This is second hand, my husband was the one who witnessed it.
Last night, around 6:30-6:45, all vehicles headed inbound. Car going about 50mph, motorcycle passes him (with oncoming traffic), and easily doubles his speed - cyclist headed inbound a little in front and the motorcycle blows by (est. 100mph) and knocks the cyclist and his bike off the road onto the shoulder.
(my husband stopped, put flashers on, and ran back to check on the guy, one other driver stopped to help too, cyclist had bloody leg but said he was fine and continued on headed inbound).
Motorcyclist never stopped, was going too fast to get the plates. Had the audacity to wave to an outbound cyclist as he was doing all this.
And during National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.
My husband was absolutely livid (and totally freaked out until I assured him that with the new gearing I never ride on ARB anymore) to the point that I had to remind him all his planned actions were illegal other than writing to the police.
Stuff like this happens on ARB around him about once or twice a week (he drives it at least twice a day every day), apparently motorcycles are "the worst".
My question is - what could be done, and how do we get "them" to do it? Police, planning, pavement, any options at all.
Law-abiding motorcyclists are not a problem, just as law-abiding bicyclists are not a problem. Non-law-abiding motorcyclists are capable of causing death and serious injury, just as non-law-abiding drivers, and so this guy should be found out, and at least his license revoked, or if repeat offender, lock up his bike, too.
Agreed with Stu. I'm not sure what can be done about it aside from writing to the police, and even then without details I'm not sure what that will accomplish. It wouldn't surprise me if someone like that doesn't even have an M license. There should be greater enforcement, though, as stupid stunts like that are not uncommon from the sport bike crowd.
Labelling all motorcyclists as "the worst", however, is not all that different from drivers saying that all bicyclists run lights, are unpredictable, etc. Law-abiding, and non-law-abiding people ride or drive all forms of vehicles. (Written from the perspective of someone who rides both kinds of cycles - and follows the rules.)
That sucks. But,
"Written from the perspective of someone who rides both kinds of cycles - and follows the rules."
If you think it's stinks as a bicyclist being lumped in with red-light-running-traffic-weaving-helmetless-hipsters, try telling random people you're a motorcyclist.
Sounds like that road needs some good basic law enforcement, nothing nuclear. Hopefully someone got some identifying information on that goofball.
Ask for the police to set up a speed trap there some evening? Maybe talk to an elected representative (state? local?) and see if he can convince the police to make a speed trap happen?
Longer term, a separate bike trail would be great. That seems like something our next county executive, currently seeking votes, would have some control over....
Sorry, what does ARB stand for and where is it?
I was reading the other day about a motorist who killed a couple of people, and it was found that he was going over 100 MPH in a residential area.
We can do things like increasing police presence in areas that are known for speeding and calling the cops when you see someone driving unsafely--but sadly, it seems to be a fact of life that there are a few bad apples who are bound and determined to drive motorized instruments of death at blatantly homicidal (and suicidal!) speeds, and heaven help you if you cross their path and can't get out of the way in time.
Hopefully those people will get their just reward soon enough without taking out any innocent bystanders with them.
Rina, ARB = Allegheny River Boulevard.
That road a safety disaster. I had the displeasure of riding ALB on my fast bike with alucas awhile back and hated it. There is a trail along with light rail in the big idea phase but that won't happen for many moons.
Allegheny River Blvd. Runs parallel to Freeport Rd on the south side of the Allegheny River from Washington Blvd to Verona.
A large part of the problem is that local cops can't carry radar so busting speeders essentially doesn't happen. Combined with the ridiculous traffic infrastructure here any time people get a flat straight road they treat it like a freeway. ARB, Bigelow Blvd, Blvd of the Allies, RT 28.
Chris Mayhew: really? What's up with cops not being able to carry radar?
Dunno. Staties only.
If it's any consolation, I doubt that motorcyclist has a terribly great life expectancy.
Oh, and Mayhew's right. Local police still can do speed traps, though. They just have to use stopwatches or VASCAR.
ARB is a good example of how the infrastructure that separates the "city" from the "country" is incredible bike-unfriendly. There is SOOOOO much good riding just outside the city in almost every direction, but if you live in the city, you must suffer through at least one terrible section of road to get there.
Oh my goodness, I'm sorry, by "motorcycles are the worst" I didn't mean to say that all motorcyclists were problems, that totally came out wrong. I think what he meant, and what I do mean, is that, due to the nature of the vehicle, motorcyclists who speed are "worse" because they can easily and very quickly get up to speeds that many cars can't, and many drivers can't predict. People used to cars, or traffic moving more the pace of traffic, can't predict when there's suddenly someone weaving at twice the speed limit or more - especially on such a long, straight, flat road where you should be able to see someone coming for miles. They may not weigh as much and be as serious a threat to your average car/SUV, but to themselves, cyclists, pedestrians, they seem to be able to do a disproportionately huge amount of damage. Cars aren't as maneuverable and can't accelerate as quickly - making them more predictable. But the generalization was not fair, I apologize.
Rina - in the state of PA, nobody but State Police are allowed to use radar to issue speeding tickets. Not sure why that started originally (callibration issues, education issues, whatever), but it's STILL illegal because, seriously, local LEOs might set speed traps to try and earn money for their municipalities. Because enforcing our laws is SO WRONG.
It's not like a cop could catch a speeding motor bike anyways.
They were trying to change that when I came to PA in the early 1980s. Penna is alone among the states with such a restriction.
my husband figured out that cops wouldn't catch a motorcycle. But the lovely thing about ARB being long, straight, and not having many turning places is that you put a speed trap at one end, and have a cop waiting at the other. One identifies the speeder, the other STOPS the speeder - no catching involved.
Or just put in DUI checkpoints at random times during the day/night. That slows everybody down.
It's too bad this road has turned into a mini highway.
If you look on the right you can see original turn offs as it was originally supposed to be a more scenic road. Would be a great biking road if those old turnoffs were restored.
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A21302
Want local police to nab speeders using RADAR, LIDAR, and other technologies - like the staties?
Call your legislators regarding House Bill 1041 , House Bill 1475 and Senate Bill 526 and tell them you want action!
The first House Bill allows local cops to use speed timing devices, such as, radar and LIDAR to enforce posted speed limits, the other two bills amend the vehicle code for local governments to receive training, funding and limitations on device usage.
For the record, Penn Hills is very interested in finding ways to make this corridor more bicycle (and pedestrian) friendly. Mothing is likely to happen very quickly, but they are trying to identify a strategy that would make this corridor safer and more appealing to non-motorized traffic.
"If it's any consolation, I doubt that motorcyclist has a terribly great life expectancy."
Last summer my girlfriend was trying to make a left on ARB. A guy on a motorcycle passed her on the left (up the yellow line) because she had a long line of traffic to wait for. Later we found out he died in a accident on the corner of Frankstown and Washington Blvd. His accident occurred 10 min after he passed her.
I don't want speeding motorcyclists to die. The opposite. Accomplished by incentivising responsible driving or discouraging irresponsible driving. It's a win-win. They get to enjoy their motorcycles for a lot longer, and we get to enjoy our bikes/roads more.
I just don't know how they would do that, or how to get them to do whatever would work.
