While that is clearly the cages fault for rear ending the rider I have to wonder why: a) there was such a disparity in speed as the rider crossed lanes. b) the rider wasn't checking his mirrors more closely before changing lanes. Nightmare crash. I hope the rider wasn't seriously injured. Looks like he had good gear on at least.
My guess is they were both lookieloos. Distracted by the cops giving a ticket. The bike may have not been lookieloo and just slowing since the cops were walking near the roads edge. But the driver is at fault no questions there.
I'm not convinced the driver was at fault. The bike was cutting across really close in front. Sure the driver may have been distracted by the cops, but look at the bikes angle onto the lane. Maybe the driver could have hit his brakes a tad earlier as the bike cut in front of him, but he could have been also watching for hazards on the left side.
It looks like the bike was changing lanes. The maroon car in front of the bike is slowing because the white car that was stopped pulled out in front of him, thus the bike is slowing as he changes lanes. He is going about the same speed as the car in front of him. The car that hit him is clearly going much faster. Without an upstream view it is hard to say why he is closing so fast, and also where he came from.
Which side of the road is the passing lane over there? By the angle and speed of the bike changing lanes, if I was on the jury I'd have to fault the motorcyclist this time. It seems the van made an evasive swerve but it was too little too late.
The Police were slowing traffic down (well trying o.k.), due to another accident further along the road, when this accident happened. The rider walked away from hospital later that day Police released the footage to encourage other riders into wearing protective kit. The incident took place in the South of England...
It looked to me like the slow cop was speaking into a microphone clipped to his right shoulder. Maybe that's why he wasn't running. He might have been calling for an ambulance. If so, better he walk slow and get an intelligible message through to dispatch, eh? Especially since his partner was hustling to assist the rider.
I read about this in MCN a week ago, the video is coutesy of Devon & Cornwall Police. MCN printed two pics showing the bike rider flying through the air, he came out of it pretty well. Can't comment on relative speeds but I'm also not convinced the car driver was entirely to blame, I think the rider clearly cut across in to the (slower) left hand a little early.
It hurts to watch that plus everything happend so fast. Everyone thinks they will do this or that if an accident happens but it seem like accidents happen in a flash!
