Watch your 6!!!!!
 

Just walked in from my shortest ride ever. Was about 2 miles into my usual ride when I came across a bike accident at an intersection. Guy was on a KLR650 that got rear-ended at the light and pushed thru the intersection. The bike was still standing as the van that hit him was on top of the rear half (seat pushed up into the windshield. I was the 2nd one there and when I checked the guy had no pulse and already had a large pool of blood around his head. Off duty medical people showed up quickly and a paramedic told me he found a quarter size hole in the guys head....someone said the guys helmet was down the road a ways, don't know if he was wearing it unstrapped or on his bike. The motorcyclist was about 50 and the van driver guy was about 55. From what I could tell, the van never hit the brakes until he was on the bike.
I thought about getting a picture on my phone as a lesson learner but it just didn't feel right with a man laying there dead.
Please keep an eye to the rear at intersections and always have an escape plan....although I think this happened so fast I don't know if he could have moved out of the way.
I'm gonna take a day or two off from riding to let things sink in.
Be safe.

Try not to let it bother you to much. It's always hard to see things like that, but when it's your time to go then it's just time. Learn a lesson from it for sure but don't let it stew in your head or you'll never get it out. Drink some beers tonight(if that's your thing) and tell the story to your friends. Then tomorrow morning get back on the bike and go peel some rubber off the edges of your tires.

Agreed! I haven't come across any bike fatalities yet, but you'll have as much fun as the son of a dentist on Halloween if you let it get to you.

I might need a day or two off after seeing something like that, I wouldn't stop riding more than that though...no need to build a complex. It always hurts a little to see or hear about a fellow motorcyclist getting killed, its our unfriendly reminder of our own mortality, we know the risks but we still ride. My prayers for the families.

Sad news. +1 for not taking photos, the verbal description says it all.

A friend of mine knew 2 guys back in the mid '60s who got rear ended at a red light at 10 pm, both died. Most guys, myself included, rode without helmets back then, but I don't think it makes much difference when you get rear ended at that speed.

I always check my mirrors when someone is entering a crosswalk in front of me. If there's a car directly behind me, I don't stop. I had a car blow past me at 45mph in the same lane when I stopped for a pedestrian 20 years ago.:eek:

Watch those mirrors.

Always bad to hear about motorcyclists getting hit, no better when there is a fatality involved. I am constantly checking my mirrors and ducking my shoulder when I go to stop. A$$ hats around here don't always stop either.

So what's the protocol if at a red light with the bike in first and the left index on the clutch, how do you know when to launch to avoid the Oscar Grope intending to rear end you?

I'm in the habit of flashing my brake light when people are coming up behind me and I'm stopped. Don't know if it makes a difference or not though. Problem with taking off is that cross traffic is going to do just as much if not more damage to you.

Being at the very front makes it tough. I'm always thinking that when I'm in a line I'd just scoot up and lane-split between cars if someone isn't going to stop, being at the front like this guy was, I don't know...
Thanks for the advise too, I took the dog to the park for a while to shake off the nerves, I'll be riding again this weekend...I enjoy it too much to stop.

Watch for soccer moms putting on lipstick talking an thier cell phone while drinking a latte on the freeway too. I had close calls countless times. Let them tailgate the car in front of you...

if I see someone who obviously isn't paying attention ie. lipstick, cell, brats, whatever. I get the hell away from them they can't hit you if they are a mile behind you. I just punch it. I won't sit anywhere near someone like that.

When I stop at a light I always stay a little to the left and if I see someone behind me I flash the brake a few times before stopping. This way I'm directly in front of the driver's eyes, and right over the most sensitive part of the ground loop for the signal (the edges), and if the driver does happen to not see me until the last second, he has an escape route to the right of me.

Cars try and squeeze around me regardless to turn right, so at least this way they won't be knocking me off the bike.





I was following a guy last week, he wandered into the wrong lane and I could see the oncoming car start to panic. I blew the horn and he set his phone down and swerved back into his lane.

He quietly thanked me at the next stop light. Ugh.

I got rearended last october on my fzr slowing to turn right at a stop light. Luckily it was a 20mph hit and i was still rolling but it totalled the bike(brought me to the hawk) and I was fully geared up. Just a little bruised and bummed i had no bike. Driver took off too. Never even stopped to see if they had just killed someone. Nowadays when coming to a light i look back and use good old fashioned hand signals to signal my intentions. Even though most cagers dont know a hand signal from thier own ass it still helps i think. Defensive riding keeps you alive. Helps that our bikes are monsters too and leaves most cars behind. Dont let it bum you out and keep you from riding. when i was nailed i rode my brothers gixxer that same day. Stay safe fellas

I would say take your time and ride when ready. (for me post my accident, I reached that state mentally before my knee could really take it)

And one thing I do at stoplights is press and release the brake while sitting there to flash my brake light at cagers.

i flash my brakes alot at intersections too. hope it gets the idiot texting behind me attention. i know how you feel, ive found a fellow rider compleatly paralized this summer. its tuff to see cause one cant help thinking what if. so just keep your head up and ride safe. prayers go out to the fallen rider and his family.

That's a tough thing to see, its one thing to see it in the news or see the scene with a sheet covering the body, but the image from being there firsthand will never go away. All you can do is learn from it, which is why you've told us, so we can learn.

I always try to stay in the left part of the lane at a light and flash my brake lights while watching my back. If someone isn't going to stop I can squeeze into the pocket of the front of the lane to the left or in front of the median.

Rarely will I stop at a right turn on red if there is another vehicle behind me...most people don't and because they are not planning on stopping they are looking for oncoming traffic, not little ol' me in their radiator. One thing that does help is slowing down more in the decel lane so the driver will anticipate that you will be moving slowly or maybe even abiding the law and stopping.

I've been hit by a fellow rider while turning left using turnsignals AND handsignals. Asshole past the bike behind me cause he somehow didn't see us slowing down to turn with the rest of the group and nailed me in the side while coming over the bars. And to top it off he's a cop...

Sorry for the threadjack hehe.

I have a dangerous intersection on my way to work.

It's downhill, 4 lane wide boulevard, and I have to turn right at the bottom of the hill. 99% of traffic goes straight.

I feel like I'm going to get run down everytime I slow to turn right. I put brighter turn signals on it, but it still scares the crap out of me. I have to get down to 30 mph before turning, traffic is going 50-60.

I try to just avoid having a car behind me now, and if there is, I just move over into the bike lane before slowing. Sucks, as I can't take the correct line through the turn and it requires me to slow down even more.

i have been in this situation. I had a driver (on a cell phone) did not see me, did not see the red light. I was 2 weeks out of MSF an on a ninja 250. I was looking in my rear view and i heard a terrible screech. her brakes were locking up. I had about 3 seconds to react. i pulled the bars all the way to the right and dumped the clutch. i was in a turn lane so this put me in the grass. i rashed the bike on the curb but through the corner of my eye i saw the woman blow into the intersection and get t boned by a mustang. I often think if i had not acted (in panic) than that would be me that would have meet the mustang. Thank god every one was OK but it still stays with me every time i ride. I live in Ma (known for bad drivers) and i am constantly looking in the rear view during panic stops. i know the braking on the guy in front but i am constantly paranoid about those behind me. lesson learned

Wow, this is timely. I was just cruising the neighborhood, which in these parts means I'm spending half my time sitting at red lights. I entered one intersection as the light turned yellow and I watched the car behind me intentionally drive through the red light. Seeing that happen, I pulled over before the next light and allowed whoever it was behind to pass - don't need that going on behind me.

REDVTR1000, you are one lucky guy!