the uninsured motorist reality

[_EAllusion]

It's pure fantasy to believe most people on welfare like their life situation.

You're not working for minimum wage though. You're a very skilled laborer that demands a good compensation package. Say you had significant child support due for 10 kids from three different women, lots of old debts that had ballooned from past creditors. Working wouldn't really give you much more income. And as you mentioned, you'd have all the time you ever wanted. There's a lot of things people would prefer to do with their time and they don't all cost a lot of money.

So yeah, welfare isn't a good situation, but it was far better than working. And in the case of this lady, it did insulate her from civil penalties that most working class people would be subject to for doing things like this. As long as no criminal penalty is there, there simply are no consequences, at least not in this life.

You often write posts as though it is 1978 and welfare reform did not happen. TANF and related benefits in LA are very hard to come by, near impossible to live off of, and are temporary based on continued efforts to find and maintain gainful employment. What you are saying is fictional.

[_Analytics]

It's pure fantasy to believe most people on welfare like their life situation.

You're not working for minimum wage though. You're a very skilled laborer that demands a good compensation package. Say you had significant child support due for 10 kids from three different women, lots of old debts that had ballooned from past creditors. Working wouldn't really give you much more income. And as you mentioned, you'd have all the time you ever wanted. There's a lot of things people would prefer to do with their time and they don't all cost a lot of money.

So yeah, welfare isn't a good situation, but it was far better than working. And in the case of this lady, it did insulate her from civil penalties that most working class people would be subject to for doing things like this. As long as no criminal penalty is there, there simply are no consequences, at least not in this life.

What you need to realize is that your motorcycle-riding buddy bears most of the blame for this:

1- Riding motorcycles are inherently very, very, dangerous. Personally I love riding and my motorcycle was my primary mode of transportation between the ages of 16 and 22. But by then, 3 out of 3 of my riding buddies had had accidents--I was the only one that didn't. I figured it was time to walk away from the table while I still could. If somebody moves to the south in order to ride, they are playing Russian Roulette for a nasty accident like this. When you do so, sometimes you lose. It's his own damn fault for playing. He can try to blame everything on the driver, but the fact remains that crappy drivers our out there. Where is the personal responsibility for this?

2- Even if the driver had insurance, it wouldn't have covered a fraction of his losses. He had the responsibility to take care of himself with a high maximum benefit on his uninsured motorist coverage. When he chose not to buy the needed amount of coverage, he was playing Russian Roulette. When you do so, sometimes you lose.

3- Why didn't he have his own disability income insurance? Responsible people have this so that if there is an accident, they can maintain some of their income.

You can fantasize all you want about the government or God punishing the uninsured motorist, but the fact remains that the motorcycle rider chose to engage in extremely risky behavior without proper insurance coverage. That is on him, 100%.

[_Some Schmo]

You're not working for minimum wage though. You're a very skilled laborer that demands a good compensation package.

What I wrote about happened over 30 years ago, before I went to college. The way I thought about my situation then was much different than the way I feel about it now, with degrees and experience. I was desperate then. I'm the opposite of that now.

And I'll also say that despite my desire for a fiscally conservative government, that experience taught me what people mean when they claim advanced countries have to have a social safety net. It's true. Without it, I may not have been able to recover. And the welfare program is certainly conservative enough to motivate people off of it; it's barely enough to survive. I'm sure most people who have ever used it would agree.

Say you had significant child support due for 10 kids from three different women, lots of old debts that had ballooned from past creditors. Working wouldn't really give you much more income.

Well, I'd have to be pretty fu-cking dumb to be in this situation, having made a lifetime of bad decisions, so who the fu-Celestial Kingdom knows how I'd feel about welfare with that kind of brain?

And as you mentioned, you'd have all the time you ever wanted. There's a lot of things people would prefer to do with their time and they don't all cost a lot of money.

If they don't need more money than welfare provides to live, then all the power to them. If that's good enough for them, great; it's a pittance. It's absolutely nothing compared to the tax payer money funneled directly to wealthy people. Voters who get their panties in a bunch over welfare recipients either only pretend to care about tax payer money, or are too stupid to see where most tax money goes.

Why not criticize rich fu-ckers sitting around collecting millions in free tax payer money for doing nothing instead of directing wrath at homeless people living on the beach, collecting a few hundred dollars a month? It's idiotic. I'm way more disgusted by the rich, greedy, empty leeches this society seems to admire.

[_Res Ipsa]

Well I guess if religion is all you have to motivate people to buy car insurance, it should come as no surprise that the uninsured motorist rate is sky high given that most are nonbelievers.

As of last year, 75% of Americans identified as believers.

[_Some Schmo]

You can fantasize all you want about the government or God punishing the uninsured motorist, but the fact remains that the motorcycle rider chose to engage in extremely risky behavior without proper insurance coverage. That is on him, 100%.

Absolutely. Great post.

I think I've ridden a motorcycle once by myself, for a block maybe, just to try it. Any other time, I was a passenger as a kid. I remember seeing the stats on motorcycle accident frequency compared to cars when I was a young adult, and never had a desire to ride. I mean, you've got a fu-cking rocket between your legs that you're holding on to for dear life. If you come off the wheels, you've got no choice but having your body hit the ground, potentially with the bike on top of you. It's always struck me as pure insanity. I've long suspected people who ride have a mild to severe death wish.

And you're right about driving in the south. Atlanta drivers scare me like no others.

[_Chap]

I think I've ridden a motorcycle once by myself, for a block maybe, just to try it. ... If you come off the wheels, you've got no choice but having your body hit the ground, potentially with the bike on top of you. It's always struck me as pure insanity. I've long suspected people who ride have a mild to severe death wish.

Exactly.

There was a TV reviewer in a London evening paper I used to read. He once wrote of

"Young male motorcyclists, or 'organ donors' as they are more commonly known ..."

[_EAllusion]

What motivates people to buy car insurance, aside from the legal penalties, cultural norms around the right thing to do, and barriers to vehicle purchases, is hedging against catastrophic financial risk because it is, in fact, bad to be in crippling debt because of an accident.

[_Icarus]

I knew several people who either died or had family members die from motorcycle accidents in Brazil. They're everywhere down there, and they weave between cars when traffic comes to a standstill. Craziness.

[_EAllusion]

I guess I have two motorcycle stories.

1) While I'm not a brain injury specialist, I have a colleague who is and we overlap to an extent. Drinking and driving + motorcycle accidents are, by far, the most common brain injury cases we see. I personally know lots and lots of sad stories.

2) I have a friend who got into an accident on his crotch rocket. He was launched off of at high speed. He skidded across the pavement a long distance. He was a racer who knew how to take the crash ideally as possible. His protective gear, which was high end, broke down only where there were seams. The result was he had nasty injuries in the spots where his gear was seamed together. He had some broken ribs as well, but otherwise was Ok. Scarring eventually developed on his skin that looks reminiscent of the gear he was wearing at the time. It looks rad. Of course, he was incredibly lucky.

[_ajax18]

At the end of the day, the underlying issue is your friend had something unlucky happen to him. The person responsible for the accident lacked the means to pay for the long-term economic damages, and no lawsuit is going to squeeze blood from a stone.

I thought that was why they forced people to purchase automobile insurance but apparently they don't. That's the reality of uninsured motorist. It costs less to pay the ticket than purchase the insurance.