Hidden Hazards

DataDan

Mama says he's bona fide
Contrary to the caption that opens the video, there sometimes is an excuse for a driver not seeing a rider before a crash: blocked view and too much speed as the motorcycle enters a blind crossing.


youtu.be/SbU8QvDk-X0

According to Yahoo News, the rider survived and suffered knee injuries. He was very lucky. Watch closely, and you'll see that he flies over the hood of the SUV after impact. If he had hit a few milliseconds later, he might have suffered fatal internal injuries or even have been decapitated hitting the taller part of the vehicle.

If you're visiting this thread for the first time, you'll find advice for preventing this kind of crash throughout.
 

tuxumino

purrfect
in darkness your single head light can blend into the car head lights behind you, when approaching a intersection at night I'll do a SMIDSY weave to bring attention to myself.
 

DataDan

Mama says he's bona fide
"Sorry, mate, I didn't see you." It's a Brit term for the crash where a driver doesn't see the motorcycle. Much more in this video, including the "weave" that Tux referred to:


youtu.be/eqQBubilSXU
 

Hank Wong

Well-known member
Thank you Datadan for starting this thread and sharing the SMIDSY scenarios. There are two worth mentioning SMIDSY scenarios not yet mentioned in this thread. They are:

1. Beware of left turning vehicles while splitting lanes in city traffic. Drivers in a congested traffic situation often leave room for left turning vehicles. In some intersections, it is against the law to block the intersection. Riders splitting lane in congested city traffic need to anticipate possible left turning vehicles at an upcoming intersection. Riders splitting between lanes 1 and 2 will not necessary see in time a left turning vehicles coming from his right. Riders splitting between lanes 3 and 4 will have the same issue with left turning vehicles coming from his left.

2. Beware of a car slowing and pulling to the right side of the road. The driver could be making a left turn or an illegal U-turn instead of pulling over. On rural roads, a car slows and moves toward the right may not be pulling over to let you by. The driver may simply be lost and wants to do a U-turn. If a rider overtakes the car too soon, he risks running into a left turning vehicle.

SMIDSY is made worse when an intersection is not perpendicular like Skyline & Page Mill, when the sun is behind the rider as in riding in twilight hours, when the rider is riding into and out of the shade, and when riding in excessive speed, especially when riders are going around a curve. A rider could improve his odds by defusing a potential situation before it happens. Some key elements to defusing a situation are being aware of the intentions of others on the road, upcoming road hazards, and situations that are in the process of forming. Controlling one's own speed and weaving the bike to get attention could help to not get into such situation. It is most excellent to practice and possess the world's best collision avoidance skills. It is even better to not have to use them.
 
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DataDan

Mama says he's bona fide
2. Beware of a car slowing and pulling to the right side of the road. The driver could be making a left turn or an illegal U-turn instead of pulling over. On rural roads, a car slows and moves toward the right may not be pulling over to let you by. The driver may simply be lost and wants to do a U-turn. If a rider overtakes the car too soon, he risks running into a left turning vehicle.
Ugh. There was one of these in rural San Diego County a few weeks ago. When I read about one, I imagine the rider's horror as the car pulls out from the right shoulder across his path.

I live in the middle of a wine-producing area in SLO County, with several wineries nearby. Predictably, out-of-town drivers will pull over, check their GPS and discover that their next stop is back the other way. So I've developed a sixth sense about occupied vehicles on the shoulder where vehicles usually ain't. Brake lights or front wheels steered left escalate status from Yellow Alert to Red Alert. I slow down--sometimes a LOT--and give them a friendly tap of the horn and proceed with caution either I get some sort of acknowledgement or I'm sure I'll pass ahead of them.
 
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LittleBigGirl

Well-known member
I live near the wine country, too. I try to avoid Napa on Saturdays and Sundays because I want to avoid drunk drivers and tourist-drivers. I'll head north where there isn't anyone around!

One thing I try to do when I am on the road is NOT ASSUME people drive or think like I do on the road - at all. That makes me a lot more cautious and able to avoid some dangers I think.

Ugh. There was one of these in rural San Diego County a few weeks ago. When I read about one, I imagine the rider's horror as the car pulls out from the right shoulder across his path.

I live in the middle of a wine-producing area in SLO County, with several wineries nearby. Predictably, out-of-town drivers will pull over, check their GPS and discover that their next stop is back the other way. So I've developed a sixth sense about occupied vehicles on the shoulder where vehicles usually ain't. Brake lights or front wheels steered left escalate status from Yellow Alert to Red Alert. I slow down--sometimes a LOT--and give them a friendly tap of the horn and proceed with caution either I get some sort of acknowledgement or I'm sure I'll pass ahead of them.
 

DataDan

Mama says he's bona fide
Here's another grim reminder never to enter an intersection if you can't see and assess potential threats from crossing vehicles.

This crash happened yesterday, March 17, 2017, in Santa Ana, California (33.744500, -117.857000). As a southbound minivan waited to turn left at the intersection, the southbound motorcycle passed on the right, without a clear view to the northbound van turning left, and unseen by the van driver until it was too late. The rider was killed. The van fled.

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When it really goes wrong, your godlike braking skills won't prevent the crash, and your protective gear won't prevent death or serious injury. You need to understand potentially dangerous situations and take action before the danger is revealed.


Pics were snipped from Santa Ana PD video as shown on KTTV. The Orange County Register reports on the crash here.

UPDATE, 3/27/2017: The van driver has been arrested. See OC Register article here.
 
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Schnellbandit

I see 4 lights!
Happens far too often, sliding by on the right because you can fit and not being able to see ahead. Bikes and cars do it all the time. Shame.

Look at the rear wheel in the air, rider saw it coming at the last instant. Is there any indication of speeds involved? Wondering if the catapault head first isn't what made a difference between injury and death.
 
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LittleBigGirl

Well-known member
That is terrible. RIP rider. :thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown

Do you think SMIDSY would have helped this rider? It looks like he only had 100 feet or less from the line. What could you do differently in this scenario?

I have been looking both ways before I start from a red-to-green light at intersections (or even when I am riding along where people make various turns onto my street (especially the 29/Sonoma Blvd. in Vallejo). Just because a light is green doesn't mean it's 100% safe to go.

Another bad area where people run lights is 5th street in Oakland along the Nimitz freeway. I always look for red light runners there.

Here's another grim reminder never to enter an intersection if you can't see and assess potential threats from crossing vehicles.
 
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DataDan

Mama says he's bona fide
Do you think SMIDSY would have helped this rider? It looks like he only had 100 feet or less from the line.
No, the weave would not have helped. Its value is in making your motorcycle recognizable to a driver who has a clear view and is looking for threats, but doesn't identify you as one. That can happen when moving straight up the line of sight. A motorcycle, a small visual target anyway, then looks like a stationary object among many others in his visual field. The weave makes it stand out as a moving vehicle.

In addition, the weave is not appropriate that close. You do it when you're far enough out that the threat isn't yet imminent. If you're seen, good. But you still need to prepare for an incursion and be ready to brake or swerve if the vehicle does pull out. When you reach a point where you might need to take evasive action, you can't be spending any of your attention--or tire grip--trying to make yourself seen.

What could you do differently in this scenario?
To avoid this kind of crash, first recognize the danger of the blind spot created by the minivan ahead of you waiting to turn left. If there's a threat beyond, you can't see it and it can't see you.

As you overtake on the right, the front of the minivan is what I call a "point of sudden exposure." Alongside, you're protected on the left by its presence. But as you pull ahead, you are suddenly in open space and vulnerable to a crossing vehicle--in this case, the oncoming left-turner. I suggest:
When you spot a point of sudden exposure, go to yellow alert: slow down and approach cautiously. This is a critical reaction to avoid a crash with an unseen vehicle. Your view to potential threats is screened, and you're nearing a point where you have no parallel lane of blocking vehicles.​
Slow down and cover the brake, so you can come to a complete stop if a threat appears. And a left-turner is just one possibility. Another post in this thread describes a crash where the threat was a pedestrian crossing in front of the stopped vehicle as the rider passed.

I have been looking both ways before I start from a red-to-green light at intersections (or even when I am riding along where people make various turns onto my street (especially the 29/Sonoma Blvd. in Vallejo). Just because a light is green doesn't mean it's 100% safe to go.

Another bad area where people run lights is 5th street in Oakland along the Nimitz freeway. I always look for red light runners there.
Good awareness of those situations! :thumbup
 

DataDan

Mama says he's bona fide
As I was saying...

...a left-turner is just one possibility. Another post in this thread describes a crash where the threat was a pedestrian crossing in front of the stopped vehicle as the rider passed.
The same thing happened Sunday in Santa Cruz. A rider was splitting the two SB lanes of Mission St. at Van Ness, where traffic had stopped for pedestrians in the crosswalk. They stepped into the path of the motorcycle and a 9-year-old child was hit:
"The motorcyclist hit the child while splitting traffic that had stopped to the let the mother and son cross the street," said Santa Cruz police spokeswoman Joyce Blaschke. "The rider did not stop after hitting the child pedestrian. He continued fleeing at a high rate of speed southbound on Mission Street."​
 

DataDan

Mama says he's bona fide
Emerging from the split

In the Santa Cruz crash above, where the rider emerged from the split into an open intersection, surrounding stopped traffic had screened his view to the crossing pedestrians and theirs to him. But a rider may also be threatened beyond the intersection. Cross-traffic further down the road may believe they are protected by vehicles stopped at a light without considering the possibility of a lane-splitting motorcycle emerging on the fresh green.

Recently in Eureka, a motorcyclist had split through traffic at an intersection, emerged without exceeding the speed limit, and collided with a minivan turning left from a parking lot on the right, 200ft past the light.

Splitting lanes in city traffic requires more comprehensive awareness than on the freeway. In addition to the lane-changer threat, you must consider cross-traffic that can enter your path when you emerge.
 

LittleBigGirl

Well-known member
Ugh, he died from his injuries:

"UPDATE Tuesday: Law enforcement has released more information. Eureka Man Died When His Motorcycle Collided With a Honda Odyssey
In addition, the eyewitnesses who spoke to us yesterday wants to be clear that the motorcyclist was not splitting the lane at the time the Honda pulled in front of him. The motorcyclist was in the slow lane traveling at approximately the posted speed when the van pulled in front, she said."

The past few weeks I have noticed an uptick in aggressive and clueless drivers during my commute. I am blaming the unease of our political nightmare right now.

But I have noticed others being more aggressive toward me both on the freeway and off. Today I got cut off (very close call) in a slow right hand turn coming out of the Webster tube. Impatient driver. Another driver wouldn't let me lanesplit by him today, in fact, he careened into the white line driving me out of my line, so I just got behind him again and hung tight until there was a safe opening. Luckily I had space in the 2nd lane.

Because I feel like there have been more "close calls" for me lately, I am re-focusing on being alert, swiveling my head, watching those around me and staying away from others' aggressive behavior on the road. I actually started reading my motorcycle safety manual that came with my bike again. Back to basics!
 

DataDan

Mama says he's bona fide
Emerging from the split--again

In San Diego yesterday, a 61-year-old Harley rider was splitting the two eastbound lanes here:



Traffic had stopped and opened a gap so a westbound driver could turn into the driveway on the right. But the rider emerging from the split into open space didn't see the oncoming left turner, nor did the driver see the motorcycle. The two collided, leaving the rider with a compound foot fracture.

Splitting stopped traffic would seem to be relatively safe, and speed was not reported to be excessive. Yet the crash occurred and the rider suffered an injury that will keep him off his motorcycle for some time. We need to be aware of how lane-splitting can go wrong, the observations to make, and effective countermeasures. I hope CHP's lane-splitting guidelines will include advice for safely negotiating city traffic as well as freeway considerations.
 
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DataDan

Mama says he's bona fide
If you've followed this thread, you'll quickly spot this rider's mistake:


youtu.be/Oa-JxGXb9oM

There's a huge gap in front of the flatbed truck, and his view into it is blocked by the truck. That calls for Yellow Alert--slow down, focus on the gap, and expect an incursion.
 

budman

General Menace
Staff member
That is a tough one Dan. Expecting a vehicle there... nope. However. Expecting the unexpected is what keeps us alive!!
 
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