ThinkFast
Live Long
[NOTE: if the mods don't think this belongs here feel free to take it down or move to the appropriate forum. Thanks.]
On a group ride to Baja last year, one of the guys in a group ride with my brother died in a crash with a car on a road an hour north of La Paz.
Since then my brother has been pretty shaken up. This morning we talked about it again, since he has just returned from a vacation trip down there and he drove back to the spot where the crash happened.
After I talked with him I did a ilttle research and sent him an email about what I thought might account for why such an expert rider died. I've shared that below. First, here's what I know about this crash.
The group consisted of very experienced riders who were riding various makes/models of bikes. According to my brother, there was one rider in their group - call him Tim - who was far and away the best rider of the bunch - and one of the best riders he's personally ever ridden with. Tim was a former club level road racer who had racked up a lot of miles adventure riding and touring in recent years. Tim is the one who didn't make it back from this trip.
The short version is that toward then end of a riding day Tim decided to break away from the group to run an errand on his BMW R1200GS (that's a story for another time). On his return journey to catch up with the group he broadsided a pickup truck that was turning from a sideroad onto the road he was on. LEOs on the scene estimated his speed was over 100 mph upon impact, but no one knows for sure. He died either en route to the hospital in La Paz or shortly after arriving there. Again, details are sketchy.
What is known is:
a) a highly experienced and skilled rider died after hitting the side of a truck that was turning onto the roadway.
b) it happened in the afternoon while it was still light out.
c) the stretch of road where this happened was level and straight, with good visibility on both sides.
d) the impact was hard enough to create significant destruction of the motorcycle - parts of it are still there a year later.
After my brother and we talked I did some research on stopping distances and wrote him an email, explaining my take on how something like this happens. I thought I'd share here, since it seems to me it's a lesson that we all need to continue to remind ourselves of.
Via email
Bro - great to catch up with you today. Found this item on MSF about their research on stopping distances.
Source:
https://msf-usa.org/downloads/imsc2006/Green-Comparison_of_Stopping_Distance-Paper.pdf
All values are metric. So 128.8kph is around 80mph. 78m is about 250 ft - nearly a football field. That’s on a BMW 2002 R1200R - the sport version of the GS - so lighter weight than your buddy's GS.
As you can see from the data in the above table, weight makes a difference, and stopping distances are not linearly proportional to speed (or load). If you’re going 2x faster, the stopping distance needed is greater than 2x what it would be at the slower speed.
At 48kph the stopping distance is just under 13m. But look what happens when you're going 128kph, about two and half times as fast: the stopping distance jumps to 78m, or six times as far!
And that’s only 80mph. If your buddy was doing big speed - you thought maybe 120mph (245kph) - that stopping distance would probably be over 400 feet (just a guess - no data shown for that speed).
Shit happens in a hurry at that speed, and that's a long way to travel before you can stop. Add to that the difficulty car drivers have of gauging distance when a m/c is involved - it presents a much smaller cross section than a car, and sometimes can even be mistaken for a car with its lights on that is a long way off, rather than a motorcycle that is much closer.
Add to that a rate of closure that is two or three times the rate of other vehicles traveling at the normal speed for that section of road, and it’s easy to see how a vehicle driver might misunderstand what they are seeing as they look down the road and judge whether it’s ok to turn out or not.
I know no one knows for sure what happened that day, but it sure seems like going way too fast for that stretch of road was a key part of why your buddy didn't make home with your group.
End of email
On a group ride to Baja last year, one of the guys in a group ride with my brother died in a crash with a car on a road an hour north of La Paz.
Since then my brother has been pretty shaken up. This morning we talked about it again, since he has just returned from a vacation trip down there and he drove back to the spot where the crash happened.
After I talked with him I did a ilttle research and sent him an email about what I thought might account for why such an expert rider died. I've shared that below. First, here's what I know about this crash.
The group consisted of very experienced riders who were riding various makes/models of bikes. According to my brother, there was one rider in their group - call him Tim - who was far and away the best rider of the bunch - and one of the best riders he's personally ever ridden with. Tim was a former club level road racer who had racked up a lot of miles adventure riding and touring in recent years. Tim is the one who didn't make it back from this trip.
The short version is that toward then end of a riding day Tim decided to break away from the group to run an errand on his BMW R1200GS (that's a story for another time). On his return journey to catch up with the group he broadsided a pickup truck that was turning from a sideroad onto the road he was on. LEOs on the scene estimated his speed was over 100 mph upon impact, but no one knows for sure. He died either en route to the hospital in La Paz or shortly after arriving there. Again, details are sketchy.
What is known is:
a) a highly experienced and skilled rider died after hitting the side of a truck that was turning onto the roadway.
b) it happened in the afternoon while it was still light out.
c) the stretch of road where this happened was level and straight, with good visibility on both sides.
d) the impact was hard enough to create significant destruction of the motorcycle - parts of it are still there a year later.
After my brother and we talked I did some research on stopping distances and wrote him an email, explaining my take on how something like this happens. I thought I'd share here, since it seems to me it's a lesson that we all need to continue to remind ourselves of.
Via email
Bro - great to catch up with you today. Found this item on MSF about their research on stopping distances.
Source:
https://msf-usa.org/downloads/imsc2006/Green-Comparison_of_Stopping_Distance-Paper.pdf
All values are metric. So 128.8kph is around 80mph. 78m is about 250 ft - nearly a football field. That’s on a BMW 2002 R1200R - the sport version of the GS - so lighter weight than your buddy's GS.
As you can see from the data in the above table, weight makes a difference, and stopping distances are not linearly proportional to speed (or load). If you’re going 2x faster, the stopping distance needed is greater than 2x what it would be at the slower speed.
At 48kph the stopping distance is just under 13m. But look what happens when you're going 128kph, about two and half times as fast: the stopping distance jumps to 78m, or six times as far!
And that’s only 80mph. If your buddy was doing big speed - you thought maybe 120mph (245kph) - that stopping distance would probably be over 400 feet (just a guess - no data shown for that speed).
Shit happens in a hurry at that speed, and that's a long way to travel before you can stop. Add to that the difficulty car drivers have of gauging distance when a m/c is involved - it presents a much smaller cross section than a car, and sometimes can even be mistaken for a car with its lights on that is a long way off, rather than a motorcycle that is much closer.
Add to that a rate of closure that is two or three times the rate of other vehicles traveling at the normal speed for that section of road, and it’s easy to see how a vehicle driver might misunderstand what they are seeing as they look down the road and judge whether it’s ok to turn out or not.
I know no one knows for sure what happened that day, but it sure seems like going way too fast for that stretch of road was a key part of why your buddy didn't make home with your group.
End of email
Attachments
Last edited: