This "accident" is just another illustration of the lack of attention paid to driving by most cagers -- a sad fact that we have to live with. We can wish and we can rail, but we're not likely to change it, but a couple things come to mind.
Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely believe that skiing and motorcycling are very nearly the same thing. There are a few differences, but there are far more similarities. One of the latter is that you MUST pay attention to EVERYTHING -- from the surface of the very line you will take on the road or snow to everything around you, whether it's coming at you or you're going toward it. And you must be able to do that almost instantaneously, which I think comes from awareness and practice. If you love and try to get good at either, the exercise of being in the moment to give what you are doing that much attention becomes innate, and it's one of the greatest pleasures of either to experience that focus.
You know and FEEL it when you've nailed a bump run, and the same is true with a nearly perfect motorcycle ride (when you NEVER unintentionally went over the painted line, always hit the spot you charted for the line of the bike, etc.). The beauty of either is that it actually becomes easy to pay that much attention and be in the moment doing either -- IMO because it's become pleasurable. I don't think most cagers ever get that, and I know that even though I try to take the same pride in my line and ability to handle my car within the lines as I do on a bike, it doesn't have the same seductive thrill as skis or bikes. I try to practice the same skills in my car as I do on my bike, and I've learned some things due to that practice (e.g., that my car understeers, and if I want to nail that high speed narrow lane sweeper, I need to begin turning the wheel a little earlier than I might with another car, etc.).
Some people should never ride motorcycles. They simply will not give that much effort to being good at it. I've talked to my Dad about that, and about the ability to look over one's shoulder and immediately make a decision -- as opposed to looking, looking again, indecisiveness, etc. My Dad taught me to ride at 13 and to ski at 2; at 84, he's still a remarkably good driver -- hard to believe, but true (my mother, by contrast, was once a good driver and skier, but has really lost it in terms of awareness). My Dad drove engines most of his 33 years on the fire dept., and flew P-47 Thunderbolt fighters in WWII (until he volunteered for what was rumored to be jets and instead ended up flying a glider full of troops behind German lines). His response was that the very same was true about flying -- if you can't look over your shoulder, and instantly fit what you see into the picture you are already aware exists there, you shouldn't be flying that plane. So, I'm saying that if your level of awareness is compromised enough that you don't have a general spacial framework of what exists around you, so that when something is in that space, for example, then you aren't doing the job you need to be doing on the road, whether you're in a car or on a bike.
So, two things: an inattentive or impaired motorcyclist will likely be proving Darwin's thesis very soon. I think it's as a result that we're seeing an uptick in motorcycle accidents as more people get bikes without the training, respect or skills that riding demands. Second, some auto insurance underwriters in some states will give you a discount for being a licensed motorcyclist (AAA did give me that discount while in NV, but not in CA -- different underwriters). They don't do that without statistical backup, and even though the underwriters in some states won't pass the lowered risk savings on, it corroborates what many already know: as a group, motorcyclists are better cage drivers than non riders -- BECAUSE more of us pay attention and try to be good at it than do non-riders.
So, it would be nice to get more cage drivers to pay better attention, to work on greater awareness, to work on their skills, but it isn't likely to happen in any significant way. If they did, it's not just us motorcyclists that would benefit, but other cagers, as well (including the ones who kill or injure themselves or their loved ones with their lousy driving). But for whatever it's worth, insurers seem to spend almost no time or money on that, apparently preferring to buy LIDAR, RADAR and photo enforcement devices for law enforcement. I'll concede that those may have an indirect positive effect by pushing people into traffic school classes. But I don't think those are all that effective at addressing the problems that really make a difference, especially when they're online. I wish that instead, the focus was better placed upon awareness and driving skills in practice. Somehow, we need insurers (those with the money for this) to get it through some people's heads that painting one's nails while driving is insane and contrary to the important thing they have decided to do instead -- the same as when I break for lunch skiing and consider having a beer . . . but never do.
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