very disturbing wreck scene UPDATE #48

[paintnolish]

I am so sorry. We saw something similar. We were driving down a 6 lane, 45 mph street and came upon an accident. A car had hit a pedestrian trying to cross the road. I had dd, 7, in the back. There was nothing I could do but demand that she close her eyes! She did but asked me about it later. I told her a man had been hit by a car, but I didn't want that kind of scary sight to be stuck in her brain forever. Sorry it's stuck in yours. And SO SORRY for everyone involved in the accident.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Exactly, exactly, EXACTLY. You can train and practice and take classes from now 'til the day you die, but it only takes ONE stupid/inattentive/untrained driver to make all that training moot. PLEASE don't read into this that I'm saying that education isn't necessary rolleyes, I'm a huge fan of being as knowledgeable as possible when your life is on the line, but please don't feel that you're perfectly safe because you've trained.

My DD rides her bike on our road, and I'm telling her constantly "I trust YOU, it's the other people on the road I don't trust!"

While this may be true--folks shouldn't post that EVERY accident involving a motorcycle is fatal. It's a lie in order to demonstrate how unsafe motorcycles are.

I just can't stand that folks feel the need to "lie" in order to demonstrate the validity of their opinion. Or excuse me--use hyperbole. (And yes, I witnessed an accident and the motorcycle driver not only didn't die--he walked away from the hit and run crash. (he was the victim))

And no, you'll never catch me on a motorcycle. Ever.

 

[IDoDis]

That is just awful! I'm sorry you had to witness that.

Speaking of motorcycles -- I used to have a motorcycle back when I was in college (cheap transportation and easy parking). One night I was at a red light when a man ran into me from behind. He didn't see me and was only looking at the car in front of me. Luckily he was already slowing down to stop or it would have been much worse. Upon impact I was able to fall off my bike in the opposite direction that the bike fell so I didn't get hurt. His insurance paid for my bike to get fixed. After many other VERY close calls with crazy drivers who don't look, I decided to hang up my helmet and drive a car.

 

[jfoofj]

At my work we call motorcycles "donorcycles". I am NOT a fan of them at all, but I do understand that a lot of people love to ride them and are very careful while riding one. I agree that you can be a careful motorcycle rider, but it is the other people you have to worry about.

Last July I came upon an accident that had just occured, a young guy (28) was riding his motorcycle down road that is 50mph speed limit, obeying all traffic laws. A drunk guy (yes, it was later proven he was drunk, he was actually pulling out of the bar) pulls out onto the road, to cross lanes, collides right into the guy on the motorcyle. He was hit by the truck, and thrown. He was conscious and alert (he had his helmet on so thankfully he didn't suffer a head injury) but he had open fractures of his legs and arms. It was horrific to hear him scream. It seemed like it took forever for the police and ambulance to get there. I was actually on my way into work at the hospital, so I followed up with him later that night as he was getting out of surgery and he was well medicated and not in pain anymore. He remembered the whole accident, even remembered my voice from the accident telling him not to move and that help was on the way... he said that he will never ride another motorcycle again. Heck, the Dr. said it would be months before he could WALK again, and he was pretty lucky.

Not worth it, in my eyes.... too much risk.

To the OP- it is awful to witness such things, this really bothered me and I work in a surgical ICU where a lot of trauma patients end up, but I am used to seeing them when they are all cleaned up, patched up, and their pain is under control. I will NEVER forget this kid's screams of pain. I wished I could have done ANYTHING to make it stop hurting him. It was awful.

 

[NatashaDisneyCM]

ok, why is it people always "assumes" it was the motorcycle???? news flash! all the accidents I have seen have always been the "Cages" (cars for you non riders) that are NOT paying attention, you know...to busy texting, talking on phones....and they have always been at fault! Thank you to the dude in Daytona that offed my friend Tony, or my friend at four corners! I have lost several friends....ALL because of lack of paying attention of a car driver!!!!!!

and if it was a girl, I give it a 99% chance she was doing something she just should have not been doing! hope they throw the book at her!!!!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

ok, why is it people always "assumes" it was the motorcycle???? news flash! all the accidents I have seen have always been the "Cages" (cars for you non riders) that are NOT paying attention, you know...to busy texting, talking on phones....and they have always been at fault! Thank you to the dude in Daytona that offed my friend Tony, or my friend at four corners! I have lost several friends....ALL because of lack of paying attention of a car driver!!!!!!

B/c it is always easier to blame the victim and claim they woudln't be dead or severely injured had they chosen an alternative mode of transportation. Even if the accident was not their fault.

 

[jen0610]

I was one who witnessed an accident between a car and a motorcycle. Even though we were not actually involved in the accident and it being more than 15 years ago, DH and I can still tell you in detail what happened. To this day, I truely hate going through that intersection on a rainy night.

And before someone jumps in and says if it was raining, the person shouldn't have been riding a motorcycle, the person on the motor cycle was going home after a long shift and it wasn't raining earlier in the day.

 

[Darsa]

Truly I don't care WHAT kind of motor vehicle you operate, there will be people who don't pay attention and there will be people who drive like idiots. Heck, my foot was run over in Wal-Mart this weekend by a guy on one of those scooters because he was driving along eyeing the tuna-fish selection rather than watching where he was going...

There will be motorcyclists at fault, and there will be car drivers at fault... there will also be truck-drivers, bicyclists, anything on the road, really, that won't be paying attention. It's not fair to judge one over the other; the thing to judge is whether or not the person was operating the piece of machinery in a responsible way.

 

[Mermaid02]

B/c it is always easier to blame the victim and claim they woudln't be dead or severely injured had they chosen an alternative mode of transportation. Even if the accident was not their fault.

The accident is not always the cyclists fault- unfortunately it's the cyclist who usually has the worst injuries and pays the price.

 

[Robinrs]

Oh, that's so so sad. You're right. She will replay that wreck in her head forever,even if it wasn't her fault.

Today we were driving down I-75 near Atlanta(you know how heavy that traffic is) and there were two guys on motorcycles cutting in and out of traffic at about 80mph. All I could think was "organ donors." And when they do go down it won't be pretty. Its going to affect everyone who see it happen.

About a year ago when I was working at Turner Communications, a TERRIBLE wreck between a SUV and a motorcycle on the I 75/85 connector happened right outside of our window. It was there for hours because the motorcycle rider was a fatality. I don't think I'll ever forget that either...

 

[turkeymama]

ok, why is it people always "assumes" it was the motorcycle???? news flash! all the accidents I have seen have always been the "Cages" (cars for you non riders) that are NOT paying attention, you know...to busy texting, talking on phones....and they have always been at fault! Thank you to the dude in Daytona that offed my friend Tony, or my friend at four corners! I have lost several friends....ALL because of lack of paying attention of a car driver!!!!!!

and if it was a girl, I give it a 99% chance she was doing something she just should have not been doing! hope they throw the book at her!!!!

Sorry for the loss of your friends. I have to agree with others who have stated there will always be people not paying attention, whether it is the motorcycle drivers or the car drivers or truck drivers, etc. You get the idea.

An off-duty police officer was killed while riding his motorcycle down a service road running along side the interstate in town. The stretch of road he was on involved a slight curve near the overpass. Had he been doing the speed limit of 25, the driver that hit him would have had a snowball's chance of stopping in time. However, the police officer was doing closer to 60 mph and the driver of the car that hit him never saw him coming. Well, he did see him but it was much too late to react in time. All over town, there are stickers on cars in memory of the police officer, but nobody seemed to have any sympathy for the guy that hit him and he wasn't the one at fault.

We don't know anything about the situation the OP posted, so I won't dare hope they "throw the book" at the girl driving the car. It is very possible that she wasn't doing anything wrong and that she was paying attention. There are plenty of motorcyclists out there who drive safely, but there are plenty who don't. I'm sure we've all seen both sides.

 

[CapeMayMommy]

what?? pray for the girl??? what about the 2 people laying dead in the road..?

The dead are dead. Hopefully at peace.

It's the living that will suffer.

 

[MushyMushy]

ok, why is it people always "assumes" it was the motorcycle???? news flash! all the accidents I have seen have always been the "Cages" (cars for you non riders) that are NOT paying attention, you know...to busy texting, talking on phones....and they have always been at fault! Thank you to the dude in Daytona that offed my friend Tony, or my friend at four corners! I have lost several friends....ALL because of lack of paying attention of a car driver!!!!!!

and if it was a girl, I give it a 99% chance she was doing something she just should have not been doing! hope they throw the book at her!!!!

I'm sorry about the loss of your friends, but you're jumping to some mighty big conclusions when even the OP who was there didn't know who was at fault.

I've seen plenty of situations with drivers of bikes who think they can just zip in and out of heavy highway traffic. They need to take a little care for their own lives, especially with nothing between them and the road. On the other hand, I've also seen neglectful drivers of cars as well.

Point is, you have no idea. Neither do we.

 

[tazdev3225]

To all involved in the accident posted.

I ahve been driving for many years and have seen my fair share of accidents. I came across one moments after it happened and it was quite obvious the driver was dead. He went into a pole. I had my kids in the car so I didn;t stay. It haunted me or a while as I drive by the scene at least several times a week. I have seen other fatalities and they do leave you shaken.

I am not a fan of motorcycles but 2 of my brothers were. The older one was in several accidents: he hit an oil slick in the road type of things. His worst was a broken leg when a man u-turned into him. My younger brother was almost killed in one where the other driver made an illegal left hand turn in front of him and he flew what was estimated to be 30 - 40 feet. He shattered his ankle, 2 operations and several screws to put it back together, a severe concussion (his helmet had a 4" deep crack in it where it slammed the ground), and bad abrasions. He was 2 minutes from a trauma center that saved his life because he was in deep shock. I had to race my mom to the hospital because my dad was at work and as we walked into his ICU room where he was waiting to go into surgery the first words out of his mouth, "I picked out my new motorcycle". I though my mom was going to die of a heart attack on the spot. He did ride again. Not all cycle accidents are fatal but the injuries can be more severe.

When I see an accident I never make assumption of blame. I have seen stupid drivers in cars and on cycles. The aftermath of an accident is devastating on all involved.

 

[klacey1]

I've seen plenty of situations with drivers of bikes who think they can just zip in and out of heavy highway traffic. They need to take a little care for their own lives, especially with nothing between them and the road.

This is absolutely my biggest driving pet peeve-- just because you are a motorcycle does not mean a) you can drive in the breakdown lane in heavy/stopped traffic or b) zip in and around cars with no signal or warning, doing waaaaay over the speed limit. I HATE being behind motorcycles on the highway and will always pass to avoid them.

 

[cm8]

, to the op and the family and friends of all traumatic, and forever remembered victims that have lost their lives on the road. I was involved in a horrific accident, I have never forgotten and I never will. My niece is 43 years old and witnessed an accident that happened in her 30's and she has never forgotten every detail.

 

[Heidict]

ok, why is it people always "assumes" it was the motorcycle???? news flash! all the accidents I have seen have always been the "Cages" (cars for you non riders) that are NOT paying attention, you know...to busy texting, talking on phones....and they have always been at fault! Thank you to the dude in Daytona that offed my friend Tony, or my friend at four corners! I have lost several friends....ALL because of lack of paying attention of a car driver!!!!!!

and if it was a girl, I give it a 99% chance she was doing something she just should have not been doing! hope they throw the book at her!!!!

Wow, talking about making assumptions!! Plus, yours had the added bonus of being offensive to women!! Good job.

You jump down peoples throats because they are assuming that the motorcyclist was at fault because you have lost friends, yet you are just as bad. Assuming that the driver of the car HAS to be at fault and HAD to be distracted. Why don't we let the police do their job and allow THEM to find out who was at fault. After all, they are at the scene, not getting their info from a message board.

I have seen motorcycle accidents that ended in death where it was THEIR fault. They were following the other motorcycle too closely and his front wheel clipped the back wheel of the other one and they crashed. Other motorcyclists behind them also crashed and one rider was thrown from his bike and he was decapitated by the guardrail. Horrible and haunting accident that was not caused because of some driver in a car being distracted. Many of the guys that were riding with him that day sold their bikes and will never ride again.

I have also seen those stupid idiots on their crotch rockets shooting down the highway doing 90 plus, weaving in and out of traffic. If there is an accident, no helmet is going to save their life and no one in their right mind would say that a car was at fault. My personal favorite was the 2 idiots that where doing wheelies at about 100 down the highway.

OP, I can understand how you feel. It is horrible to see that. I once saw a man crossing a road that was a feeder onto a highway. Pedestrians where not allowed on there, but this man didn't want to walk around and just jumped a fence to cross it and save a few minutes. Instead, a car, doing about 40-50 hit him. He flew about 8-10 feet before landing on the pavement. I will never forget the impact or the way he landed. He died on impact. It was a horrible sight and it shook me up for days. One bad decision cost him his life.

Regardless if the accident was the car drivers fault or not, it is something that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

 

[NatashaDisneyCM]

Wow, talking about making assumptions!! Plus, yours had the added bonus of being offensive to women!! Good job.

You jump down peoples throats because they are assuming that the motorcyclist was at fault because you have lost friends, yet you are just as bad. Assuming that the driver of the car HAS to be at fault and HAD to be distracted. Why don't we let the police do their job and allow THEM to find out who was at fault. After all, they are at the scene, not getting their info from a message board.

I have seen motorcycle accidents that ended in death where it was THEIR fault. They were following the other motorcycle too closely and his front wheel clipped the back wheel of the other one and they crashed. Other motorcyclists behind them also crashed and one rider was thrown from his bike and he was decapitated by the guardrail. Horrible and haunting accident that was not caused because of some driver in a car being distracted. Many of the guys that were riding with him that day sold their bikes and will never ride again.

I have also seen those stupid idiots on their crotch rockets shooting down the highway doing 90 plus, weaving in and out of traffic. If there is an accident, no helmet is going to save their life and no one in their right mind would say that a car was at fault. My personal favorite was the 2 idiots that where doing wheelies at about 100 down the highway.

OP, I can understand how you feel. It is horrible to see that. I once saw a man crossing a road that was a feeder onto a highway. Pedestrians where not allowed on there, but this man didn't want to walk around and just jumped a fence to cross it and save a few minutes. Instead, a car, doing about 40-50 hit him. He flew about 8-10 feet before landing on the pavement. I will never forget the impact or the way he landed. He died on impact. It was a horrible sight and it shook me up for days. One bad decision cost him his life.

Regardless if the accident was the car drivers fault or not, it is something that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

funny thing, that is what all of you are doing about Motorcycle riders in general here! so if you cannot take the heat, stay out of the kitchen! I happen to ride, and I have been trained for many, many years...and I see the stupidest people doing things in their cars! and even in my truck! so...again I am standing up for riding, since you all seem to be bashing motorcycles! if you do not ride, you do not understand!

 

[ZachnElli]

Not sure how this turned into a motorcycle accident thread, but anywho....my Dh's uncle was critically injured in a motorcycle accident on Thursday night, no other vehicles involved, just him, so yes, the motorcyclist was at fault. He was upgraded yesterday and is out of ICU, but he has a spinal cord injury. He's in Iowa, so I doubt he was wearing a helmet (no helmet laws there). Also, he was been driving motorcycles for 50 years (in his 60's), so this was definitely not inexperience either.

 

[SeaShelley]

It's not your husband"s driving skills you have to worry about- it's everyone else out there driving.

I have good friends who ride (without helmets even) It's their decision. I won't even go for a short ride with K- I'm sure he's a great driver but it's not worth the risk to me.

I feel badly for everyone involved in this accident- the deceased, their families, the other driver and the witnesses.

S will be getting a helmet!