High visibility is the best way to decrease the likelihood of a car violating the right of way of a motorcycle. Most motorcycle crashes involve cars turning left in front of motorcycles that they failed to see. The single best way to increase your safety on a bike is to wear a bright colored jacket.
All the safety features in the world can't change the size disparity between a minivan and a motorcycle. A collision between two cars that would be a minor fender bender with nobody hurt can be deadly if one of the vehicles is a motor cycle.
My uncle had been riding a white BMW for decades, and one day he decided to paint it black. After that he noticed that people weren't keeping out of his way the way they used to. It may have been because people associate white BMW bikes with cops (NSW police used them for years before switching to Yamaha) and normally don't give a fuck about motorcyclists, or it could just be that a white bike is easier to spot.
I suspect the bright color over the more stealthy black has the biggest impact over looking cop like.
They uniformly tell me that they see loud pipes as a critical safety measure to make drivers aware that they're there.
I do not know if drivers in general (i.e., around the world) are uniformly bad at paying enough attention to notice riders (of bicycles or motorbikes), but certainly here (Brisbane, Australia) people seem to be pretty woeful at their situational awareness when driving.
Visibility is a much more important safety issue for bikes yet the Harley riders seem to revel in the lowest visibility colors for their riding attire and bike paint. If they really cared about safety, they would dress in bright colors that contrast with the road and other cars.
If the law says they can't spend money on a program then they can't spend money on a program right?
Also, isn't there a limit to how agencies can move funding around? If there isn't then why do we fight over weather to fund programs or not, just give them X amount and tell them to spend it how they see fit?
Cantor's case shows that you still have to get people to vote for you, you can't simply buy a seat.
Is it possible that the average GOP voter doesn't like illegal immigration from a fairness perspective?
XKCD should do a what if? for how a trampoline could be used to get to the space station.
It always seemed like a mistake to get involved in such a venture with the Russians. Any joint venture with two co-equals with somewhat cold relations seems destined to lead to problems as each side has conflicting goals (sometimes unrelated to the joint venture).
Shakes the Clown is the best movie ever.
A month lasts longer than a fire. How about we just stop pretending singular events like fires are climate?
When there is no hope of getting new funding to study what is caused by global warming.
At some point, perhaps the solution for long trips will be to have a system where cars can draw power directly from the road. Maybe your car normally has a 100 mile range but once you get on the Interstate or other major highway, the car draws power from the road.
Perhaps a battery will be invented that stores the charge in some sort of liquid medium that can either be charged the normal way by plugging in the car or that can be drained out and re-filled with already charged liquid a "juice" station.
The vast majority of the police departments who have SWAT teams shouldn't have them but the militarization of the police is all the rage now. Once your small or medium town has one (or two), you feel compelled to use them as much as possible in order to justify their existence.
The smart gunners best strategy would be to get it required for COPS, that might be an easier sell. Once that happens, then they are assured that everyone will be forced to use them soon after. Of course, the problem is police don't want them either.
All seems condemned in the long run to approximate a state akin to Gaussian noise. -- James Martin
