Awful

This is a Lexus. It's been in an accident. What did it hit? This:

That is Josh Rogers, Publisher of Scoot! Magazine. And amazingly, he survived. Oh, he's plenty banged up, including a broken femur and a dislocated wrist, but it appears that he has no head or spine damage, and is in good spirits. As you can see, Josh gears up. Gear works. ATGATT (All The Gear, All The Time).

Here is the short version of the facts: Last Sunday, two club rides passed each other on a twisty road: one a Vespa scooter club, the other a Lexus club. The last Lexus in the line took a turn too fast, skidded out of control across the centerline and hit Josh, who was in the pack of scooterists, head on. That quilt-looking thing hanging from the bumper of the car? That's a scooter skirt. It was stored inside the scooter before impact. Beyond these facts, things get a little heated...

This incident has risen to world-wide attention due to the internet. Both clubs are active on internet forums. Reports of the accident were being reported in real time as people received text messages and photographs from the scene and posted them to modernvespa.com. If you can imagine the confusion and anger that immediately follows a serious accident like this, imagine that multiplied by the power of the internet. Ever wish you could publish the face and license plate of the guy who hit you? That happened. Before he left the scene, this Lexus driver was infamous.

Members of modernvespa.com and clublexus.com started mixing it up on each others forums. Other motorists, of both the 2-wheel and 4-wheel variety, started jumping in. Bikers wrote veiled threats. Cagers tried to paint their own as the victim. Clublexus had to shut down new registrations.

Speculation was rampant. We still don't know for sure why the Lexus crossed the centerline. But the fact that he had a licence plate holder that bragged of the drift lifestyle encouraged speculation that the driver had been trying to power slide through the turn. The Lexus people deny this and offer alternate theories. The incident offers many lessons, including one about how you represent yourself. If you represent yourself as a lawless street racer, don't be surprised that people will assume you were street racing when you wipe out a scooterist.

The whole thing is just awful. Josh is going to need a lot of help over the next months and years. As someone (his new wife I believe) said, a helicopter ride to the hospital can't be cheap. You can contribute to their well-being by subscribing to to Scoot! or: