stegosaupus

Hi y'all. Wrong "bike", I know (mods, please feel free to move this post to foo if it's more appropriate there), but as a VC-practicing commuter, I thought it was important to show how quickly an accident can occur, even when you're riding lawfully, carefully and cautiously! The rider (who is a racer and instructor) captured the entire accident on her helmetcam.

From reading the rider's thread:
1. Most importantly, she's OK!
2. While driving at the speed limit and mid-lane, a car loses control, crosses 3 lanes and spins into her.
3. Only 4 seconds elapse between the time the car loses control and she is hit.

https://socalsportbikes.info/xmb/view....php?tid=34948

timmhaan

what happened with the car? did a front tire blow out or something??

stegosaupus

It looks like the car was speeding up while traffic in front of him was braking. He braked hard, locked up, and started to spin. Apparantly, once police arrived, he was claiming that *she* hit *him*... until she mentioned she had captured the whole thing on her cam!

ghettocruiser

I've been seriously considering fitting a camera on this type on my car... police accident investigations are getting more and more hasty, and a lot of people will blame the other guy no matter what, to keep their insurance from rocketing.


I guess I could also wear one on my head...

genec

Well three points... shows that while traffic is predictable, the individual driver is not... and that while well trained (supposedly), even the best "two wheelers" cannot avoid all bad situations.

The last point... stupid agressive motorist. If the idiot had just taken his foot OFF the gas much sooner, and had worked to maintain a proper safe following distance, this would never have happened and no brakes would have ever needed to be used.

As far as his comments about "she hit me;" pretty typical... and if it had been a dead cyclist, the cop would have just written it that way.

Wow, really great clear picture.

flipped4bikes

Wow,

I once witnessed a motorcycle t-bone into a car. The driver of the car trying to make a left turn from a side street. Bad blind spot (for the driver of the car) and the motorcyclist didn't have a chance. The driver braked when she realized that she cut off the motorcycle. The motorcyclist literally flew over the hood of the car and landed on his back. Luckily he had a full face helmet on. It was so surreal, like watching a stunt on The A-Team.

Like in this video, it was great how a lot of people came to his aid (including me). The motorcyclist was barely moving, and they tried to remove his helmet. I just started yelling not to do anything until help arrived, which was literally almost instantaneous. Meanwhile, the driver was still sitting in her car, just frozen.

Needless to say, I needed a drink after seeing all that...

galen_52657

She should have been able to avoid it. Her reactions were too slow and she did not hit the front brake hard enough.

baiskeli

Gotta love the driver

Quote from the Driver - "She Hit Me"!

This after spinning out due to his own stupidity and agressiveness. Freakin' moron.

I'm glad the motorcylist is okay.

genec

And that was exactly what she said in the motorcycle forum... amazing how people really react when the fan hits the sh*t, eh.

I found myself equally frozen recently as a car that had run a light came within scant inches of me while I was on a bicycle. At best I determined to steer toward the rear of the car, out of harms way... but I never touched the brakes, never thought to high speed turn away.

While some may tout "fast reaction times," the thinking part of the brain sometimes gets in the way.

FastFreddy

IMO, it looks like a mechanical failure (the car shouldn’t have pulled so violently to the right under hard braking) coupled with driving too fast for conditions (it looks like the car was accelerating into traffic that was braking). I think the car was trying to speed up in order to change lanes – into the motorcycle's lane – and then had to slam on the brakes. But a car in proper working order shouldn’t go into a skid like that under hard braking.

mac

Wow! Man, that's what I fear when I'm out zooming around on my motorcycle. I had a similar thing happen to me on my road bicycle doing 33mph. The first 2 things that popped into my mind were: (a) if you dump your bike, you'll smash into the curb and slide underneath the car's wheels; and (b) aim for the hood so you can fly over and not smash your head into the side door... aim for the hood... aim for the hood...

San Rensho 

I've been following this on the motorcycle forums and it looks to me, as well as others, that the guy was doing a stupid ass move, locking up the rear brakes with the hand-brake, parking-brake as some kind of stunt. If you look closely, the rear locks first and he has tons of room ahead of him.

Galen-its easy to critisize when you're not there. This happened really fast. She decided to go right, which is probably what I would have done, but then got blocked by the car in the right lane. She was doing everything right but everything just stacked up against her at the worst possible moment. Also shows you what good safety equipment does.

Cadd

What's wrong with the car? Normally, just like a bike, motorcycle and most other vehicles with wheels, your front brake provide the most stopping power.

How on earth did he lock up the rears before the front? He was probably being stupid and used the hand-brake to see if he can lock it up for fun.

genec

Probably a poorly maintained car...

Big Tommy C

I think it looks more like he slammed the brakes and tried to swerve to avoid hitting the car, but didn't realize that swerving when you lock the brakes is a bad idea.

Also...the front brakes have more power BECAUSE the rear lock up first since the weight transfers to the front of the car.

BradC

What a moron! I drive "aggresively", but not stupidly. How the hell does someone go past threshold breaking into full lock-up and spin on a smooth, flat road in dry conditions? What a horrible driver! Especially in a small-er car like a Civic. Even the most base model ****box Civic handles "acceptably" enough to not pull that ****. This is why we need more extensive testing for liscenses. Something like a hazard course with pop-up targets and judging responses/reaction time/etc... ****ers!

Cadd

But it didn't seem like he needed to stop that short. He had plenty of room in front of him.

mac

In general, swerving into another lane is more dangerous. When I had my accident (not my fault) I kept going straight so I wouldn't knock out other cars in the lanes next to me.

Portis

I think if my rescuer looked like this, i might wonder if i'd already died and gone to heaven.

HereNT

I noticed that too - I wonder if instead of hitting the brakes, if she'd hit the gas, maybe she could have made the gap before they collided. It looked pretty close...


Actually, reading more of the motorbike thread, that sounds like just what she was trying to do. Cool.

FastFreddy

+1

iBarna

OMG what a prime example of chest banging pathetic machoism this post is. "I'm so much better than that moron! This could NEVER happen to me. Just impossible. I'm so much better. This is why it's okay for me to drive aggressively. Seriously, those *******, they should leave aggressive driving to people who know what they're doing... like me".

Until one day, when you are not concentrating, when your car isn't in the best shape, when you drive home after a glass of beer (that you never do, just this one time), it DOES happen to you, and you take out someone. The bottom line is that cars are dangerous and should NEVER be driven aggressively.

BeTheChange

Thanks iBarna. It's nice to hear that not everyone thinks they are professional drivers.

Also from what I can glean from the motorcycle forum the guy was uninsured. What's great as well is that he swerved into traffic instead of to the left considering he was next to a concrete barrier in the HOV lane. I guess he didn't want to hurt his precious uninsured car. What a jackbag. If he doesn't get hung out to dry with all of the evidence we are all screwed because it means we will never have a chance.

Genec has it right. If it was a dead cyclist they would have just believed the driver and gone about their day.

galen_52657

In a panic stop the rear always locks first (unless you have anti-lock brakes). This is because the car nose-dives thus the rear is unweighted reducing pavement pressure on the rear wheels. Even more prevent on front wheel drive vehicles as the static weight bias is more to the front than rear wheel drive.

galen_52657

If you had any experience on motorcycles and examine the tape closely, you can see that she does not start aggressive braking until it is too late, if at all. She simply misjudged what was happening. Many, many motorcyclist (and bicyclists) do not know how to use their vehicle's brakes to the fullest extent and fear the front brake. I am not saying it is her fault. I am saying it would have been possible to avoid the collision with more timely and aggressive braking.