Chicago driver Lora Hunt, distracted while painting her nails, hits and kills motorcyclist

[RamboLiberal]

Her nails were red - and so was the light.

Police in a Chicago suburb say a driver failed to stop at a red light because she was painting her finger nails, causing a fatal accident with a motorcyclist.

The driver, Lora Hunt, 48, slammed into Anita Zaffke, 56, in Lake Zurich, about 40 miles north of Chicago. Zaffke was stopped at the light when Hunt's Chevy Impala struck the motorcycle from behind at a high speed, police said

Hunt told police she was painting her nails as she drove and didn't see Zaffke until after the crash.

Zaffke - who was wearing a helmet - was thrown several hundred feet from her bike. She died of chest and abdominal injuries about an hour after the crash, police said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/05/04/2009-05-04_chicago_driver_lora_hunt_distracted_while_painting_her_nails_hits_and_kills_moto.html

Idiot!

[SoxFan]

1. Fox News will find a way to blame this on Obama's Chicago crowd

[L. Coyote]

60. Doesn't nail polish contain Volatile Organic Solvents? Use in confined space is like taking drugs

[DS1]

2. meat grinder time

[carlyhippy]

3. I can't believe some people....really?!....PAINT YO NAILS AT HOME!!!!

There is another thread in GD about the safety of small cars, it's the drivers' stupidity, not the cars, that causes the safety issues here. That poor motorcyclist.

[madmom]

33. That's exactly what I said, it's the mentality of the driver, not the vehicle being driven!

[tanyev]

39. Had a coworker that spent a good part of the work week doing her nails.

At least she didn't do it while driving, I guess.

[AndyA]

4. Reminds me of the debutant from Palm Beach years ago, who created a huge

accident on I-95 in Florida. She was speeding, zipping in and out of traffic. She clipped one car's front bumper, and sent it spinning. I forget how many people died, but it was more than one. Something like a dozen cars were involved in the wreck.

Why was she speeding?

She was late for her tanning appointment! :(

[noiretextatique]

5. amazing...

she actually admitted that she was painting her nails :crazy: how fng dumb is that?! first, to be painting your nails while driving, then to admit to painting your nails after slamming into and killing someone on a motorcycle.
she's earned a long sentence.

[Danger Mouse]

6. What a fucking moron.

[flvegan]

7. Ooh, I feel a rant welling up inside me...don't know if I can contain it...

Nope, can't.

What the fuck is wrong with people? Why can't folks just get in a car and fucking drive? When did the car become the mobile living room and kitchen? It's a pretty simple function, people, driving is.

If the car you are driving is in any sort of gear, be it forward or reverse, your immediate responsibility is to drive. Don't do your nails, don't read, don't eat, don't text or talk on the phone or yammer at your misbehaving kids in the back seat. Just shut your fucking cakehole, put your hands on the wheel (or wheel and gear lever if you drive a standard) and drive.

[omega minimo]

12. next time you see a rejection of a beauty/media industry that trains women to be airheads...........

remember

[canetoad]

21. Well, actually

driving is not a simple function. You need to exercise four-way independent movement of your limbs, keep switching your vision between long, medium and short range, have your brain process the speed, direction of other vehicles as well as your own, and much more....

Only someone with a highly inflated idea of their own capabilities would attempt to paint their fucking nails while driving, or talk on a phone.

[KittyWampus]

29. What's wrong with people? They think their car is an extension of their living room couch

[smirkymonkey]

36. Bravo!

My sentiments exactly. Although, I probably would have said "piehole" instead of "cakehole". I am a very nervous passenger to say the least.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Fire1]

19. Oh, I trust she will get it.

[tridim]

9. I wish the DMV would do a "Can you see this motorcycle?" test before handing out licenses.

Because what I've learned as a new motorcyclist is that most drivers don't see us because they're not even looking.

[Jakes Progress]

15. Yep.

Same with bicycles. I used to ride a motorcycle to work everyday. I would see people make eye contact with me, then pull out right into my path. They saw me, but since they were watching for cars, my motorcycle and I didn't register -- we weren't a car.

[tridim]

26. It's especially bad here with all the new scooters on the road

It's just amazing to me that ANYONE would change lanes without checking their blind spot. I'm sure these people side-swipe cars all the time too, and thus raise my insurance rates because of their laziness.

I've only had my bike for 6 months and I'm already thinking about selling it. Not because I don't enjoy it (or the 70mpg it gets), but because of other shitty drivers. The first incident took place during my first week of riding. A typical me-me-me SUV driver changed lanes without looking and I had to defensively veer into the center turn-lane. Good thing there were no other cars in the lane. :mad:

[Jakes Progress]

45. I got some good advice

from a long time rider when I got my first motorcycle. First he said that any ego had to go. In a bump-a-bump with a car or truck, the bike will always lose. It doesn't matter if you are right and he/she is an asshole - you will die if you don't always yield. The second piece of advice was that you had to assume all cars will try to hit you. You won't last long if you ride like the other guy is going to do the right thing. Then he said to watch the wheels. When you are on the road with a car, don't watch the car to see if it will come into your land. By the time you perceive it, it will be too late. But if you watch his wheels and their relationship to the highway lane lines, you will see the jerk moving toward you easier.

We used to call it buying a ditch. In eight years of riding, I had to grab the ditch a dozen or more times to dodge cars that would have hit me. Yep. Dangerous, but I loved the bike and the road. Sold mine one time after picking my bike up from the grass after buying a ditch. My son was 18 months old, and I decided that he probably needed a dad more than I needed the bike. He's got two kids of his own now, and I'm looking at bikes.

[Marr]

46. 70 mpg? Did you get a Rebel?

Those are nice little bikes. I've got one-- it's my around town bike.

[tridim]

48. Kawasaki Super Sherpa

[Marr]

53. Nice.

It's hard to complain about 70mpg. :D

People have funny ideas about motorcycle sizes these days. I think a 250cc is great bike for local use-- and definitely a good starter bike. A 650cc is still a powerhouse in my mind, but most bikers I know think a 650 is a mid-range bike. People want more power than they can handle, for some reason.

[onethatcares]

18. you're right about that, and

no matter how many headlites are on, how many turn signals are used, and how many helmets are sold, the dumb bastages can't see beyond the end of their pointy little noses.

I woke up in a ambulance years ago, in shock pants, cause the dumb ass woman that pulled out in front of me was combing her hair. I can still see her looking in the rearview mirror and pushing up the one side.

Good luck, live long. the great looking corpse thing doesn't matter so much anymore. :toast:

[DrDan]

25. she missed a stopped motorcycle and the red light

jail time

[dmallind]

42. Bright yellow Hi -Viz jackets. Don't ride without one! NT

[valerief]

10. I guess it would have been okay if she was on her cell phone. nt

[Ezlivin]

11. I've seen people reading, eating, putting on make-up, texting and having sex while driving

If there is a way to do it behind the wheel someone is or will be doing it on a highway near you.

Driving between Dallas and Fort Worth I'm no longer surprised by the crazy things that people try to do AND drive a car. I swear that a hell of a lot of commuters must rise from bed and immediately get behind the wheel, hoping to complete their morning routines while driving to work.

[omega minimo]

14. When you secede will our insurance rates go down?

:hi:

[Lady Effingbroke]

59. It's highly unlikely, as there are, no doubt, plenty of dumbass drivers in your state as well.

:hi:

[reggie the dog]

16. what is wrong with eating while driving?

I think you can hold a sandwich or an apple in one hand and the wheel in the other and still watch where you are going.

[angstlessk]

24. one hand on the wheel does not give you 100% control of the vehicle...sorry

I too have eaten while driving...but I knew I was less than 100% in control and had I had an accident it would have been my fault!!!

[malaise]

27. Depends

I've eaten more than a few times driving at 10-20mph in a line of traffic that's barely moving. Otherwise I agree.

[angstlessk]

34. well, everything 'depends'...if the woman had painted her nails at home

it would have saved a persons life...of course it 'depends' on if she was so late for work she did not have time to do it at home? PS.I am not being anti malaise..I love you, truly!

[malaise]

35. LOL

Seriously there is no excuse in the world for painting nails while driving.

[reggie the dog]

57. so I am not in control of my car

when I shift gears?

[TheCowsCameHome]

30. Eating a lobster dinner takes some doing, but up here we do OK.

Bostonians multi-task very well.

[Codeine]

51. Until you don't.

Everyone's a great driver, until they're not. Everyone can control a vehicle at high speed, until they can't.

[east texas lib]

40. Think you can bring someone back from the dead if you're wrong?

Distracted drivers kill.

[reggie the dog]

61. to be quite honest

eating a sandwich does not even involve my looking at what I am eating. I am more distracted by kids arguing than having a sandwich. It is rare that I eat and drive, usually on the open road or the expressway in the countryside. In town I will not do that because I need one hand to shift gears and the other to steer.

[east texas lib]

62. Fair enough...

I commute to Dallas and back each day via Hwys. 80 and 635. You take your life in your hands out
there at rush hour. Shit, I need a tail gunner in the bed of my service truck just to make it to
work.

[MadHound]

58. Food consumption can get you killed

Rolling home late one night from the arcade I owned. Came to the local "dead man's curve," a sharp curve that was also a "T" intersection. As I go through the curve, I see an old Impala upside down, roof crushed, in the ditch opposite side of the "T" intersection. I really didn't feel like seeing dead bodies that night, but being both a human being and a volunteer firefighter, I felt obligated to stop and see if I could possibly help. Pulled over, got out the flashlight and started poking around the wreck. Nobody inside, no bodies flung around, I started calling out. Somebody answered from across the road.

Apparently these kids, from a Catholic school, had borrowed the car belonging to their school's priest to come down for a weekend of camping. They were heading back from the beach to their campsite, and the kid who was driving (all were 16 yo), picked up his Mountain Dew and drained it. This involved tilting his head back and taking his eyes off the road for a split second, the same thing that happens with many other food eating operations. He didn't see the stop sign, shot through the intersection and rolled the car. The group of four kids got lucky, it was an old Impala that could take some serious damage. The only injury was a cut thumb among the lot of them.

Still, eating and driving really don't mix.

[PCIntern]

41. Whoa Nellie!

Care to discuss the last item on your list in the Subject Line? Always interested in 'stuff'.

[omega minimo]

13. Bless the poor woman who died an hour later.....

:cry:

[TahitiNut]

17. That's when it's time for SERIOUS jail time, imho.

The reckless disregard for human life ... for the sake of fucking MAKE-UP! :grr: :grr:

[jazzjunkysue]

20. That'll be the shortest murder trial on record.

[damntexdem]

22. Darn motorcyclists -- always interrupting when nails are being painted.

Or when some driver is twittering. Damn rude of those motorcyclists!

[Bobbie Jo]

23. Completely self-absorbed.....It's all about ME!

I know the type. :puke:

[malaise]

32. Well she'll have lots of time to paint them

in prison. How the hell do you paint nails and drive and at a speed that can kill someone riding with a helmet?

Throw away the key.

[riverdeep]

28. Well, I guess I'll admit it, I've done stupid things while driving.

98% of the time, I'm a model driver. Except in my younger days, I've always driven slowly (not more than five over the limit, which should be considered 'over' but is actually slow) on residential and not more than 15 on highway, I keep my eyes on the road, I don't eat, I don't do anything but drive. I guess because I drive a truck (4x4) I see how huge it is and how it could do so much damage to me or someone else, not to mention how badly it maneuvers.

BUT, I'm over 40 years old, and I'll admit that over those 20+ years of driving that I have done some things I shouldn't have. I looked at the radio knob too long, I looked into the backseat while I've been driving, I looked at something I dropped. Any one of those things, at the right time, could have caused me to run into trouble. Although I have to say, I was at least keen to avoid those mistakes at a stop light, the most dangerous of times.

Anyway, I hope more stop seeing their car as an extension of their living room rather the what it actually is-a death trap running at high speeds for which you have to have optimum judgment, but I suspect that won't happen.

[riverdeep]

37. BTW, I'm not excusing what she did here,

but she had probably done that many times before successfully without a cost. So she thought she could do it again. An overconfidence developed. And this time, she got caught.

[driver8]

31. I saw a guy doing a crossword puzzle while driving on the freeway the other day.

I could not believe it -- he had the crossword on the steering wheel and was not paying attention to the road, at all!

[MilesColtrane]

54. I'll see that and raise you.

I actually saw a guy with a small flat screen on his sun visor watching a basketball game while driving.

The kicker? He was also on his cell phone at the same time.

[cloudbase]

38. After 38 years of motorcycle riding,

I'm giving serious consideration to giving it up. I've had too many close calls due to inattention from other drivers, and the situation isn't getting any better.

[ellie]

43. WTF?

[mnhtnbb]

44. Thank Gawd she wasn't driving a BMW--we'd never have heard the end of it on DU.

:sarcasm:

[Stevenmarc]

47. Jungle Red

[gratuitous]

52. Finally! Someone gives us the important information

What color was she painting her nails?

[Marr]

49. That's my nightmare when I'm riding.

People just don't pay attention. When you're moving, you're actually safer. You can leave room for cars to change lanes just in case they're being piloted by some oblivious moron, you can stay out of blind spots, etc.

When you're stopped, there isn't a hell of a lot you can do. I always leave about 10 feet between myself and the car ahead of me, and turn my bike just a tad so that I'm in a position to dart between two cars if the one behind me isn't slowing.

I actually had to use this about a year ago when some schmuck in a monster truck didn't look where he was going. I looked in my rear view at a light, and saw this giant truck just beginning to lock up it's tires and skid. I zipped between two cars and he skidded right into the spot I'd been sitting. Fucking idiot.

[krispos42]

50. Gov. Janklow of South Dakota got 100 days for killing a motorcyclist

He's diabetic, didn't eat, and was driving when he ran a stop sign when his blood sugar dropped. Had an aide in the car, but insisted on driving himself. Didn't stop at a gas station to get some food, just drove from one event to another and killed motorcyclist.

And got 100 days in jail.

[ConcernedCanuk]

55. This is partly why I'm an agnostic - If there is a Gawd(ess) - the idiot driver woulda died

.
.
.

painting fingernails while driving!

Are there no limits to human stupidity??

That's a rhetorical question BTW

(sigh)

[Liberal_in_LA]

56. Horrible!