George Clooney injured in motorcycle accident

[Finewest]

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- George Clooney suffered a broken rib and some scrapes on Friday when the motorcycle he and a friend were riding collided with a car as the actor tried to pass the other vehicle, authorities said.
http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/21/clooney.motorcycle.ap/art.clooney.gi.jpg Actor George Clooney was in a motorcycle accident and broke his rib Friday
http://www.cnn.com/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/base_skins/baseplate/corner_wire_BL.gif
Weehawken Police Sgt. Sean Kelly said the collision occurred at 3:30 p.m. as Clooney and friend Sarah Larson were traveling north on Boulevard East and sped up to pass on the right a 1999 Mazda Millenia that was preparing to make a right turn.
Kelly said it is not known if the driver of the other vehicle, who has not been identified, had used his turn signal. Boulevard East is a narrow road with sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline.
"It's a he-said, she-said right now, but you can't pass on the right in Weehawken or anywhere in Jersey," Kelly said.
Kelly said the accident remains under investigation and no summonses have been issued.
The 46-year-old actor was treated at Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen and released, spokesman Stan Rosenfield said in a statement.
"He's doing fine," Rosenfield said. "He has a broken rib, it's very painful and it'll take a long time to heal."
Larson suffered a broken foot. Both she and Clooney (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/george_clooney) were wearing helmets, Kelly said.

[Bashy]

passing on the right, pure genius

[tommyboy]

Who was driving? Whoever it was is at fault.

[BridgeMan]

I made an obscene amount of money serving as an expert witness in the civil trial of a trucking comany being sued by a young man on an XLR 650 who passed an 18-wheeler on the right as it turned right. The kid lost his leg, and his emotional display on the witness stand was enough to win the jury over to the extent of $700,000 +/- for his pain and suffering--not a bad reward for being stupid!

[dteel]

I would bet this is another case of impatience, I'll bet the car was going slow and probably just slowed some more and he decided enough of this BS and tried to pass. Who among us hasn't been tempted to do the same? I know I have on plenty of occasions. As a matter of fact one of the best riders I know (a member of this board) took some pretty big damage to his bike attempting the very same thing.

Those cage drivers out there seem to do their best to frustrate us riders as much as possible. When I'm finally frustrated to tears, even I don't know what I'll end up doing.

I'm not saying that I think that it's correct, just saying I understand the compulsion and I will not judge someone else for falling prey to it.

Thanks for posting this story Fred!

[travlr_45]

I'v been popped for passsing on a double yellow line. I was on beech street in daytona a few yrs ago, and older couple in front of me was driving about 5 mph, as we approached a right turn onto the bridge that cross's over to main street I eased around him on the right, sure enough, there was a local leo sitting right there on the side, saw me plain as day do it, got a ticket for the illegal pass. but I can honestly say I'v never passed on the left unless there was a lane just for going around left hand turns

[maxib]

The more I think about this, the less I understand...

In any of the incidents that everyone reported, were there one or two marked lanes of traffic traveling in the same direction?

In other words, if one lane I imagine the passer on the right was passing illegally and in the 'bicycle' lane.

If two lanes, the truck or Mazda was making an illegal right across a lane.

Am I missing something here?

[DAS]

According to the OR CDL driving manual trucks are supposed to stay in their own lane when making a right turn and swing wide into the road they are turning onto. If a truck gets in the left lane to make a tight right turn then they was probably going to be at fault - tought to win an argument if it's in the manual. Still, no reason to drive heads up and WHAT IF? all the time.