ALWAYS BE IN GEAR AND READY to move

[Piute]

     
Coan's pickup was stopped behind a Nissan Altima being driven by Gresham.
   Both vehicles were smashed into the semi parked in front of them.
   Gresham and Coan were pronounced dead at the scene.


                                   Happened at red light,in my Lil town
                           http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=785342

               By keeping your bike in gear and watching ALL around you,
        YOU WOULD SEE this truck was not going to stop and got out of way

[LukeM]

Just saw this thread.  I agree: be in gear and ready to move.

My Shadow helps me with this: if I'm shifting from neutral to 1st, the gearbox always clunks a bit.  So I downshift to 1st as I'm pulling up to the stopsign/traffic_light.  Might be a hassle keeping the clutch disengaged, but it's less wear and tear on the trans.

My sympathies to the families of the people in those vehicles.  A tragedy.
Luke M

[TheLastJoker]

Another piece of advice to go along with this, whether on a bike or in a car, is to not pull up too close to the vehicle in front of you when coming to a stop.  Leave yourself enough room to escape if you notice a vehicle coming in too hot from behind.