RIP...Another Ducatista

[joemorse]

http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_8998631

A 22-year-old Novato man driving at a high rate of speed was killed when his Ducati motorcycle crashed head-on into a van on Lucas Valley Road just east of Nicasio Valley Road before noon Sunday.

Ryan Williams McKnight was riding his motorcycle east on the rural county road and failed to negotiate a turn. He crossed over the double yellow lines and struck a 1998 Chevrolet Astro van traveling at a safe rate of speed in the westbound lane, CHP officer David Muhic said. The speed limit is posted at 35 mph.

McKnight was pronounced dead at the scene.

Crap. Not again. Anyone we know?

RIP, man. This is becoming an all-too-frequent thing this year. eobo and I were eastbound on Lucas Valley just before this happened. Take it easy out there, folks.

[SL_Don]

Sad to see... RIP Ryan McKnight...

[msincredible]

RIP Ryan.

[duckwrench13]

Maybe it's a good thing I can't ride for a while.

This is becoming an all too regular occurrence... RIP.

[Mostrobelle]

My condolences to all who knew and loved him.

The way that article is phrased is interesting. I'd like to know what "a safe rate of speed" is. There's no number associated with it in the article. You'd think that if the van were simply obeying the speed limit that they would have said that. It sounds like both parties were speeding, but that the van was speeding less.

I'm not discounting the responsibility the motorcyclist had in his own fate, but I don't quite understand how or why so many accident reports seem to be slanted against bikes. Perhaps I'm just sensitive to it. I tried reading it back to myself and replaced every instance of bike talk with "car" and it still reads like it's biased. I don't think that this attitude does much to promote all the positives to riding a motorcycle (of which there are many) and reinforces all the negatives.

Btw, my co-worker was struck on Friday night by a negligent, gas-guzzling, space-hogging car (which is often the case) who failed to look or signal before slamming into a petite woman on a her scooter riding at a safe rate of speed, simply minding her own business and trying to make it home to her modest apartment after a long, hard day at work. Gee...I simply stated the facts. :

[msincredible]

Belle, you are right, there is absolutely a bias, and it's not just against motorcycles and scooters, but bicycles too.

[Phanjastic]

I wonder if the wind was a factor?

R.I.P.

[LabbeDDS]

Rest in Peace fallen rider, I don't know what to say...

[mmoore]

It is awful, and becoming horribly common this spring.

Everybody, please just slow it down, OK?

Track days are cheap and readily available if you want to learn to go fast in a safe environment.

[joemorse]

Originally Posted by Mostrobelle

My condolences to all who knew and loved him.

The way that article is phrased is interesting. I'd like to know what "a safe rate of speed" is. There's no number associated with it in the article. You'd think that if the van were simply obeying the speed limit that they would have said that. It sounds like both parties were speeding, but that the van was speeding less.

I'm not discounting the responsibility the motorcyclist had in his own fate, but I don't quite understand how or why so many accident reports seem to be slanted against bikes. Perhaps I'm just sensitive to it. I tried reading it back to myself and replaced every instance of bike talk with "car" and it still reads like it's biased. I don't think that this attitude does much to promote all the positives to riding a motorcycle (of which there are many) and reinforces all the negatives.

Btw, my co-worker was struck on Friday night by a negligent, gas-guzzling, space-hogging car (which is often the case) who failed to look or signal before slamming into a petite woman on a her scooter riding at a safe rate of speed, simply minding her own business and trying to make it home to her modest apartment after a long, hard day at work. Gee...I simply stated the facts. :

I think there's a great deal of bias against bikes. Whether it's the press, or if it stems from the law enforcement people who feed this info to the press, I don't know. But it's pretty hard to get both sides of a story when one of the parties is unconscious or worse... ???