"Mr. Safety" strikes deer, dies.

[bmbmd]

http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/041106/sta_041106066.shtml


FORT STOCKTON (AP) - Larry Grodsky, a Pennsylvania-based motorcycle training expert known as "Mr. Safety," died when his motorcycle struck a deer on a rural West Texas highway, authorities said.

Grodsky, 55, was traveling north on U.S. 385 about 30 miles south of Fort Stockton when he struck the animal about 8 p.m. Saturday, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said Monday.

Grodsky was riding a 1997 Kawasaki Police 1000, which rolled on its side. Grodsky, who was wearing a helmet, was thrown from the bike and pronounced dead at the scene, Mange said.

The Pittsburgh resident was a leader in motorcycle safety and had trained some 5,000 riders since 1980, according to his Web site.

[spinbaby]

1. Here's an obit you don't have to register for

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06101/681096-122.stm

We have a couple of guys here at work who use motorcycles to commute to save gas. I worry that it's going to kill them.

[Sinti]

2. What horrible sad irony :(

[LeftHander]

3. Deer - Car & Motorcycle collisions a real danger.

In Wisconsin Deer - Car/Motorcycle collisions are the #1 accident.

I have hit two myself. And braked so hard to avoid a third I blew out my brake lines and froze a brake caliper.

There is little a person can do to avoid deer. As they many times run headlong into traffic from the woods and corn fields along highways. The one I hit squre on at less then 30 mph in a white out. A large truck went by and when the snow cleared I was slowing to 25 mph and there was a deer. I had time to say, hang on! to My wife and daughter and BOOM. Killed the deer and nearly totalled our car. We were okay.

There is really nothing that can be done other than trimming back vegetation from roads to allow drivers to see the deer...and slowing down in areas where deer cross the road. The overuse use of salt to on roadways leads to more deer/car accidents. The deer are attracted to the salt on the road and will lick the salt from the road. So we are actually attracting deer to the come to the roadways in many northern states.

Also we are cutting more and more roads into once wild areas. Deer have little choice but to cross busy roads. Very rarely do we create tunnels or wildlife bridges because of the cost. Some urban areas are allowing for wildlife traffic as we are retaiing more and more green space as development continues. So some good things are happening. I have seen some places in Minnesote with deer proof fences that funnel wildlife to tunnels under the roadway. Expensive for sure but how can you measure the cost of one life that was saved. We can only count the damage.

Rule number one...if you see one deer cross the road there is probably another one nearby running to catch up....slow down and be ready.

A tragic story as are all fatalities. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

[MadHound]

4. I also find deer to be a problem

While deer have at least some respect for cars, they have absolutley none for those on two wheels. I ride a Bajaj scooter for my commute in order to save gas, and rolling through the countryside I encounter deer on a regular basis, some just standing int the road. They don't recognize me as a car, and my size and the noise I make don't impress them, so they just stand there looking at me. I've come to a full stop before, honked the horn and had to yell at them before they casually started to clear the road. In fact they're so slow about this at times that I could have swerved a foot to the left and slapped them on their butt as I went on.

Living out in the country, I very aware of deer and what they're doing at all times, both in my car and on my bike. We're finally getting a few mountain lions wandering down here to Missouri, so hopefully they will thin out the deer population a bit and make this issue less of a problem. Hunters certainly aren't doing the job, since for the past few years there have been fewer hunters in the field, and fewer deer harvested during the season.

Just one of the problems we encounter and mankind encroaches more and more upon what is left of nature.

[Arugula Latte]

5. My husband's cousin was killed that way.

But he had campaigned AGAINST helmet laws.

Either way, I am stressing to my kids the dangers of motorcycles. I can see the appeal of them, but, my gawd, it is so easy to get killed or "just" a massively traumatic brain injury.