redelk
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
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posted June 08, 2007 08:59 PM
2 killed/15 injured in chase-MD official wants ban on bikes
WTOPnews.com and The Associated Press
June 1, 2007 - 8:08am
http://wtop.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=1154314
FORESTVILLE, MD - Saying that so-called bullet bikes or crotch rockets are "wreaking a tremendous amount of havoc on our roadways," one Maryland lawmaker says the state should consider banning the motorcycles from street use.
A crash on the Capital Beltway, on the night of March 30th, killed two people and left 15 others injured. Police say that the accident happened as they were trying to stop one of these speeding motorcycles. The accident and rescue effort caused the highway to be closed in both directions, backing up traffic for miles.
"They are potential death machines in the wrong hands," says Delegate Bill Bronrott of Montgomery County. "I think we should look at the possibility of saying, 'Hey, these are only intended for recreational use and should be used on race courses rather than on public highways."
Bronrott says Maryland State Police are contacting jurisdictions around the country to see how they handle the motorcycles. He says Maryland needs to investigate whether higher penalties would reduce problems associated with the motorcycles and/or whether laws need to be changed. "It is definitely worth looking into whether or not we should totally ban these from our public roads or not," Bronrott says.
Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the seven-car, chain-reaction crash that closed the Beltway that night. It started at about 7 p.m. when a Prince George's County police officer spotted a speeding motorcycle and positioned himself to stop it on the inner loop, police said. The motorcycle rider swerved in front of a civilian car and sped away, causing the officer's car to hit the civilian's.
That car rolled down an embankment onto the outer loop, where five other cars crashed into each other. Two people in the car that went over the embankment died. Prince George's County Police have identified them as Kevin McCarter, 40, of Ft. Washington, MD and Sidney Clanton Jr., age unknown, of Buffalo, N.Y. Two of the injured were police officers. One was flown to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. The other was also hospitalized, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening.
Law enforcement sources say the officers involved in the accident had been alerted to a felony in progress, and were given a lookout for the cycle. Police say they were chasing a black, high-speed, nimble racing motorcycle. Officers are looking for the motorcycle and rider believed to be responsible. A video camera in the police cruiser did capture the chase, but police have not provided a more detailed description of the bike, or any license plate information.
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Police Actions Questioned in Fatal Crash
By Ruben Castaneda, Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 2, 2007; Page B02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/AR2007060102333.html?nav=hcmodule
A close friend of a man killed in the March 30th accident on the Capital Beltway and a member of a group that advocates for police accountability asked for information yesterday about what procedures were followed by a Prince George's County police officer before the crash.
Two men were killed and 15 people were injured in the series of collisions about 7 p.m. near the Ritchie Marlboro Road exit, north of Forestville. That night, Prince George's police said the chain of events began when a county police officer pursued a speeding motorcyclist on the Beltway's outer loop. The motorcyclist cut in front of a car, and the cruiser slammed into a vehicle, sending it airborne over the median's guardrail and into oncoming traffic.
But on the following day and again on that Friday, police said they could not confirm a police chase. "We're not even calling it a pursuit," said Lt. April Delabrer of the public information office. They did not identify the officer driving the cruiser, who has been placed on administrative leave.
Kevin McCarter, 49, of Fort Washington and his friend Sidney Clanton Jr., of Buffalo were killed as they and a third friend were going to a concert in Columbia in a Ford Explorer driven by McCarter. Charles Dangerfield, a longtime friend of McCarter's, said he believes his friend's vehicle was the one struck by the police cruiser and sent over the guardrail into traffic in the inner loop. "I would like to know, did the officer call the chase in to a supervisor, or did he take the matter into his own hands to catch this dude on the motorcycle?" Dangerfield said. "Why were they chasing [the motorcyclist]?
We've got a couple of people dead. We need some answers," added Redmond Barnes, a member of the People's Coalition for Police Accountability, a group that advocates for reform of the county police force.
A national expert on police chases who co-authored a book on the subject said yesterday that the risks of chases have prompted many departments to greatly restrict the circumstances under which officers can engage in high-speed pursuits. Many allow them only when a dangerous, armed felon is believed to be fleeing, and only after supervisors have authorized the chase, said John J. Kenney, co-author of "What We Know About Pursuits." The book grew out of a study Kenney and other experts undertook for the Police Executive Research Forum.
"Obviously, any kind of high-speed driving increases the danger to the officer and to anyone else who is around," said Kenney, a former police officer who is a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. The risks are particularly high when police chase a motorcyclist, Kenney said. The chase is often futile, because motorcycles reach higher speeds more quickly than do police cruisers and can be maneuvered through traffic, he said. "A motorcyclist would be able to avoid a police car relatively easily," Kenney said. "If you chase a motorcycle, you'd be increasing the level of danger with a fairly low probability of apprehending someone."
The department's pursuit policy says officers can engage in high-speed chases only if there is probable cause that the suspect was involved in the use of force or was involved in a hit-and-run accident that resulted in death or serious injury. The policy states that an officer's primary concern should be the preservation of life and that apprehending or identifying the suspect is secondary to safety. The chase policy does not allow officers to pursue someone who is speeding, said Christopher A. Griffiths, a lawyer who has filed dozens of civil lawsuits against the county. "To do that on the Beltway at rush hour is the height of irresponsibility," Griffiths said. "It seriously boggles the mind."
Other area police departments have similarly restrictive policies. In 1991, when seven people were killed in the District in accidents during or at the end of police chases, D.C. police restricted officers from initiating pursuits in cases that do not involve violent felonies, such as homicide, serious assaults and rape. A model policy developed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police says police pursuits may be justified when the officer reasonably believes that the suspect, if allowed to flee, would present a danger of death or serious injury.
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Here is Delegate Bill Bronrott's website with e-mail addresses... if you wish to share your thoughts concerning his opinion of banning sportbikes.
http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/msa02767.html
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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
   
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H2 to ZX12
Needs a job
two stroke power
Posts: 3674
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posted June 08, 2007 11:03 PM
 Edited By: H2 to ZX12 on 9 Jun 2007 00:06
http://www.bikeland.org/board/viewthread.php?FID=2&TID=31834&set_time=
http://www.bikeland.org/board/viewthread.php?FID=2&TID=31870&set_time=
http://www.bikeland.org/board/viewthread.php?FID=2&TID=31843&set_time=
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SpikeZX12R
Parking Attendant
Posts: 27
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posted June 09, 2007 12:46 AM
That is a sad story that people have dies after a bike chase. It seems that motor bikes get very bad press everytime something happens like this.
People can do exactly the same in a car but you never ever here of cars being banned and only for race track use.
We have the same problem over here in some counties, people just see bikes as a nusience and want rid altogether.
Sounds to me like this is a case of the minority spoiling it for the majority. We have a lot of stuff going on over here with bikes and speeding saying that they cause soooo many accidents through speed and they should be banned. When in reality only 6% of motorcycle accidents are down to speed, the rest down to rider error.
Hope they catch him and he gets whats coming to him.
Spike
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99libertad06
Parking Attendant
Posts: 10
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posted June 09, 2007 03:42 AM
by the sounds of it , this was all the cops fault. the cop was the one to hit those people not the biker and it seems the cop was out to kill the biker.
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i painted it and yes i was going for a bee look
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Impressive
Novice Class
Posts: 38
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posted June 09, 2007 03:49 AM
Yellowbeard, one of the best movies ever!
I guess in this case two wrongs don't make a right. The guy on the bike was wrong but the pursuit was bad judgment. I used to outrun the state and city cops and MP's in Georgia while in the Army and I never got caught. I did this with an Isuzu Impulse Turbo not a motorcycle. If a guy in a car that tops out at the 130's can get away so many times a bike should just be off limits because it will take the car to it's most extreme and unsafe level. All that said I think the guy who did the running feels like shit and should. Choices, so many choices.
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Impressive
Novice Class
Posts: 38
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posted June 09, 2007 03:55 AM
quote:
by the sounds of it , this was all the cops fault. the cop was the one to hit those people not the biker and it seems the cop was out to kill the biker.
Yeah, thats what I thought when I heard it. I had the same thing happen when I was evading the mp's I was topped out going down the highway and about to go under a bridge when the mp just pulled out in front of me leaving me only a foot or so on both sides. I never even touched the brakes and was lucky but it could have ended worse. I know he shit his pants, I almost did.
By the way is there a statute of limitation on the stuff I'm saying from 1990
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icdumpeple
Novice Class
Posts: 46
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posted June 09, 2007 04:12 AM
Bad Judgment on both.
We that ride need to pick and choose the best time and place to feed our addictions for speed and that was not it.
Cars or their drivers cause accidents everyday with 18 wheelers lets band them too and while we are at it lets band bicycles they kill bugs or lets just band the dumb asses that think they now what is best for us.
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aliveagain
Needs a life
Posts: 5033
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posted June 09, 2007 04:31 AM
quote:
It seems that motor bikes get very bad press everytime something happens like this.
If a pole was taken of the residents around the dragon,what percentage of people think sport riders ride too fast?I think I read where the ambulance is called on an average of 4 times a day.Around here, one couldn't go too far without being in a residential area.A very real perception of all too fast race bikes has been around for a long time with good reason.I'm not chastizing anyone from enjoying their bike,but like icdumpeple,picking and chosing the best time and place softens the prejudice.
____________
I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
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slates
Expert Class
Posts: 377
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posted June 09, 2007 04:57 AM
Copy of what I'm sending this state rep.
Dear Mr. Bronrott,
In these times, when we as a country are at war; young men and women are dying so people can pursue their inalienable rights and pursuits of happiness; your suggestion of a ban on these bikes is both unconstitutional and a slap in the face to every dead soldier that has fought for those rights in this country's 200 plus year history. I certainly don't advocate the type of driving this so-called sportbike was doing on busy public roads, but it appears the police haven't followed procedures and pursued this violator in a high speed chase.
In your line of thinking, every vehicle should be speed regulated to 65 mph. You should also want to ban all semi-trucks since they cause a great amount of death and injury when they have accidents. Let's ban skydiving, bungee-jumping, alcohol, and while you're at it you might as well ban cars since 42,000 Americans die each year in car accidents*.
*In the Wall Street Journal's, June 8, 2007, edition, there is an article called "My Only Son", by Leon de Winter, which states, "...America is prepared to pay with the lives of 42,000 men, women, and children each year because it needs to travel for work and pleasure..." (different subject same line of thinking and based on your obvious liberal bias you need to read this article)
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black zx14 - Brock's Gen3 Carbon, PCIII, no secondaries, Carrozzeria wheels, Sato rearsets, Pazzo levers, GPR V4 steering damper, Puig windscreen, Tiger Racing chain guard
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icdumpeple
Novice Class
Posts: 46
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posted June 09, 2007 05:36 AM
Thankyou Slates.
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blackbullet76
Pro
Posts: 1134
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posted June 09, 2007 05:39 AM
quote:
People can do exactly the same in a car but you never ever here of cars being banned and only for race track use.
You're right, what they do for speeding cars is make a tv show called "america's wildest police chases".
____________
2007 ZX-14 black
Brocks s-meg exhaust
PCIII w/track map
BMC race filter
Flies removed
16 tooth front sprocket
Speedohealer
APE cam chain tensioner
Vortex rearsets
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NinjaNick
Needs a job
'08 ZX14 (Blue)
Posts: 4558
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posted June 09, 2007 06:13 AM
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fury
Expert Class
Posts: 427
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posted June 09, 2007 09:13 AM
*I lft my name blanc. No need or everyone to know my name*
But thi is what I sent him...
Good morning.
My name is
I would like to take the time to state a fact.
I have an AMZ license is Ontario Canada. I have had more driver training than you can imagine.
My first license was a bike license, then a car license, then my transport license.
Every license requires training. My instructor for my car license stated something to me, after I passed my testing that stuck with me all these years.
Now you have a license to kill. It doesn't matter what you drive, it matters how you drive. You can be the safest driver in the world and still get into an accident.
Just make sure you are not the cause of the accident. You cannot blame anyone for your actions. You cannot hide behind legislation or the old stand by they told me I could. Vehicles do not kill. People kill. People's actions kill. People's lack of common sense kills. Procedures kill.
Now with the above stated, what are your thoughts?
Why do you think motorbikes should be banned from street use?
Now compare your statistics to domestics where knives are used.
Stabbings are what every officer is afraid of when responding to a domestic call.
There are more stabbings than shootings every year but nobody has come forward to ban the steak knife.
Where does it stop?
Politicians took the P out of parenting.
Now they are desperately trying to put it back.
Are you trying to destroy the words Common Sense?
Truly what is humanity with out common sense?
Legislation has tried to replace this for years.
It has failed miserably.
I have a lot of family in the U.S.A.
Yes I am located in Canada presently.
I would like a response to my questions and statements please.
Thank you.
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zx1kr
Pro
Posts: 1301
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posted June 10, 2007 03:12 PM
quote:
by the sounds of it , this was all the cops fault. the cop was the one to hit those people not the biker and it seems the cop was out to kill the biker.
+1
I've had these C**ksuckers roll up not 6 inches from my back wheel me while i'm doing 75mph. Yea, I'm over the limit but, don't put my life on the line for a 20+ over speeding ticket.I don't run , so why pull that kind of shit?
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smokinzx14
Needs a life
Posts: 10197
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posted June 10, 2007 04:06 PM
My Email to the bone head ...
Dear Sir
What is more deadly a 4000 pound car or a 450 pound motorcycle.....I guess you allready know the answer because the car killed someone and the bike killed no one ...What would you rather have a 4000 car going 120 MPH trying the catch a motorcycle that can run at speeds of 180 MPH ...The officer had no chance of keep up or even stopping that motorcycle.....Sir two wrongs don't make a right ....All the officer had to do is not turn his lights on and get the mans plate number and wait till the guy goes home and nab him...40,000 deaths a year on the Highway and roads of America and you are worried about one speeding motorcycle ? Chances are the motorcycle rider if he had wrecked would have only killed himself ....Fact is more and more motorcyclests are getting killed yearly by Bad drivers in Autos ..... You have DUI charges that are a joke , i have seen guys with 5 DUIs still driving and you are trying to ban Motorcycles ? Please find a better battle to waste our Tax dollars on ...Goverment need to work on high gas prices and not worry Motorcycles ...Motorcyles are going to be more common place on our roads as less and less people can pay the ever rising gas prices..
Thank you for your time......
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Smokin Performance Cycles..
Tampa Bay , FL .. Brocks Performance Dealer ..
Gen 2 ZX14R Best ET 8.43 , Best MPH 164.95
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chease
Parking Attendant
Posts: 2
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posted June 11, 2007 09:26 AM
Ban wont happen. This is the USof A. USA is all about the dollar bill. They will not pass a bill that bans money. Bike makers pay big money to import their goods (bikes here). They also pay big time tax dollars just as we pay that tax dollar when we buy the bikes. Thats big money and now that every one is buying at least a bike a year (I bought two in two years) the money is huge. Besides, to ban a motor vehicle after forcing a citizen to pay taxes on that vehicle means that someone will be refunding a lot of taxes dollars (?). Someone will also most likely have to come up with a financial plan to buy back a lot of bikes from the citizens. Remember, Doctors, Lawyers, Politicians, their families, People with vast amounts of money and their family members and all of us have these machines and there is no way the government is going to turn them in to useless objects. Hell, in some states people have to pay property tax on their cycles every year. If you ban it you just bought it!!!! and you still owe me a huge tax return... Thats how i feel about it... Oh yeah, Biker error does happen but more than majotiry of people driving and buying cars and the biggiest of SUVS really have no clue on how to actually drive. And dont forget about the CELLPHONE. Every car potential car accident I see has a driver if not both on a cellphone......
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chease
Parking Attendant
Posts: 2
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posted June 11, 2007 09:30 AM
I forgot to say if one bans a Jap bike how would Japan like this. They could easily say that the USA could then one day blame things on a Toyota per say. Japan could say the hell with the USA and pull their vehicles or just make all Jap vehicles special order with Lambo price tags. That goes for any country that makes sportbikes. Do you think the USA could ban a BUELL. Harley and the good Ole Boys aint having that SHI*!!!
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reaper zx14
Parking Attendant
Posts: 23
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posted June 11, 2007 03:27 PM
My letter to the asteemed (sic) ass hair -
Dear Sir,
When are you up for re-election??
Thank god for A.B.A.T.E.
____________
2007 ZX-14
Diablo Black
Flies out
PC III / Brock Performance Track MAP
Brock Performance Pipe
Nitrous
Lowered 2 1/2 Inches
Extended swing arm "Roaring Toyz"
Carbon Fiber Ram Air Covers "Street Fighters By Design"
Carbon Fiber Side Covers (George Forman Grill) "Street Fighters By Design"
Dyno at 183 Horse Power and 110 Ft Lbs of tork
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