Rockvile Pike closed in both directions in front of NIH...

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Something like 2/3's of motorcycle-car accidents are where the motorcycle is driving straight (with the green light) and the auto driver approaching from the opposite directions makes a left turn in front of the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist has no chance at all to stop or swerve.

Based on the description of the accident in the Post, this is exactly what happened. The bus turned in front of the motorcycle.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 2/3's of motorcycle-car accidents are where the motorcycle is driving straight (with the green light) and the auto driver approaching from the opposite directions makes a left turn in front of the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist has no chance at all to stop or swerve.

Based on the description of the accident in the Post, this is exactly what happened. The bus turned in front of the motorcycle.

This also happened less than two weeks ago on 16th Street during rush hour. Same exact scenario.
Drivers are simply terrible in the DMV.

http://www.popville.com/2015/10/terrible-motorcyclecar-crash-closes-16th-street/

-Daily DCUM Motorcycle Commuter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 2/3's of motorcycle-car accidents are where the motorcycle is driving straight (with the green light) and the auto driver approaching from the opposite directions makes a left turn in front of the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist has no chance at all to stop or swerve.

The automobile driver nearly always says "I did not see the motorcyclist." What they really mean is that they were not paying close attention to the road - usually distracted by a coffee, kids, the radio, a phone, or simply stressed & in a rush - and now someone is dead due to their negligence.

Drivers: please be hyper-aware when you're making a left turn. Motorcyclists are essentially sitting ducks.

-Daily DCUM Motorcycle Commuter

My car has very bad blind spots. I'm not on my phone, in a rush, on the radio and my kid is chilling in the back. I simply cannot see out of the sides and part of the back windows due to the design of the car and car seats. You need to pay attention and be hyper-aware, especially if you are weaving in/out of traffic. And, yes, a new car with all the safety features would be great, but we cannot afford one right now.

Wow, this is some serious rationalization of putting other people's lives at risk. And a huge pile of bullsh#t.
Since you have such a crappy and unwieldy car, I hope you slow down and don't turn or change lanes until you're certain it's safe. However, I doubt that's the case. Hopefully the estate of whomever you will be able to sue you into oblivion and take your house.

-Daily DCUM Motorcycle Commuter

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 2/3's of motorcycle-car accidents are where the motorcycle is driving straight (with the green light) and the auto driver approaching from the opposite directions makes a left turn in front of the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist has no chance at all to stop or swerve.

Based on the description of the accident in the Post, this is exactly what happened. The bus turned in front of the motorcycle.

i almost hit a motorcycle in this exact scenario a week ago. I was turning left and the motorcyclist was speeding towards me. In my case it was going super fast (maybe 40mph in a neighborhood where all streets are 25mph). My brain was auto-scanning for large, lumbering cars and not for the much smaller (and faster) silhouette of a motorcycle.
Thankfully i did see it but it left me shaken. It really seemed to come completely out of nowhere. I wasn't texting, was alone i the car and wasn't distracted. I just wasn't expecting the cycle to appear so quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My car has very bad blind spots. I'm not on my phone, in a rush, on the radio and my kid is chilling in the back. I simply cannot see out of the sides and part of the back windows due to the design of the car and car seats. You need to pay attention and be hyper-aware, especially if you are weaving in/out of traffic. And, yes, a new car with all the safety features would be great, but we cannot afford one right now.

It sounds to me like your car is not safe to drive. In which case you should not drive it, full stop. You are endangering your child and yourself, not to mention everybody else on the road with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

i almost hit a motorcycle in this exact scenario a week ago. I was turning left and the motorcyclist was speeding towards me. In my case it was going super fast (maybe 40mph in a neighborhood where all streets are 25mph). My brain was auto-scanning for large, lumbering cars and not for the much smaller (and faster) silhouette of a motorcycle.
Thankfully i did see it but it left me shaken. It really seemed to come completely out of nowhere. I wasn't texting, was alone i the car and wasn't distracted. I just wasn't expecting the cycle to appear so quickly.

I'm glad that nothing bad happened. From now on I hope that you will watch out for motorcycles, as well as bicyclists and pedestrians -- not just cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

i almost hit a motorcycle in this exact scenario a week ago. I was turning left and the motorcyclist was speeding towards me. In my case it was going super fast (maybe 40mph in a neighborhood where all streets are 25mph). My brain was auto-scanning for large, lumbering cars and not for the much smaller (and faster) silhouette of a motorcycle.
Thankfully i did see it but it left me shaken. It really seemed to come completely out of nowhere. I wasn't texting, was alone i the car and wasn't distracted. I just wasn't expecting the cycle to appear so quickly.

I'm glad that nothing bad happened. From now on I hope that you will watch out for motorcycles, as well as bicyclists and pedestrians -- not just cars.

+1

It's not good enough just to scan for cars. In fact, driver's ed especially stresses to be scanning for pedestrians, motorcyclists, animal, bikers, etc when making turns. This is one of the biggest causes of accidents. Drivers tend to only think about other drivers.

As part of motorcycle ed, they tell us to let off the gas and have your hands ready over the brake if you see a car in the opposite direction getting ready to turn left. Our default expectation should be "This driver turning left does not see me, I need to be prepared to brake HARD." Frankly, it's scary to imagine a driver turning quickly and I always have my headlight on and wear a bright white helmet to increase my visibility to drivers.

-Daily DCUM Motorcycle Commuter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

i almost hit a motorcycle in this exact scenario a week ago. I was turning left and the motorcyclist was speeding towards me. In my case it was going super fast (maybe 40mph in a neighborhood where all streets are 25mph). My brain was auto-scanning for large, lumbering cars and not for the much smaller (and faster) silhouette of a motorcycle.
Thankfully i did see it but it left me shaken. It really seemed to come completely out of nowhere. I wasn't texting, was alone i the car and wasn't distracted. I just wasn't expecting the cycle to appear so quickly.

I'm glad that nothing bad happened. From now on I hope that you will watch out for motorcycles, as well as bicyclists and pedestrians -- not just cars.

+1

It's not good enough just to scan for cars. In fact, driver's ed especially stresses to be scanning for pedestrians, motorcyclists, animal, bikers, etc when making turns. This is one of the biggest causes of accidents. Drivers tend to only think about other drivers.

As part of motorcycle ed, they tell us to let off the gas and have your hands ready over the brake if you see a car in the opposite direction getting ready to turn left. Our default expectation should be "This driver turning left does not see me, I need to be prepared to brake HARD." Frankly, it's scary to imagine a driver turning quickly and I always have my headlight on and wear a bright white helmet to increase my visibility to drivers.

-Daily DCUM Motorcycle Commuter

Yes, and it goes without saying that motorcyclists shouldn't speed. But they break that rule all too often, and they are the ones who suffer most for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, and it goes without saying that motorcyclists shouldn't speed. But they break that rule all too often, and they are the ones who suffer most for it.

In that they are no different from other motorists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

As part of motorcycle ed, they tell us to let off the gas and have your hands ready over the brake if you see a car in the opposite direction getting ready to turn left. Our default expectation should be "This driver turning left does not see me, I need to be prepared to brake HARD." Frankly, it's scary to imagine a driver turning quickly and I always have my headlight on and wear a bright white helmet to increase my visibility to drivers.

But chances are that visibility is not the problem. It's not that you're not visible to drivers. It's that drivers don't see you. You could be decked in circus lights and towing an elephant, and there would still be drivers who didn't see you, because you're not in a car. Drivers need to change their mindset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

i almost hit a motorcycle in this exact scenario a week ago. I was turning left and the motorcyclist was speeding towards me. In my case it was going super fast (maybe 40mph in a neighborhood where all streets are 25mph). My brain was auto-scanning for large, lumbering cars and not for the much smaller (and faster) silhouette of a motorcycle.
Thankfully i did see it but it left me shaken. It really seemed to come completely out of nowhere. I wasn't texting, was alone i the car and wasn't distracted. I just wasn't expecting the cycle to appear so quickly.

I'm glad that nothing bad happened. From now on I hope that you will watch out for motorcycles, as well as bicyclists and pedestrians -- not just cars.

+1

It's not good enough just to scan for cars. In fact, driver's ed especially stresses to be scanning for pedestrians, motorcyclists, animal, bikers, etc when making turns. This is one of the biggest causes of accidents. Drivers tend to only think about other drivers.

As part of motorcycle ed, they tell us to let off the gas and have your hands ready over the brake if you see a car in the opposite direction getting ready to turn left. Our default expectation should be "This driver turning left does not see me, I need to be prepared to brake HARD." Frankly, it's scary to imagine a driver turning quickly and I always have my headlight on and wear a bright white helmet to increase my visibility to drivers.

-Daily DCUM Motorcycle Commuter

Thank you for your comments, Daily DCUM Motorcycle Commuter. I had no idea that the scenario of an oncoming driver turning left was so dangerous for motorcyclists. Because it is harder for motorcyclists to safely slow down if someone tries to squeeze in a left turn, I realize now that people need to be very conservative when making left turns with a motorcycle oncoming. To me this is a real wake-up -- a left turn that likely would not cause an accident with an oncoming car could cause serious injury or death in with a motorcycle, because of the driving mechanics of the motorcycle and not because of outright recklessness by either party.

There was another accident like this on Oct. 11.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Father-of-Three-Killed-in-Motorcycle-Crash-332260962.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 2/3's of motorcycle-car accidents are where the motorcycle is driving straight (with the green light) and the auto driver approaching from the opposite directions makes a left turn in front of the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist has no chance at all to stop or swerve.

Based on the description of the accident in the Post, this is exactly what happened. The bus turned in front of the motorcycle.

i almost hit a motorcycle in this exact scenario a week ago. I was turning left and the motorcyclist was speeding towards me. In my case it was going super fast (maybe 40mph in a neighborhood where all streets are 25mph). My brain was auto-scanning for large, lumbering cars and not for the much smaller (and faster) silhouette of a motorcycle.
Thankfully i did see it but it left me shaken. It really seemed to come completely out of nowhere. I wasn't texting, was alone i the car and wasn't distracted. I just wasn't expecting the cycle to appear so quickly.

You HAVE to always scan for more then large lumbering cars. Especially turning left! People could be crossing the street, they'd have green light. You're the one changing direction so you have to be super vigilant. Looking just for cars means you're only concerned about yourself. I hope that's not the case. Please remember that you have a tendency to go on autopilot and snap yourself to reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My car has very bad blind spots. I'm not on my phone, in a rush, on the radio and my kid is chilling in the back. I simply cannot see out of the sides and part of the back windows due to the design of the car and car seats. You need to pay attention and be hyper-aware, especially if you are weaving in/out of traffic. And, yes, a new car with all the safety features would be great, but we cannot afford one right now.

Your mirrors are probably not adjusted properly. Many people set the side-view mirrors so that they give a view of the back corner of our cars. But the back corner of the car never moves. It always stays in the same exact place. So there's really no reason to keep an eye on it. By moving the side mirrors farther out, you can line up all three of your mirrors so they have minimal overlap -- and you can see everything behind you and beside you.

One trick I use is to adjust my mirrors at a long red light when there are lanes of cars on either side of me. That way I can actively minimize my blind spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My car has very bad blind spots. I'm not on my phone, in a rush, on the radio and my kid is chilling in the back. I simply cannot see out of the sides and part of the back windows due to the design of the car and car seats. You need to pay attention and be hyper-aware, especially if you are weaving in/out of traffic. And, yes, a new car with all the safety features would be great, but we cannot afford one right now.

Wow, this is some serious rationalization of putting other people's lives at risk. And a huge pile of bullsh#t.
Since you have such a crappy and unwieldy car, I hope you slow down and don't turn or change lanes until you're certain it's safe. However, I doubt that's the case. Hopefully the estate of whomever you will be able to sue you into oblivion and take your house.

-Daily DCUM Motorcycle Commuter

NP here. As long as the car drivers take this advice just as seriously as the motorcycle riders (old car driver, surely you agree?), everyone will benefit. Motorcycle Commuter, your description is helpful for drivers, thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 2/3's of motorcycle-car accidents are where the motorcycle is driving straight (with the green light) and the auto driver approaching from the opposite directions makes a left turn in front of the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist has no chance at all to stop or swerve.

Based on the description of the accident in the Post, this is exactly what happened. The bus turned in front of the motorcycle.

This also happened less than two weeks ago on 16th Street during rush hour. Same exact scenario.
Drivers are simply terrible in the DMV.

http://www.popville.com/2015/10/terrible-motorcyclecar-crash-closes-16th-street/

-Daily DCUM Motorcycle Commuter

Motorcyclists and bicyclists face many of the same risks on DC streets. The problem is texting/distracted car and SUV drivers.

This needs to stop.