Durham police report a rise in serious motorcycle collisions

[turbodish]

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Reading that article, it sounds as if every motorcycle was at fault in those accidents.

You don't like squids, and that's fine, but from what I have seen there have been a large number of fatal crashes that were non-squid.

I wish more riders would pay attention to the concepts about SMIDSY in my signature and in the thread I started in the general forum as i suspect many of the crashes could be avoided by using the principles that are championed.

..Tom

So since Durham issued their statement of concern about a rise in serious motorcycle crashes, along come a few more fatalities within days.

With respect to SMIDSY, though it is a factor, I think that there are other factors at work this year. This year at least, primary cause of the majority (though certainly not all) of the fatals seems to rest with the riders.

This is a breakdown of 33 fatalities that I was able to find so far this year. I'm sure there are a few I missed, but there's enough here to give a snapshot of what's happening out there.

33 fatal crashes, Date, approx location, rider name if known and ? if not known, crash synopsis.
17-Apr sarnia ? lost control, excess speed, hit curb and fence
30-Apr gardiner expressway Gauthier lost control, flew over median, landed in oncoming traffic
5-May kitchener Lazic high speed in city, lost control
5-May waterloo Summer lost control on curve
13-May west lincoln Yellow car at fault head-on
13-May kemptville sutcliffe bike crossed in front of highway traffic
31-May brantford ? intersection crash, no details, unknown fault
1-Jun 401 Oshawa Forsythe rear ended car, fell under truck
5-Jun Elgin Cty Gilders lost control, left road
6-Jun west lincoln ? rider crossed center line on bend, hit oncoming truck
8-Jun highway 9 ? ran into back of car
9-Jun keele and 9 ? lost control, left road
11-Jun ottawa adamo lost control, hit culvert
12-Jun highway 9 metcalfe car lost control after collision with other car, crossed into opposing lane and hit oncoming rider
17-Jun cornwall randlett truck left turn in front of bike
17-Jun ottawa thibodeau bike hit deer
17-Jun fenelon falls Keveza bike swerved into oncoming traffic
19-Jun sarnia Wardell intersection collision with van, van believed at fault
30-Jun north pickering ? car left turn in front of bike
3-Jul elmira martin truck left turn in front of bike
4-Jul drayton Tennant bike ran stop sign, hit car
7-Jul Pickering Bayly Tony Excess speed around corner, went wide, hit car starting to make left turn into driveway
11-Jul niagara falls ? lost control, hit abutment
13-Jul embrun forgues intersection, unknown fault
17-Jul 401@Hanlon Collins ran into left turner at high speed while running from police
17-Jul Powassan Muldowney lost control, ran off road
20-Jul norval ? lost control, hit tree
26-Jul Owen Sound McCartney car left turn in front of bike
2-Aug Vaughan Torchia truck made left turn/ rider lost control, possible excess speed?
2-Aug windsor Abbas excess speed, wide on turn, head-on into truck
4-Aug deep river Briere Lost control while passing, left road landed in ditch
7-Aug toronto(dixon rd) ? Lane split(?), high speed through intersection, hit by left turner
8-Aug 410@Steeles ? Rider excess speed in morning rush hour traffic ran into back of large truck

 

[Dohhh]

Or maybe it's just perfect weather means more kilometers rode (on average) compared to other summers.

Common sense is not allowed in the world of law enforcement and the media in general. BTW in november there was 300% more snow than october hahah
These guys can spin statistics to fit whatever they like, after a long weekend or whenever they want to pat themselves on the back the statistics show a decline, when they want to come up with new laws or do a blitz its always an increase they find...

How about they remind cars to look before changing lanes or maybe look twice before making a left?

 

[turbodish]

How about they remind cars to look before changing lanes or maybe look twice before making a left?

Common sense indeed. We're at 33 fatal rider crashes that I've been able to find for this year (I'm sure I've missed a few) and we are at or slightly past the half way point of the season. Year 2008 had 53 total motorcycle fatalities for the entire season.

Look again at the list of fatal crashes this year. Almost half were rider-only crashes, no other vehicle involved. Of the remainder that involved contact with another vehicle, about half or so were rider at fault.

 

[Dohhh]

Common sense indeed. We're at 33 fatal rider crashes that I've been able to find for this year (I'm sure I've missed a few) and we are at or slightly past the half way point of the season. Year 2008 had 53 total motorcycle fatalities for the entire season.

Look again at the list of fatal crashes this year. Almost half were rider-only crashes, no other vehicle involved. Of the remainder that involved contact with another vehicle, about half or so were rider at fault.

Thank you for proving my point lol

If half were rider only then the other half involved other vehicles. If half of the wrecks that involved other vehicle were the fault of the bikers that means the other half was the fault of the car. You sure you dont work for the sun or the opp?

 

[koFFey]

Spike is due to left turning, and cell busy tards.

Sent from my HTCHD7 using Board Express

 

[turbodish]

Thank you for proving my point lol

If half were rider only then the other half involved other vehicles. If half of the wrecks that involved other vehicle were the fault of the bikers that means the other half was the fault of the car. You sure you dont work for the sun or the opp?

That still leaves primary fault for most motorcycle fatalities with the riders themselves. That's the point. Instead of people constantly pointing to evil cagers, if riders could get their act together themselves the number of entries in the Riders Down section would fall dramatically.

Spike is due to left turning, and cell busy tards.

Look again. There really aren't that many left turn crashes (especially where the rider is faultless) in the fatality column for the year.

 

[DaFrEnCh-TiCkLeR]

Common sense indeed. We're at 33 fatal rider crashes that I've been able to find for this year (I'm sure I've missed a few) and we are at or slightly past the half way point of the season. Year 2008 had 53 total motorcycle fatalities for the entire season.

Look again at the list of fatal crashes this year. Almost half were rider-only crashes, no other vehicle involved. Of the remainder that involved contact with another vehicle, about half or so were rider at fault.

Considering the riders arent there to give their side of the stories, allot of those rely on hersay and theories and witnesses. thats no fact. There's allot more that needs to be compiled before you can offer any kind of statistic #1 being the ammount of riders on the road. math those up and you might get somewhere.

 

[Tornique]

Maybe. The weather has been a bit warmer for riding this year (and at times actually too warm for some over the last few weeks), but last year wasn't bad for riding either. I don't know if there would be that massive a difference in riding seat time for this year vs last.

What's the usual frequency of serious crashes? I don't recall serious and fatal crashes last year being anywhere near the same rate as this year. Can any increased serious crash frequency (double?) actually have a direct correlation to any supposed increase in motorcycle seat time?

Actually the hot weather stayed away for a while this year, so I'd say our riding season is shorter this year versus last thus far and we still have an increase of motorcycle deaths? Not the best of news.

 

[Dohhh]

Considering the riders arent there to give their side of the stories, allot of those rely on hersay and theories and witnesses. thats no fact. There's allot more that needs to be compiled before you can offer any kind of statistic #1 being the ammount of riders on the road. math those up and you might get somewhere.

ya but if they're riding a "yamaha racing model bike" and witnesses say the bike was going fast because the exhaust was loud its a case closed for the cops

 

[DaFrEnCh-TiCkLeR]

ya but if they're riding a "yamaha racing model bike" and witnesses say the bike was going fast because the exhaust was loud its a case closed for the cops

Exactly

 

[turbodish]

Considering the riders arent there to give their side of the stories, allot of those rely on hersay and theories and witnesses. thats no fact. There's allot more that needs to be compiled before you can offer any kind of statistic #1 being the ammount of riders on the road. math those up and you might get somewhere.

Whenever there's a crash fatality, the highway gets shut down for hours while police reconstruct the crash. Between marks and debris trails on pavement, witness testimony, and police crash reconstruction experts, the result is usually a fairly accurate idea of exactly what happened in most cases. That IS fact.

 

[HA3AP]

I'd say that the weather has a huge impact, especially the extremely hot days, now wearing a lid on top and most of the gear does increase dehydration and decrease concentration levels. The worst part is that you do not feel any impact until its too late. Hence higher accident levels.

 

[turbodish]

ya but if they're riding a "yamaha racing model bike" and witnesses say the bike was going fast because the exhaust was loud its a case closed for the cops

Ok, then what caused the car to suddenly change direction and literally jump sideways to land 20 to 25 feet away from where it was hit? Do you think a little low-speed love tap would cause that 400-pound bike to make that sort of impression on 3400 pounds worth of car and driver?

 

[EngineerJoe]

turbodish, how fast before the issue is deemed a result of "speeding"? I'm sure doing 85km/h in an 70km/h zone may result in me being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but a left turning or lane changing cager entering my path and causing an accident when I'm reasonably over the limit is still to blame.

And we all know the validity of eye-witnesses. A lot of them are heavily influenced by their already biased opinion. ie All Harley riders are members of Hells Angels and all sport bike riders lane split at 200km/h.

 

[DaFrEnCh-TiCkLeR]

Whenever there's a crash fatality, the highway gets shut down for hours while police reconstruct the crash. Between marks and debris trails on pavement, witness testimony, and police crash reconstruction experts, the result is usually a fairly accurate idea of exactly what happened in most cases. That IS fact.

Put the Kool aid down pal, Find me something to back up your claim that these so called experts are never wrong and well talk.

A fairly idea is not a 100% fact

Nice try

try tossing something else in the air to see what sticks

 

[turbodish]

turbodish, how fast before the issue is deemed a result of "speeding"? I'm sure doing 85km/h in an 70km/h zone may result in me being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but a left turning or lane changing cager entering my path and causing an accident when I'm reasonably over the limit is still to blame.

And we all know the validity of eye-witnesses. A lot of them are heavily influenced by their already biased opinion. ie All Harley riders are members of Hells Angels and all sport bike riders lane split at 200km/h.

If your 85 in a 70 is happening as you lane-split or weave in and out of slower traffic, don't you think that it would be fair to say that excess speed would be a major contributing factor if a left-turner should pull out in front of you while you were hidden between or behind a slower vehicle that you're about to blast past? That's one example of what's considered excessive speed. Just simple minor amounts over the speed limit would not be considered "excess" speed as far as crash causation or aggravation is concerned.

Eyewitnesses are just part of the equation. The gouge marks, debris, fluid, and skid trails on the pavement really don't care who made them and aren't prone to influence. The crash reconstruction experts that appear at virtually all fatalities are more than any well aware that witness testimony can be flawed, and keep that in mind when examining the available physical evidence. The examination is usually quite painstaking, painstaking enough to keep highways closed for many hours while they go through all the evidence.

 

[Dohhh]

turbodish, how fast before the issue is deemed a result of "speeding"? I'm sure doing 85km/h in an 70km/h zone may result in me being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but a left turning or lane changing cager entering my path and causing an accident when I'm reasonably over the limit is still to blame.

And we all know the validity of eye-witnesses. A lot of them are heavily influenced by their already biased opinion. ie All Harley riders are members of Hells Angels and all sport bike riders lane split at 200km/h.

Ya i have a few of these so called witnesses living on my street. I would drive my camaro with a loud exhaust in first gear slowly accelerating as they run out of their house waving their hands and yelling at me to slow down... as i peak down at my speedometer and notice im doing 20 km/h in a 50 zone hahaha

These same "witnesses" will hear a bike accelerate from 40-80 km hard in 1st gear and will swear the bike was doing atleast 200km/h...

 

[turbodish]

Put the Kool aid down pal, Find me something to back up your claim that these so called experts are never wrong and well talk.

A fairly idea is not a 100% fact

Nice try

try tossing something else in the air to see what sticks

Ok, what sort of accuracy would YOU put on their crash investigation outcomes? And back it up please.

 

[Dohhh]

If your 85 in a 70 is happening as you lane-split or weave in and out of slower traffic, don't you think that it would be fair to say that excess speed would be a major contributing factor if a left-turner should pull out in front of you while you were hidden between or behind a slower vehicle that you're about to blast past? That's one example of what's considered excessive speed. Just simple minor amounts over the speed limit would not be considered "excess" speed as far as crash causation or aggravation is concerned.

Eyewitnesses are just part of the equation. The gouge marks, debris, fluid, and skid trails on the pavement really don't care who made them and aren't prone to influence. The crash reconstruction experts that appear at virtually all fatalities are more than any well aware that witness testimony can be flawed, and keep that in mind when examining the available physical evidence. The examination is usually quite painstaking, painstaking enough to keep highways closed for many hours while they go through all the evidence.

you do have a point, however to me it doesnt matter if you were riding 40km/h or 80km/h, if a car turns left in front of you there should be some accountability for that, not just a minor traffic ticket

 

[CruisnGrrl]

[video=youtube;aX6XMIldkRU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX6XMIldkRU[/video]

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