Motorcycle Crash

Bad deal all the way around. I've always thought and keep it in my head, if a head-on is coming I'd just stand up or jump straight up in hopes of flying over the car. I flew over one car once (T=bone) and walked away, so it does work. That's in a perfect world though. They both had part responsibility in the accident.

 

Bottom line is that if any of this shit worked the dude would still be alive. Speed Kills!

 

Only two road accidents I have every had in 30 years of street riding, one was a dog at about 35 mph, over the bars and broken arm, hand and foot, totaled my 85 RZ350. Second, six months later, Coco Cola truck turned left into me on a two way street, about 35 mph, high side, totaled my brand new 97 VFR, broke same arm again, same foot and hand, screwed up my neck too. Was able to buy a 1950 Beechcraft Bonanza (4 place aircraft) from the settlement. However, I did not ride on the street for three years afterwards. Being older, and not bolder, I enjoy lazy slow, old fart speeds now, and vintage bike gatherings. My point, watch out for those coyotes, their just as bad as idiot drivers.

 

Yep I saw it and the sound is horrific especially just before it happens, when he sees the car and realizes their is nothing he can do about it... Cant get it out my head. Prayers for his family, very sad all around.

 

Oh, that's the speed they're talking about...looks like I can go back to doing meth!

All joking aside, his speed definitely contributed to his death IMO. Although I am not always a saint on the highway, I always try and be cognizant of where I am and what my "real" speed should be. Although I do ride on the faster side in some places, I do like to keep my speed in check when I am around a populated area. Heck even on these back roads, you never know when them pesky critters are gonna cross your path! Just ask 577nitro!

 

Haven't been able to bring myself to watch the video. I have no desire to see it. I've got a pretty good idea of what it shows from all the posts here and no need to add to the awful images I already have tucked away. I'm glad I've crossed over from the it'll-never-happen-to-me-age to the it-can-certainly-happen-to-me-age and that I've made it, so far, in one piece. One of the reasons I'm terrified about my boys learning to ride is that they're still in that first phase and thinking back on my own decisions when I was their age, you can know all the right things to do but consistently make the wrong decisions. You hope that the wrong decisions you make are ones you can walk away from, learn and grow from. Really sad that this kid didn't walk away from his. I fear that only those who already know better will be reaffirmed while those too young, too dumb, too invincible, will go on believing it will never happen to them.

 

Well this guy made every mistake you could make. But another case of a rider who should know what not to do-The chief of PD in Augusta is in critical condition from a motorcycle accident-neck injury-didn't wear a helmet , he was on a charity run, I guess he felt this made the difference to not to wear a helmet-only his head didn't think so. Sorry about how that sounded but it spot on.

 

Although the phrase "Speed Kills" is quite often what happens, it is not by any stretch of the imagination the only reason. Hell, you can be walking and trip and kill yourself, it all depends on the circumstances. On another forum, I heard one young rider retort to another as to why doesn't he wear gear, his response was..."Gear doesn't save your life, I can take you to several graves of riders who were wearing gear" (paraphrasing). Although he is right that gear may not save your life, neither will just going slow. Some people choose to take risk, warranted or not and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose!

The Police Chief was probably thinking it would not be a big deal, what could happen in a charity run? Ironically, the injury was to his neck and having a helmet might not have made a difference. (NOTE: This is not an endorsement for not wearing a helmet, unless your SOW :chaingun Just F'ing with SOW you can choose to not wear a helmet for any reason you want. :wink:

 

I would guess that if chief numb nuts had a helmet on instead of hitting his neck , he would have hit the helmet first, especially if it was a full face version, but what do I know-I all way s wear leather and a helmet-and boots-so far a saved foot, broken legs and road rash-nothing but a bit of pain and I am back-to bugging BB:congratulatory::spider::croc::lever: !

 

I don't wear a helmet like I should SOW your not alone...

 

For those who can handle arguments both for and against various clichéd propositions and propaganda, this from our friends up in the Frozen North.

http://jalopnik.com/this-is-the-best-takedown-of-the-speed-kills-myth-you-1302382244

 

I don't really care-just wear a dunce hat for all I care-the pointy end will save you and go get some no cut sliders too, doesn't say much for the Augusta police, the chief if he's still alive doesn't want promote helmet wear. Or the hallowell chief caught molesting his own officers, shit we got some strange people ruining things here that start with the Governor himself-who rated the least popular in the 50 states that real hard work.:brushteeth::doh::tinfoil3::soapbox::soapbox::soapbox:

 

I haven't watched the video but the walk through provided in the link painted the picture very well. I never have and never will ride at those speeds when in those conditions. This video has flooded outside of the two wheel realm and I have heard people say motorcycles are too dangerous and this is the proof. They don't take any of the variables that made this a high risk ride into consideration. Two wheels = death in their minds.

I can't imagine what the driver is going through as he can see and hear what this poor fellow experienced at the very last seconds of his life. There is a threshold for which the responsibility scale dips on the other persons side more than yours. I didn't watch the video but from what I have gahered, this is close. I pass over a railroad crossing that is limited to 15 mph for train traffic. A quick glance side to side and on my way, if a train for some reason was doing 75mph and I did a quick glance side to side, my brain would say "Trains are only allowed to do 15mph, proceed onward" As I cross I meet the train.

Speed limits are not expected to be followed nearly as closely as they are for this rail line but you don't expect a motorcyclist to be approaching an intersection at double the posted limit.

This is a little off topic but similar on a few levels.

It is a weird coincidence that a similar traffic setup led to a cycling accident for a local rider and was caught on a GoPro although the vehicle was definitely at complete fault. Two cyclists were heading down the road with a vehicle coming the other direction made a left turn in front, hitting the poor woman who was holding the position towards the shoulder. Looking at the video the guy started to make his left turn way too early and tried to get ahead of the cyclist.

He saw them, assumed they were moving at a slower rate of speed and turned in front. The guy in the video veered off into the opposite lane but the woman was hit and was in pain. Injuries were not critical but they really changed the rest of this year for her.

 

If you think most of the variables through, it doesn't really matter who is at fault here. The biker died. You can't get a pill from the doctor to fix that. The driver was wrong to cut over when he did. That is plain. He must ensure it is clear and safe to do so which includes to gauge the on coming vehicles speed. Having said that, had the bike been going much slower, a couple things would have come into play. First of all, and I don't place a lot of importance on this because you can "what if" this to death, they would have arrived at that intersection at very different times. Tough luck I gues.

Most important though, if he was going slower, and even moderately slower, he would have had time on his side. Time to react. That he did not. He is dead and nothing will change that.

Good on mom for sharing this tragic event and it's graphic video in the hopes it will save some lived. I am sure it will, even if it is just one, that is good enough.