Bike Week

[Skipper of the Sea Que]

I am surprised at the lack of Bike Week discussion on the board. Usually it is a hot topic. How is this event different from previous years (if it is different)?

[jrc]

I think the wet spring and high water has kept a lot of people away from the lake. This has probably reduced the friction with the bikers last weekend. School is still in session so most people are still just weekending.

I'm guessing that this weekend will be insane on and off the lake. The weatherman are finally predicting good weather. The bikers will still be here and a lot of people are going to be coming up to open up camps and put boats in.

The boaters are itchy to get out. There are a lot of people who delayed their launch date due to the weather or water level. The water has gone down enough that a lot of people will start assuming that either the 600' NWZ is gone or should be gone. (I'm not saying this is right or that I'll break the law)

[Scott]

Anybody catch the fireworks at the Weirs last night? Talk about wow...about 45 minutes long with a grand finale that seemed to go on forever. Very impressive.

[Smith Point]

Skip, I noticed the same thing. No talking about bike week, No webcam, No crazy behavior. What’s going on?
Did you here about the 5 guys that crashed on the way to NH? Here is the link.



Saturday, June 10, 2006
Three killed en route to Bike Week
Survivor describes scene as "just a mess"

From Staff and Wire Reports


STODDARD, N.H. (AP) — Best friends since childhood, Dean Stoddard and Christopher Fontaine worked together and played together.

Last year, they bought new Harleys together, and on Friday, they rode together to New Hampshire for the start of the annual Motorcycle Week festivities in Laconia. But a sweeping curve separated them, for good.

Fontaine, 39, of Chicopee, Mass., was one of three men killed when one motorcycle's swerve into oncoming traffic triggered a crash that also injured five people.

Stoddard said he and Fontaine stopped at a gas station in Stoddard on Friday morning, and met a group of five motorcyclists from Connecticut. They all decided to head east to Laconia together. Fontaine and Stoddard were at the back of the pack when one of the Connecticut motorcyclists collided with a Jeep traveling west.

The vehicle lost control and rolled over into the eastbound lane, according to state police, colliding with three other motorcycles.

Stoddard remembers seeing the Jeep coming downhill toward him, "just flipping and flipping."

"All I saw was that Jeep just turning," Stoddard, 41, of East Hampton, Mass., told The Keene Sentinel. "We didn't know where to go."

Stoddard's Harley hit the back of the Jeep, he said. But he managed to get off his bike, uninjured and fully alert. He ran to his friend, but couldn't find a pulse.

"I guess I feel lucky," Stoddard said. "How lucky can I be? I just lost my friend."

Also killed were Steven Leamy, 38, of East Windsor, Conn., and Larry McFetridge, 54, of Bristol, Conn.

Donald Greene, 43, of East Hartford, Conn., was flown to Dartmouth-Hitchock Medical Center, where he was in critical condition. Kurt Neligon, 46, of Granby, Conn., suffered a leg injury. Dean Stoddard, 41, of Easthampton, Mass.; was involved in the crash but wasn't hurt. A seventh motorcyclist was not involved in the crash.

The driver of the Jeep, Deborah Huston, 51, of Bowdoinham, Maine, was treated at the hospital and released, as were two of her passengers.

Stoddard said he checked on the other motorcyclists lying near the Jeep. He couldn't find a pulse on two of them, he said.

"They were all dead right away," Stoddard said. "Three of them were gone like that. The whole scene "was just a mess."

[Colt]

That crash is Iionic because generally The bikers ride in a group because it's safer.

It's going to be insane this weekend. Travelling south on 93 this morning between Salem, NH and Woburn, MA I counted 97 motorcycles heading North.

[ossipeeboater]

I was up there the beg of the week and weather was great and it was fairly busy but not totally packed which i liked. tied up with no issues at the wiers and the naswa. Given the weather I'm surprised there wasn't more people but as said this weekend with high 80's temps it should be totally packed.

[Waterbaby]

Does anyone else find it ironic that one of the bikers in this accident has the last name of Stoddard, and the accident occurred in Stoddard? (My mother gets credit for that one, she pointed it out to me.)

Also, to whomever posted that bikers usually ride in a group because it's safer....... yes, it is safer than riding alone, as a group is more visible than a single biker. However, it is NEVER safe to swerve over the (center or otherwise)line, whether in a group or alone, and if this had not happened then maybe the accident would not have happened. The driver of the Jeep was interviewed (wish I could find the credit for that, I believe it was on WMUR) and said she saw the motorcycle swerve over the line so she swerved to avoid said motorcycle, and that's when things (my words) went wrong. I cannot even imagine how she must feel, trying to avoid an accident and one of such magnitude occurring.

[ApS]

The Citizen reports seven biker fatalities this week. One yesterday closed Rt. 104 for three hours—another double-yellow crossover involving only bikes.

Motorcycles got very quiet yesterday at 4:30. Then, between 4:30 and 5:00 PM, I heard sirens running up and down Rt. 109, about 2 miles away. It appears it was a serious bike-on-bike crash, with several people injured. I've been advised that one biker receiving a severe injury was helivac'd from Huggins Hospital.

[fatlazyless]

Last night at 7:30 there was one guy on a rice rocket doing an almost vertical wheelie at 70mph for maybe two hundred yards on RT 93 heading south just before exit 26, the Wal-Mart exit. Probably, he was showing off to the five rice rockets that were following him.

Walter's Basin restaurant in Holderness looks like it does a huge huge biker business all this week.

Waterville Valley has maybe 300-400 motorcyclists du Quibecois staying at about four.
hotels.

The police are out in force everywhere.

A life altering ride for the three dead from Indiana and two injured who got into a head-on collision at the S curve on Rt 49 in nearby Thornton, very close to the William Tell restaurant.

[mcdude]

I was disappointed they didn't face the Weirs Channel Cam onto the road like has been done in years past so that you could watch the biker parade. They have moved the camera to face the Weirs Bridge which is different from the usual location but you can't really see the bikes. If you want to see some bikes, check them out fueling up at the East Alton General Store.

[JG1222]

Originally Posted by Waterbaby

However, it is NEVER safe to swerve over the (center or otherwise)line, whether in a group or alone, and if this had not happened then maybe the accident would not have happened. The driver of the Jeep was interviewed and said she saw the motorcycle swerve over the line so she swerved to avoid said motorcycle, and that's when things (my words) went wrong. I cannot even imagine how she must feel, trying to avoid an accident and one of such magnitude occurring.

This is a great example someone's reaction when "the news" shapes "the event" (when it should be the other way around).

Basically, none of us were there to see the event - and neither was the reporter. However, when you read articles like this, they take something from a witness statement (like the bike swerved over the line) and present it as fact for the remainder of the article. We don't know if there's some critical detail missing, like the biker swerved to avoid a deer - who knows. But from the article, one is only left with the mental picture of the bike carelessly careening around a curve. This may have been the case, but my point is we (and the reporter) just don't know.

There is an obvious slant to the article - "the innocent Jeep driver who was forced into the unfortunate predicament where she took the life of the careless biker(s)". To me, that was the "message" that the reported wanted to convey when presenting the story. That itself is the problem.

Why not just report the facts? There's nothing wrong with including witness statements, but qualify them as such, and certainly don't present them as facts so that people can make up their own minds. This is, in my opinion, the reason why Police and Fire logs are the only real journalism in newspapers anymore - "John Doe, arrested at 10:07 PM at 123 Main Street on an outstanding warrant. An unregistered gun was recovered from a vehicle registered to him at that address". It's not exciting. It's not flashy. But at least I can make up my own mind if he's the victim or a criminal.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by Skipper of the Sea Que

I am surprised at the lack of Bike Week discussion on the board. Usually it is a hot topic. How is this event different from previous years (if it is different)?

Discussion IS muted—but the event could be clouded by some recent history: Just 90 days earlier, Daytona produced the deadliest Bike Week in U.S. history.

Daytona had 283 injuries and 20 fatalities: One participant drove all the way from New Hampshire, was run over by another motorcycle, and did not recover from his injuries. Just as with New Hampshire's victims, only half were wearing helmets. (Authorities said helmets are of little help in the head-on collisions that were so frequent).

Daytona's high count was attributed to sunny weather; on the other hand, Laconia's high count occurred during rainy and threatening weather. For the record, Laconia's Bike Week tied 2000's count—at 10.

In the week following Laconia's Bike Week, local radio stations were treating listeners with ads to visit Vermont! (1-800-VERMONT). Were the ads targeting a NH audience whose residents stayed to tough it out?

For those NH residents who passively and unwillingly participate in Laconia's Bike Week every year, maybe a Vermont visit should be penciled-in for next year's Bike Week?