Treat that rise in the road ahead like a blind corner

[James Burleigh]

While walking thruogh campus today I came across the newspaper front pages from around the world posted in front of the library. The cover story for the New Zealand Herald was about the death of a motorcyclist who colided with a police car that was making a u-turn just over a rise in the road to go after an alleged speeder. The lesson for me, and I think I'm pretty good at this, even lifting a little off my seat to look over the rise ahead, is to match my speed to my sight distance to be able to stop in case of an obstacle.

Article here.

 

[user 213]

Also known as The Vanishing Point. Some info HERE.

 

[Bounce]

One serious pass along TX 171 (River Road) and that sharp left right after cresting a rise will kill ya or larn ya.

 

[SouthernCruizer]

Bad scene for sure. And yet another reason to keep racing speeds on the track and off the highways. RIP brother.

 

[Geezer]

Sorry to hear about another motorcycle crash, but it is all about keeping your speed commensurate with your sight distance. Not a new idea. It could just as easily been some critter, or kids on bicycles, or whatever.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

It's all about "Risk" and risk-taking.

If everyone rode at a speed that would obviate/prevent hitting anything around a blind corner or over the crest of a hill -- we'd all be crawling along the roadways (and wouldn't need 1300cc/145HP power/speed...).

It's about chance and percentages -- or, public transportation...

 

[Bounce]

In general, I agree. All motorcycling is about risk management. Riding to your sight line is about riding "The Pace" on public roads. Track speeds and tactics are for tracks regardless of the risk the rider thinks (s)he is willing to take. If nothing else because that consentual risk excludes the other operators sharing the road.

 

[wheatonFJR]

If you've ever ridden SE Ohio...then you know there is a curve right after the rise...you just don't whether it is left or right. :blink:

In fact the blind rise curves happen so often down there, that it almost throws you off when it doesn't happen....it's like WTF? no curve?

 

[Wee Willy]

One thing that stands out in my reading of this is the predilection to put all the blame on the constabulary for these incidents. There were, undoubtedly, more reasons for this unfortunate event than the simple fact the B&W was making a u-turn. I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the police and that is probably the right thing to do in the great majority of occurrences like this.

My natural inclination here is to question what the rider was doing in the seconds leading up to the event?

Cheers,

W2

 

[James Burleigh]

One thing that stands out in my reading of this is the predilection to put all the blame on the constabulary for these incidents. There were, undoubtedly, more reasons for this unfortunate event than the simple fact the B&W was making a u-turn. I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the police and that is probably the right thing to do in the great majority of occurrences like this.
My natural inclination here is to question what the rider was doing in the seconds leading up to the event?

Cheers,

W2

I think you're right on the money. It's easy being an armchair accident investigator, but when a car turns in front of a bike it's important to ask how fast the bike was going as compared with the speed limit, average speed of traffic, and driver expectation of speeds of on-coming vehicles. There is usually more than one contributing variable to an accident, and sometimes a perfect storm or at least coincidence of variables / events.

Having said all that, I gotta believe rider speed is a material contributor in this NZ crash.

Hell, I rode with a guy once on some twisties who was very fast, but he scared me with what I considered his suicidal entrances into blind curves with many driveways around those bends. My biggest constraint to my speed and keeping up was not my skill level (which was not as great as his BTW), but my fear level. Twisties scare me more than freeways during rush hour! A couple months ago I was riding Marin Hwy 1 with a friend, and we came around a bend and RIGHT THERE was a big rig pulling onto the street to head in our direction from a driveway on our right, and taking up both lanes to do it. Not only was he right there, but he also took out all escape possibilities. We must have been riding the pace 'cause I'm talking about it.

 

[Crash Cash]

Well, the police are supposedly better trained and should know better than to "slam a u-eee" in a blind spot, and they should also know the area well enough to know there's a better place to turn. I also notice most of the people busting red lights in my area are Orange County Sheriff's cars, without lights or anything else, so it may be the case that the cops in this area are yahoos. I sensed a lot of pent-up frustration at the cops, and that may explain it.

I have a road near my home where it rises over the expressway, going from 55mph rural to a 25mph dense neighborhood as it does so, with the added extra of a stoplight hidden at the bottom. Stupidest ******* place to put an intersection and a stoplight that I've seen so far. They're replacing the armco there just about every other weekend. Needless to say, I stay far away.

This is how Norifumi Abe (GP racer) got killed on his scooter... he ran into a truck doing a u-turn.

EDIT: Better version article complete with pictures

 

[fjrchooser]

My natural inclination here is to question what the rider was doing in the seconds leading up to the event?
Cheers,

W2

Screaming..

 

[SacramentoMike]

My natural inclination here is to question what the rider was doing in the seconds leading up to the event?
Cheers,

W2

Screaming..

I laughed. . . and I hate myself for it.

But hey, it's incumbent on all of us to watch out for ourselves and ride appropriately, even if or when someone is doing something stupid near/in front of/around us. I don't know if the cop was in the right or the wrong, or the speed of the rider, but I'll bet this accident was avoidable. By him. Just good stuff for any rider to spend some time pondering.

 

[Bugnatr]

One thing that stands out in my reading of this is the predilection to put all the blame on the constabulary for these incidents. There were, undoubtedly, more reasons for this unfortunate event than the simple fact the B&W was making a u-turn. I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the police and that is probably the right thing to do in the great majority of occurrences like this.
My natural inclination here is to question what the rider was doing in the seconds leading up to the event?

Cheers,

W2

Sorry W but I disagree. It WAS the cops fault. I see CHP doing this crap all the time. They speed to catch more speeders constantly. Don't use their headlights in daylight safety sections where it is the law to do so. Pull over people in very dangerous places, putting all in danger.

Here in Ca the CHP seem to have the typical government attitude of do as we say not as we do.

Over the last 10 years I have lost respect for these officers big time.

 

[madmike2]

One thing that stands out in my reading of this is the predilection to put all the blame on the constabulary for these incidents. There were, undoubtedly, more reasons for this unfortunate event than the simple fact the B&W was making a u-turn. I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the police and that is probably the right thing to do in the great majority of occurrences like this.
My natural inclination here is to question what the rider was doing in the seconds leading up to the event?

Cheers,

W2

Sorry W but I disagree. It WAS the cops fault. I see CHP doing this crap all the time.

<major snippage>

Over the last 10 years I have lost respect for these officers big time.

Ooooohhhhhh, I dunno.

In my daily travels I've seen them using their loud speakers to tell perpetrators to take an off ramp or continue to a safer pull out area.

I've seen them pull up behind a disabled vehicle and use their lights as a warning for approaching vehicles.

Yeah....every incident is composed of varying facets and responses (let's face it, MOST drivers/riders are less than aware.....).

I'm not ready to sign the blank check you've written.

 

[fjrchooser]

I'm with Bugnatr on this one. If the cop wasn't there the rider would be alive today. Granted, something else could have been there but the cop knew better. After all is said and done, they give the rest of us tickets for that kinda crap.

I've seen similar high speed u-turns on US-12 nearly result in the same thing several times. This is a 2 lane road that was 70 mph before the energy law reduced it to 55. 10 over doesn't make you Public Enemy #1 but they sure act like it does. It's pretty clear to me who the biggest danger is in these cases.

Rule #1 should be to do no harm while enforcing the law. Just as a few bad bikers give all of us a bad name, same holds true for the troopers only more so as they're held to a higher standard. Unfortunately, lately I'm seeing more of this rather than less.

 

[Wee Willy]

One thing that stands out in my reading of this is the predilection to put all the blame on the constabulary for these incidents. There were, undoubtedly, more reasons for this unfortunate event than the simple fact the B&W was making a u-turn. I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the police and that is probably the right thing to do in the great majority of occurrences like this.
My natural inclination here is to question what the rider was doing in the seconds leading up to the event?

Cheers,

W2

Sorry W but I disagree. It WAS the cops fault. I see CHP doing this crap all the time.

<major snippage>

Over the last 10 years I have lost respect for these officers big time.

Ooooohhhhhh, I dunno.

In my daily travels I've seen them using their loud speakers to tell perpetrators to take an off ramp or continue to a safer pull out area.

I've seen them pull up behind a disabled vehicle and use their lights as a warning for approaching vehicles.

Yeah....every incident is composed of varying facets and responses (let's face it, MOST drivers/riders are less than aware.....).

I'm not ready to sign the blank check you've written.

+1. What I typically experience is very professional behavior and attempts to minimize dangerous situations. I attribute this to a clear understanding of what causes many/most traffic accidents (they spend alot of time disecting them as part of the job). Regarding stops, keep in mind that the violator gets to decide where first to pull over and like Mike, I've experienced chippies moving them along to a safer location. No, they tend to do their job pretty well down here in my neck of the woods. YMMV.

W2

 

[Fred W]

Ooooohhhhhh, I dunno.In my daily travels I've seen them using their loud speakers to tell perpetrators to take an off ramp or continue to a safer pull out area.

I've seen them pull up behind a disabled vehicle and use their lights as a warning for approaching vehicles.

Yeah....every incident is composed of varying facets and responses (let's face it, MOST drivers/riders are less than aware.....).

I'm not ready to sign the blank check you've written.

Who is this impersonator? And what have you done with our Mad Mike? :angry:

 

[Tenchi]

The thing that stands out to me here was about a year ago, heading down to Renton via I-405 using the express lanes on I-90, I almost T-boned a cop car who decided he wanted to go in the opposite direction by shortcutting down the offramp of the expressway in the other direction. I had been following him for 4-5 mi in a 60 mph zone, adding a little more distance than I normally would when he decided to change direction - no indicators, no lights & sirens... just slammed on the brakes and started his turning maneuver to cross over in to the (closed) oncoming lane, before performing a 3 pt turn into the active lane so he could actually do a U-turn. I came to a complete stop before he got out of my way and THEN turned on the disco lights. If I had been riding anything less than covering the brakes, I would have collided with the cop car. I was actually at 55 mph just prior to him slamming on the brakes because the cop car was not behaving normally (and abnormal behavior = danger) but I bet the report would have said otherwise if my voice couldn't be heard. Whenever I read of articles like this, I wonder if that same SMIDSY or "The motorcyclist was speeding" is the real factor.

I agree that motorcyclist speed could have been a huge factor here, but if you look at the photo it has a solid line with a broken line next to it approaching the rise - deemed unsafe for performing overtaking maneuvers by the transportation department, most likely due to visibility. I NEVER... without exception... never perform U-Turns in an environment like that. It's far too risky. The solid lines make it a piece of cake to tell if it's safe to do it or not. If you look up that stretch of road on Google Maps, there's a whole lot of nothing out there so it's not like the perp would disappear quickly. The best way to describe whether or not to perform such an action there is, "the penalty for failure is way too high."

I feel compassion for the officers who must now live with this, but I can't help but wonder if instead of a motorcyclist it had been a road train. And because it seems appropriate to the first post...