The reports are that they were speeding.  That is always bad business.  Erie Blvd has ALWAYS had the curve when heading westbound while crossing State Street.  Given that it has always had a curve and that there is a rise in elevation as one heads into the intersection then a slope down --- should tell ALL drivers to SLOW DOWN.
The accident was tragic but apparently it could have been avoided if the driver had been more careful.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The accident was tragic but apparently it could have been avoided if the driver had been more careful.

It also could have been avoided if they left the 8 lane roadway that worked fine for 75 years.

The islands serve only to clutter and confuse drivers.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The reports are that they were speeding.  That is always bad business.  Erie Blvd has ALWAYS had the curve when heading westbound while crossing State Street.  Given that it has always had a curve and that there is a rise in elevation as one heads into the intersection then a slope down --- should tell ALL drivers to SLOW DOWN.
The accident was tragic but apparently it could have been avoided if the driver had been more careful.

The CURVE might have always been there, but the CURB sure as hell wasn't always there. The median has caused an issue that wasn't not there before. The lanes are now no doubt narrower, and the curb just exacerbates it. It doesn't appear there were any witnesses that saw the accident, only the aftermath. As I said before, it is believed that he tried to run the light at Erie and State... I will tell you this guy was no novice rider as I have rode with him on a few occasions... Speeding may have contributed to the accident, but the road did too..

Quoted from 55tbird

The CURVE might have always been there, but the CURB sure as hell wasn't always there. The median has caused an issue that wasn't not there before. The lanes are now no doubt narrower, and the curb just exacerbates it. It doesn't appear there were any witnesses that saw the accident, only the aftermath. As I said before, it is believed that he tried to run the light at Erie and State... I will tell you this guy was no novice rider as I have rode with him on a few occasions... Speeding may have contributed to the accident, but the road did too..

DVOR chooses to blame the victims for the dangerous intersection.

Speeding should not be punishable by death to the driver and his passenger.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

--- should tell ALL drivers to SLOW DOWN.

Sure, because that always works.

So I take it you are suggesting lowering the speed limit way down through that area?

I will say this, going over that hump at 30mph will almost make your motorcycle go airborne.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The reports are that they were speeding.  That is always bad business.  Erie Blvd has ALWAYS had the curve when heading westbound while crossing State Street.  Given that it has always had a curve and that there is a rise in elevation as one heads into the intersection then a slope down --- should tell ALL drivers to SLOW DOWN.
The accident was tragic but apparently it could have been avoided if the driver had been more careful.

WOULD HAVE BEEN avoided IF Erie Blvd was left like it was.

Quoted from 55tbird

The CURVE might have always been there, but the CURB sure as hell wasn't always there. The median has caused an issue that wasn't not there before. ...
and the curb just exacerbates it.
...
Speeding may have contributed to the accident, but the road did too ..

Might it be likely correct to say that had Erie NOT been redone, even with speeding they probably would not have been in the accident?  I don't know exactly where it happened.


So much taxpayer money WASTED on an UNNECESSARY re-do of Erie Blvd which was sufficient to ages upon ages.  The only purpose for the redo was to narrow the street to give the ILLUSION that plex and downtown are attracting more traffic to the city and making it seem like the city is "a destination."  And of course since most of the traffic is fleeing the city, McTHIEF and Co are trying to keep people in the city by slowing them to a crawl.

Listen.....first my condolences to the family!! It's a tragedy for sure.

I don't know what happened in this case....I wasn't there and I don't go downtown, so I don't even know what Erie blvd looks like.

However.....and i'm not referring to this accident....but folks drive like maniacs today.

the northway/thruway....80+ MPH....weaving and crossing lanes constantly!

it put 'defensive driving' in a new light!

Again.....people drive like maniacs!!!!

Quoted from bumblethru

Listen.....first my condolences to the family!! It's a tragedy for sure.

I don't know what happened in this case....I wasn't there and I don't go downtown, so I don't even know what Erie blvd looks like.

However.....and i'm not referring to this accident....but folks drive like maniacs today.

the northway/thruway....80+ MPH....weaving and crossing lanes constantly!

it put 'defensive driving' in a new light!

Again.....people drive like maniacs!!!!

Plus it's really hard for people to drive safely with one hand, while looking down at their phones, reading and texting.

The best part is when you have to beep your horn to tell them the light is green and they just sit there looking at their phones.

Take a road, in extremely poor condition, with some existing problems (the 'hump', lanes don't line up, and so forth, spend a zillion taxpayer dollars on one section only, (dollars that were supposed to go to Hamilton Hill, weren't they?) don't do ANYTHING AT ALL to mitigate the problems, in fact, add some unsafe obstacles to make it dangerous. As I've said before, I've seen speeders on that road a thousand times. Perhaps this was the first time those bikers negotiated the recently-made-dangerous stretch of roadway? What is going to happen when the traffic circle and the casino are in place? Will we have traffic backed up as far as the eye can see at the light, only letting a couple of cars through at a time, for "safety"? Or will we have cars traveling 30 mph in heavy traffic, suddenly being funneled by high, jutting curbs into narrow lanes?
Again, who spends all that money to make a road hardy to negotiate safely, in fact, downright dangerous?

Since everyone already knows the conditions of roads.....they are well warned........they should take some safety responsibility for their own car.

we already know money gets pi$$ed away....that's a given.

but when ya get behind the wheel of a 'metal machine' that can go 90.....the responsibility is the drivers!!

imo

True, bt, but I'm tellin' ya, a lot of people are being caught unawares by the new stretch of Erie Boulevard this summer. What worked before, driving-wise, doesn't work any more, and why would anyone expect that they would need to watch out for a curb like that on a newly redone road? It was an accident waiting to happen.

Erie Blvd never had 8 lanes.   From the time it opened (around 1920) it has had several configurations -- all included parking (perpendicular for much of the time) along both sides, Then 2 lanes (legal lanes) going west bound and 2 lanes going east bound.  For a number of years there was even a median (once pictured with tents the whole length of the State to GE portion) down the center.  At one time even had parking down the middle as evidenced in photos from about 70-80 years ago.
The reconstruction was NOT a waste of money. It completely rebuilt the infrastructure under the road, the road bed and the road surface.
We can't forget that certain folks (nayboobs) screamed bloody murder about the horrible conditions of the road BEFORE -- now -- the always negative nayboobs are screaming that somehow it was better then.  The nayboobs just need something to complain about and try to get attention that is lacking in their otherwise miserable lives.
The funds for the roadwork were ALWAYS earmarked specifically for rebuilding Erie Blvd between GE and the railroad bridge by Union Street.  They were NOT diverted.  

I don't buy for a minute the assertion that driving the speed limit (30 miles per hour) is more dangerous than driving faster -- that one person posted.  You'd have to be a damn fool to believe that.
It it is true that they went through a red light or sped up to get through a changing light -- and were driving over the speed limit -- then, sadly, they contributed to their own demise.  It is tragic but true.  
As for that lane to turn back towards the east, I have personally witnessed folks who have tried to go through at a high rate of speed and almost smash into the rear end of vehicles waiting for traffic from I-890 to pass by.  
Erie Blvd is safe and beautiful.  Drive safely - drive WITHIN the speed limit or, when necessary, as slow as the conditions require.   ----- I hope folks realize that if it is snowing, pouring rain or some other condition (like volume of traffic) that they actually are LEGALLY required to drive slower than the speed limit.
Oh --- and always use turn signals --- every car built in the last say 50-60 years has turn signals and most damn idiots don't know how to use them.

Um DV, if your buddies had not put in that STUPID UNNECESSARY median there, they may not have been killed.  They could have sped on to their destination.

The taxpayers money should NOT have been used for downtown, it should have been used for the ROADS in the neighborhoods, you know, where taxpayers live!  But then, as you are not a taxpayer, you don't have a family to support.  City taxpayers pay about the highest taxes around and are the most over-assessed in the state so the city homeowners are ENTITLED to have government dollars spent on the streets IN THEIR NEIGHBORHODS.   But again, as you are not a taxpayer, no family to support, no paying a mortgage, no home maintenance, to spend, no kids to put through college, you don't have the remotest clue what the overtaxed taxpayers in the city go through and why that money should have been spent for road work IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS instead of the tax exempt downtown in order to create a street that gives the illusion of lots of traffic and creating the illusion that the city is a destination.

There is absolutely NO proof that if drivers/motorcyclists obey the speed limit, obey traffic lights and drive prudently and cautiously within ALL of the motor vehicle laws and traffic ordinances that Erie Boulevard is unsafe.  Only those who support lawlessness and irresponsible behavior would think that the road caused the accident and not the motorcyclist who, allegedly, blew through a red light light and was speeding.