Big Ben turning into Big Idiot, no insurance

[watermock]

Source: Big Ben Did Not Have PA Motorcycle License

Andy Sheehan
Reporting

(KDKA) PITTSBURGH One day after the motorcycle accident that seriously injured Ben Roethlisberger, there are new questions about whether the Steelers quarterback even had a license to drive a motorcycle.

As accident investigators continue to search for answers, KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan has learned that police are looking into that issue this afternoon

Sources say that while Roethlisberger had a license to operate a car, he apparently did not possess a Pennsylvania motorcycle license.

City accident investigators are not commenting, but a confidential source tells KDKA that a review of motor vehicle records in Harrisburg shows that Roethlisberger has never had a Pennsylvania motorcycle license.

According to our source, Roethlisberger did have a learner's permit that allowed him to ride a motorcycle; but that permit expired on March 29th.

The source goes on to explain that Roethlisberger never took the written and driving test required to get a motorcycle license – and would have been driving illegally at the time of the accident.

At this point, the state division of motor vehicles will not comment on the licenses of specific state residents.

Likewise, Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Tammy Ewing tells KDKA that police will "have no comment on licensing issues" until the accident investigation is over.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

[Master___Pain]

Mock, do you have a link for this? I'd like to pass this on to some folks.

[watermock]

PFT:

KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh reports that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has no license to operate a motorcycle.

Per an unnamed source, KDKA reports that Roethlisberger never took the written or the practical exam necessary for the issuance of a license. Instead, he had a learner's permit that expired on March 29, 2006.

What does it mean? Nothing at all, regarding his injuries and his recovery therefrom. But depending on the manner in which Pennsylvania statutes and case law apply to such matters, Big Ben might be shut out when the time comes to collect insurance money from the driver of the car involved in the accident (if, in the end, she is found to be in any way at fault).

In theory, Roethlisberger could make a valid legal claim against the other driver, if as it appears she made a left turn against oncoming traffic without seeing his motorcycle approaching the intersection. And once her limits of liability insurance are exhausted, Ben could then collect additional money from his own insurance company via the so-called "underinsured motorist" clause.

For example, if the other driver has only $50,000 in bodily injury coverage but the medical bills and the pain and suffering are ultimately determined to be $1 million, Roethlisberger has the right to recover the difference from his insurance carrier -- if he bought up to $1 million in UIM coverage.

But not having a valid license could impact his ability to recover anything. Heck, it's also possible that Ben and his "bad stuff happens to other people, not me" gene didn't even bother to buy UIM coverage on the bike that had been given to him by Suzuki (if indeed he even bought insurance of any kind on it).

Though Roethlisberger presumably has the wherewithal to cover his own medical bills, it could be that the same stupidity that put him on the back of a crotch rocket without a helmet also has put him in a position where any legal rights he might have had against the person who might be found to have caused the accident are rattling in a gutter with his teefs.

[PatsWin2002]

http://kdka.com/sports/local_story_164115654.html

(The link I put in the big thread)

[watermock]

Can you imagine if this older lady says he was going 70 in a 30 and sues HIM? She's not hurt I don't think, but if she had been, or anyone, she and an ambulance chaser could of cleaned out Big Benji.

BTW, I think he WAS late for another interview.

[Mile High Shack]

they already had a witness saying "he was going along at a pretty good clip"

d'oh

Big Ben, you aren't very smart

[watermock]

Originally Posted by Mile High Shack

they already had a witness saying "he was going along at a pretty good clip"

d'oh

Big Ben, you aren't very smart

All he had to do was pick up the phone and have an agent do everything. The agent would of shown up at his house for christ sake. It never fails to amaze me. He should of had at least 5 million on that bike with his money. What if he had hit a pedestrian and killed him/her? they would of wiped him out!

This is getting more surreal by the minute. Maybe it was just expired temporary plates and he had insurance. Maybe he had insurance but an expired learning permit.

h...wasn't Suzuki supposed to take care of that?

[BroncoFanCam]

You'd think Kellen Winslow would have put these idiots "on alert".

Unbelieveable...

[-Slap-]

If I'm that lady, I'm keeping a low profile right about now. You never know how fans might react.

[BroncoFanCam]

Originally Posted by -Slap-

If I'm that lady, I'm keeping a low profile right about now. You never know how fans might react.

And sorry to say... Making an appointment at her doctor's office...

"Oh! ..... Ow! ... It.... It hurts!!!"

[Old Dude]

Ohhhhhh. This whole thing hits so close to home.......

[PatsWin2002]

Originally Posted by -Slap-

If I'm that lady, I'm keeping a low profile right about now. You never know how fans might react.

Same with that lady that was the eyewitness. When she said she heard the noise like he was maybe going a little fast you got the sense that she KNEW he was really moving.

You could tell she was sugar coating that part of it as to not get involved in all the hoopla.

[Mile High Shack]

Originally Posted by PatsWin2002

Same with that lady that was the eyewitness. When she said she heard the noise like he was maybe going a little fast you got the sense that she KNEW he was really moving.

You could tell she was sugar coating that part of it as to not get involved in all the hoopla.

it just gets worse for big ben the more news comes out

[Master___Pain]

Originally Posted by Mile High Shack

it just gets worse for big ben the more news comes out

Here's something I thought about. For me to drive my car in another state, I don't need that states drivers liscense to be legal to drive there. Is this different for motorcycles? If Ben has a Ohio motorcycle liscense this stuff about not having a PA liscense is moot, no? Him not having a PA liscense but having a OH liscense is one thing, but if he does not have a valid liscense from any state then the kids got some issues.

[Meck77]

You know my first reaction to all this was like most. WHAT AN IDIOT. I have a question for all you perfect people out there. Please tell my what your greateat accomplishment was at age 23. This kid led his team to a superbowl and won it all! He's probably already has enough in the bank to be finally secure for life.

I'm not making excuses for him but the biggest concern for most 23 year old kids is where to find the cheapest beer special on campus. Maybe he's 24 now. Either way he's a kid. He's lucky he isn't dead but so are alot of us. I had a few close calls in my 20's like the rest of you nuts. It's apart of life. Atleast the kid wasn't drunk.

Please step right up and list your name on this thread if you have a DUI. Hell Grieseball picked up a DUI in Denver along with plenty of other Broncos and NFL players lately. That's more reckless than Ben driving a bike to work.

I'm not a fan of motorcycles now but I loved them when I was younger.

My motto "Work hard play hard"

Get well Ben.

*edit* I'm fully expecting the "He owes it to the fans and the team to take care of himself". Yeah well we all owe it to our families to take care of ourselves and shiat happens. Life is fragile and can be taken away at any moment. I could get waxed on my way to the hardware store where I have to go now. I'll be back. Maybe.

[Northman]

Actually, at 23 i was pretty smart to know that you need to wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle or buckling a seatbelt. If he was 18 i could understand it but 23? no way. Im not perfect but this is a NO-BRAINER.

[Master___Pain]

I here ya Meck. My old man would tell don't do this, don't do that. I paid little attention to that and did what I wanted to. After doing many of the things my old man said not to, I would usually look back on it and go "Yeah, probably should not have done that" Live and learn. I've been on motorcycle w/o helmet when I was in my early 20s. I look back on it and thank god I was never hurt and how irresponsible it was. As I am getting aolder I think less about myself and more about the ones that I care for and that care for me.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Originally Posted by Master___Pain

Here's something I thought about. For me to drive my car in another state, I don't need that states drivers liscense to be legal to drive there. Is this different for motorcycles? If Ben has a Ohio motorcycle liscense this stuff about not having a PA liscense is moot, no? Him not having a PA liscense but having a OH liscense is one thing, but if he does not have a valid liscense from any state then the kids got some issues.

Good point but why would he have a learners permit in PA if he had a license from another state?

[-Slap-]

Originally Posted by Meck77

You know my first reaction to all this was like most. WHAT AN IDIOT. I have a question for all you perfect people out there. Please tell my what your greateat accomplishment was at age 23. This kid led his team to a superbowl and won it all! He's probably already has enough in the bank to be finally secure for life.

I'm not making excuses for him but the biggest concern for most 23 year old kids is where to find the cheapest beer special on campus. Maybe he's 24 now. Either way he's a kid. He's lucky he isn't dead but so are alot of us. I had a few close calls in my 20's like the rest of you nuts. It's apart of life. Atleast the kid wasn't drunk.

Please step right up and list your name on this thread if you have a DUI. Hell Grieseball picked up a DUI in Denver along with plenty of other Broncos and NFL players lately. That's more reckless than Ben driving a bike to work.

I'm not a fan of motorcycles now but I loved them when I was younger.

My motto "Work hard play hard"

Get well Ben.

You should trust your first reaction. No helmet, probably excessive speed, crowded metro area, now they're saying he might not have even had a valid operators license.

But, he's 24 and he won a Super Bowl, so nobody who's ever made a mistake can criticize him.

[watermock]

Originally Posted by PatsWin2002

Same with that lady that was the eyewitness. When she said she heard the noise like he was maybe going a little fast you got the sense that she KNEW he was really moving.

You could tell she was sugar coating that part of it as to not get involved in all the hoopla.

That is where you might read thru the lines as well. I wonder if she knew it was Big Ben...you can never discount a fan bending the truth either...now I'm not saying that at all...but "a pretty good clip" thru that intersection says more than you might imagine. It's obvious she turned in front of him, but 20 years ago I did the same thing. My little 323 was pulling into the King Soopers and the damn sun was in my eyes, and I hadn't cleaned the damn windshield. I'm looking into the parking lot and thru the side of my perephiral vision I saw this 69 SS Camaro bearing down on me driven by a 16 year old that has the car fully stoked. I gassed it but he still clipped my right rear by a foot. All he needed to do was made a 2 foot manuver but he just laid out 100 feet of dead straight skid marks. Even tho I wouldn't of turned if I had seen him, maybe I did and took my eye off him. I know damn well he was speeding the the cops wouldn't even properly measure the skid marks. The freakin' skid marks ENDED WHEN HE HAMMERED ME. So Barney Fife gets out there and measures the skid marks and determines he was going "right at the speed limit". This is the entrance to a busy supermarket. How is the length of the skid mark accurate if he doesn't account MY SKIDMARKS SIDEWAYS? He never measured how my car got thrown into another car, I banged on impact all the way to the right, then hit another car in the entrance and promptly banged my head on the other drivers side window. Even dazed, I was like...Measure how far he pushed me sideways and I bet I even left some more skid marks after hitting the second car he pushed me into. And all the kid needed to do was swerve around me by 2 feet instead of locking them up. So again, you have several factors here. I was just getting off work, tired, sun in my eyes, smokey windshield, didn't see him right away, he was speeding off a turn and poor reaction by his part.

[2KBack]

as a 27 year old, 23 wasn't that long ago for me. While you may not have always made stellar decisions at that age, there is a line. Something as flat out idiotic as this should be out of the system before 23. He's 2 years out of college for pete sake. Most of the people I know at that age are responsible adults, even with families, they would never pull a boner like driving a speeding bike without a helmet (possibly without a valid license or insurance).

[Master___Pain]

Originally Posted by Bronco_Beerslug

Good point but why would he have a learners permit in PA if he had a license from another state?

Going through the process? I don't know. When I moved from CO to CA I had to take a written test in CA and had a temp liscense for about a month. When I moved back to CO, I just went to the DMV and got the new CO liscense. No test, nothing. I have no idea how the motorcycle liscense process works. I certainly have more questions than answers..what's new?

[Conklin]

Originally Posted by Master___Pain

Here's something I thought about. For me to drive my car in another state, I don't need that states drivers liscense to be legal to drive there. Is this different for motorcycles? If Ben has a Ohio motorcycle liscense this stuff about not having a PA liscense is moot, no? Him not having a PA liscense but having a OH liscense is one thing, but if he does not have a valid liscense from any state then the kids got some issues.

a license becomes invalid once you register to vote in a different state when you have dual state residency. I'm assuming he proboably votes in the state of PA so thus, he needs a PA cycle license which his permit had previously expired. The state of PA would not have issued him a permit if he had a valid ohio license, but as stated earlier, his ohio license becomes invalid due to voter registration

[Taco John]

At 23 I was smart enough to know that pavement and glass wins over flesh and bone.

[BroncoFanCam]

Originally Posted by Meck77

You know my first reaction to all this was like most. WHAT AN IDIOT. I have a question for all you perfect people out there. Please tell my what your greateat accomplishment was at age 23. This kid led his team to a superbowl and won it all! He's probably already has enough in the bank to be finally secure for life.

I'm not making excuses for him but the biggest concern for most 23 year old kids is where to find the cheapest beer special on campus. Maybe he's 24 now. Either way he's a kid. He's lucky he isn't dead but so are alot of us. I had a few close calls in my 20's like the rest of you nuts. It's apart of life. Atleast the kid wasn't drunk.

Please step right up and list your name on this thread if you have a DUI. Hell Grieseball picked up a DUI in Denver along with plenty of other Broncos and NFL players lately. That's more reckless than Ben driving a bike to work.

I'm not a fan of motorcycles now but I loved them when I was younger.

My motto "Work hard play hard"

Get well Ben.

*edit* I'm fully expecting the "He owes it to the fans and the team to take care of himself". Yeah well we all owe it to our families to take care of ourselves and shiat happens. Life is fragile and can be taken away at any moment. I could get waxed on my way to the hardware store where I have to go now. I'll be back. Maybe.

Some would say that making to the NFL is quite the accomplishment as it is.

So is Jamal Lewis excused for setting up coke deals, on the eve of his draft (or whenever it was)?

It was stupid (in bopth cases) and neither deserve to be coddled becaus ethey are "special".