R.I.P. Ellen Pittman

[Cail]

Pink Scooter Lady Dies From Injuries Sustained In Accident

Traffic investigators with the Chattanooga Police Department have confirmed that a woman seriously injured in an accident Friday evening has died as a result of her injuries. Ellen Pitman, 51, was critically injured after she was hit on her motor-scooter in the 3800 block of Brainerd Road.

Ms. Pitman was traveling west on Brainerd Road when a vehicle driven by Warnesta Robinson turned in front of her onto Talley Road. Ms. Pitman was transported to Erlanger Hospital, but succumbed to her injuries just before noon Monday.

Ms. Pitman often could be seen riding for a number of years riding her pink scooter and wearing a pink helmet.

Robinson was charged with failure to yield the right of way and violation of the insurance law.

I never met Ellen Pittman. I've corresponded with people who saw her riding and met her. I've heard stories about her "riding down TN 153 doing 45 on that little scooter in 30 degree weather with trucks displaying huge Harley banners in the back windows blowing past her as if they didn't care." And "this brave soul who no matter what the risk, rode that scooter everywhere she went -to the store, to work, riding in the worst weather amongst the worst drivers."

There's all sorts of bitterness between riders of different brands and styles of bikes; who's a "real" biker and who's a poseur.

Ellen Pittman died the way many of us who ride will, doing what she loved. She's more of a "real" biker than many I've met.

Godspeed.

[Wyldewode]

That's too bad. . .

I've often wished for a scooter to have for doing things that don't require me to have a passenger seat or a trunk.

[Elfgirl]

I'd love to have a scooter...but only when they ban SUVs from the city! TALK about people with their heads firmly wedged up their arse...SUV drivers are the WORST.

Poor Ellen...RIP indeed. She should come back as a poltergeist & throw rocks from overpasses onto trucks...

[deer of the dawn]

Agree about the SUVs... here they are driven by people who think that driving an SUV makes them VIP, gives them the right to blast through traffic with no regard for human life (usually while talking on their cell phones).

However, scooters and dirt bikes are like a national disease here. They are used as taxis and will carry up to five passengers. I've also seen full-grown hogs carried on them; as well as mattresses, sofas and other furnishings; multiple, squirming goats; generators, 16-foot pipes, you name it. They also drive with no regard for human life, at least the ones who do it for pay.

A friend of mine used his for transportation to his job as a teacher. In January he stopped to pick up a friend, and while standing on the roadside, the governor's son in his brand-new car lost control around a curve and killed my friend and another guy. And of course, because of his connections, he was not arrested. Mkes me so mad!!!!

Driving here: there are no rules, only reflexes.

*climbs down off soapbox*

[Elfgirl]

Agree about the SUVs... here they are driven by people who think that driving an SUV makes them VIP, gives them the right to blast through traffic with no regard for human life (usually while talking on their cell phones).

However, scooters and dirt bikes are like a national disease here. They are used as taxis and will carry up to five passengers. I've also seen full-grown hogs carried on them; as well as mattresses, sofas and other furnishings; multiple, squirming goats; generators, 16-foot pipes, you name it. They also drive with no regard for human life, at least the ones who do it for pay.

A friend of mine used his for transportation to his job as a teacher. In January he stopped to pick up a friend, and while standing on the roadside, the governor's son in his brand-new car lost control around a curve and killed my friend and another guy. And of course, because of his connections, he was not arrested. Mkes me so mad!!!!

Driving here: there are no rules, only reflexes.

*climbs down off soapbox*

That's so sad about your friend DOTD...typical tho - rich pr*cks ALWAYS get off scot-free. Makes ME mad as well... Ah well, let's hope karma runs HIM over soon as well...money and power don't make you immune to DEATH.

Your 'no-rules-only-reflexes' applies here too...I think it's the cops' fault for issuing licences to morons who couldn't drive their finger up their arse. IF they made it as hard to get your drivers' licence as it was for me to get my pilot's licence, we might actually have only GOOD drivers allowed on the road. If I was Queen of Australia, I'd ban about 99 per cent of people driving until they could FULLY demonstrate, even in emergency situations, that they could handle a vehicle properly. Wow, just think how easy it would be for me to get to work every day!! All the bizatches in SUVs wouldn't be on the road anymore!!!

[Cail]

It's a strongly-held belief in the motorcycle community that if everyone rode, they'd be far better and more courteous drivers.

And of course, there's this.

[Elfgirl]

It's a strongly-held belief in the motorcycle community that if everyone rode, they'd be far better and more courteous drivers.

And of course, there's this.

Sorta makes sense...but then, they can't be that smart buying bikes when there are so many SUVs still on the road...can you say "organ donor"???

This is the part in the article that pissed me off...

"More recently, Kawashima teamed with Toyota to help develop intelligent cars designed to aid seniors drive safely."

WTF??? MORE Volvo type vehicles to negate the driver's responsibility on the road? PUH-leeeez. "Seniors" should be removed from the roads once they lose their ability to react quickly in emergency situations. They are more of a hazard, especially if they drive Volvos or SUVs...I love old people, but not when they're on the road doing 40kmph on the freeway...

[Cail]

WTF??? MORE Volvo type vehicles to negate the driver's responsibility on the road? PUH-leeeez. "Seniors" should be removed from the roads once they lose their ability to react quickly in emergency situations. They are more of a hazard, especially if they drive Volvos or SUVs...I love old people, but not when they're on the road doing 40kmph on the freeway...

You'll get no argument from me.