Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/04/01/motorcyclist-lucky.html
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There is absolutely no need for profane language, young man! 
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I like how he runs out of the intersection and then falls down. That’s smart thinking.
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Motorists get away with way too much. Running a red costs three demerit points round my way… you can get twelve in a year.
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The black SUV was also complicit - they were creaping over the line and then just blindly went on green, but they would have had excellent view of the intersection, and could have blown their horn seeing the red light runner. The white car may have still been nailed, and high speed side impacts can be very dangerous. So, lucky too for the white car.
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Yep. Around here, it is always prudent to wait a few seconds for the 1 or 2 vehicles that inevitably run the red light to clear the intersection. It is not an exaggeration to say that every newly-turned red light is run, if there is a vehicle there to run it. But I wouldn’t so far as to say that the black SUV driver was “complicit”.
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Used to work in a trauma center. Driving is dangerous to start with. Riding a motorcycle is… well I’ll just let Wikipedia splain it: “The [US’ fatal crash rate] for motorcycles is 72.34 per 100,000 registered motorcycles. Motorcycles also have a higher fatality rate per unit of distance travelled when compared with automobiles. Per vehicle mile traveled, motorcyclists’ risk of a fatal crash is 35 times greater than a passenger car.”
Glad that guy is OK!
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That’s a skilled rider, leave the metal machine, protect the flesh machine.
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It’s true the SUV was not at fault - but they contributed to the event by not taking additional care to check that the road was clear. Also, I think the vehicle’s size may have obstructed the oncoming car from the white vehicle, but I can’t be sure from the camera angle. However, I realize that a honking horn may not have been the fix either - that may have been misinterpreted as an idle green and caused others to jump into the intersection.
A quick blip should be the recognised signal for ‘wake the fuck up, the light’s green’, whereas a red light runner warrants standing on the horn.
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Yes, use the autos as a block, good method.
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Yes, use the Sun to hide your approach, good tactic.
ETA: Actually, sunlight probably also made more difficult to see the red light for the light-running car. I blame the Sun for the whole thing.
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All motorcyclists are lucky. Until they’re not. Car drivers for some reason don’t treat them with as much care as they should. I know I always give motorcycles plenty of space.
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Wait… wait… the light WAS green for EVERYONE. Green light, they start to move. Pay attention to his orientation as the accident occurs. When he stands he turns to his right, facing the lights that would have been directing the car that hit them. They’re all green! I’m thinking it was a light malfunction.
Can anyone else confirm what I’m seeing, or am I just getting confused by his orientation when he gets nailed?
EDIT: on slow motion replay, they are red when the car gets hit, but by the time he stands up and faces them they are green. Weirdly short lights. Also, anyone notice how the far left silver car saw it coming and avoided it?
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Yep. Ignoring traffic, just because there is a traffic light or you have the right of way, is a really bad habit, both dumb and dangerous. That goes double for pedestrians and cyclists.
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Yeah, IMO people should have to retest every five years or so and the penalties for life-threatening carelessness should be much more severe. But there’s an auto industry to think about…
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Those green lights when he gets up are still the direction of the motorcycle’s travel, as far as I can tell. If you can see the lights for the cross-traffic, you’re eyes are better than mine.
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That’s popular nowadays.
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Was anyone else disappointed to realize that it was a “PLANO” accident, as in Plano*, Texas, and that there were, in fact, no pianos involved?
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* Obligatory tip of the hat to the Firesign Theatre: “Malmborg in Plano”
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