Girl Blindly Running Through an Intersection!

[whetaus-tr]

Yea right.

Because a green light is a god given right.

It doesn't matter if the rider was incapable of swirling/breaking at %40 over the speed limit.

And that's without realizing the girl to the left of the cab long before the intersection.

Edit:

OP - your are using only the 'pointing finger' to break in this extreme situation. Barely swirling. Speeding recklessly. Recklessly, because you are not checking over the top of the stopped cabbie.

Speeding is not an issue, as long as you take care of the risks that you create by increasing the speed.

But then if you were under the speed limit, and scanning the intersection as you enter it, you could be able to swirl far from the pedestrian, or at least, use your breaks much earlier and efficiently, so even if you hit then, it would have been a much smaller impact.

Also, you were lucky you didn't hit her with target fixation.

[PLau]

Yea right.

Because a green light is a god given right.

It doesn't matter if the rider was incapable of swirling/breaking at %40 over the speed limit.

And that's without realizing the girl to the left of the cab long before the intersection.

Edit:

OP - your are using only the 'pointing finger' to break in this extreme situation. Barely swirling. Speeding recklessly. Recklessly, because you are not checking over the top of the stopped cabbie.

Speeding is not an issue, as long as you take care of the risks that you create by increasing the speed.

But then if you were under the speed limit, and scanning the intersection as you enter it, you could be able to swirl far from the pedestrian, or at least, use your breaks much earlier and efficiently, so even if you hit then, it would have been a much smaller impact.

Also, you were lucky you didn't hit her with target fixation.

Cmon man, what he did was not reckless. Sure he may have been going over the posted speed limit and he could have missed the point in which the girl started to jet from one side of the cross walk to the other which was in about a 1 1/2 sec time period at which it was to late to hit the brakes if he missed it, but kind of referring to my previous post, if you were heading down a street and a person decides to come out of nowhere and run in front of you, would you be able to react in time?

You stated "if you were under the speed limit, and scanning the intersection as you enter it, you could be able to swirl far from the pedestrian", would you be driving under the speed limit in an open lane on a green light? The way you're stating this is as if you slow down below the speed limit(which im pretty sure you dont) for every green light that you encounter to scan the intersection.
I'm not saying you shouldn't since I usually slow down when approaching an intersection especially on a hill to take extra care incase there is oncoming traffic/pedestrians, but slowing down below the limit to predict that a pedestrian will pop in front of you to brake isn't ideal especially on a 50 road.

Luck did play a part in avoiding the collision - I agree with you on that.

[whetaus-tr]

Cmon man, what he did was not reckless. Sure he may have been going over the posted speed limit and he could have missed the point in which the girl started to jet from one side of the cross walk to the other which was in about a 1 1/2 sec time period at which it was to late to hit the brakes if he missed it, but kind of referring to my previous post, if you were heading down a street and a person decides to come out of nowhere and run in front of you, would you be able to react in time?

You stated "if you were under the speed limit, and scanning the intersection as you enter it, you could be able to swirl far from the pedestrian", would you be driving under the speed limit in an open lane on a green light? The way you're stating this is as if you slow down below the speed limit(which im pretty sure you dont) for every green light that you encounter to scan the intersection.
I'm not saying you shouldn't since I usually slow down when approaching an intersection especially on a hill to take extra care incase there is oncoming traffic/pedestrians, but slowing down below the limit to predict that a pedestrian will pop in front of you to brake isn't ideal especially on a 50 road.

Luck did play a part in avoiding the collision - I agree with you on that.

You have cars stopped at a green light, and jaywalkers crossing, and potential jaywalkers waiting for you.
Would I stay under the limit ? At most I would do the limit.

But then, I come from a traffic that has a norm of this:



After driving in it, you learn NOT to take things like "right of way" granted so easily.

[AGAVE]

You have cars stopped at a green light, and jaywalkers crossing, and potential jaywalkers waiting for you.
Would I stay under the limit ? At most I would do the limit.

But then, I come from a traffic that has a norm of this:

After driving in it, you learn NOT to take things like "right of way" granted so easily.

So you admit the problem is not the rider, it's the foreign pedestrian and cab driver.
Your video says it all, Canadians have a much better system, more respect and discipline, that's why we don't have "mad selfish chaos" like your foreign example.
If they followed the simple rules of the road we created in Canada, i.e: not jaywalking or creating a dangerous situation blocking line of sight, this never would have happened.

[fastar1]

But then, I come from a traffic that has a norm of this:



After driving in it, you learn NOT to take things like "right of way" granted so easily.

THIS is what you offer as an example of what we should be doing?!?

[whetaus-tr]

THIS is what you offer as an example of what we should be doing?!?

No.

But, having observed traffic in 13 very different countries, although Canadian traffic works perhaps the best, with lowest rate of fatalities (?), we, as Canadian drivers, are definitely not near best, IMO.

Why ?

Because we are too law/rule oriented. A regular driver/rider doesn't get to develop skills besides of those to follow rules. And it is a blue screen situation, every time something out of ordinary happens.
IMO, a good driver is the one, who is also capable of thinking outside of the box, and also capable of handling extraordinary situations.

Let me ask you this:

In the area that I live in, there are a lot of elderly people, who are too slow to make it across the pedestrian crossing in the given countdown.

Should I or the pedestrian complain to the city and let the city possibly double the countdowns all over the place, just because every once in a while during the day, an elderly can't make it across in a set-time ?

My point is, traffic is far more complex than just 'right of way' or rules/laws. Laws will come short sometimes, or things are not going to function proper. We, especially we as motorcyclists, have to be able to accommodate for irregularities.

[rashidme]

You have cars stopped at a green light, and jaywalkers crossing, and potential jaywalkers waiting for you.
Would I stay under the limit ? At most I would do the limit.

But then, I come from a traffic that has a norm of this:



After driving in it, you learn NOT to take things like "right of way" granted so easily.

which jungle is it??

[82Seca750]

wow.....that was close

[UltrA_09]

I'll be posting in this thread once more just to clear some more things up, then probably let it die.
Here it goes!

Super easy to play armchair quarterback. Thanks for sharing the vid, I like that you included the immediate stop and pause after the incident - can only imagine what was going through your head at that moment.

I'm glad you enjoyed the video, all I could think of was "holy ****!", and how close that was. Crazy thing is that I believe the space between us was even closer than what appears to be on video (because of the 'fish-eye' effect on the GoPro).

nice buddy..all of us can choose to learn from this; newbie and pro alike.... life throws curve balls at us all the time.. its not how fast we fall but how fast we get back up that matters... ultra we have to meet up again bro, i see you got a new bike, be careful i say that was luck on your side...

OBSERVE, ADOPT, ADAPT.

Thanks and Well said; hope to ride with you in the coming season!

Yea right.

Because a green light is a god given right.

It doesn't matter if the rider was incapable of swirling/breaking at %40 over the speed limit.

And that's without realizing the girl to the left of the cab long before the intersection.

Edit:

OP - your are using only the 'pointing finger' to break in this extreme situation. Barely swirling. Speeding recklessly. Recklessly, because you are not checking over the top of the stopped cabbie.

Speeding is not an issue, as long as you take care of the risks that you create by increasing the speed.

But then if you were under the speed limit, and scanning the intersection as you enter it, you could be able to swirl far from the pedestrian, or at least, use your breaks much earlier and efficiently, so even if you hit then, it would have been a much smaller impact.

Also, you were lucky you didn't hit her with target fixation.

There' are just so many things wrong in this post, so I figured I'd reply to it.

Firstly, the speed. I mentioned this earlier, but I guess it was over-looked. One thing to keep in mind is that the speed indicated by the speedometer reads around 5-10% higher than the actual km/h speed of the motorcycle (the difference increases as speed increases). In my case (as tested with GPS) when the motorcycle travels an indicated 70km/h, it is actually moving at 63km/h; at an indicated 65km/h, the motorcycle is actually moving at 59. Saying I was travelling at 40% of the speed is inaccurate. I entered the intersection at a decreasing indicated speed of 67km/h, which would have been an actual speed of 60km/h. In case you can't complete the math, that’s 1.2x the speed limit, which most people would consider the norm. That being said, it was still technically speeding! After all, anything over 50km/h is speeding, and that includes going 51km/h. I was considering blurring out the speed throughout the video, but to be honest after looking back at the situation, I'm glad it turned out the way it at the speed I was going. Somehow, I was able to avoid her altogether. Keep in mind that during this incident, if I was travelling a second slower, well, I'm sure you have an idea of what would have happened.

Secondly, I may not have been using all my fingers in order to pull the front brake lever, but the proper method in avoiding her would not have been to grab a fist-full of brake. Doing that would have very likely caused the front to slip, and in this particular situation, it would have made me the bowling ball, and her the pin. I believe the proper method to avoid the collision was to do exactly what I did; swerve away. This is where I believe the riding course I took a few years back really assisted with learning the proper technique of operating a motorcycle, especially in an emergency situation. Instead of looking right at her and slamming on the brake, which would have surely taken her out, I counter-steered the motorcycle away from her (by pushing on the right handlebar). I didn't have to 'think' about it, it was just my instinctive reaction.

I, as the rider, can confidently say I wasn't reckless, regardless of what you may think. Time to quote the earlier reply to this post:

Cmon man, what he did was not reckless. Sure he may have been going over the posted speed limit and he could have missed the point in which the girl started to jet from one side of the cross walk to the other which was in about a 1 1/2 sec time period at which it was to late to hit the brakes if he missed it, but kind of referring to my previous post, if you were heading down a street and a person decides to come out of nowhere and run in front of you, would you be able to react in time?

You stated "if you were under the speed limit, and scanning the intersection as you enter it, you could be able to swirl far from the pedestrian", would you be driving under the speed limit in an open lane on a green light? The way you're stating this is as if you slow down below the speed limit(which im pretty sure you dont) for every green light that you encounter to scan the intersection.
I'm not saying you shouldn't since I usually slow down when approaching an intersection especially on a hill to take extra care incase there is oncoming traffic/pedestrians, but slowing down below the limit to predict that a pedestrian will pop in front of you to brake isn't ideal especially on a 50 road.

Luck did play a part in avoiding the collision - I agree with you on that.

Imagine if a door opens and you're going at that speed? Ouch.

That's called the door zone

In Ontario it is legal for motorcycle to share the lane with parked cars (if there is enough space), although not recommended precisely due to the possibility of being 'doored'. I'm sure if you search the forum, you'll find a lot more information.

+1. As I was scrolling through the posts, was wondering if anybody else caught this.

The taxi braked pretty hard and suddenly. And for no obvious apparent reason, from the motorcyclists perspective.

That would ring bells in my head to slow the heck down as something may be up (animal? cop? pedestrian? or???)

I completely agree. Not only that, but there are multiple "No Left Turn" signs on the road because it's actually a one-way.

I mentioned earlier that as I was looking ahead and scanning the road before entering the intersection, the pedestrian on the right (black t-shirt with skateboard) who was just about to cross the road while looking in the other direction caught my eye, which unfortunately lead my eyes towards the right side of the road. That doesn’t make it an excuse for being able to go through a green light with eyes closed by any means, but it was simply the case of what happened. Slowing down and becoming more cautious when approaching an intersection while something somewhat unexpected or unusual is happening is very important.

and if someone is behind you, you would've got rear ended.

Leading up to the incident, I was fully aware of my surrounding and what was behind me, so I wasn't too concerned about being rear ended. Also take into consideration the parked car in front of where I stopped (which would have caused any traffic in the right lane to move to the left), as well as the consistent decrease rate of speed when I slowed down after avoiding the girl. I didn't perform a complete emergency stop (at my full ability -after avoiding the girl) because I knew I had the space in front of me to slow down at a more comfortable pace.

I thought about it some more (hey, I'm open minded like that) and came to the conclusion that while the pedestrian would have been to blame for her actions, so would the rider. Assuming injury/collision did occur, any party not blaming themselves is either avoiding the truth or dead.

Either party in that situation should have reasonably foreseen the potential for a collision and as a result would have a personal responsibility to themselves (and arguably to others) to reduce the likelihood of the collision (i.e. adjust their behaviour accordingly). The pedestrian could have reasonably foreseen the consequences of entering a roadway (pedestrian crossing or not) when vehicles were moving, so she shouldn't have entered. The OP could have reasonably foreseen that pedestrians are abundant in downtown and frequently jaywalk, so he should have been riding with more caution.

When in doubt, assume everyone else is an idiot... the universe will rarely prove you wrong.

Right. I should have "reasonably foreseen" that there would be a girl running blindly through a clear do-not-cross intersection already somewhat occupied with traffic. [/SARCASM] Even jay-walkers (most of the time) get the idea of looking at both sides of the road before crossing the street, usually in-between intersections. You must be confused with what the word 'reasonable' actually means. More caution is never a bad thing, but that comment is completely....unreasonable .

...
Actually you would likely also have been toast, if you hadn't swerved slightly. She'd have clipped your left bar, throwing you down into the back of that parked car.

That whole stretch of road is dangerous, during school hours.

When it comes to her body vs. my body+motorcycle, I imagine the impact would have been similar to hitting a small deer, which would have hurt her more-so than hurt me (envision her head vs. my helmet). With her utter stupidity aside, the idea alone of her being injured - if not dead - for running through a street is actually really sad. With all honesty, I wouldn't have minded dumping the bike and crashing in order to avoid hitting severely hurting her. That day I was wearing all my gear, as I do every time I get on a motorcycle (ATGATT!) so I don't believe I would have been as severely injured had I crashed if that were the only way to avoid her. The bike could easily be fixed or replaced; but her life, not so much.



Lastly, as hard as it may be to believe (after seeing the only video of less than a km worth of my riding), I am a very safe rider when it comes to operating my motorcycle, and rarely speed, especially in the city. What I have decided to upload was less than two minutes of my riding experience, during which something beyond what was expected occurred. I will continue to ride cautiously as I always do, although there will always be room to improve. I suppose the reason I posted the video was not only to show how close that crazy pedestrian was to getting hit, but also how quickly a bad situation like this can present itself, and how proper control of your motorcycle could really make the difference.

Ride safe everyone!

[OpenGambit]

TL: DR

Still don't see why you would speed by someone that clearly slowed down like that. There is no universe where that is smart or safe.

[slogan]

Firstly, the speed. I mentioned this earlier, but I guess it was over-looked. One thing to keep in mind is that the speed indicated by the speedometer reads around 5-10% higher than the actual km/h speed of the motorcycle (the difference increases as speed increases). In my case (as tested with GPS) when the motorcycle travels an indicated 70km/h, it is actually moving at 63km/h; at an indicated 65km/h, the motorcycle is actually moving at 59. Saying I was travelling at 40% of the speed is inaccurate. I entered the intersection at a decreasing indicated speed of 67km/h, which would have been an actual speed of 60km/h. In case you can't complete the math, that’s 1.2x the speed limit, which most people would consider the norm. That being said, it was still technically speeding! After all, anything over 50km/h is speeding, and that includes going 51km/h. I was considering blurring out the speed throughout the video, but to be honest after looking back at the situation, I'm glad it turned out the way it at the speed I was going. Somehow, I was able to avoid her altogether. Keep in mind that during this incident, if I was travelling a second slower, well, I'm sure you have an idea of what would have happened.

Try to explain it to a cop You have to relay to the gauge installed on your vehicle not to any third party devices. If you think that it is malfunctioning you have to fix it before operating the vehicle.
Just thoughts...

[EngineerJoe]

Right. I should have "reasonably foreseen" that there would be a girl running blindly through a clear do-not-cross intersection already somewhat occupied with traffic. [/SARCASM] Even jay-walkers (most of the time) get the idea of looking at both sides of the road before crossing the street, usually in-between intersections. You must be confused with what the word 'reasonable' actually means. More caution is never a bad thing, but that comment is completely....unreasonable .

Just because you couldn't foresee it doesn't mean it wouldn't have been foreseen by someone with more experience and road smarts. C'mon, someone running across a street at an intersection, in a busy downtown corridor in the largest and most densely populated (or close to) city in Canada... Yup, you're more likely to win the lottery and sleep with Jessica Alba.

[beverage]

The girl was an idiot to cross. The OP will be a statistic by seasons-end if he keeps riding like that. Each 50% at fault.

[viper84737]

The girl was an idiot to cross. The OP will be a statistic by seasons-end if he keeps riding like that. Each 50% at fault.

We're all statistics by seasons' end. Even before. But yeah, he did seem like he was going a bit fast for in-town riding.