Scruit

I'm still commuting on the bike too.  Monday morning was right at freezing but I had enough layers to stay plenty warm for the 30 min ride.

I was hit by a suspended licensee, driving a car that didn't belong to him. He turned left in front of me, I hit him around 50 mph (limit was 45) and my face broke my windshield. After the docs fixed my face (yeah, yeah...) I required some plastic surgery and whatnots. I spoke with an attorney and he told me I was basically fucked because I wasn't wearing my safety belt. The insurance company still wrote me a check for close to $30k, but I had to make that happen on my own. 

 

Moral of the story... Attorneys are also dumb. 

I can understand the attorney's advice that any payout could be less than if you had been wearing your belt as the belt would likely have mitigated the damages.  That doesn't automatically mean you can't collect - just that you may wind up with a 80/20 or 70/30 split in liability for the bills. 

Or the insurance company may just pay out what it considers to be a "small" amount to head off the risk of you getting a more aggressive lawyer.

EDIT:

Your lawyer was likely thinking about this when he advised you:

http://www.selffundingmagazine.com/article/subrogation-and-the-seat-belt-defense-.html

On the other hand, 15 states do have some mechanism in place which could result in reduction of plaintiff’s damages for not having a seat belt on at the time of an accident: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, West Virginia and Wisconsin. These states rationalize that while the accident itself may have been caused by the driver’s negligence, the actual injury for which damages are sought is often exacerbated by the “second collision” which occurs within the plaintiff’s vehicle as a result of his/her not wearing a seat belt.

IANAL:

I got into a debate with a co-worker of mine who held two strong opinions;  "If you have a cast or bandage on our arm or leg then it is illegal to drive."  and "If you are driving illegally then any accident is automatically your fault".   My opinions were that "a cast or bandage is only relevant if it interferes with your ability to drive" and "Accident liability is about the facts of the accident, not about the driver".

I asked her who would be at fault if she rear-ended a drunk driver that was waiting at a red light. She said the drunk driver "because he shouldn't be on the road".  She didn't see any problem with her logic.

In truth, the accident liability would be decided without regard to his being drunk.  And his would be processed for DUI in the same way as if he'd been pulled over.  Thereby, each person is punished for their relevant actions.

Very similar logic applies to the Texas case:

 - The fact that the biker had no valid license will likely get him a ticket, but is not relevant to the accident.

 - The illegal pass was not the cause of the accident.  The driver swerving was the cause.  If the bike's illegal pass had put him in a place where the driver collided with him while making a maneuver in good faith (such as joining a turn lane and hitting a bike that had been passing on the shoulder leading up to the turn lane) then the illegal maneuver of the bike is entirely relevant.   However, any attempt to argue that the bike shouldn't have been there is irrelevant IF the court finds the swerve was intentional. 

 - There are 4 different legal paths to consider:

   a) The biker's traffic infractions.  No license & illegal pass.  Should be cited. 

   b) The driver's traffic infractions.   Failure to maintain lane.  Likely will not be cited in deference to the felony charge for the same act.

   c) Tort liability for the accident damages.   I don't believe the biker is at all at fault for the accident as his actions did not cause the vehicles to come into conflict.  The driver should shoulder all liability, IMHO, however it would not surprise me if his insurance tries to get out of a payout on the basis that this was an intentional act.  They will still likely wind up paying out because although the swerve is very likely to be ruled intentional, it's a different matter to prove that the *collision* was intentional, which is the actual cause of the damages.  The driver could claim that he was trying to dissuade the illegal pass, not trying to actually HIT the bike. 

   d) Driver's criminal liability.   This is clear, although the video is going to be key evidence if he fights it based upon his new "Stung by a bug" story.  After seeing the video I don't believe the bug story one bit.  The real sticking point is the need to prove that the *collision* itself was intentional, or can they secure a conviction based upon the mens rea of reckless intent.   Even though I don't feel he was overcharged, I do expect a plea deal.

This does not sound right. Right of way trumps speed. I was speeding and a church van pulled out of a gas station across 5 lanes of traffic and I had no choice but to hit him. Cops determined my speed to be 45 in a 35 by the skid marks and damage to the vehicles. Other driver was cited and his insurance paid out.

IANAL:  Your speed is only really going to be a factor if it is determined that you were going so fast that a reasonable driver would have thought ti was safe to emerge based upon your distance.  45 in a 35 is not an unexpected speed.  90 in a 35, sure.

In Ohio you cannot be charged if the other vehicle was operating unlawfully. Which the bike seemingly was.

Cite?

Aggravated Assault in Texas is a Felony 2. 

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.22.htm

"fuzz buster" is such a dumb nickname to me... In fact, I question the usefulness of any device that is designed to alert you that you've already been targeted by a speed-detection device.  It's basically just an early notification that you're already fucked.

The alert plays the theme to COPS; "Bad Boys, Bad boys, wotchagunndo?  wotchagunnda whenda cumfayoo?"

Joe Rocket Sonic.  Wear them every ride.  Used to wear Doc Martens but was worried about lack of ankle bracing.

Felonious assault.  5 years in jail.

Even if you had been right about the limit being 55 you would still have been speeding. 

The fasted 2915-16 Forced induction mustang runs these exact plugs.

 

I'm pretty sure a 2915 Mustang would have a warp drive, not spark plugs.

Several times. Haven't decided if the cops that respond with us just have bad aim or hate me

Maybe they think you're starting to like it...?

My mother worked as a manager at a halfway house for you adults after they left prison.  She hear a scream and found a resident had been huffing butane.  As the story goes, whatever he had done wrong had left him "screaming like a newborn baby for several hours". 

He also did a weight reduction on himself, apparently. 

I just came for the t-shirt.

Darwin will take his share.  The rest will eventually either calm down or prompt society to demand a heavy-handed response from police.

Does anyone know how/where to reach out to Shoei helmets??

 

I want to personally thank them for saving my life

Given the extent of your injuries and your miraculous* survival, I'm sure they'd love to hear from you.  Your story may inspire more folks to wear helmets.  customerservice@shoei.com

Miraculous = the injuries you list should have made survival comedically improbable.

UPDATE:

 

I AM HOME!!!

I only have a few more surgeries left to go orthopedic wise, and a series of brain surgeries to go. 

 

I was life lighted from the scene I had brain hematoma, two brain blood clots, had a stroke, broke off part of my brain stem, collapsed lung, broken ribs, 7 facial fractures, 3 compound fractures, pins and plates in my arm, 4 fractures in my hand, broken shoulder, amputated finger, broken leg in 3 places, broken ankle, pins in my leg, pin in my ankle, ummmm couple other things I don't remember

 

Thanks for all the support! A lawsuit has been filed, as I have racked up well over half a million dollars in medical bills

Once the weather gets cold enough that riding to work is the exception rather than the rule, I have some plans for for on the bike.

- Switching to a 14t countersprocket.  Almost all my riding is done on country roads where I don't get over... 55mph...  Sure, let's go with that...   The extra acceleration will help out. 

- Replacing the speedo background with a better calibrated background so that the speedo is accurate.  It reads 8% high across the board for me and I'm sick of having to do the match in my head to figure out how fast I'm actually going.

- Checking the air filter and replacing the coolant requires the tank to come off.  While Its off I'll be cleaning up some additional wiring that I added for aftermarket goodies like the dashcam and GPS tracker. 

- Wiring up the crash sensor SOS and remote engine kill features of the GPS tracker.

- My aftermarket horns didn't last - I'm going to remove them and the associated wiring, going back to stock.  I'm looking for a *RELIABLE* loud horn that is bike specific and doesn't sound like dog's squeaky toy.

Who else has plans for this winter?

This was almost a year ago.  Glad I was not on the bike for this...

... of the 2015 riding season.

Yes, this old chestnut again.

We all have our times and reasons for when we put the bike up.   Maybe it's by temp, or by traction or a simple date.

My question is.... As seasons come and go and get get more miles behind you, have you found that you put it up at at different times or of different reasons?  Can't hack to cold as much as you get older?  More risk averse when it comes to traction?

For me, I get spoiled by the summer weather and start to think that I can skip the bike on a given day because there's plenty time left in the season...  But then the time goes away and I hit the point where the risk of hitting low traction is too great.  I don't really ever "winterize" the bike except for sta-bil because it's garaged, on a center stand already and I can always run the engine for a few minutes each month to keep it fresh.  There's usually at least one good day per month where I can at least get around the block a couple times.  Then comes spring and I'm always trying to get out too early.   I can ride cold (25F was my coldest work commute - ground was dry and clear so wrapped up like one of those carnival sumo suits and cranked up the grip heaters.

I am continually shocked by the number of establishments that don't have security cameras, and the lack of quality images, or insufficient number of angles when there is footage. 

 

... or the camera is out of focus, pointed in a stupid direction, covered in dust, blinded by the sun reflecting via a puddle or car windshield, or they are still using the same tape they put in in the 70s and it can't hold an image any more, or they ran out of disk space, or their motion detection is set up wrong so they have either no video or the video is at a "static scene" framerate of 1fps, or its a PTZ on autopatrol that is looking the wrong way, or the defense is able to make a strong chain-of-custody claim because the CCTV owner innocently used some goofy process to get the video to court...   Should I stop now?

BUT...  You never know.  Hopeless cases have been solved by a single frame on a camera you never knew was there (ATM camera, house across the street with a private CCTV, passing car with dashcam)

If I'm just buying tires to go on my current wheels I go to tire discounters or discount tire, but buy brand name.  Just disposing of old tires can be expensive.

When I got wheel/tire combos (offroad for my Bronco and winter setup for my Subaru) I got them from tire rack.  Arrived ready to install the wheels.  Saved me having to cart my subaru summer tires home from the shop.

I'm looking to buy a set of 33" road tires for my bronco and will get wheels with them - the chunky offroad tires are like driving on a cobblestone road.  Likely go to tire rack again - although these have a hefty freight charge due to size/weight - have to be LTL shipped to a loading dock or pay extra for liftgate service.

Just hit 15k on my '11 Wee

I asked a buddy who rides a Harley.  Says he doesn't need to stop because the damn thing won't ever start.