Dangerous Cycle Part 5: A Plea From 2 Wheels To 4
That threatening weapon is you.
"Basically you need to go out on the road with the attitude you are invisible," says lifelong motorcycle rider Lance Newland.
Newland rides daily from his home in Port Orchard to work in Bremerton. He rides weekends with his wife Barb.
"Changing lanes that's the number one thing," says Lance.
Barb adds, "Wish I had a dollar for every time I said 'He's coming over, he ain't looking.' "
The Newland's friend Jay Paulson says he too rides every day, "Basically it saved me, from drinking or whatever was gonna happen to me."
But Paulson says now he has a different worry, "I haven't been run off the road yet, but I know it will happen, I just gotta watch."
Still he says, "I drive like an old man."
Roger Boyes has ridden for 48 years and he says he's never seen drivers on 4 wheels more inattentive.
"They're too busy on their cell phones, they can't turn their heads," he says.
Boyes recalls one specific driver, "and he wouldn't look, he just pulled into me, I had to dive into oncoming traffic to avoid being squashed."
A distracted driver nearly killed Jim Groat, "going 50 miles an hour, locked up the bike, flew over the truck, landed in the road."
Groat says it was a 17-year-old just learning to drive, with no license and no insurance.
All five of these veteran riders agree with Groat's simple plea from 2 wheel drivers to 4, "They need to know we're there."