MBer Med Evacced- Marco Island, FL

bamabikeguy

bamabikeguy

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Seems like I've seen that Marco location on someones profile.......

http://www.marcoislandflorida.com/articles/2009/04/06/news_updates/0040_breakingnews_088.txt


Man injured in motorized bicycle crash

By Sun Times Staff Report

Published: Monday, April 6, 2009 4:13 PM CDT
On Sunday, April 5, at about 7:15 p.m., 57-year-old Rory O'Neill was operating a motorized bicycle southbound on Bald Eagle Drive in the vicinity of North Collier Blvd, according to the Marco Island Police Department.

The bicycle suffered a mechanical failure, which caused O'Neill to be thrown from the bicycle.

O'Neill was not wearing a helmet and was injured, requiring evacuation to Lee Memorial Hospital via Medflight. No other pedestrians or vehicles were involved in the accident.
Click to expand...
 
Though I'm thoroughly in love with my motor assisted bicycle, I do worry about the speeds they are capable of.

On rides of any length I average about 12 mph. I suppose that means that at my peak speeds a "mechanical failure" could be noticeably more dangerous for me than the same failure on a pedal bike. But for most of the ride my actual speed is low enough to be about the same as a pedal bike.

But I see a lot of people here who say they're doing 30, 35, even 40 mph. Or their averaging, say, 25 on a long haul. I worry for them; even the very best bikes (I don't think) can handle that for long.

If we're not careful, we could see legislation on the grounds that these vehicles are inherently dangerous.

Some might say, "they've got no business protecting me from myself." but it won't do much good once they've done it.

We should slow down.
 
I agree BlueGoat. My bike will do 40. That doesn't mean I will.

25-30 is comfortable, 40 is hair raising. I don't have that much hair left.
 
"mechanical failure" or "failure to build a mechanically-sound vehicle"...?

i'm confident we can build a safe 30mph MB chassis, but i'm not confident that everyone who builds & rides one should...

we recently had a new HT-owner (we have a small "dealer" in town, safety isn't big on his list) tell kevin he doesn't feel a need for lights & helmet. last week he hit a gravel bump in the dark, and he smashed up his head & face pretty good. i'm (sorta) glad, noone else was involved, he'll heal, the bike's ruined and off the road...and it sure beats wasting our breath preaching when he can learn it for himself.

we held our collective breath for a bit to see if this would have any effect on our local riding "rights"...not this time, but if we get enuff of these incidents (logically predicted many moons ago by this same crowd) we'll find ourselves fighting a losing battle as we're legislated off the road.
 
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This is sobering news. I always take mechanical failure to mean HT engine seizure because that is the thing hardest to control on my own bike. The next thing that springs to mind is chain suddenly going slack caused by tensioner slipping down and chain getting sucked in and locking as it does.
I'm beginning to think that not having a freewheel rear sprocket might be foolhardy because it will save you if either of the above happen.
Isn't it illegal to ride without a helmet?
 
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