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Post by JP5 on Oct 1, 2013 14:57:55 GMT
This is scary....and quite unbelievable. This gang of motorcycles blocked all 4 lanes on a major highway. And when a man driving his car which also had his wife and 2-yr old child in it......tried to slowly get around them, they began beating on his car. As he tried to get out of the mess, he hit one or two of the motorcycles, injuring one of the gang members. They ALL went after him......corned him in city traffic, broke his windows out with their helmets, dragged him out and proceeded to beat him up. All the while, one of the gang members was recording it on his video helmet. They apparently like to film their escapades. Stupid....though......they put it on youtube!! There's already been some arrests, I believe.
Question: do such motorcycle gangs think they OWN the roads and are justified in blocking all 4 lanes of a major highway? www.indystar.com/usatoday/article/2899803
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Post by JP5 on Oct 8, 2013 3:25:30 GMT
Wow. As more info comes out about these motorcycle members......they are nothing but a bunch of criminals and thugs. We need to get them off the roads. Newsflash for them: they do NOT own the roads and they CANNOT harass other people who have every right to use those same highways that they pay for as taxpayers.
If you drive a motorcycle and want to show off doing tricks, then go perform in a circus.
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Post by JP5 on Oct 9, 2013 3:32:26 GMT
More info coming out on the motorcycle gang. One of them who was beating on the family's SUV was an off-duty NYC Police officer, no less.
Apparently the gang thought they owned the streets and highways.
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 10, 2013 12:12:42 GMT
This was briefly addressed in the "Motorcycle" thread and it represents a new and growing problem in the United States.
In the past many condemned Harley-Davidson owners but these problems are coming from the "metric" (i.e. foreign motorcycle) owners and not from Harley riders. These people are buying motorcycles that are closer to being racing machines than to "street" machines. These riders believe they "own the roads" and swarm through traffic creating a danger to themselves and to other motorists. More often than I'd like to admit I've seen them on the freeways clearly doing over 100 mph weaving in and out of traffic. I've even seen them pull "wheelies" on the freeway doing well over the speed limits. Put a few dozen or more together and they become a real public menace and that's what we've seen in this incident.
The driver of the SUV isn't without some blame though. The incident began with him hitting one of the motorcycles and escalated from there. There is no excuse for ramming a motorcyclist for any reason. He could have just slowed down and they would have passed him in a matter of a few minutes.
As I mentioned we don't see this riding behavior by Harley (or other American motorcycle) owners typically. We ride in a column of two in a single lane with a 2-second interval between motorcycle for safety and don't break the speed limits when riding in groups. If a car enters into our procession we just ride behind it until either it turns or we turn.
But the "metric" riders are crazy with too much motorcycle and not enough brains. They really are becoming a public menace on the roads today.
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Post by JP5 on Oct 11, 2013 0:45:04 GMT
This was briefly addressed in the "Motorcycle" thread and it represents a new and growing problem in the United States.
In the past many condemned Harley-Davidson owners but these problems are coming from the "metric" (i.e. foreign motorcycle) owners and not from Harley riders. These people are buying motorcycles that are closer to being racing machines than to "street" machines. These riders believe they "own the roads" and swarm through traffic creating a danger to themselves and to other motorists. More often than I'd like to admit I've seen them on the freeways clearly doing over 100 mph weaving in and out of traffic. I've even seen them pull "wheelies" on the freeway doing well over the speed limits. Put a few dozen or more together and they become a real public menace and that's what we've seen in this incident.
The driver of the SUV isn't without some blame though. The incident began with him hitting one of the motorcycles and escalated from there. There is no excuse for ramming a motorcyclist for any reason. He could have just slowed down and they would have passed him in a matter of a few minutes.
As I mentioned we don't see this riding behavior by Harley (or other American motorcycle) owners typically. We ride in a column of two in a single lane with a 2-second interval between motorcycle for safety and don't break the speed limits when riding in groups. If a car enters into our procession we just ride behind it until either it turns or we turn.
But the "metric" riders are crazy with too much motorcycle and not enough brains. They really are becoming a public menace on the roads today.
I feel sorry for the SUV driver; he had no intention of running over anyone, but they had him surrounded, terrorizing his family....and he sped off.
He would have had no idea what these thugs were planning to do to his family!! And when they caught him again......they not only dragged him out and beat him up in the face.....they tried to drag his wife out!!!! Some good Samaritan stopped them from doing so.
And now we find out one of them was an undercover cop. They need to go to jail. And the club needs to be informed they will no longer be permitted on the highways as a group. They are dangerous to the public!! Fortunately, they are so stupid, they are the ones who actually recorded all their unlawful deeds. I guess that's what someone would call.......divine justice. |
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 11, 2013 6:15:43 GMT
I don't know about the laws in other states but where I've lived a person is never in the "right" if they rear-end another vehicle on the road. Even if a person is cutoff they need to brake to avoid hitting the vehicle that cut them off. If that requires coming to a full stop then that is what it takes.
My mother even got a "tail-gating" ticket once because she was cut-off but didn't apply the brakes. She let up on the accelerator to slow down and establish a safe distance but didn't hit her brakes. The officer even explained to her that if she had even touched the brakes he would have given the other driver a ticket for an unsafe lane change but because she didn't "emergency brake" she was responsible for tail-gating. A fine line but I learned to always hit my brakes at least lightly when someone cuts me off.
Anyway, the SUV driver should have come to a stop. abruptly if necessary, if that was what it took to avoid hitting the motorcycle that cut him off. Of course the problems really increased exponentially when the SUV driver decided to leave the scene of the accident. I understand that the motorcyclists scared him but I don't know that this gives him the right to drive over another motorcyclist that wasn't threatening him but was instead stopped if front of him. That's a tough call though.
It wasn't one motorcycle club but several making this ride as well as riders that were not a part of any motorcycle club from what I've read. It originated with one club but had expanded over recent years to include lot of riders well beyond just the original club. I'm not sure who-all was involved and that will probably only come out in court.
Once again the real root of the problem IMO is that these are typically young people that have little respect for laws or safety that are purchasing motorcycles that will often do 150 mph (double the speed of any highway in America) and are creating a public menace and safety hazard with they're riding. They have absolutely no respect for any other motorists using the roads.
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Post by JP5 on Oct 11, 2013 15:24:11 GMT
I don't know. But considering this SUV's circumstances were a bit different.....I think that this may not be the case here; that if you rear-end someone it's always your fault. He had motorcycles close to him....all around him....and they wanted him to stop. He was in fear of his and his family's life and didn't stop. He had no idea what they wanted from him or his family! Plus, he could have been looking at motorcycles on his rear and the side his wife was on at the time. He didn't appear to be going fast at the time at all....just creeping along.
The only ones that were taking purposeful actions to interfere with another driver were those motorcyclists. The SUV driver's insurance will undoubtedly pay for the injured motorcyclists that he ran over....and rightly so. And the SUV driver has apologized, saying he never meant to run over anyone. I have yet to hear ANY of those motorcyclists apologize or take any blame for what happened.
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 12, 2013 1:34:03 GMT
One thing we seem to agree on is that these "metric" riders present a serious threat on the road.
I would argue that a person never has a right to drive over a person that is merely parked in front of them. That motorcyclist was sitting on his motorcycle and certainly didn't expect the driver to flee the scene of the accident for any reason.
Of course the SUV driver has apologized because he doesn't have any criminal complaints filed against him. There have been apologies from motorcycle riders in that group that haven't been charged with a crime but obviously anyone that's been arrested wouldn't be able to say anything on the advice of their attorney.
But these "metric" riders do represent a serious threat. Obviously it's not all "metric" riders or even a majority but it is a disturbing trend that I've seen developing over the last 30 years.
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