XPost: alt.birdwatching.ducks, sac.politics, rec.motorcycles   
   XPost: can.politics   
   From: jclarkeusenet@cox.net   
      
   In article , none@present.com says...   
   >   
   > "J. Clarke"  wrote in message   
   > news:MPG.2e1468d9571be08398a799@news.newsguy.com...   
   >   
   > > In article <6b5eb31f9c02b6dd5bae656e1788b958@dizum.com>,   
   > > idiots@liberalism.org says...   
   >   
   > > > Roy's motorcycle slammed into Czornobaj's Honda Civic after the   
   > > > woman stopped in the left lane of Highway 30 in Candiac, Quebec   
   > > > on June 27, 2010. Jessie was sitting on the back of her dad's   
   > > > Harley-Davidson.   
   >   
   > > The thing that bothers me about this is that everybody is beating up the   
   > > womnan who stopped and nobody is beating up the out-to-lunch rider who   
   > > managed to kill himself and his daughter through inattention.   
   > >   
   > > If there is a car stopped in the road, you avoid hitting it.  If you   
   > > cannot see far enough ahead to avoid seeing and hitting a car stopped in   
   > > the middle of the road, then slow down.   
   >   
   > For reference, Highway 30 is the equivalent of a US interstate, and under   
   > normal conditions, traffic if the left lane would be moving at about 70 mph,   
   > or more.   
      
   If traffic is moving 70 mph under conditions that do not allow one to   
   see an obstacle and stop before striking it at that speed, then   
   regardless of the speed limit one should not be riding 70 MPH on that   
   road at that time.  I'm sorry, but it being a divided highway with a   
   high speed limit does not justify inattentive riding.   
      
   There are many reasons that that object in front of you might be   
   stationary.  Ducks may not be a good one but moose, child, tree limb,   
   tire tread, scrap metal, lumber, all sorts of things could be   
   obstructing the road.  And if you can't stop in time to avoid hitting a   
   car then you can't stop in time to avoid hitting whatever equally lethal   
   obstacle it might be stopped for.   
      
   Note by the way that I do have a dog in this hunt--I was driving along   
   one rainy night in Atlanta and rearended a guy who was double-parked   
   with no lights on.  While I agree that he was at fault for double   
   parking at night in the rain without compelling reason I do not delude   
   myself that I was exercising proper caution.   
      
   I also witnessed a situation where the motorist was entirely at fault in   
   my opinion.  A woman stopped her car in front of the mechanical   
   engineering building at Georgia Tech just as I was coming out of a   
   class.  There was a guy on a Harley coming the other way.  He was about   
   ten feet away from her when she opened her door, which he of course hit   
   resulting in major damage to the bike and to him.  Now _that_ is one   
   they should have thrown the book at.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)