Why you cagers turning left in front of we bikers are the most dangerous on the road

[badgolferman]

Why cagers turning left are the most dangerous to bikers

[Ed Pawlowski]

That is what happens when the biker is an idiot and speeds running from police. I bet that hurt. Pretty much self inflicted.

[badgolferman]

The biker died after he hit the front end of the cager turning left. The two cagers went to the hospital (probably only for the lawsuit).

The police made a statement that said they were absolutely not chasing him. At least they were not chasing him on the ground. Obviously there was that helicopter which was tracking him from the air. But no indication yet that the biker knew the helicopter was above him.

Still, the cager turned left in front of him and you saw what happened.

The most dangerous time for a biker is when a cager coming from the opposite direction turns left in an intersection and this video shows what happens.

[micky]

So people aren't allowed to turn left? You never turn left?

People don't get hurt when their car hits a motorcycle going 100?

From the pOV of the accident it only matters how fast he was going, not if someone was chasing him. He was passing cars, that I think were moving themselves.

So people aren't allowed to turn left?

I'm sure it is. That's why bikers should slow down at intersections, just as other cars should. I hope you do.

[angelica...]

When I took driver's ed a million years ago, they impressed on us that even when we have the right-of-way, we only have it if someone yields it to us, and that we should never assume we'll safely get it.

It can be quite difficult to assess the speed of oncoming traffic, particularly if the oncoming traffic has only one headlight.

You remind me of a foggy evening; every time we saw headlights ahead of us, my passenger joked, "It's two motorcycles: drive between them."

Cindy Hamilton

[Wade Garrett]

Back in the day, I was a serious recreational biker and put on many thousands of miles annually. As time went by, traffic and the drivers in my area got so bad that I restricted my riding to early Sunday mornings.

About 30 years ago, I concluded it was unsafe on two wheels and reluctantly sold my pride and joy.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Yes, the driver may see the oncoming bike and estimates the speed and distance at about the speed limit. If the speed is way above normal, this can be the result. Same thing often happens with cars too.

[invalid unparseable]

I learned on a bicycle after breaking my collar bone.

A neighbor still has a limp from his motorcycle accident that resulted in a month in the hospital. He still rides.

I believe I read that the fatality rate on a motorcycle was 38 times as bad as on a car.

[Mark Lloyd]

My teacher emphasized that no one ever HAS the right of way. It's just something you're supposed to yield.

[Marilyn Manson]

Start the video at 35 seconds, not 37, and run it at .05 speed.

At 36 seconds the biker passes between 2 cars before entering the intersection. At 37 seconds you can see a dark colored car completing a left turn as it crosses the crosswalk. The car that was hit has just started the left hand turn. The white car behind that one is moving forward into the crosswalk preparing to make a left.

That indicates to me that the biker ran a red light after illegally passing between the cars stopped at the light. The car that was struck had the legal right of way. Yes, it is true that the legal right-of-way doesn't always take priority but there is no way that you put any blame on the driver for not seeing/expecting a motorcycle to emerge from between 2 stopped vehicles at a high rate of speed. At the time the driver looked and made sure that it was safe to turn the biker was probably nowhere in sight.

Not true. The most dangerous time for a biker is when the biker is not following the right-of-way rules and puts himself in situation where something like that can happen.

[micky]

Here lies Daniel O'Shea. He died defending his right-of-way. His right was clear and his will was strong, but he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong.

[Marilyn Manson]

Funny poem but totally unrelated to this situation.

Nobody died while defending their right-of-way.

[Marilyn Manson]

bgm will probably claim that he was just pointing out the danger of left hand turning drivers, about which he is not entirely wrong. Problem is, he picked a f'ing terrible example to make his case.

[trader_4]

The issue isn't turning left, it's turning left and not yielding to oncoming traffic. This is a very real and serious problem with cars turning or pulling out in front of a bike. It's as if many motorists brains do not register an oncoming bike as oncoming traffic.

[Marilyn Manson]

Before you start defending this particular case, check out the example that the OP used to make his case. Then read his defense in a subsequent post.

"Still, the cager turned left in front of him and you saw what happened."

Use my suggestion of starting the video at no later than 35 seconds and run it at .05 speed. Start even earlier if you want to see all the other traffic violations he could be ticketed for.

I have no argument with that an oncoming left hand turn can be dangerous to a person on a motorcycle, but read what the OP wrote (in multiple posts) and look carefully at the example he posted.

He is clearly blaming the "cager" when it's the idiot on the bike that is 100% at fault.

[Snag]

Unless the driver is drunk ... 6:30 AM on a February morning , I'm on my way to work . Drunk POC turns left in front of me too close to even think "oh shit this is it". He staggers up the street while I'm pulling myself out of the wreckage of my bike . The guy that comes back down the street a few minutes later - in the same clothes - is neither drunk nor staggering . And "every vehicle he owns but this one is insured" . That's OK , my u/m coverage paid me , and then proceeded to (try?) collect from them .

[Ed Pawlowski]

Motorcycles magnify the problem. The high speed of the bike made it far worse both in timing and injury

There is a reason UPS has pretty much eliminated left turns in their route

How many accidents are from left turns? Approximately, 22% of all car accidents involve a left turning vehicle and 53 % of all cross-path accidents are the result of left turns. The NHTSA estimates that almost half of the 6 million auto accidents that occur each year are "intersection-related" and that the majority of these are left turns.

[Ed Pawlowski]

In most cases he may be correct, but even a lawyer has an exception to it. Note the speed comment.

According to Florida traffic laws, a car making a left turn should yield to oncoming vehicles and only turn when it is safe. Therefore, a motor vehicle accident is often the fault of the driver making the left turn. The only times this rule may not apply are when:

the other driver was driving above the speed limit; the other driver failed to stop at a red traffic signal; or an unexpected event caused the car to stop during the left turn.

[badgolferman]

The author of this thread and any others with my name are frauds. Whoever is masquerading as me please drop it. My identity and email address have been hijacked by someone using Mixmin.

[Marilyn Manson]

How do we know you're not the fake? ;-)