How not to block traffic

[chornbe]

Takes two to tango.  Idiots abound.

Which I think is the point I was trying to make.

1) obviously the driver in the car is a knucklehead. That much is obvious and not in question.
1a) speciously, this also suggests truck drivers are better, more attentive drivers than the average soccer mom.  

2) Why, oh why, would you put a motocop at risk like that, asking him to stop 2 lanes of highway speed traffic on a bike?   Wouldn't it have been better to have 2 bikes up the road at the previous exit waiting for a radio signal, then have them flow in to traffic and slow the whole line of traffic down from the lane, with lights and all that?

[Justin]

1a) speciously, this also suggests truck drivers are better, more attentive drivers than the average soccer mom.  

You are 100% correct, practice makes perfect. The average driver will be in an accident every 150k miles. The average commercial driver is something like 500k - 750k miles; and most of those accidents are caused by a soccer mom cutting them off.

[Tombstone]

It looks like his vision was blocked by the truck that changed lanes just before and a car as well. I think there is less room there than we see. The depth perception of 2d video doesn't transfer well. They are all moving at 60 + I'm sure. That's 88 FPS, plus about 120 feet to stop. Add those up and in four seconds that's about 400 feet! Plus the two cars behind him would have done the same thing!
I hate packs of cars....

The car driver has at least 8 seconds to react after the truck moves over. Should have been plenty of time. Obviously an inattentive driver.

[Kat-Rider]

Watching it again I think it is mostly the car drivers fault  (99%).  The only fault I would lay on the biker is not leaving himself an escape route.  I think he should have had the bike facing into the on ramp instead of the lane with traffic in it.  He saw the car coming, but with the bike the way it was the only out he had was to launch into traffic.  If he had turned the other way in the lane he could have grabbed some throttle and been in the entrance ramp.

[chornbe]

I didn't say it was the *fault* of the rider... I said it's flat out stupid to put a single bike out there to stop 2 lanes of traffic.

Stupid.

[scramblerracer123]

If this is how the DC police stop freeway traffic I hope they change procedure before someone is hurt.   I agree that the car driver is the one at fault, but that won't keep the motorcop safe.  Don't they have people that think this stuff through before they make procedures?  Without the bike stopping traffic wouldn't a big ambulance with flashing lights and sirens be able to merge just as well?    

[highside]

I didn't say it was the *fault* of the rider... I said it's flat out stupid to put a single bike out there to stop 2 lanes of traffic.

Stupid.

He was only stopping one lane to allow the ambulance to merge.

[tomek]

I hope he made it.

Warning,my attempt at dark humor will be next.






Well,at least it did not take ambulance too long to get there.

[sagerat]

Good lord did that rider catch air.  

Gotta go with 100% driver error.

[scramblerracer123]

I hope he mad it.

Warning,my attempt at dark humor will be next.






Well,at least it did not take ambulance too long to get there.

Someone had to say it, we were all thinking the same thing.

[chornbe]

LOL

[KenH]

That wasn't an ambulance, it was a Krispy Creme truck.

[Craigart14]

The car driver has at least 8 seconds to react after the truck moves over. Should have been plenty of time. Obviously an inattentive driver.

He might not have seen the bike through the car in front of him.  Still, he had about five seconds to react after the car changed lanes.

I will say that the first time I watched it, I had a sinking feeling when he pulled the bike into the lane just in front of a big, vision blocking truck.  Sure, the driver of the yellow car (I hope they throw him UNDER the jail) should have been able to stop safely, but putting yourself in front of oncoming traffic with no way out is a big mistake.

As Mr. Miyagi said, "Best way block punch, no be there."

Craig

[Dan K]

Missed this first time around.  F'ing awful.  Dumb ass cop, dumber driver.  

"I didn't see him"

+1 to whomever said likely reading the paper.  What else could distract you so completely?

- Dan

[Canuck_ST1100]

Not that it matters..... but was it really necessary to block traffic at all?  Not an intersection and the ambulance could simply have merged and gone on it's way.  Hard lesson to learn.

[UFO]

The truck AND car BEHIND THE TRUCK but in front of the yellow car noticed.  What was his excuse?

[Busa@11K]

Guy in the yellow car was another moron asleep at the wheel.    

I do agree that the cop was acting risky by pulling out on the road like that.  In any case, the idiot in the yellow car had plenty of time to see and react accordingly without trying to kill the cycle cop.

[sodapop6620]

Bike escorts happen all the time here in the US - put the blame on the driver not the bike cop.
The truck saw him and pulled over - how could the car driver not see him ....................
Motorcycle escorts are more common in Europe than the US, and the bikes have more visibility with the reflective tape all over them.
Maybe you should see the DC Metro bikes escort dignitaries and the Pres here in the DC Area - they will stop all traffic on surface streets and the freeways for a move - this guy was just holding a lane for the ambulance to be able to get on.
Hopefully the driver gets whats due and the bike cop gets back to work eventually.

DK

They typically have more than 1 motorcop stopping traffic

[spd2918]

Welcome to my world.  We have areas in our city that require two squads to start moving traffic over before it gets to the officer out of his car / off his bike.  Even then some dumbass doesn't merge over until he absolutely has to, leaving the car behind him no room at all (the driver in the video did have time).  Foul weather only makes things worse.  We lose about one car a year to this type of thing.

It is dangerous any time traffic must be changed from its normal flow.  Way too many people drive on autopilot.