Again, one more video that should make it on the "To Watch" list at motorcycle riding schools. It doesn't have anything gruesome in it, even though the crash itself is a rather hard one, so the emotional impact will be moderate.
Still, it shows how a nice calm ride can instantaneously turn into a very nasty situation with dire consequences, even though, in this particular case, the rider made it with only a concussion. The cause of the accident is obviously the fact that the driver, reportedly a teenage girl, jumped the red.
The helmet cam footage and the witnesses' testimony will make it simple for the cops to find the culprit, but in the end, for us riders, it's not about who is guilty and who’s not. It's not even about a wrecked bike, even though in certain cases that bike might have been the rider's only vehicle. It's about the people.
Guilt versus wheelchair
To put it bluntly (as I will put it later this week in an editorial), it's about the rider becoming injured, left in a wheelchair, or dead. And since not all drivers out there are looking for riders (or other vehicles, for that matter), it's always down to us to take care of our safety individually.
And one of the very good habits is to visually inspect all the roads that lead into an intersection, even those where the red light is already on. Most importantly, do that before you venture into the intersection, thus giving yourself time to react if someone doesn't care about the red light.
It may be as short as a second or half a second, but this might be just about enough to help you stop in time. Traffic cameras, if any are present, could provide evidence for having the driver fined later, but the most important thing is that you'll be safe and in one piece. Stay alert, ride safe!
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