we shouldn't destroy anyones life just to make an example out of them. Lets say i accidently killed someone, i tend to think any honest person would go through emotional torture knowing they killed someone, that alone would be enough punishment i think, and if you believe in a creator and such, you would know your going to have to answer to them about why we had been careless toward his creation. Not to get too spiritual, but i see that there is no point in life to point fingers, or punish anyone and make them out to be the worst person alive and accuse them of something they haven't even done "like kill someone" just speeding (in this case very fast i agree) while there are car theives, drug lords and murderers and rapists silently getting away with worse crimes that night. while this guy was blasted all over the media, there was nothing about someone who ACTUALLY DID KILL a little girl, i mean that is just plain discusting for me, why because this kind of stuff happens every day and its the norm and not media worthy, because it was just some young girl driving her car texting and running over a 5 year old girl and killing her and leaving her mother childless.
At the end of the day, be it speeding, talking on the phones, or driving without due care it all comes down to risk, we should be investigating which risk kills most without any variables...A person can train themselves to drive fast and avoid accidents but no one can avoid an accident when talking on the phone and looking the other way while texting. You see what im trying to point out. This is just an example im trying to put down.
Honestly, i live next to a hwy and i hear lots of sports cars going past or bikes going up north, and it couldn't be more enjoyable, the sounds of these machese are sweet while having a nice cold one in my front porch.lol I don't think anyone in my neigbourhood could even reach speeds of more then 30kmh, but no one does that because i guess everyone knows its not safe to. To add, personally i wouldn't go over 80-90kmh on those 80kmh country roads because i know if lets say a patch of un even surface suddenly is under you, your bikes going to turn and your going straight into the farm or someones house or on coming car. some things arn't worth taking the risk even if the riders skill is there, and sometimes we give into our adrenaline side, no ones perfect, i certainly am not, and i stoped doing adrenaline rush and risky high speed things, because once i realised that i could even get hit by someone else (out all the situations almost get killed just getting off my bike), then anything else is possible. This is why if i want to stunt with my bike i do it where No ONE is around and off the roads and the onlything that can get damaged is my bike or me, but as i get older i have less time to even do that, im just not into the whole thing anymore realising that tickets, court and cost are simply not worth my headache, i will do that when i go to europe like germany where speeding laws are lenient, so for someone who seldom pushes their car or bike, its not a big deal for the authorities, unlike here, you could go out one time through the whole year just do a little over 140kmh on the hwy and get nailed with heavy fines, the insurance hike, then loosing so many other things along with it, not to mention ones sanity and health.
I think im done with this thread, i only wanted to address your questions because i felt they were legit and good! and i didn't want to be rude and leave you hanging.lol
have a good one!
