Who likes to break the rules?

Accountability

I had a buddy who didn't have much respect for the rules. He was always shooting here and there taking short cuts in traffic on his regular bicycle. One day he was in a hurry and was crossing a 4 lane street where the limit was 40 mph. When the light turn yellow for cross traffic he shot across the crosswalk not waiting for his light to turn green. Unfortunately a guy in a full size pickup was in a hurry and tried to beat the yellow. My buddy got T-boned. The bicycle received a nice 30 degree bend in the center post along with his leg, and the cuts and bruises on his face made him look like Frankenstein for a while. I don't feel it was fair to the pickup driver since he should have waited for the green light.
 
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I had a friend named James Ivey , James and at the time I loved to break the traffic laws he/we would run light stop sings cut through parking lots so we could avoid red lights and so on : James road a Motorcycle but still the same thing .

I and a few friend were out on the front of the apartment we lived in at the time (1 of the friends was a girl James liked and wanted to impress)
James did what James always did and cut through the apartment complex parking lot so he would not have to wait on the red light.
As soon as he cut through the parking lot and entered the street he drove right in front of a 18 wheeler and was ran over , it took almost 2 blocks for the truck to stop. A real F Upped thing to see at age 18
James was so bad off he had to have a closed cassette funeral the doctors said his whole body was so messed up it look as if it went through a meat grinder.
That was the last time I ever thought driving with no rules was cool; I loosed a friend right in front of my eyes, seeing some like that will really make a kid thank, what a dumb *** I have been driving by bicycle like that.
I never ran another red light on my bike ever again and never will.
Driving with out rules may seem fun but It can and will get you killed
:((n):(:((n):(:((n):(:((n):(:((n):(:((n):(:(
 
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Another aspect is how such actions indirectly affect others.
No one can know what it feels to loose someone that you've had a long term friendship, let alone a relationship.

About 15 years ago a friend of mine committed suicide (over the use of anti-depressants which were required as he took too many party drugs) and to this day it still pains me that he is gone. In some ways i'm in a fortunate situation that i wasn't his father who saw his sons body swinging from a tree branch.

I can't imagine the trauma that the truck driver endured when seeing the body, let alone the emergency response services who had to deal with the situation, hands-on.

The problem with getting older is that you become more sensible, but the real issue is that you need that level of common sense and respect for yourself and for others when at a young age, but the only way to achieve a responsible manner of behaviour is to survive the concept of being young and immature, which goes against every aspect of surviving it in the first place.
It's a bit of a messed up system when you come to think about it.
 
Even though it was not his fault the truck driver was pretty upset , James was a lot like me (A street kid) except for each other we had little to no family.
I was just a couch suffering kid at the time so $500.00 was far more then I had; it was up to me to get the city to pay to bury him and try to find him mother never could find her.
James was several years older and was like a big brother I never had, it was a big loss to a 18 year old street kid, I look back on it some 20+ years later and can say I was lucky enough to learn a very valuable lesson without being the one to to get hurt or, loosing my life.
Without Jame in my life from age 16, I would be in prison now; James (and the scared straight program) got me out of the street thug lying, cheating, steeling the world owes me because I was throughout at age 13 attitude, reminding me as he would say no one owes you a MFing thing even if you were throughout at such a young age.
I thank of him every day and wonder how much different my life would have turned out without him.
 
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Oh God, that's such a heart breaking situation to hear, not to have any family to turn to or to be able to depend upon when times are exceedingly difficult.
It pains me even more that his mother could not be found - i struggle to cope with understanding how a person can go through life under those circumstances.

It's times like this that i feel so helpless; that i can't change events; past or the present; that i can't be of help to someone at the moment they need it the most.

Fabian
 
In motocross there is an appropriate saying: "There are old riders, and there are bold riders, but there are no old bold riders!"

I too like to break the rules but I have woken up in a hospital twice and that's twice too many times. So now I am only wild when the unexpected/unwanted won't cost me too dearly.
 
I LOVE that motocross saying, reminds me of "there are two types of motorcycle riders, those that have gotten in a wreck and those that will be".
Yep, love those you love cause something is going to end you or them, could be your bathtub.I have a cousin that is kind of crazy, he broke his collarbone on a fast downhill run (standard 12speed biking) trying to keep up with someone who was FAR more skilled than him, but his competitive nature got the better of his sense.I don't hit turns fast, never blow stop signs and always give the right of way, you must defer to the largest mass, OR the guy with the biggest gun is boss.
Devils advocate here, knowing how to be safe on a bike and knowing how to fall will do you a far better service than wearing a helmet/pads, I drive like I'm the invisible man, I assume nobody knows the width of their vehicle, and am always looking for the next place to ditch into the weeds.I should do a poll to see who's actually taken a bike safety course (in their whole life) and who has had any lessons on falling correctly.
 
grinningremlin you are so right always expect the person in the car is going to run you off the road, I try to tell people you may be the best MB rider ever born on this planet, but it's not always about how good and or safe of a rider you are it's the other driver you have to worry about.
now on the other hand not wearing a helmet and pads your so wrong about, I always try to put on my helmet it's better to be safe then sorry you can not always see it coming and a helmet could just save your life pads I do not have but will getting a set real soon again it's better to be safe then sorry , knowing how to land is a dangerous way to ride; how many pro's do you see not wearing a helmet and pads. If anyone would know how to land it would be the pro's and they all wear a helmet and pads again it's better to be safe then try to land the right way
 
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Devils advocate here, knowing how to be safe on a bike and knowing how to fall will do you a far better service than wearing a helmet/pads,

I drive like I'm the invisible man, I assume nobody knows the width of their vehicle, and am always looking for the next place to ditch into the weeds.I should do a poll to see who's actually taken a bike safety course (in their whole life) and who has had any lessons on falling correctly.
You are delusional if you think that you can control what your head hits.
Stuff happens in ways that you have no way or time to avoid.

Helmets really work and the alternative of not wearing one can be
life changing or ending.

I took the motorcycle safety course, Which I highly recommend.
 
Ahh yes I had a feeling that'd bring the torch wielding town-folk out.I understand that everything below the melon is precious, and won't work without the melon in one piece, but this overt safety culture that has spawned out of the 90's is for the most part a bunch of brainwashing fluff.I think you will agree that some people have better balance than others, so to a point I suppose by your standards I'm delusional.I want you to think of when you were a kid (unless you were one of the accident prone, then maybe a helmet is in order as soon as you rise), and you fell, bike wreck or not, did you hit your head??
My point was, it's more important to ride safely then rely on the last resort, which is what a helmet is, precautionary last resort.If we keep swaying people to the lowest common denominator, culturally speaking, we're all gonna be donning bubble-wrap and have a choice-less world made of nerf.I understand being safe, helmets can help if you fall, you're as likely to fall in the shower, do you wear a helmet there?If you want stats check bicyclesafe.com, good stuff there so you don't HAVE to rely on the last resort.I've seen PLENTY of pros not wearing helmets, but on their own time/backyard, it's bad business with the sponsors and "sending the wrong message" not to be wearing one while there are kiddo spectators. Be safe.
 
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