LaVar Arrington In Motorcycle Accident

I hope he can still play after this. Really good guy. Sucks to hear this.

I hope he heals and plays in the NFL again. He is too young to retire on a mediocre career. Best Wishes to Lavar and his family and WARPATH I"ll take the PRO BOWL jersey!

This is too bad for LA. I'm glad he was smart enough to wear a helmet. Today's Wash Post indicates his career is likely over as there was lukewarm interest in him and now he's hurt. LA was a good player but never the great player I expected.

A couple things:

I don't doubt that riding a motorcycle can be done safely if properly trained. And I don't doubt that most motorbike accidents are the result of the rider doing something wrong.

But at the same time, it's still riskier than a car. If you drive a car safely and properly, and you drive a motorcycle safely and properly, the chances of you being in an accident are both about the same. You keep the probability of an accident nice and low by driving safely and defensively, whether you're on a bike or in a car. But the difference is with accidents caused by some other moron driver. You can't stop other people from driving drunk, running red lights, or looking back to scold little Johnny for punching little Mikey. If you're in a car, and you get in an accident at 25 MPH, you get out of the car and you exchange insurance information, and go on your merry way. On a motorbike at 25 MPH, you're thrown from the bike and seriously hurt (possibly killed depending on how you land). That's the difference. The margin for error is smaller on a bike, because ANY accident can severely eff you up.

But I generally agree that the main reason Lavar is a retard for this one is because he depends on his body for his livelihood, and he didn't have a license.

As for the sensitivity stuff, I think it's nice that some of you guys are sensitive to Lavar and touchy feely about not discussing motorcycle safety until a grace period goes by. But I'm not sensitive and I'm not sorry about it. I'd like to discuss motorcycle safety, if you'd like to be sensitive you don't have to discuss it with me. I just hope the board doesn't go all censorship on these types of discussions just to be sensitive.

Yes, 3 month bans for all who aren't sensitive to LaVar.

Why would we "go all censorship"? :confused:

It's my personal opinion that hours after someone is involved in a serious accident it's not really the appropriate time to be debating whether or not he should have been riding a motorcycle in the first place.

But hey that's just me, if you disagree you don't have to talk about it with me.

there is one thing that really bothers me. how come the govt can make places no smoking, and ban abortions, all in the eye of public safety. but people can drive a car 65 mph, while talking on cell phone? or you can drive a motorcycle mph, WITHOUT a helmet? isn't this stuff kind of unsafe?

Yes, 3 month bans for all who aren't sensitive to LaVar.

Why would we "go all censorship"? :confused:

It's my personal opinion that hours after someone is involved in a serious accident it's not really the appropriate time to be debating whether or not he should have been riding a motorcycle in the first place.

But hey that's just me, if you disagree you don't have to talk about it with me.

OK cool. That's my fault, sometimes it's hard to separate the Mod Matty from the member Matty. When you wrote your post saying 'I think more than anything we should just focus on LaVar's well being for now.' I thought you might have been laying down the law rather than just giving opinion. I misinterpreted.

there is one thing that really bothers me. how come the govt can make places no smoking, and ban abortions, all in the eye of public safety. but people can drive a car 65 mph, while talking on cell phone? or you can drive a motorcycle mph, WITHOUT a helmet? isn't this stuff kind of unsafe?

Actually the government does ban all that stuff, you'd get cited for any of those offenses. It's just impossible to enforce the law upon everyone, cops can't be everywhere to write tickets to every single person who rides without a helmet, rides without a license, or speeds.

PS Not related to your point of course, but Lavar was wearing a helmet, dunno if you missed that detail.

schneed, i think in Pennsylvania, its the riders choice to wear or not to wear. and i don't think Pa. has any laws on the books regarding talking when driving. and yeah, i know Lavar was wearing his helmet. although I'm still trying to figure out how he got it on?

A couple things:

I don't doubt that riding a motorcycle can be done safely if properly trained. And I don't doubt that most motorbike accidents are the result of the rider doing something wrong.

But at the same time, it's still riskier than a car. If you drive a car safely and properly, and you drive a motorcycle safely and properly, the chances of you being in an accident are both about the same. You keep the probability of an accident nice and low by driving safely and defensively, whether you're on a bike or in a car. But the difference is with accidents caused by some other moron driver. You can't stop other people from driving drunk, running red lights, or looking back to scold little Johnny for punching little Mikey. If you're in a car, and you get in an accident at 25 MPH, you get out of the car and you exchange insurance information, and go on your merry way. On a motorbike at 25 MPH, you're thrown from the bike and seriously hurt (possibly killed depending on how you land). That's the difference. The margin for error is smaller on a bike, because ANY accident can severely eff you up.

But I generally agree that the main reason Lavar is a retard for this one is because he depends on his body for his livelihood, and he didn't have a license.

As for the sensitivity stuff, I think it's nice that some of you guys are sensitive to Lavar and touchy feely about not discussing motorcycle safety until a grace period goes by. But I'm not sensitive and I'm not sorry about it. I'd like to discuss motorcycle safety, if you'd like to be sensitive you don't have to discuss it with me. I just hope the board doesn't go all censorship on these types of discussions just to be sensitive.

Schneed,

Since Lavar is likely going to be fine, I don't have a problem with this debate right now. Your point that riding a bike is inherently more dangerous due to the higher likelihood of injury is well taken and I don't dispute you, but the same arguement could be applied to cars too. Convertibles, small cars, sports cars, pickups for example all represent much higher injury/fatality rates than minivans. Does that mean we all should drive minivans, or that it is "dumb" to drive a smaller car? How about riding a bicycle or walking? More pedestrians are killed per mile traveled than any other mode of transportation in this country...should we label walking as "dumb?"

Motorvehicle transportation has inherent risks no matter what you drive/ride/fly. Just ask the families of the roughly 50,000 people a year who die in auto accidents each year, or of the 3500 who die on motorcycles. My point is that proper training and discipline can mitigate the lion share of those risks. You will never eliminate the risk of a freak accident, but you can put the odds in your favor.

My point is that your choice of transportation has less do with that risk than your behavior while operating your vehicle of choice. Hence I take issue with your labeling motorcycles as "dumb."