My Fire Captain was Killed on his Motorcycle last Night

[Groo]

Sorry to hear about this tragedy... my condolensces to the family and friends of the victim...

A similar incident happened about a week ago to a guy who works for my company... he luckily survived with some minor broken facial bones (was only wearing a brain bucket) and some road rash... totalled his Goldwing though.

I've got a safety presentation to make at our next all hands meeting... it deals with why motorcycles are invisible to most cagers, causing eerily similar accidents where the car turns left in front of the biker. The "explanation" for the "I didn't see him!" cases is the brain's visual filtering mechanism.

 

[heaston]

thought and prayers to you and his family.

 

[dsmack]

My condolences as well to the surviving family and friends of your Captain. What a terrible waste!

Sorry to hear about this tragedy... my condolensces to the family and friends of the victim... <snip>

I've got a safety presentation to make at our next all hands meeting... it deals with why motorcycles are invisible to most cagers, causing eerily similar accidents where the car turns left in front of the biker. The "explanation" for the "I didn't see him!" cases is the brain's visual filtering mechanism.

Groo~ While there may be a kernel of truth in your statement above, I would respectfully like to add a comment based on years of experience as a commercial driver, driver trainer, and now a member of LE: The "brain/visual filter" concept is a convenient, but faulty assertion. Yes, the typical, poorly trained cager filters out the single headlight and less familiar profile/outline of a cyclist/motorcycle because their mind is more attuned to looking for/seeing automobiles and larger vehicles.

In addition to, and perhaps more importantly, is the simple fact that most/nearly all/every (your choice) cager only "looks" once, and then very briefly. During the split second they dedicate to "looking", the m/c and rider can very well be hidden behind parts of the cagers vehicle: Mirrors, door pillar, passenger are all large enough to completely hide a typical m/c rider. The only way to prevent this is to train all drivers to look twice (or more), both right and left before proceeding.

This is not a new concept, as I taught it to new school bus drivers way back in the late 60's - through 80's... We adopted the idea to cut down on the number of tragic incidents where trained school bus drivers dropped children off their bus at a stop and than ran over one of the children through inattention/poor scanning skills.

It is a concept that has been taught in National Safety Council "Defensive Driving" classes as well, and has proven to be quite effective at cutting down on left turn and intersection accidents where the offending driver "just didn't see" the motorcycle/bicycle/car/truck/train... yes, honest to God, a couple of survivors have actually claimed they did not see an approaching, freaking TRAIN!

You might want to consider adding the "Look Twice" idea to your presentation.

Don

 

[Malve]

, (plus I drive like a total asshole now, and they seem to see me now because it's obvious I intend to kill us both now. I don't obey speed limits, turn signals are just decorations, I lanesplit anywhere it's remotely possible, and I just go around people. I've only failed my cop-check once in 10 years.) :angry:
The good thing is the Subaru driver's husband is permanently in a wheelchair since the GS1100GL came through the passenger door crushed his pelvis. I think she'll remember to look next time.

My condolences to the family snd prayers sent.Crashcash, either you have never truely thought about what it means to say what you have about the paralyzed driver or you really are an asshole. I hope it's the former.Again, prayers with the family.

 

[mr.paul]

Very sorry for your, and the publics, loss. Last thing we need are fewer Firemen (fire people? Don't want to offend da womens, how about Fire Professional?). I am hoping they are sitting around bored and wanting something to do should I ever really need them.

I have seen a couple, and that is too many, bad/fatal cycle vs. car accidents where proper gear would have easly made the difference. Also, recently a friend of mine was hit by a car. He was riding behind another cyclist who low-sided on a right curve. Tha guy hit the car, the car went out of control and started sliding sideways in my friends lane. No time to react and he hit the side-sliding car near the rear wheel. Other than totaling a near new Gixxer 1000 and having to replace all of his gear, he came out with a sore knee and ankle and had his bell rung pretty good. There was a nice chunk out of the back of his helmet.

Funny thing was, the newspaper initially wrote that 2 motorcycles struck both sides of the car. Though there was a car-cycle collision on both sides of the car, but didn't the car hit him?

Minnesota is currently pushing a motorcycle safety program stressing conspicuity. Hope it helps. I have almost been run over a few times by 16 year old girls on cell phones, even though I am in an Aerostich Yellow jacket and a white helmet. I have also personally witnessed a woman pull out in front of a cop car with full lights and siren going. If they can't see him, can they see me?

paul from Minnesota

 

[zip]

LA County, I am terribly sorry for the passing of your colleague. It is tragic, and speaks to how vulnerable we are, even when doing everything right. I regret that you had a story to share about it, but thank you for doing so.

One of the things I garnered from these forums while studying up before buying my bike and starting to ride two months ago was the vital need to be visible. I'd really prefer NOT to wear the day-glo jacket. I'd like it much better if it were blue or black or something that sharply matches the bike.

But the day I put that thing on and rode, I immediately noticed the difference. Before hi-viz, I was nearly getting hit every other day or so - drivers pulling into intersections, changing lanes, generally being retarded. After starting to wear it, I've seen a dramatic improvement in being seen. I now wear it all the time, and feel vastly safer.

I'm a much less experienced rider than most of you (just finished MSF yesterday!), but if you can get hi-viz gear that you like, I'd recommend it heartily.

 

[MojaveFJR]

RIP

 

[05fjrBluedevil]

RIP, John,

my prayers are with him, his family and friends.

 

[War Machine]

My thoughts & Prayers for him & his family.

 

[keithaba]

Hopefully the legal process will remind the driver of the car that this was an unacceptable action, and the word will spread to others that you really have to LOOK when you make a turn.

Sheesh, you want people to look when they are going to turn?! Next you'll want them to use turn signals too.... (sarcasm intended)

Sorry to hear, 30 years of riding, man..... So sad.....

 

[Crash Cash]

, (plus I drive like a total asshole now, and they seem to see me now because it's obvious I intend to kill us both now. I don't obey speed limits, turn signals are just decorations, I lanesplit anywhere it's remotely possible, and I just go around people. I've only failed my cop-check once in 10 years.) :angry:
The good thing is the Subaru driver's husband is permanently in a wheelchair since the GS1100GL came through the passenger door crushed his pelvis. I think she'll remember to look next time.

My condolences to the family snd prayers sent.Crashcash, either you have never truely thought about what it means to say what you have about the paralyzed driver or you really are an asshole. I hope it's the former.Again, prayers with the family.

No, it was the driver's husband that got paralyzed, and I'd MUCH rather it be him than me. I think of it every couple of months and regret not having the money to sue them into bankruptcy. I'm real tired of people treating driving like it's some sort of game, and accidents like "oh I got a boo-boo, insurance will fix it!" especially when it's *MY* ass on the line. People need to wake up and pay attention to the fact they're driving a ton of metal at 50mph and that they can KILL people.

I figure he should either have his wife learn to drive, or not get in the car with her. Too late now! There's a friend where I don't ride in her car because she can't drive.

 

[gr8eyes]

Sorry to hear about your co worker. Its truly sad.

Glenn

PS There but by the grace of God go I. In BOTH instances.

 

[RickyRey]

LA County, I am terribly sorry for the passing of your colleague. It is tragic, and speaks to how vulnerable we are, even when doing everything right. I regret that you had a story to share about it, but thank you for doing so.
One of the things I garnered from these forums while studying up before buying my bike and starting to ride two months ago was the vital need to be visible. I'd really prefer NOT to wear the day-glo jacket. I'd like it much better if it were blue or black or something that sharply matches the bike.

But the day I put that thing on and rode, I immediately noticed the difference. Before hi-viz, I was nearly getting hit every other day or so - drivers pulling into intersections, changing lanes, generally being retarded. After starting to wear it, I've seen a dramatic improvement in being seen. I now wear it all the time, and feel vastly safer.

I'm a much less experienced rider than most of you (just finished MSF yesterday!), but if you can get hi-viz gear that you like, I'd recommend it heartily.

I do the exact same thing. Day Glow Jacket....You can now see them looking right at you. It works. Im even thinking about the helmet going white....Its black now. Too nuts out there.

rr

 

[Taff]

My fire Capt. here at LACoFD was killed last night as he was riding his Ultra Classic HD and a Car pulled out in front of him and he T-boned it. Very Sad reminder of how quickly your life can change. I know we all know the dangers of riding, but John had an extreme passion for motorcycles and has been riding for over 30 years. John was probably less than 3 months from retirement and we mourn his loss. He was not an FJR rider but had other bikes including a BMW sport touring bike. Like I said he was an avid rider and very safety consious but had an unfortunate accident... RIP.

Very sad to hear this news.

Deepest sympathy to his family and the people he knew.

My wish is for the Police to get to grips with this kind of accident and deal with it accordingly.

Only last night some young man, in a beater car, just drove right across my direction of travel (he saw me coming, but didn't bother to stop) and when I sounded my horn, he flipped me off.

RIP Captain.

 

[FJRMGM]

sorry to hear about the loss.

We should always keep in mind that life can change......or end.......in a moment.

 

[ctfjr]

Very sad. Sorry for your loss and his family's loss.

 

[Fred W]

All because some fuckstick didn't look!

What will it take to make the fucksticks look?

 

[WinnipegTechGuy]

Sorry to hear..

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family..

 

[Toecutter]

What will it take to make the fucksticks look?

Divine intervention. Don't hold your breath.

In the meantime, treat 'em like they don't see you and ACT accordingly.

 

[The Relic]

My fire Capt. here at LACoFD was killed last night as he was riding his Ultra Classic HD and a Car pulled out in front of him and he T-boned it. Very Sad reminder of how quickly your life can change. I know we all know the dangers of riding, but John had an extreme passion for motorcycles and has been riding for over 30 years. John was probably less than 3 months from retirement and we mourn his loss. He was not an FJR rider but had other bikes including a BMW sport touring bike. Like I said he was an avid rider and very safety consious but had an unfortunate accident... RIP.

Sorry to hear about our loss.

Being a retired fire captain myself I think I can assure you the accident was very unavoidable by your fire captain. I am sure with his experience both on the bike and in his job he would be constantly aware of the danger of a car turning in front of him.

There have been several comments about careless drivers turning in front of bikes. I agree this happens much too often and it is in my opinion reckless driving on the car drivers fault. Most of the time my feeling is over half the drivers on the road shouldn't be allowed to drive.

I also know this mistake sometimes happens to the best of us which is why the second look is so important before turning. I can say I am a trained driver and really focus on driving my motor vehicles safely. I will also admit that every now and then I unintentionally commit a stupid and think "boy I got lucky on that one". Many years ago a friend of mine was killed on a Honda 750 when a trained driver in this case a police officer turned left in front of him. I can guarantee you the officer did not want to turn in front of my friend and if he could have just turned the clock back a few seconds allowing him to not make the turn he would have.

This is just a sad situation where we riders lost one of the good ones. My prayers and feelings for the best go out to your captains family both in the station and at home.

Bill

MFD Captain, retired.