did this cager hit the biker on purpose?

[rmemedic]

Not intentional.
Bike was splitting too fast, guy in the truck was probably too focussed on clearing in to that open gap. In his mirror the light on the front of the bike might have looked like just another head light behind him...

[Baggsy]

So around 13% of countries allow splitting. But I don't think that most of them allow the type of splitting that was being done.

I guess the biker didn't see the truck - a common excuse.

Here's a quote from a site on California lane sharing http://www.laneshare.org/ca.htm:

Perhaps a matter of semantics for some, this is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it allows some flexibility in the use of lane-sharing. On the other hand, it leaves it up to the discretion of the Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) and his/her opinion whether your brand of lane-sharing is “reasonable and prudent“.
The generally “understood” guidelines seem to be:

• Travel no faster than 10 mph faster than the vehicles you’re lane-sharing with.
• Merge back in with the traffic when they reach 30-35 mph.
• Never exceed the speed limit.
• Lane-sharing between lanes #1 and #2 is preferred. (#1 being the “fast” or “inside” lane)
• Stay, more or less, in one lane or the other. Excessive meandering might get you cited. (CA code 2165
• Ride carefully to not cause damage to other vehicles.

[Rotten_Ronnie]

So around 13% of countries allow splitting. But I don't think that most of them allow the type of splitting that was being done.

I guess the biker didn't see the truck - a common excuse.

Here's a quote from a site on California lane sharing http://www.laneshare.org/ca.htm:

Perhaps a matter of semantics for some, this is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it allows some flexibility in the use of lane-sharing. On the other hand, it leaves it up to the discretion of the Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) and his/her opinion whether your brand of lane-sharing is “reasonable and prudent“.
The generally “understood” guidelines seem to be:

• Travel no faster than 10 mph faster than the vehicles you’re lane-sharing with.
• Merge back in with the traffic when they reach 30-35 mph.
• Never exceed the speed limit.
• Lane-sharing between lanes #1 and #2 is preferred. (#1 being the “fast” or “inside” lane)
• Stay, more or less, in one lane or the other. Excessive meandering might get you cited. (CA code 2165
• Ride carefully to not cause damage to other vehicles.

Good find Baggsy, and for those too lazy to follow the link, here's a bit more advice on lane splitting:

Add to this a few other pointers:

• Be a competent rider before attempting the practice.
• Be prepared to adjust your speed as necessary.
• Cover your brake and clutch to reduce reaction time.
• Avoid lane-sharing between two large trucks.
• Be wary of open spaces inviting a vehicle to change lanes.
• Be vigilant of other vehicle operator’s head movements indicative of an impending lane change.
• Check your mirrors and be prepared to move over for overtaking motorcycles behind you.
• When in doubt, wait for a CHP motor patrol officer and follow him/her. (You might have to travel a bit faster than 10mph to keep up.)

This rider was going too fast to react. A much slower pace would have been prudent.

[snowboarder]

Good find Baggsy, and for those too lazy to follow the link, here's a bit more advice on lane splitting:


This rider was going too fast to react. A much slower pace would have been prudent.

i remember seeing this, the rider posted saying his helmet cam vid was evidence, it was illegal for the car to cross that line. he sued and apparently got a nice settlement.

[Baggsy]

i remember seeing this, the rider posted saying his helmet cam vid was evidence, it was illegal for the car to cross that line. he sued and apparently got a nice settlement.

Could you reference that? It looks to me that he was already flying and accelerated into the side of a vehicle that had it's turn signal on. If it's true its one of those situations where you could be DEAD right.

[bww77]

Here's an example of some crazy lane splitting... Russian style!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XihQe...layer_embedded

[nesobriquet]

Truck looked like it was accelerating to pass the cager.
When the traffic in the left lane started accelerating like that the biker was obligated to get back into line.
He's lucky that the rig didn't run him over when he fell off.

The other pickup could have done the same thing too, this guy had no clue as to how to split lanes.

Here's another great vid of someone who sees a truck turning into a lot, but waits until the last minute to brake. You could tell what the truck was doing at about the 4 second mark. Earlier if the truck was on the wrong side of the road.

http://bikerpunks.com/mediaviewer/30...the-rider.html

Seriously?? Did we even watch the same video?

If I could stand after that I would have grabbed the p/u truck owner by the throat and placed my left thumb directly on his Adam's apple, and my right thumb directly below it, and choked the life from his pathetic, cowardly, stinking rotten pile of bones.

I've seen this video years ago. Makes me just as livid today as it did then.

[nesobriquet]

Not intentional.
Bike was splitting too fast, guy in the truck was probably too focussed on clearing in to that open gap. In his mirror the light on the front of the bike might have looked like just another head light behind him...

I can't believe two people can look at the same video and get such drastically different deductions.

First, the p/u driver (also known as scumbag) turned very abruptly with no road speed. HAd he managed to get in front of the big truck without the big truck clipping the *** end of his p/u, he most certainly would have tried to wedge his p/u between the two big trucks. No way. That was so plainly deliberate. I'd have him charged with vehicular attempted murder if he survived my thumbs.

[Baggsy]

Seriously?? Did we even watch the same video?

If I could stand after that I would have grabbed the p/u truck owner by the throat and placed my left thumb directly on his Adam's apple, and my right thumb directly below it, and choked the life from his pathetic, cowardly, stinking rotten pile of bones.

I've seen this video years ago. Makes me just as livid today as it did then.

let me describe what I see then. At 5 seconds you can see the left lane cruising along and the middle lane at a dead stop.
At 7 seconds the biker accelerates and decides to split between a transport truck and an SUV always a poor decision.
At 10 seconds the SUV has a clear opening to move right as slower traffic should and the bike is directly in it's blind spot.
At 11 seconds the bike is just behind the next stopped transport's rear wheels and the left lane traffic is accelerating.
At 12 seconds the right turn signal of the truck flashes. (The video quality isn't good enough to tell if it flashed before that).
At 13 seconds the bike is behind the middle wheels of the transport and the truck in the left lane is pulling to the right of the lane.
At 14 seconds the bike hits the right front door of the truck.

[nesobriquet]

let me describe what I see then. At 5 seconds you can see the left lane cruising along and the middle lane at a dead stop.
At 7 seconds the biker accelerates and decides to split between a transport truck and an SUV always a poor decision.
At 10 seconds the SUV has a clear opening to move right as slower traffic should and the bike is directly in it's blind spot.
At 11 seconds the bike is just behind the next stopped transport's rear wheels and the left lane traffic is accelerating.
At 12 seconds the right turn signal of the truck flashes. (The video quality isn't good enough to tell if it flashed before that).
At 13 seconds the bike is behind the middle wheels of the transport and the truck in the left lane is pulling to the right of the lane.
At 14 seconds the bike hits the right front door of the truck.

bold #1 - what? actually you can definitively see the SUV steer left to give the bike more room.
If the SUV saw him in his mirrors then why didn't the p/u driver?

bold #2 - Yes, it does look like he quick turned his flasher on but to do what and go where?

bold#3 - There was barely any room between the two big trucks!

I will admit it might have been simply a lot more stupid and incompetent than deliberate, but I still would want to choke him. Many crashes like this happen by drivers making a last second decision (being on the phone and saying, oh ya I can make that exit right now!) and moving before actually looking to see if the move was ok to do or not. Meanwhile the rider has pins up his bones, and can tell you 3 days before a storm is coming for the rest of his life.

[snowboarder]

Could you reference that? It looks to me that he was already flying and accelerated into the side of a vehicle that had it's turn signal on. If it's true its one of those situations where you could be DEAD right.

it's probably buried in the comments somewhere. the vid was in Cali, the white line plus double yellow means cars cannot cross.

[rmemedic]

Meanwhile the rider has pins up his bones, and can tell you 3 days before a storm is coming for the rest of his life.

He'll be better than the weathernetwork ever will be then, job opportunity!

Damn weekend was ruined due to the weathenetwork being off by more than 50%

[bww77]

I guess the only good thing for him is that traffic (more importantly the transport) was slowing down to stop or he'd be a flattened mess on the highway.

[Baggsy]

bold #1 - what? actually you can definitively see the SUV steer left to give the bike more room.
If the SUV saw him in his mirrors then why didn't the p/u driver?

bold #2 - Yes, it does look like he quick turned his flasher on but to do what and go where?

bold#3 - There was barely any room between the two big trucks!

I will admit it might have been simply a lot more stupid and incompetent than deliberate, but I still would want to choke him. Many crashes like this happen by drivers making a last second decision (being on the phone and saying, oh ya I can make that exit right now!) and moving before actually looking to see if the move was ok to do or not. Meanwhile the rider has pins up his bones, and can tell you 3 days before a storm is coming for the rest of his life.

You can see the SUV steer left, but you can't say that it's because of the bike. It could just as easily be because he is pulling a cell phone out of his left pocket, or looking over his left shoulder at the traffic behind. Its equally possible that he could have moved right to allow the motorcycle to overtake him rather than pass him on the right. You can clearly see that the bike accelerated rather than slowing down as he should have.

It's possible that the turn signal was on for a long time and the bike could not see it because he was so close to the SUV.
There was tons of room the trucks were not moving fast if at all, so the truck would have pulled in and slammed on the brakes. Not a move that I would ever do, but I've seen it over and over again in Toronto, sometimes at highway speed. In fact someone cut a truck and myself off trying to get across to the Allen Road exit while I was accelerating to pass her and then slammed on the brakes so that she could cut someone else off across the double solid line and just miss the barrels.

If you are splitting the onus is on you to do so safely, there is no reset button where you can try again. In cases where one lane is stopped and the other is moving quickly I do not believe that splitting is legal even in California.

[howitt]

At first view I thought it looked like the driver hit the motorcyclist deliberately, but when I watched it the second time it looks like the car was just trying to change into the next lane. The first car that the motorcyclist passed in the video was about to make a lane change but stopped at the last second when he noticed the biker coming up beside him.

[howitt]

bold #1 - what? actually you can definitively see the SUV steer left to give the bike more room.
If the SUV saw him in his mirrors then why didn't the p/u driver?

I dont know, I think the SUV was gradually moving to the right to make a lane change when the driver noticed the biker coming up beside him and that's when he moved back to the left. The SUV saw the biker because the biker was travelling behind him before he suddenly began to lane split.