DataDan
Mama says he's bona fide
Most of you remember the thread from last week about San Jose police officer Carl Watt who was killed along with his wife Patricia in an off-duty motorcycle crash near Sonora in the Sierra foothills. A news article today adds details about how the crash occurred and offers a lesson in how it could have been prevented.
As reported in the news last week, the Watts were westbound on CA108/120 (upper right to lower left in the attached aerial photo) aboard their Harley when a Chevy minivan driven by Sonora resident Marla Hulsey turned left from southbound O’Byrnes Ferry Road (from upper left) on to eastbound 108/120 (toward upper right) directly in the motorcycle’s path. According to CHP, Hulsey didn’t see the motorcycle, and Watt had no time to react. Since O’Byrnes Ferry Road has a stop sign and 108/120 doesn’t, legal fault is clear: the minivan violated the motorcyclist’s right-of-way. But the latest article explains why Hulsey didn’t see the motorcycle.
Hulsey stated that two cars turning right from westbound 108/120 to northbound O'Byrnes Ferry Road blocked her view of the motorcycle as it passed the turning cars and continued west on 108/120. This is a surprisingly common crash configuration, which I call the “rolling blind spot.” An uninvolved vehicle intervenes between the motorcycle and a potential hazard, screening the rider’s view of the cager and/or vice-versa. I would emphasize that I’m not making excuses for Hulsey nor am I blaming Watt. But I do think this crash was avoidable and that we can learn something from it.
I’ve read about several crashes similar to the one that killed the Watts, often with the same tragic result. In a crash in Illinois last June, a rider with a passenger in the #1 lane passed an SUV in the #2 lane as it slowed to enter a mall. The SUV blocked the rider’s view of a car exiting the mall, and the car turned left across the motorcycle’s path, killing both rider and passenger. An identical crash occurred in Georgia in December, though with a better result since the rider survived, though seriously injured. These aren’t particularly unusual incidents; Hurt found that in 15% of the multi-vehicle motorcycle crashes he studied, an uninvolved vehicle had blocked the view between the motorcyclist and the driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash.
About a similar crash investigated by his team, Harry Hurt wrote:
Here are some tactics that can help you avoid becoming the next victim:
As reported in the news last week, the Watts were westbound on CA108/120 (upper right to lower left in the attached aerial photo) aboard their Harley when a Chevy minivan driven by Sonora resident Marla Hulsey turned left from southbound O’Byrnes Ferry Road (from upper left) on to eastbound 108/120 (toward upper right) directly in the motorcycle’s path. According to CHP, Hulsey didn’t see the motorcycle, and Watt had no time to react. Since O’Byrnes Ferry Road has a stop sign and 108/120 doesn’t, legal fault is clear: the minivan violated the motorcyclist’s right-of-way. But the latest article explains why Hulsey didn’t see the motorcycle.
Hulsey stated that two cars turning right from westbound 108/120 to northbound O'Byrnes Ferry Road blocked her view of the motorcycle as it passed the turning cars and continued west on 108/120. This is a surprisingly common crash configuration, which I call the “rolling blind spot.” An uninvolved vehicle intervenes between the motorcycle and a potential hazard, screening the rider’s view of the cager and/or vice-versa. I would emphasize that I’m not making excuses for Hulsey nor am I blaming Watt. But I do think this crash was avoidable and that we can learn something from it.
I’ve read about several crashes similar to the one that killed the Watts, often with the same tragic result. In a crash in Illinois last June, a rider with a passenger in the #1 lane passed an SUV in the #2 lane as it slowed to enter a mall. The SUV blocked the rider’s view of a car exiting the mall, and the car turned left across the motorcycle’s path, killing both rider and passenger. An identical crash occurred in Georgia in December, though with a better result since the rider survived, though seriously injured. These aren’t particularly unusual incidents; Hurt found that in 15% of the multi-vehicle motorcycle crashes he studied, an uninvolved vehicle had blocked the view between the motorcyclist and the driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash.
About a similar crash investigated by his team, Harry Hurt wrote:
These findings [about view obstructions] provide important components for a traffic strategy for a motorcycle rider. The motorcycle rider must locate himself or herself in traffic to insure a clear path of view to all prospective hazards. If such location is not possible, every intersection offers the possible challenge of the motorcycle right-of-way.
A representative accident case illustrates this problem. A motorcycle is proceeding in the curb lane and a van is travelling ahead in the parallel fast lane. Approaching an intersection, another automobile in oncoming traffic waits until the van clears and turns left as it passes. The left-turning automobile then moves into the right-of-way of the motorcycle. In such case, the culpability is clearly that of the automobile driver but both the motorcyclist and automobile driver had view obstruction (the van) before the crash. The strategy appropriate for the motorcycle rider is to ride abreast, or ahead, or much farther behind the van so that he or she could see and be seen. The strategic position is important to insure a clear view of the prospective challenges of right-of-way, and high conspicuity should increase the likelihood of being seen.
A representative accident case illustrates this problem. A motorcycle is proceeding in the curb lane and a van is travelling ahead in the parallel fast lane. Approaching an intersection, another automobile in oncoming traffic waits until the van clears and turns left as it passes. The left-turning automobile then moves into the right-of-way of the motorcycle. In such case, the culpability is clearly that of the automobile driver but both the motorcyclist and automobile driver had view obstruction (the van) before the crash. The strategy appropriate for the motorcycle rider is to ride abreast, or ahead, or much farther behind the van so that he or she could see and be seen. The strategic position is important to insure a clear view of the prospective challenges of right-of-way, and high conspicuity should increase the likelihood of being seen.
Here are some tactics that can help you avoid becoming the next victim:
- Stay away from vehicles you can’t see over, around, or through, so your view to potential hazards isn’t blocked.
- Obviously, that’s not always possible. When you can’t avoid them, keep your distance, which reduces the amount of visual field obstructed and increases the space cushion available for evasive maneuvers.
- Use your height and an advantageous lane position to maximize your view to hazards ahead and to the side.
- Don’t assume they can see you just because you can see them. If you’re looking through the glass of a monster SUV at a vehicle exiting a driveway ahead on your right, the driver of the exiting vehicle most likely can’t see you.
- Move cautiously when a vehicle ahead of you slows to make a turn. It’s very tempting when following a cager who obviously has his head up his ass to dart around him when he decides to turn. The danger is that he has screened out a threat that will be revealed once he turns.
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