"I hope it's not going to our house," I said, as we trailed the flashing ambulance. "I don't know why it would be, there's no one there." It turned toward our house and as we made our way down the street we noticed a gathering of police cars, a fire truck, and now an ambulance circled around our home.

Before I go any further, here's some back ground info. When I was 4 my dad put me on a little PW 50 dirtbike. I then proceeded to fall over on it as many times as possible. Since then I've been buzzing through the dirt on two wheels. When I turned 16, I braved the MVD and got my street riding permit and for two years now I've been back and forth on a motorcycle.
My dad is a motorcycle mechanic, in the business for over 20 years, and he's crashed his fair share of times. I've hit some loose gravel and tooka tumble once. Busted an engine, but luckily walked away with only a concussion and some scrapes. I was in full helmet and jacket.

But that night we met a man who wasn't so lucky.

Our house is a corner house and the street next to it curves right where the house is, so you can stare out the window and see down the street for half a mile. Plenty of time to reach 100 mph.

He was riding an '08 GSXR 750, a bike with a top speed of 170 mph. We came home to find it as a scattered hunk of scrap in our front yard. They took him away in an ambulance, no siren. All I ever saw was a pair of New Balance sticking out from the huddle of EMTs and a tatooed side of his chest as they loaded him in. There's still a hole in our wall, and this is the first time I think I've ever seen a tree get a bruise. I got a call from an old friend a few days later and apparently it was a friend of a friend of mine who died in our yard.

A wise man by the name of Sam Levenson once said, "You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself." It's a shame that this man couldn't learn from his, but at least we can. Please, ride safe and know what you're doing when you ride a motorcycle. Keep the speeds low in neighborhoods and always, always, always be aware. Whether it's changing a situation from a hospital trip to a concussion or from a body bag to just some soiled drawers and adrenaline, please, ride safe.