Sober & Somber Reminder

Came across quite a safety reminder earlier today when I stumbled on to this post from the Sportbikes West forum, which is making the rounds on the ‘net… Scary stuff to say the least…

I headed up to Palomar early this morning and it felt like we had the Mountain to ourself for the first few hours. Headed to the top about 10:00 to pass the word on the Track Day and get a drink. Talked to a kid on a 07 600rr (White), He purchased it in April and had logged 2000 miles. He was riding in Jeans, Tennis shoes and was wearing a zip up sweatshirt. ( I later saw that he wasn’t wearing gloves) I suggested that he purchase some gear ASAP as it pays to invest in Leather..

I talked to a few other riders and myself and another Oceanside rider decided to head down the mountain and head home. Ended up behind the 07 owner but he was riding his friends 03′ R1 and his friend was on his RR. Now I don’t come down the Mtn that fast but I was temped to pass this guy on the R1 as his pace was really slow and his lines were a bit scary. < - That might be why I just chose to stay behind him..

Coming down. Right hand turn and he blows the double yellow.... Right in front of me, He crossed over and grabbed a hand full of front break. That is when he hit a Ducati Monster Head on. Loudest impact I have ever heard. I stopped as fast as I could. I couldn't believe what I had just saw. Bike on Bike Head on Accident. 75 MPH plus impact. The kid on the R1 was messed up.. Really messed up.. At first glance I didn't think he was going to be breathing very much longer. He had no memory of where he was, how old he was, his name or that he had even been riding today. It did sound like he was going to make it when they loaded him into the Ambulance.

The guy on the Duc was up and walking around by the time I ran up the hill the 75 or so feet from where I parked. He did a superman over both bikes. His Duc had 500 Miles on it. I had to use his phone to call 911 while other riders stopped began tending to the R1 rider more. I stuck around to give a formal statement to the CHP officer.

Jarred from JPImagery.com stuck around and helped direct traffic Clean up and gave the Ducati Rider a ride home. We were there for at least an hour and a half while they tended to him, and we cleaned up.

via The 1098 SoCal Forum & The Sportbikes West Forum.

There’s quite a bit that can be said given the above posters’ account of this particular accident, most of which I suspect is rather obvious to regular riders, but the ‘graphs greatly reminded me of a recent post that Doug K. published on his blog, “40 years on Two Wheels”, which is worth reading imho, as it struck a particular chord within me…