Massive 401 crashes and splitting | GTAMotorcycle.com

Massive 401 crashes and splitting

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drumstyx

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Not sure if you guys have heard, but there have been 2 huge crashes on the 401 in Durham these past couple weeks. Neither would have affected a motorcyclist if they had been splitting/filtering, both would have *killed* a rider if they had not been.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm thinking about taking filtering seriously...these are no small accidents, and much worse than any splitting accident could be.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...multi-vehicle-crash-on-hwy-401-near-ajax.html
 
Good luck with that, even if your abilities were up to par with this there is a massive wildcard in the abilities of drivers. No one expects you to be doing it, hell barely anyone even signals it seems before changing lanes. Looking before moving over seems to be way too much to ask too.
 
IMHO it's all about time and place. If you were behind the impaired truck driver, and you filtered in front of him just prior to the collision; you would have also been dead.

It's really tragic, and as a motorcyclist... can't stress enough it's all about situational awareness. There's always a time and place for filtering/lane-splitting. I've been in situations where the driver in front of me was texting and randomly braked when there was clear road ahead; I decided to lane-split past them because I felt it was not safe to be around this driver.

Actively filtering and lane-splitting in Ontario at every opportunity is a lot more risk then reward. Choose the time and place wisely

Just keep in mind that rules of the road do not apply when you believe your life is in danger. That includes speeding/filtering/lane-splitting. But if it's a calm, cool morning and you're filtering at the highway exit just to get in front of everyone.

Drivers and law-enforcement you're passing-by are not going to think your life was in danger.
 
I came through there riding from Ottawa yesterday a couple of hours before that crash.

It's so wide there that traffic just howls along and lots of tailgating idjits as well......I had to brake check one woman two or three times to get her to back off ( she kept creeping up ) until I could get a spot to lose her.

Earlier I noticed she was literally a couple feet off the back of a Harley and this is at 130-140 kph - then due to the vagaries of traffic she ended up behind me....

Was nice to wind out the new to me litre bike in a good cause :D

Filtering at those speeds is NOT going to avoid an accident like the one shown

OPPhwy401crash___Gallery.jpg


The truck came in from behind

W_401crash_006___Gallery.jpg


Person in the Beemer must be a bit traumatized.

I've been a passenger in a high speed multi-vehicle both directions accident and beleive me there is no way you have any time to react.
There was so little time to react my partner driving never even hit the brakes ( he got knocked out by debris and a broken arm ) and my right hand got up to cover my eyes but my left hand was a bit slower and I got some glass in it. ( my only injury )
We hit a farm wagon parked across the QEW at dusk ( prior to restricted access )...there is simply no way to react at those speeds.....don't fool yourself.
 
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First one through the intersection is the first one to meet the vehicle that decided not to stop for their red.
 
MacDoc said:
......I had to brake check one woman two or three times to get her to back off ( she kept creeping up ) until I could get a spot to lose her.
Click to expand...

No opportunity on the 401 to move over and let this woman pass you?. Safest thing to do to a serial tailgater.
 
MacDoc said:
I came through there riding from Ottawa yesterday a couple of hours before that crash.

It's so wide there that traffic just howls along and lots of tailgating idjits as well......I had to brake check one woman two or three times to get her to back off ( she kept creeping up ) until I could get a spot to lose her.

Earlier I noticed she was literally a couple feet off the back of a Harley and this is at 130-140 kph - then due to the vagaries of traffic she ended up behind me....

Was nice to wind out the new to me litre bike in a good cause :D

Filtering at those speeds is NOT going to avoid an accident like the one shown

OPPhwy401crash___Gallery.jpg


The truck came in from behind

W_401crash_006___Gallery.jpg


Person in the Beemer must be a bit traumatized.

I've been a passenger in a high speed multi-vehicle both directions accident and beleive me there is no way you have any time to react.
There was so little time to react my partner driving never even hit the brakes ( he got knocked out by debris and a broken arm ) and my right hand got up to cover my eyes but my left hand was a bit slower and I got some glass in it. ( my only injury )
We hit a farm wagon parked across the QEW at dusk ( prior to restricted access )...there is simply no way to react at those speeds.....don't fool yourself.
Click to expand...

This wasn't a high speed crash from the victim's perspective. Traffic slows to a downright crawl at the construction zone right now. Filtering speeds would have been 10-20km/h.
 
drumstyx said:
This wasn't a high speed crash from the victim's perspective. Traffic slows to a downright crawl at the construction zone right now. Filtering speeds would have been 10-20km/h.
Click to expand...

Me thinks most of the people here who are 'pro-filtering' really mean they want to lane-split at speeds well over the legal limit. Even if one was to say filtering could have saved someone in what happened on Friday...given the size of the calamity, more than likely any rider would have been pinned between two vehicles once everything started smashing together...unless they were already filtering, happened to see the truck in their mirrors and attempted to get far enough away. Also, I'm pretty sure if anyone actually saw the truck coming, they would have done whatever they could to get away, legal or not, be it in a car, bike, or whatever.
 
You gotta have **** for brains if you are splitting lanes on that section of the 401 with the 407 constitution.


"If i was educated, I'd be a damn fool"
 
cbcanada said:
You gotta have **** for brains if you are splitting lanes on that section of the 401 with the 407 constitution.


"If i was educated, I'd be a damn fool"
Click to expand...

Really? Why? I've found people not only accepting for the most part, but they even move a lot of the time. Even today, Whitby (where I live) the traffic was unreal -- as in as bad as downtown Toronto gridlock -- because of the 401 overflow going through the entire city. They see me filtering and move over no problem.

When traffic is crawling, it really is plenty safe.
 
Do what you want, just know the consequences.

I think a better option would be to move out of the GTA or don't ride on the highways.
 
drumstyx said:
Really? Why? I've found people not only accepting for the most part, but they even move a lot of the time. Even today, Whitby (where I live) the traffic was unreal -- as in as bad as downtown Toronto gridlock -- because of the 401 overflow going through the entire city. They see me filtering and move over no problem.

When traffic is crawling, it really is plenty safe.
Click to expand...

*waits for the upcoming "stupid cager changed lanes in front of me, does this count as an at-fault" thread*
 
Cuz no one has ever changed lanes in stop-n-go traffic. Lolz.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Two problems with your logic Drumstyx. First BOTH of these collisions happened during hours of darkness, First one was approx 5 am, (sun doesn't rise this time of the year until almost 7), second one happened at 10:30 pm. In the latest one it wasn't "stop and go" traffic. The reports say "traffic had slowed to approx 60 km/h" when the trailing tractor trailer failed to slow.

So given the ACTUAL circumstances and not the ones you have presented would have made lane splitting VERY dangerous. CBCCanada posted you have to be nuts to split in the section, and you replied how people were actually making room for you to split... But it appears that was in town and not on the highway. I too travel this section from Thornhill to Oshawa on a regular basis. People in the "stop and go areas" DO change lanes all the time mostly without signalling as they know if they signal the person behind will speed up to "block" them from moving over.

Now your saying that splitting would have saved a rider as they wouldn't have been in that spot when the collision occured. That is a ridiculous statement. How can you say that, while splitting along, that wouldn't have seen that very rider just split pass that tractor trailer unit which failed to slow and therefore put the rider DIRECTLY in fornt of that rig, where they would have been the first fatality.

I get it, your 100% in favor of splitting and if you choose to do it bully for you, until the day comes that some cager takes offense and takes you out, or you end up here bitching about the s172 consequences. But please don't come here and fill new riders with the twisted logic that it is the safest thing for them to do and would save their lives. Anymore than having loudpipes while doing it will. Drivers in the GTA are just not of the calibre that lane splitting can be done safely without increasing the riders chances of crashing.

Why do I think lane splitting is unadvised? Because while riding my bike 18 months ago I was rear ended by a fool who thought he was Rossi in stop and go traffic on the 401. So you can use the "logic" that you have lane split without incident as evidence that it is safe, while I can use the fact that I was hit, (in my lane) by a lane splitter, as evidence that it is NOT safe.
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