# Nail painting idiot kills motorcyclist **URL:** \ **Category:** PittSpeed Off Topic\ **Created:** [May 5, 2009, 6:03am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/nail-painting-idiot-kills-motorcyclist/202690 "2009-05-05T06:03:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 14
**Author:** ![tjZ28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@tjZ28](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/tjZ28)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 11:11am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/nail-painting-idiot-kills-motorcyclist/202690/14 "2009-05-06T11:11:23Z")
> [@Another new guy](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/another-new-guy/40176/10): > > I have had a few close calls with drivers on both my ZX-12 and The Vulcan. > > Best advice I can give for new riders. > > Don’t be afraid. When you are afraid that is when you start to double guess yourself. I’m not saying go out there and ride like you are at beaver run for lap days. I’m saying don’t automatically think “oh shit I’m on a bike” and worry about someone hitting you. Ride your ride, and position yourself away from cages. > > It is very easy on any bike to pull away from idiots when just riding around. That also doesn’t mean that you have to cruise at triple digits all the time. Especially if you are new to riding. > > Example, TJ I’m sure you are a good driver, and alert in your car. How many times have you had close calls with idiots? I’m sure more than you can count. If you become or already are an equally good rider your driving habits will carry over. > > What if you were in a car in this motorcyclists situation? I’m sure if there was a car there, this lady was going to plow into it too because she said she didn’t see the red light. This motorcyclists was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Granted if she was in a car it would have protected her more, but who knows to what extent. Hell she could be a veggie instead of dead if she was in a car. Is there really any difference? > > I just hate to see people be afraid of trying new things that they would probably really enjoy. > > Hell I have gotten so involved with it that I average 10k+ miles on the bike a riding season and I started doing side work on them. I wish I lived somehwere the weather was warm all year. My truck would never move. I know what you’re saying, and I have ridden a fair amount (though I am not as good of a rider as I am a driver). If I bought myself a bike I’d do a few track days/schools for sure, and make sure I was as well prepared to get myself out of sticky situations as possible. And you’re right, who knows how bad it would have been for somebody in a car to get hit the same way (a lot of that depends on the vehicle). But you still have a lot better chance. I’ve lost friends that would NOT have died in the same situation in a car. One of the very, very best riders I’ve known lost the lower 1/2 of his right leg on a bike. There was simply nothing he could do to evade the situation, and it was not his fault. Walking out of your front door every day is a gamble, no matter if you’re driving to work, jumping in a plane, hopping on your bike, or just going for a job. But everything has different levels of risk. Especially here in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley the “other drivers” are just SO bad the risk on a bike is very high and very real. I don’t feel the need to subject myself to that. -TJ --- _[View the full topic](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/nail-painting-idiot-kills-motorcyclist/202690)._