Could be a local high school. They often license, or just “borrow,” logo designs from college and pro teams. Given the palm trees and CA plates as well as street names I have no reason to believe that this isn’t LA.
Hadn’t thought of that. Good catch.
Only the rare good drivers check for overtaking vehicles more than a few car lengths behind them, always leave room for mistakes when approaching a pack of vehicles or a vehicle slightly overtaking another.
If you watch his right hand, he rolls off the gas and grabs the brake at about :20 seconds into the video. Basically right when the car comes into his lane.
I can also tell you from experience that if you’re going fast enough when this happens you can go right through that back window. Or of course lots of other less forgiving parts of the car (trunk, roof et cetera).
I think he was probably going a lot more slowly than it seemed when he hit the car based on the lack of damage to his bike front end, his front end, and the back of the car.
My 2 cents.
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I watched just over and over again, it doesn’t seem like he slows. He certainly readjusts his hand position on the throttle and puts 2 fingers on the brake, but speed doesn’t seem to change.
It also seems like he is a bit surprised to hit the car? Maybe the front end damage was limited by the shocks taking the impact as he hit dead on, and the car in front moving forward. Looks like he dented the rear of the mudguard against the HD frame.
Having been REAR ended on a HD Softail, I can tell you those shocks take a hit. I kept the bike up at around 25 on a city street after getting a really nice hard shove from behind by someone going maybe 35-40.
MSF courses taught me to always cover the brake and clutch, even on the freeway.
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Was that a plot of the next Fargo TV series? The hitchhiker turns out to have been an estranged son of a mob boss… the woman related to a different mob?
Not victim-blaming, but when you’re going that much faster than the adjacent lane just be expecting some asshole to pull out. It’s especially common when the left lane is stopped for someone turning but the right lane is moving well. I taught my son to drive this year and that was one of the things I emphasized, always expect people to do the most asinine move imaginable. He’s spent 17 years thinking dad’s crazy, hearing me howl at the drivers in my city. But now he agrees that it’s a non-stop shitshow.
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Illinois doesn’t have HOV lanes, so the driver might have been unaware that you can only enter them at designated spots. Doesn’t let him off the hook (especially since there’s a double yellow line, which has the same meaning in Illinois as in California), but it is a real issue with not having a national driving code.
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I find it extremely difficult to believe that the driver didn’t hear or feel the impact, unless maybe they were hard of hearing or wearing headphones or something. Looks to me like they panicked and tried to make a run for it, only to realize they took their victim with them and give up.
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Locking up the rear is frequently worse. The mechanics are pretty straightforward—once skidding, the rear tire gets out of line with your direction of travel. If you release it, it will snap back in line when it regains traction, launching the rider into the air in a high-side crash. It’s pretty bad.
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Agree with Knoxblox. When you’re on a motorcycle (been riding since 1992), you have to scan ahead and predict what can happen 10seconds before you get there. But this biker is a clueless jerk. Riding 80mph, wearing tennis shoes/street clothes for protection, not prepared, with attitude…I predict he’ll be either in the hospital or a red-smear on the roadway soon!
TQQdles™
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If I’m using more than a tiny fraction of the potential stopping power of my front brake, my rear wheel isn’t touching the ground.
For tourers and cruisers, sure: combo braking. On any modern sporty thing, concentrate on the front.
Re: the OP, the driver was in the wrong but the rider was snoozing. In that scenario, he should’ve been watching the cars like a hawk with his fingers already on the brake lever. It’s an obvious high-risk situation.
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Thank you, Carla for reminding drivers to watch out for all of us motorcyclists. We reduce traffic by a substantial margin and consume musch less of our precious recourses in the process. Now, if you could teach your fellow writer Cory to have a little respect for us that would be something.
he should’ve been watching the cars like a hawk with his fingers already on the brake lever. It’s an obvious high-risk situation.
He should have been doing that even in a car, this type of accident is extremely common - people don’t look in the mirrors and cut someone off, sometimes even on purpose …
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I was taught to ride by a reformed Hells Angel. Well, he said he was reformed and I didn’t argue. And his rule was “Always have an exit plan”. His other rule was “always assume other drivers are morons”.
If you’re between a concrete wall and a lane of traffic, assume some idiot will move out. Where are you going to go? If there isn’t anywhere, back off. It only takes a second.
(I did get knocked off once for not obeying his rule - it was in heavy traffic and there was a pedestrian island in the way. Car driver decided he could steal a couple of lengths by moving out just as I was overtaking him.
No serious harm other than a slightly bent gear lever, but as the gear lever was bent by carving a half inch deep hole in his door he came off worst, and he decided he didn’t want to tell the insurance company.)
Brakes have improved enormously since my day, but even then the main use of the rear brake was for if you had a passenger.
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Is it typical for motorcycles to be allowed in HOV lanes?
Yup.
In my neighbourhood, anyway. Bikes allowed in transit lanes and bus lanes.
We’re allowed to laneplit over here, too.
I wonder if the driver were stoned. He seems just generally clueless and irresponsible (thanks, people who breed indiscriminately and don’t parent your offspring), but his dull eyes and lack of affect just seem like clues.
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