this story saddens me deeply...
news
Mark Garback is an expert when it comes to riding a motorcycle. He trains others how to operate the two-wheeled machines safely and would have spent last weekend teaching a safe-riding course.Instead, Garback is in Methodist Hospital in an induced coma, fighting for his life, after being critically injured while escorting a funeral on a motorcycle.
It makes the rest of us greatly aware that it could happen anywhere to anybody," said Bob Lamon, a Speedway police officer who owns Indianapolis Funeral Escort Service. "You can't prevent some things that happen." His company provides motorcyclists to guide funeral processions.Garback was caught in a situation that instructors teach new riders to avoid: being on the blind side of four-wheeled traffic and being pulled into a collision you can't dodge.
Friday, Garback, 47, was riding for Lamon's company on South Meridian Street near Meridian School Road. He was heading from the back of the procession to the front when a driver in the procession paused to let a pickup through to make a left turn.
The turning truck struck Garback, throwing him from the motorcycle and causing serious fractures and a head injury.
A bike never wins with another vehicle. It's like a car and a train -- a bike always comes in second place," said Gary Williams, director of operations for ABATE of Indiana, a motorcycle advocacy organization. "You have to watch for that other guy out there."Garback's crash was one of two accidents involving motorcycle-mounted funeral escorts last week. Two days earlier, Justin Mullis, a 48-year-old French Lick police officer, died after he fell from a motorcycle while escorting a Morgan County funeral.
Two years earlier in Indianapolis, LaRue Burks, a 43-year-old motorcycle rider for MP Funeral Services, died after he lost control, skidded on the pavement at 38th and LaSalle streets and struck a PT Cruiser.
By law, funeral processions have the right of way. Typically, the processions are supposed to move without a break and without cross traffic of the kind that injured Garback.
The number of motorcyclists killed in Indiana has increased in recent years, even as overall traffic fatalities have dropped.
According to the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, motorcycle fatalities increased from 64 in 1994 to 124 in 2007, but overall traffic fatalities declined from 971 to 896. However, the number of motorcycles registered in the state jumped from 97,000 to 185,000 in the same time period.
The accidents occurred just before the start of Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month.
my heart goes out to all the families involved, this is a very sad situation and I thinks its time we all get together and start lobbying for stricter punishment for people who hit and injure or kill a motorcyclist with people talking/texting on there cell phones and the woman killed by someone painting her finger nails...you are supposed to be driving while driving, not doing anything else...multi tasking ect...even the leo's do it all the time I see them driving and trying to punch in information on the police car laptops ect...keep your eyes on the road, this is really starting to piss me off....we need to do something NOW!!!
news
Mark Garback is an expert when it comes to riding a motorcycle. He trains others how to operate the two-wheeled machines safely and would have spent last weekend teaching a safe-riding course.Instead, Garback is in Methodist Hospital in an induced coma, fighting for his life, after being critically injured while escorting a funeral on a motorcycle.
It makes the rest of us greatly aware that it could happen anywhere to anybody," said Bob Lamon, a Speedway police officer who owns Indianapolis Funeral Escort Service. "You can't prevent some things that happen." His company provides motorcyclists to guide funeral processions.Garback was caught in a situation that instructors teach new riders to avoid: being on the blind side of four-wheeled traffic and being pulled into a collision you can't dodge.
Friday, Garback, 47, was riding for Lamon's company on South Meridian Street near Meridian School Road. He was heading from the back of the procession to the front when a driver in the procession paused to let a pickup through to make a left turn.
The turning truck struck Garback, throwing him from the motorcycle and causing serious fractures and a head injury.
A bike never wins with another vehicle. It's like a car and a train -- a bike always comes in second place," said Gary Williams, director of operations for ABATE of Indiana, a motorcycle advocacy organization. "You have to watch for that other guy out there."Garback's crash was one of two accidents involving motorcycle-mounted funeral escorts last week. Two days earlier, Justin Mullis, a 48-year-old French Lick police officer, died after he fell from a motorcycle while escorting a Morgan County funeral.
Two years earlier in Indianapolis, LaRue Burks, a 43-year-old motorcycle rider for MP Funeral Services, died after he lost control, skidded on the pavement at 38th and LaSalle streets and struck a PT Cruiser.
By law, funeral processions have the right of way. Typically, the processions are supposed to move without a break and without cross traffic of the kind that injured Garback.
The number of motorcyclists killed in Indiana has increased in recent years, even as overall traffic fatalities have dropped.
According to the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, motorcycle fatalities increased from 64 in 1994 to 124 in 2007, but overall traffic fatalities declined from 971 to 896. However, the number of motorcycles registered in the state jumped from 97,000 to 185,000 in the same time period.
The accidents occurred just before the start of Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month.
my heart goes out to all the families involved, this is a very sad situation and I thinks its time we all get together and start lobbying for stricter punishment for people who hit and injure or kill a motorcyclist with people talking/texting on there cell phones and the woman killed by someone painting her finger nails...you are supposed to be driving while driving, not doing anything else...multi tasking ect...even the leo's do it all the time I see them driving and trying to punch in information on the police car laptops ect...keep your eyes on the road, this is really starting to piss me off....we need to do something NOW!!!
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lease: my prayers go out to all of these familes
