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Traffic cams capture video of motorcycle crash

S Smith

S Smith

Northeast Area Director
Member
Car drivers DON'T SEE MOTORCYCLISTS.  They will look right through them, right past them, even seem to look right at them, and pull out right in front of them (us).

Especially if the car drivers are on cell phones, in a hurry, etc.

It's one of the first lessons they teach in the motorcycle safety classes I've attended.

The biker did nothing wrong.  Probably had a headlight on, a light-colored helmet, and still the SUV driver didn't see him.

This is exactly the reason I use one of those "annoying" headlight modulators.

Thanks for posting this video.

 
Watched this a few times to try and get some situational awareness of what the biker was thinking/doing........from what I could tell he wasn't hard on the brakes at the time of collision......if he was, he was coming off a higher speed........there was room left for him to swerve MAYBE, if he wasn't coming down off a higher speed and hard on the brakes......seems like he wasn't anticipating but just floating through the intersection......I get the heebey jeebies at those busy intersections.......there's an inevitable point of no return when you have to just surrender your fate to the intersection dynamics and hope for the best.......I try and use the SMIDSY swerve at intersections when I get that weird feeling like maybe the other guy doesn't see me......I think it helps.

Chris
 
There may have been some degree of target fixation going on there, but maybe it all just happened so fast, he couldn't do anything about it.

"I only got one pair of shoes"
 
He has quite a loss of speed from the left of the screen to impact.  He was hard on the brakes I'd say.  Probably skidding the back tire too.  Looks like he was going about 45 and was already on the brakes decelerating when he comes on camera.  That's my take anyway.
 
We had a fatal motorcycle crash in Concord, NC today near the racetrack where the All-Star Race was being held. Word is that a cage driver pulled out and hit the motorcyclist pushing him into another vehicle. A 25 year old young man lost his life at the scene as race fans camping along that road raced to his aid and attempted to revive him. Please keep his family in your prayers for this tragic loss.  :'(
 
Bill said:
We had a fatal motorcycle crash in Concord, NC today near the racetrack where the All-Star Race was being held. Word is that a cage driver pulled out and hit the motorcyclist pushing him into another vehicle. A 25 year old young man lost his life at the scene as race fans camping along that road raced to his aid and attempted to revive him. Please keep his family in your prayers for this tragic loss.  :'(
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Sad to hear. Another reminder that us two-wheelers must look out for our OWN safety first, with the assumption that everyone is going to do the WRONG thing, not the RIGHT thing. (Heck, do this in the car or truck too).

I try to always ride looking for the worst-case scenario and work to prevent/avoid it. At 25 I had just learned this lesson. Glad it didn't cost more than it did (relatively minor injuries still with me 20+ years later).
 
Bill said:
We had a fatal motorcycle crash in Concord, NC today near the racetrack where the All-Star Race was being held. Word is that a cage driver pulled out and hit the motorcyclist pushing him into another vehicle. A 25 year old young man lost his life at the scene as race fans camping along that road raced to his aid and attempted to revive him. Please keep his family in your prayers for this tragic loss.  :'(
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That's a shame, sorry to hear that. You would think near an event with all those bikes people would take more notice.
Have no idea what the speed limit was in this video, but as long as he was within it, she just wan't paying attention.  I know where my wife and I had our accident, 55mph road, cross roads all along it. You watch them but you can't drop down to 25mph at every cross roads. (I do slow down at intersections like in the vid where cars can make a left in front of you.) He was lucky too, had a helmet, but that was it for riding gear I think.
 
Just got an e-mail today from work and found out that the young man killed that day was the son of an employee of the company I work for. This hit too close to home. Please pray for my coworker and his family.
 
The first time I watched this video I wondered how the guy walked away. That impact looked vicious. I think it comes down to two factors: luck and age. He was lucky that he was riding a bike without a big windscreen to go through and potentially slice him up. He was also lucky that he hit a big vehicle and impacted on a broad smooth area (right fender) which helped to spread the force of the impact across a larger surface area on his body. Even so, I'm sure my 50 year old body would have been busted up, so being younger really helped him here. So be careful out there!
 
As I grow older, I notice that the gear tends to be an adequate stand-in for the muscle which seems to be melting off of my body...  Yet another reason for ATGATT!  :great:
 
Last year in Virginia, we had a 30 ish couple in same sort of situation.  The husband died instantly, and the wife has had to have multiple reconstructive surgeries.  In recreation, on a 50mph road, the couple had 2 seconds to react to the crash.  Reason for the crash?  Cagers GPS told her to turn left here.  It isn't always the things that you see, IE Cell Phone, that can hurt you.  GPS, radio, kids, looking for something.  Always teach my girls when they ride with me, think for the other driver, as they probably aren't doing it themselves.  Also teach them, and interstection isn't just what is above.  Any place any road, path, trail, parking lot, driveway etc connects to road you are on is an intersection, and be prepared!!!!

My prayers to your co workers friends and family!!  I am so sorry to hear such a horrible story!!!
 
TLR said:
This is exactly the reason I use one of those "annoying" headlight modulators.
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Bingo!!

And start doing a little weave back and forth in the lane when I see cars about to pull out of a parking lot, driveway, or side rode.
 
I pulled in to the left turn lane the other day. While waiting for the light to turn the lady to the right of me rolled down her window and said "are you allowed to have your lights do that? It is annoying" I said "I hope so....just today there have been at least 6 intersections I can think of that it has prevented someone from pulling out in front of me and just  a few minutes ago the guy who started to pull out to pass after he had cleared you pulled back in..."

I see every day folks who see the modulator and stop. I read about the HID's and think with as much night driving as I do I would really like the added brightness but my Modulator keep saving my bacon. I have folks stop by who have seen the modualtor and say they almost pulled out till they saw the "flashing light"
 
I can't say which is more noticeable from a long distance; a dimly flashing stock light ( a C10 stock light is dim), or a blazing sun bright HID with LED driving lights. Personally I know my hid's have saved my bacon both in the daytime and at night. Since the modulator will not help at night I will stay with the bright lights.JMO YMMV
Matt
 
mattchewn said:
I can't say which is more noticeable from a long distance; a dimly flashing stock light ( a C10 stock light is dim), or a blazing sun bright HID with LED driving lights. Personally I know my hid's have saved my bacon both in the daytime and at night. Since the modulator will not help at night I will stay with the bright lights.JMO YMMV
Matt
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I find it harder to tell the range of a very bright oncoming light.  Even if more then one the brighter it is the more it washes out other details.  For me I would think a well done triangle of light would be a bit easier to tell distance to the target day or night.  Some people that pull out you could not stop with a tazor though.
 
mattchewn said:
I can't say which is more noticeable from a long distance; a dimly flashing stock light ( a C10 stock light is dim), or a blazing sun bright HID with LED driving lights. Personally I know my hid's have saved my bacon both in the daytime and at night. Since the modulator will not help at night I will stay with the bright lights.JMO YMMV
Matt
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I put some very bright bulbs in the Connie - so now I have both!  ;)
 
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