Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/05/22/watch-clueless-driver-cuts-of.html
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This looks like it could be I-5, but I’m amazed at how light the traffic is.
And yes, people changing lanes on a dime is an extremely common occurence on L.A. freeways. Even if you have the right-of-way, it’s important to be more cautious than usual.
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Had the driver been going “full speed” there perhaps wouldn’t have been a collision. The issue was partly that the car was going much slower. Biker seems to clipping along fairly well, though. Much faster than the other traffic. I don’t disagree that the driver was clueless, though.
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The driver seemed spaced-out in his own little world. Granted some people react that way, but still.
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Lucky to be alive!
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He’s going to hurt like hell when the adrenaline wears off, oooh yes.
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Given the number of people who have crashed into my large vehicle when I’m at a complete stop - I personally can’t believe anyone wants to take that risk on a bike for everyday driving.
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I don’t think he was paying attention to the road in the first place, considering the phone sitting on his leg.
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That totally got me too.
Illegally entering the carpool lane going that slow was a really, really bad idea. The guy behind him was so close it seems clear he didn’t have a good view of the lane, even if he WAS looking he couldn’t see the cyclist.
Cyclist didn’t even touch his brakes and has enough forward momentum to transfer on to the trunk lid of the car, AND the driver didn’t notice the impact enough to stop? That is crazy.
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I agree that the car driver illegally crossed into a lane he shouldn’t have, but I find this odd: as I watch the video, had it been me on the bike I would have been slowing dramatically for at least two full seconds before impact, and as far as I can tell the biker doesn’t hit the brakes at all… why not?
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That confused me too.
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Not sure why anyone expects a car with Illinois plates to be piloted in anything close to a reasonable manner. Especially 1,700 miles from Illinois.
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OK, between using “bike” in the headline and “cyclist” here I was starting to get confused about why a person was riding a bicycle in the carpool lane to begin with.
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Opening the post and actually viewing the material discussed is no pre-requisite for participation.
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I dunno, he seemed to slow down to me some, but not a lot? Like one would think you would lock the brakes… Or maybe its fancy ABS? Or maybe he assumed the guy would move faster and require less braking?
Driver seemed out of it, but maybe that’s shock. Also kinda looked liked he was thinking, “Shit, should I just go?”
People are fucking weird. Near where my parents are some lady hit a hitch hiker, put him in her truck, dumped the body 10 miles away, and went home.
Police found his shoes and other stuff at one location, and the body 10 miles away. Put out an alert and the neighbor noticed the lady had her truck in the garage for a week and a wind shield replacement come out.
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I can’t see his speedometer well enough, but so long as he’s under the speed limit, he ought to have every right to go faster than the traffic when he’s separated from it by a yellow line. (Of course, this video shows that assumption is not necessarily a good one.)
Also, I don’t think he was going “much” faster than traffic at the start of the video. There was just a sudden slow down in the right lane just before the accident.
It’s hard to tell. Bikes have a foot break that he could be activating out of sight. Also he definitely places his fingers on the break lever at 0:21, and, though it’s hard to tell, it looks like he clenches just before the accident.
He doesn’t slow down very much, true, but emergency stops on motorbikes are pretty hard to begin with. He may have been assuming that the car was about to speed up, and so was resisting taking an action that may have made him skid and fall on the freeway.
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He also doesn’t make a peep until impact. There should have been some heartfelt ohshitting going on just beforehand. I think he was paying as little attention to his surroundings as the car driver was.
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Normally you don’t even worry about the rear brake? So much of your stopping power is up front.
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That’s a good way to lock up the front wheel and spill during a hard stop. Always use both together.
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Yes. I need to take the rider’s course again, clearly. 
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