Quote: (01-30-2014 05:34 PM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:
To be fair, this gif that I grabbed on random looks like the motorcycle guy recklessly drove at 100 km/h (or more) through a tight urban area and slammed into a car that was properly pulling into the gas station. A normal person who doesn't violate traffic rules is in no danger of that, motorcycle or not. The area where motorcycles are extremely dangerous is in accidents inflicted by others. Even a car just mildly touching you in a moment of deconcentration is capable of knocking you down with a broken limb or neck. Whereas if you were in a car as well, even the flimsiest shell would have protected you from all but the most violent impact. And that's not even taking into account airbags and seatbelts.
Note: I am just speculating based on what traffic accidents I've seen and heard of. I have never owned or used a motorcycle.
I look at the image over and over... and it looks pretty bad for the rider... no matter how the accident happened... and even if the car was in the correct.
It is possible that if the rider were to land in fluffy grass or in a decline or flat a area, then maybe he could be ok from rolling through it.. but you can see that within a fraction of a second he is propelled into several flips like a ragdoll and if he had hit some immobile object (such as that tree or a pole), he surely would have suffered irreversible and deadly internal organ damage from the impact. ... smooshed like a pancake...
There is a certain mindset that can be helpful when riding a motorcycle in terms of dealing with other traffic, going with the flow and being alert for escape routes and blind spots and for what people do... and the rider may or may NOT have been doing something wrong in terms of speed or attention paying... even if he was doing something wrong, it was probably NOT worthy of a likely death sentence.
In my years riding motorbike, I had a few nearly deadly misses.. and those near misses did NOT stop me from getting into future stupid situations... And, sometimes there is NO escape route for the guy on the motorcycle to recover or to adjust from a motorist who may have made the mistake.
Having said that, motorcycles can surely be fun and convenient modes of transport and/or recreation.