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I lost a very dear friend to a head-on HD vs car accident. Not too much he could do when the teenage driver of the car decided she just had to pass a slow truck going uphill on a two lane road. My friend was wearing all the accepted safety gear, was very experienced (multiple cross-country rides over many years), and a cautious fellow in general. I met him during a wilderness survival course he taught on a regular basis. His only mistake was not "wearing" a car at that moment. The accident investigation showed he was trying to avoid the car but didn't have quite enough time. He was killed, the teen car driver walked away with a broken thumb and hopefully a change in attitude.
I have also ridden for years on high powered bikes in commuting traffic and on top of that in heavy rain.
The simple fact is that 99% of motorcycle accidents where the rider is judged as not at fault - the rider was at fault. No for causing the accident but for getting harmed by the accident.
I d not believe that more than 50% of the population out there has the ability to maintain the hyper-awareness that riding a bike requires. This is just an issue with how people's brains are wired up. Some people have the ability to hyper concentrate others don't, just like some people have the ability to get pregnant others don't. Nothing wrong with it that is just how things are.
Wearing a helmet probably saved his life and if he lived the first 24 hours after getting into the hospital he's going to survive. He will likely have lifetime scars from it. That is a shame but it is far too common because way too many younger people who get motorcycles don't get the kind of mentoring that is needed. It is more than taking a class. Neither of my parents knew anything about motorcycles and even now 30 years after I started riding my mother still tells me all the usual horror stories about so and so getting injured. I have had a few very low speed falls and some high speed near misses including one that was almost identical to your story except that in that case I swerved into the space between the median and the car ahead of me in the fraction of a second that I had and as I went by that car I could hear the semitruck's bumper crunching into it - I risked a quick look in the rear view mirror a second later and the semi was jackknifed and crunched cars were all over the road.
It's a shame he didn't have proper mentoring. Undoubtedly he will join the ranks of the people dissing motorcycles because he won't want to admit the truth which was that he didn't do what was needed to protect himself. Which is good because the most highly likely rider to be injured out there is the one who refuses to recognize their own mistakes. I make minor mistakes when I ride every day but I recognize and self-correct it is a constant process.
The reality is that with motorcycles all people are NOT created equal. Some of you out there cannot safely ride them no matter who mentors you and how much mentoring you get because you simply do not have the mental ability to do it. Quit taking this personally and dissing other riders who do. Accept that some people can do things you cannot do and you will be happier.
Alot of people seem to want to play Monday morning quarterback on this or use it promote their anti-motorcycle agenda. Maybe we should focus our energy on our hopes and prayers that the kid makes it out ok.
Yep.
But I do hope the guy is ok.
Anyone can google the facts... And yes I do ride. But I also have a valid M license. If you check out my link you will see a lot of those M fatalities involved those who didn't.
I'm 71 and have been riding since 16.....do the math
1. cars w/4 wheels stop better than all bikes
2. you must do whatever it takes to have a good line of sight down the road and avoid the crap on our freeways
3. as others have expressed some have it and some don't.....be smart enough to know which you are
4. you MUST have the laser focus.....2 wheels don't give your brain any off time
5. you ARE in a combat situation with everything around you....treat it as such
6. if you're laying on the ground it's your fault.....forget the no fault BS
7. if you think bikes are 29 times more dangerous....STAY THE HECK OFF OF THEM
8. people don't see you and don't care much when they do see....and some HD with pipes just scared mom and her dog
9. bikes are either in your DNA or not...they are wonderful and safe if you use all the tricks at your disposal
10. know when to do 15 and when to do 115 .......
I'm 71 and have been riding since 16.....do the math
1. cars w/4 wheels stop better than all bikes
2. you must do whatever it takes to have a good line of sight down the road and avoid the crap on our freeways
3. as others have expressed some have it and some don't.....be smart enough to know which you are
4. you MUST have the laser focus.....2 wheels don't give your brain any off time
5. you ARE in a combat situation with everything around you....treat it as such
6. if you're laying on the ground it's your fault.....forget the no fault BS
7. if you think bikes are 29 times more dangerous....STAY THE HECK OFF OF THEM
8. people don't see you and don't care much when they do see....and some HD with pipes just scared mom and her dog
9. bikes are either in your DNA or not...they are wonderful and safe if you use all the tricks at your disposal
10. know when to do 15 and when to do 115 .......
I'm 71 and have been riding since 16.....do the math
1. cars w/4 wheels stop better than all bikes
2. you must do whatever it takes to have a good line of sight down the road and avoid the crap on our freeways
3. as others have expressed some have it and some don't.....be smart enough to know which you are
4. you MUST have the laser focus.....2 wheels don't give your brain any off time
5. you ARE in a combat situation with everything around you....treat it as such
6. if you're laying on the ground it's your fault.....forget the no fault BS
7. if you think bikes are 29 times more dangerous....STAY THE HECK OFF OF THEM
8. people don't see you and don't care much when they do see....and some HD with pipes just scared mom and her dog
9. bikes are either in your DNA or not...they are wonderful and safe if you use all the tricks at your disposal
10. know when to do 15 and when to do 115 .......
I consider myself an avid, well-informed motorcyclist, but I learned something from you today. I was all set to call you out on number #1, convinced that modern sport bikes out brake the vast majority of cars. I was wrong. Even bikes with outstanding brakes, like the BMW S1000RR, don't stop as quickly as most cars. Even more surprising, they can't even out brake many pickup trucks. I would have bet just about anything this wasn't the case, but while doing research to refute your post, I discovered I was wrong. Cruiser style motorcycles are particularly poor at stopping, but even top sport bikes can't match cars.
I consider myself an avid, well-informed motorcyclist, but I learned something from you today. I was all set to call you out on number #1, convinced that modern sport bikes out brake the vast majority of cars. I was wrong. Even bikes with outstanding brakes, like the BMW S1000RR, don't stop as quickly as most cars. Even more surprising, they can't even out brake many pickup trucks. I would have bet just about anything this wasn't the case, but while doing research to refute your post, I discovered I was wrong. Cruiser style motorcycles are particularly poor at stopping, but even top sport bikes can't match cars.
Lesson learned. Thank you.
Which makes sense given the 2 wheel,.50 cent size of tire/road contact vs 4 wheels of dollar bill size contact.
Having ridden from well before I got a license up until my mid 20's AND having crashed many,many times I'd agree with pretty much all of what VF6cruiser said.
One or two exceptions with the "if you're on the ground it's your own fault" thing but those are obvious like oil you just can't see and some idiot turning in front of you. Had both happen and there was no avoiding either time going down.
The rest of my "lay downs" were certainly my own young moronic fault!
I love riding motorcycles, used to have a CR500 at one time. Man was that a beast, never had one for the open road. Far too many idiots out there and if you are driving it enough that accident is almost inevitable. Too much of a risk as far as I'm concerned, but whatever floats your boat.
If the kid in the OP had to "slam on his brakes" to avoid a car in front of him that stopped suddenly, than he was following that car too closely. If he has been farther back, he could have braked more gradually, or else maybe steered around him in the other lane.
no i think the car behind him rear ended him (if i read that correctly)
one of the reason I get f-n pissed when I get tail gated on my bike.
i daily everyday and have close calls often but im getting smarter about predicting what cars will do when I think a car becomes a danger zone or "hey this guy might slam on his brakes and swerve hard to my lane"
OP also said the kid on the bike had to slam on his brakes. Which means.... he was following too closely, as was the truck behind him. If he was following at a safer distance behind, he would've had more options for taking evasive action and/or even if the truck was tailgating that driver would have had more of a chance to react and slow down. This was a textbook chain reaction crash.
Not necessarily on divided road. One accident I was involved in was on highly congested highway with stop and go traffic, the guy behind me decided to pass on the right when he had small window of opportunity and then immediately pulled into my safe zone. Simultaneously traffic came to complete halt and he was really slow on the brakes. I ended up hitting him lightly and after quick check in the rear view seeing another car coming up quick I mashed on the gas and drove him into the car in front of him.
Legally I would assume I was responsible for that but it certainly was not my fault. Fortunately he had a trailer hitch that perfectly matched the height of my bumper and I only had a small mark on my car, obviously no damage to the back of his. There was some damage to the front of his car and the back of the other car.
I reported it to the insurance company the second I got home, I get a regular personal letter from him about a week later about "settling it".... I should of settled it on the side of the road my knocking his teeth out. In any event I ignored it and never heard a thing about it again.
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