Sport bike down in Danbury CT

[EasyRider]

I turned a corner wile near the end of a four hour ride today and saw a white sport bike down up the road. My son rides a white 08 GSXR 600.

When I saw the acsident up ahead my heart nearly stopped. Even though my son left the house four and a half hours earlier in the day and called to say he reached his destination, I was still stuned till I saw it was not his bike. Every time I have seen a bike down it still just leaves me stuned a shaken.

I got there just a minute or so after it happend and before any emergency help arived.

I got a chance to talk to one of the officers at the sceen. The bike came from the direction the picture was taken from. He had a colition with the black BMW SUV up ahead on the right. The officer said the BMW did have a red light but did not stop at the stop line. She did not stop till she had her front end halfway across the fist lane. The bike had the green light but the officer thinks he was well over the speed limit in the right lane. The bike left a long skid mark starting a good distance back from the BMW and then went down on it side still a good distance from her BMW SUV. The marks from the bike sliding on its side are hidden by the black Honda in front of me. But look on the ground in front of the white car to my left, you can see the some skid mark the bike left before it when down on its left side. After a long slide on its side the bike struck the front corner of the BMW. The rider came to rest about thirty feet past his bike and the BMW. The bike bounced to the left on impact. It looks like the BMW backed up about two or three feet after the colision but before I got there and before the cops got there. The BMW may have blocked all of the first lane. But the cop thinks the BMW was stopped when the bike hit her.

Just behind this picture is a light that alot of people like to start from for a fast run up that hill ahead speeding thought the intersection the bike collided with the BMW in and racing up the hill before the two lanes go down to one lane just after the top of the hill. Alot of people race up that hill to get past the slower cars before the two lanes merg into one lane just after the top.

Do you guys think the biker was at falt even though he had the green? I agree with the officer that the bike was way over the speed limmit for a blast off up the hill from the light behind the picture. But he did have the green light. I think if he was at the speed limmit he would have not had to go down to stop or get around her.

I dont know what his conditon was. He was moving his arms and some people were shelding him from the sun with a blanket. A good portion of his blue jeens came off when he went down and one of the tan work boots he was wareing came off when he slid. They left his helmet on when loading him into the Ambulance. I think he was waring a T shirt becouse I think I saw dark red arms forarms.

I only took one picture. I did not want to get the rider in the picure. He is on the ground under where that group of people is holding the blanket to sheld him from the sun.

 

[eeksnake]

Bummer.

I'm not a lawyer or LEO but I assume that both the driver and motorcyclist will be cited.

Personally, I've always been of the opinion that it doesn't matter who's right or who's wrong... Only who's LEFT.

Hope he has a quick recovery.

 

[madmike2]

They "think" the motorcycle was speeding.

They "know" the BMW impeded his right of way and ran the red light.

Doh!

If the rider was lacking in understanding or training and used the rear brake (hence the long skid before falling), that bike would slide a long way with the rear tire locked up. Even farther once on its side and sliding on plastic.

I remember how far the BWM with the new tire slid @ 25 mph (according to the owner and the pictures).

I hope the rider heals well.

 

[stellarsteve]

I agree with madmike2. They don't know for certain how fast the rider was going. But holy ****, look how far the BMW was sticking out into the lane! Even if you don't have a good line of sight from the stop line, stop, and then slowly inch your way forward until you can see. Or just wait for the #%#$ light to turn green.

That said, I think the rider could have squeezed through on the left, unless as you said, the driver backed up after the collision.

 

[ShawnKing]

Do you guys think the biker was at falt even though he had the green?

Perhaps not legally (but I bet he gets some of the blame) but certainly from a personal safety point of view, he was definitely at fault. I live in the area and know that intersection. Most bikes have plenty of time to go blasting up that hill, even from a dead stop. He just wanted to go even faster and for that, he paid a price.

I hope he's OK and heals well and fast. And I hope this teaches him a lesson and smartens him up.

 

[ShawnKing]

Another thing gone unnoticed or unmentioned so far - the *other* bike in the picture. Look at them - between the two of them, they have one helmet. No gloves, no jackets, no riding pants. no riding boots....

Hopefully, staring at that bike in the middle of the road will wise them up too.

 

[SkooterG]

Hopefully, staring at that bike in the middle of the road will wise them up too.

I doubt it.

WTF?!?!?!

The BMW had entered the intersection on a red. It was THEIR FAULT plain and simple.

Now, could the motorcyclist have avoided this catastrophe but riding in a more skillful, and defensive way? Perhaps. Maybe even more than likely.

There are a lot of unknows here. And that picture doesn't answer a lot of questions.

Just because there was a long skid mark, doesn't mean the rider was going way fast. Perhaps he was using poor braking skills and locked the rear with little front brake application. Under those circumstances, you don't have to be going fast to leave a long skid mark. I am sure we all would like to think we simply would have swerved around the BMW, but maybe it was still moving and the rider didn't know which way to go yet. Like I said, just too many variables for second guessing at this point. Most likely the rider could have done something to avoid, or mitigate the collision, but the fact is it was the ****** BMW driver's fault. A red freaking light is a red freaking light.

What the rider ended up laying the bike down before impact is a mystery to me. Obviously not the best skilled rider.

 

[ponyfool]

In some states, once a person is exceeding the speed limit, they lose their legal right of way.

Having said that, remember legal issues relating to conviction and legal issues relating to civil fines are rarely the same. If this is not a state where the speeding vehicle gives up the right of way, the only question to ask for conviction purposes is, what caused the accident. In this case, an object being placed in the roadway that did not have the right to be there is probably the single biggest contributor of the accident.

However, on the flip side, if the BMW comes to a stop, looks both ways, then proceeds to make a right turn on red, starts to pull out, and a vehicle that was not previously visible all of a sudden becomes visible because it's doing double the speed limit (I'm not saying this guy was), then the liability can easily be shared among both drivers, and depending on the speed, could sway towards being more the motorcyclist's fault than the BMW's.

The insurance companies will most definitely split the liability if there is EVIDENCE of speeding.

 

[EasyRider]

I think the BMW was turing left into my direction. She would have been more to the right and pointing a little to the right if she was going to make a right turn.

I think she stooped and tried to turn left blowing off the light. The bike may have been in the shadow of the overpass when she tried to pull out. The shadow over my position is from the highway overpass. She may have not been able to see well because she was in bright sunlight wile the bike was in the shadow of the overpass. She was also on her cell phone the entire time I was there. She did not even hang up for cop when he spoke to her. The bike riders lawyer should subpoena her cell phone records from the cell phone company to see if she was yacking on the phone at the time of the accident. Connecticut has a no hand held cell phone wile driving law.

 

[EasyRider]

I went by the scene the accident a week later today. I went up the road at the posted 25 MPH speed limit witch is posted about 100 feet before the intersection of the accident.

Wile traveling at the posted speed of 25 MPH and at the start of the skid mark from the bike that we can seen in the picture above, I applied my brakes firmly. I did not have to panic stop or come close to needing the anti lock brakes, and I stoped in less than half of the distance he had from the start of the skid mark to the point of impact.

And I just did the same thing with my son driving our Dodge Ram pickup on the way back from the Mall. We stopped in half the distance wile traveling at 25MPH. And I did not brake very hard at all.

So he was riding very fast. I think he was riding at least 50 MPH in the 25 MPH zone. Probably at riding at 60 or more.

This is why I have told my son many times, we can not fly through intersections even when we have the right of way and are only riding just a little over the speed limit.

On a motorcycle, we just can't afford to trust the cars waiting up ahead to cross our path after we pass. If we are speeding we will get to them alot faster than they expect us too.

But I must admit, under the right circumstances, I have twisted the throttle a little more than the law allows. But not when there is a car waiting up ahead for me to come through.

 

[feejer222]

The fact that he came off before he got to the BMW would give a strong indication that he was only using his rear brake. Had he been going at high speed he would have been a lot further down the road. Maybe 30-50mph is my guess.

 

[weekend rider]

Who confirmed it was his tire mark and not from a prior accident?

 

[SacramentoMike]

FWIW, I checked CT's law on "right turn on red" and found it's legal there unless specifically prohibited. Probably the SUV driver just "didn't see him," the usual excuse, and made more likely by the bike's speed. Still, a powerful argument for getting smarter as a rider. Right or wrong, you generally lose.