Rider over cooks the front brakes, and has a near death crash.

[Tiger_993]

Yep. It was the semi's steering more than it's braking that saved their lives. The oncoming truck reached the fallen riders between 3 and 4 seconds after the dog was struck. Had the distance gap been closer by half - let's say by 2 seconds, the truck would almost certainly not have been able to steer himself out of the killing zone and there would be two dead motorcyclists. Thank God for those 2 seconds. Very sobering.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I was puzzled by the second guy, the guy after the one that hit the dog, going down. There was a lot of front brake grabbing going on.

 

[rushes]

I was puzzled by the second guy, the guy after the one that hit the dog, going down. There was a lot of front brake grabbing going on.

Yeah, you would too. BTDT...

 

[Old Guy]

As wide open as conditions were, seems like that dog would have been visible from a bit back. I wonder if the 1st rider down even saw the dog? Perhaps the video rider (being so close) was blocking his view? Pants doesn't play with animals - as soon as they are spotted, I'm slowing WAY down and if I'm leading, I'm waiving, kicking legs out, and whatever else I can think of. Of course it's a beige dog in earth tone grass and maybe it was running from afar toward the road.
I have to be vigilant about keeping 2 seconds of following distance behind the rider in front of me (more if conditions call for it).

I have to practice my emergency stops and quick inter-lane shifts.

I have (HAVE!!!!) to practice using BOTH brakes at all times so that it is more natural to me during emergency stops. I'm lazy with the front brake only, and on my bike unfortunately, that doesn't give me any rear brake with the linked system.

This video is more about me than I originally realized....

I thought the same thing. If the rider(s) had been scanning well ahead would they have seen the dog and been able to avoid it? Of course, there video doesn't really show the path of the dog or what it did. Sometimes even if it looks like you should be able to get by them they seem intent on getting run over.

 

[SacramentoMike]

Surely you guys have had a deer just "appear" somehow, somewhere to your front, whether or not you ended up hitting it. Most deer are bigger than most dogs. Very easy to see how this could happen to anybody, and very bad luck to have it go as bad as it did. (And of course very good luck to have it go as well as it did--except for Fido.)

 

[Old Guy]

Surely you guys have had a deer just "appear" somehow, somewhere to your front, whether or not you ended up hitting it. Most deer are bigger than most dogs. Very easy to see how this could happen to anybody, and very bad luck to have it go as bad as it did. (And of course very good luck to have it go as well as it did--except for Fido.)

That must be how motorcycles just appear of of nowhere.

Seriously, I can understand how other traffic and riders in front of him could block the view. And, like I said, there's no telling what the dog was doing. I've had them running in circles in my lane and didn't have a clue where they'd be when I got there. And it's always very easy to second guess the people in the videos and think how much better we'd have done.

But there are always lessons to be learned from these videos as well as our own experience.

 

[hppants]

Well, I am nothing if not humble.

I will freely admit that I avoid videos of this kind like the plague. I stick my head in the sand and hope that it just goes away. When it doesn't, and/or I build enough courage to watch, my next trick is to convince myself that "it wouldn't happen to me because _________". Of course, most of that is just me bullshitting myself so when my head finally is removed from my arse, then I start to try and learn wherever I can.

This is not meant to be defensive, although it may read that way. This is just where my earlier post came from (good stagger following distance, more emergency maneuver practice, etc).

 

[Mudslide Miller]

Pants, you can practice and take precaution all you want but the reality is, is that first rider hitting that dog and going down could be anyone of us on this entire forum, regardless of skill level or years of riding experience. Things like that happen in milliseconds and are sometimes completely out of our control. I think it's good to watch these and try to take something away from it. We all except the risk up to and including death.

 

[Abercrombie FJR]

Well, I am nothing if not humble.
I will freely admit that I avoid videos of this kind like the plague. I stick my head in the sand and hope that it just goes away. When it doesn't, and/or I build enough courage to watch, my next trick is to convince myself that "it wouldn't happen to me because _________". Of course, most of that is just me bullshitting myself so when my head finally is removed from my arse, then I start to try and learn wherever I can.

This is not meant to be defensive, although it may read that way. This is just where my earlier post came from (good stagger following distance, more emergency maneuver practice, etc).

I'm the opposite. As an emergency responder and motorcycle trainer I am drawn to these videos and have watched thousands of bike crashes. I think it is in an effort to learn why they happen and how to prevent them from happening to myself or my motorcycle students.

This video hits very close to home and exactly mimics my last two crashes. July of 2012 I over braked, locking up the front end on my FZ1 ending up exactly like the fellow on the super moto. September of 2014 I hit a deer with my Tenere front tire causing it to lock up just like the guy hitting the dog. Watching that guy get thrown from the bike and land, sort of explains how I made the initial contact when my head hit the pavement.

 

[mikerider]

Would ABS help the 2nd guy from crashing?

 

[wheatonFJR]

Would ABS help the 2nd guy from crashing?

The rear abs would not have been as effective as normal.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Would ABS help the 2nd guy from crashing?

The rear abs would not have been as effective as normal.

You are awesome. Really.

 

[Pterodactyl]

I found the video of the post accident behavior of the people on scene to be instructive in a negative way. I would expect to see a person take charge and ensure at least four critical tasks were accomplished: 1) Make the scene safe so no one is injured or more badly injured. 2) Call for help and give as many helpful details as possible. 3) Provide first aid to the injured. Keep them breathing, control the bleeding, don't make it worse and try to prevent shock. In this case the guy yelling about the dog was part of the problem, not the solution. 4). Document the scene and preserve the scene as much as possible. Get names of witnesses, if vehicles must be moved then try to mark their location and orientation, capture other important details.

Theses folks made a mess of the aftermath of this wreck. Or so it seems.

 

[bigjohnsd]

I witnessed a similar situation back in 1999.

I was on my way home from Sturgis on I-90 after dark riding my GL1200.

There were lots of bikes on the road headed back towards Spearfish.

About 2-3 seconds in front of me in the right lane was a Harley with a rider and a pillion.

There bike was equipped with a medium height sissy bar and pad.

A coyote ran out of the ditch on the right side directly in front of the Harley,

the rider hit it square, no brake light, and when the rear wheel passed over the carcass I was certain the pillion was coming off, her butt barely remained below the level of the pad on the sissy bar.

I braked hard and swerved right just missing one end of what was left of the coyote, I think it was the butt.

I have always thought that had I been the Harley rider I wouldn't have done anything different except maybe to stand up and accelerate but I'm not sure there was time to react.

Same thing went through my mind watching this video,

Wouldn't you be better off to accelerate to lighten your front wheel and stand if possible?

 

[Mudslide Miller]

Well said Kevin and in that exact order! I, too, was flabbergasted at the guy bitching about the dog instead of providing aid to the obviously very injured rider. Emotion instead of execution definitely prevailed at that chaotic accident scene.

 

[hppants]

I still kind of think that dog crash rider's view (if any) of the dog was highly obstructed by the camera rider very close. If (a BIG if) he has any time to react, his choices are very limited by the oncoming traffic on his left, and camera dude to his right. But regardless, I'll buy the "anything can happen with milliseconds to react" theory. Truth is - if the dog is milliseconds earlier, the camera dude is gonna bite it. And assuming he had absolutely no idea the dog was there (plausible), then he has virtually no excuse - wrong place, wrong time.

I'm really concentrating on the 2nd guy now. I can't tell if there is a rider directly behind the camera dude. If that is the case, then dog crash dude, rider behind camera dude, and 2nd crash dude are ALL way too close. At minimum, 2nd crash dude is way too close to dog crash dude. No way they are 1 second behind each other, or 2 seconds behind the next bike in the same line of the lane they are. With 2 seconds in line, there is plenty of time to slow without panicing.

Secondly, and aside from the fact that 2nd crash dude over grabs his front brakes and stoppies his way out of any control, he cheats himself out of full use of the pavement between himself and dog crash dude. The point at which 2nd crash dude goes down is at least 15 feet from dog crash dude. Again, I know it's milliseconds. But practice makes perfect. I need to practice my panic stops more. Know EXACTLY what my bike is gonna do in this instance.

If I were any of the riders in the video, under those exact same circumstances, I can't say I would end up any differently. And I can't seem to get that out of my mind right now.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

I've been in somewhat similar situations thrice on non-ABS bikes (Honda Nighthawk/Kaw Nomad/BMW R75), applied both brakes, and rode it down (not to the ground, but until I was stopped one way or the other) Once I sacrificed the bike to keep me ambulatory, the other two times, rode with the rear skidding and the front not far from it, but managed to stay up. While I was relatively lucky with those, I much prefer ABS to bend the odds in my favor. Grabbing stupid front brake as a reflex has predictable results. It can happen to anybody, but it doesn't happen to everybody......

Hate it for the dog and the rider that hit him. When I saw the guy start yelling about the dog, it made me want to dub "Khaaaaaan!" over his speech.

 

[Last Chance]

Semi was "bobtail". Braking when bobtailing is almost ineffectual, to say the least. Swerving was more effective. BTDT.

 

[Geezer]

If I were any of the riders in the video, under those exact same circumstances, I can't say I would end up any differently. And I can't seem to get that out of my mind right now.

But you won't be in those exact same circumstances. You will not follow that closely and you will have time to react to whatever happens to the other riders. You still have the risk of you being the one who hits an animal unexpectedly. All you can do about that is be mentally prepared to react the best way possible by working scenarios over in your head as virtual practice.

 

[xcsp]

Local tv station interviews 2nd rider:

https://wbay.com/2016/04/20/gasp-worthy-video-biker-nearly-hit-by-semi-after-dog-crash-in-omro/

After viewing the video, noticed he tries to stop while on the painted double yellow lines, not much traction to aid in braking-would it have mattered, not sure.