Shaken up from seeing an accident

[Canadian144]

Hey everyone,

I'm pretty shaken up right now. I was about 2 minutes away from my home, on Saturday night, when I saw this motorcycle accident. My family and I were coming home from Father's day dinner (yes I know it's on Sunday, but we couldn't get a reservation for Sunday night). It was 11 ish at night (maybe 10:30). Anyways we were coming south on Bathurst Street, and there was a guy on a Kawasaki Ninja 250 who was driving at the same pace as us mostly. We just were going through the Bathurst/Glencairn intersection, and he was in the right lane, and us in the left. He was a few car lengths ahead of us, probably 2 or 3 (you can look up the streets on google maps if you want to, they are in Toronto, Ontario, Canada).

Anyways, this guy in a van pulls out into the cyclist's lane, trying to turn left onto Bathurst (to go north), and stops, completely blocking the cyclist's lane. The motorcyclist then pulls into our lane quickly, to avoid hitting the van, and the van then proceeds to make his turn! The cyclist goes RIGHT into the driver side rear door of the minivan, and basically did a flip up in the air while still holding onto his handlebars. He then lands on his head. The guy in the van KEEPS going, only sort of slowing down. Throughout the WHOLE incident, we could clearly see the van driver looking northbound, at us/the motorcyclist.

My dad was driving at the time, he stops in the middle of Bathurst, we both jump out of the car, first making sure that the guy in the van doesn't take off (I 100% feel that he would have had we not stopped him, just by how his van was positioned and the fact that he didn't bother to check on the cyclist immediately), and then checking the cyclist and calling 911.

Miraculously, the cyclist was fine - no concussion, no broken anything, just a cut on his legs - the ambulance driver was shocked. Not even a crack in his helmet. His bike was pretty much totaled though. The van was dented, but looked drivable. It took about an hour for the cops to show up. We wrote our statement, and that's all that we could do. By this time, the van driver had his lawyers, and some other people all standing by him.

Well waiting for the cops, I was talking with the motorcyclists a bit, told him about how some of my friends rode street bikes, how I ride off-road, and am thinking of getting a street bike. He actually only has his M1 (motorcycle learning permit basically)- and was going to write the full test on Monday. He said one of the restrictions of the M1 is that you can't ride past 1/2 an hour after sunset - well sunset happened at 9:30. He was worried that his insurance wouldn't cover it as a result. He said he was working, and his best friend was having his birthday party, and his friend convinced him to just come up for cake after work and then leave. He stayed a bit later than he planned. He didn't have all of his riding gear either - he was missing his boots and leather pants, luckily he had his jacket, helmet, and gloves, as well as jeans on. Again, he said he wasn't planning on riding up to his buddies at all.n addition, his grandfather died on Father's day a few years ago, so it's always a tough time of year for his family. That was the main thing he said was going through his head at the time of the accident.

I just keep replaying the whole incident in my head - I just can't stop thinking about it. I will probably get no sleep tonight. I really hope that the cops make the right decision and that everything turns out alright for the motorcyclist. I should have got the motorcyclist's phone number...just to see how everything turns out. A piece of his fender now sits on my desk as a reminder of what can happen when you ride a motorcycle... needless to say I highly doubt that I will be buying a street bike now, or ever.

[jesseweaver]

yea stuff happens to quick. its scary to think about :ermm:

[slightlybent47]

I love ridding my 250 duel sport both on and off road, and I do think about what can happen. The best thing about ridding a bike is that there is no cage around you and you feel so free, but without that cage to protect you it makes it much more risky.

I was flagging an evo race a few months ago when a rider died after crashing on the track. I will always remember that, especially since I ride that track all the time.
Things like that tend to stay with you for awhile.

[Canadian144]

Originally posted by jesseweaver
yea stuff happens to quick. its scary to think about :ermm:

It definitely does... it was just like we were right next to the guy for a second... then two blinks of the eye later and the guy is lying on the ground in the middle of the road.

I saw your pics of your R6 on Facebook the other day, nice bike man. Just remember to be safe....


Originally posted by slightlybent47
I love ridding my 250 duel sport both on and off road, and I do think about what can happen. The best thing about ridding a bike is that there is no cage around you and you feel so free, but without that cage to protect you it makes it much more risky.

I was flagging an evo race a few months ago when a rider died after crashing on the track. I will always remember that, especially since I ride that track all the time.
Things like that tend to stay with you for awhile.

It is awesome that there isn't a cage and you are free and exposed... but like you said it is very risky. If I do decided to ever get a bike... it will most definitely be very brightly colored and have a loud exhaust pipe.

It really comes down to... is having that freedom and exposure worth the risk? Obviously the answer is different for everyone .... for me... I'm not sure yet. I always thought that yes, it is worth the risk - but after tonight I'm really not sure anymore.

It must be hard remembering someone dying... personally I've never seen it happen but I'm sure it would stick with me for most of my life... just like what I saw tonight will probably stick with me for a long time.

[slightlybent47]

Originally posted by Canadian144
It definitely does... it was just like we were right next to the guy for a second... then two blinks of the eye later and the guy is lying on the ground in the middle of the road.

I saw your pics of your R6 on Facebook the other day, nice bike man. Just remember to be safe....



It is awesome that there isn't a cage and you are free and exposed... but like you said it is very risky. If I do decided to ever get a bike... it will most definitely be very brightly colored and have a loud exhaust pipe.

It really comes down to... is having that freedom and exposure worth the risk? Obviously the answer is different for everyone .... for me... I'm not sure yet. I always thought that yes, it is worth the risk - but after tonight I'm really not sure anymore.

It must be hard remembering someone dying... personally I've never seen it happen but I'm sure it would stick with me for most of my life... just like what I saw tonight will probably stick with me for a long time.



I agree mine is a Kawasaki and its bright green and my ridding gear is the same bright green, so it makes me more visible. Plus I went to a ridding school as well, so that made me think about some things that i would not have otherwise and you can always learn something. Plus I was able to skip the ridding part of the test to get my drivers license.
Now that I have over 10,000 miles under my belt I want to do the advanced ridding school also. This doesn’t mean nothing will ever happen or that I will be able to do anything if it dose happen but being prepared can’t hurt. And I always wear my gear at all times.


As for the wreck at the track I actually did not see the accident itself and I’m glad I didn’t. The yellow flag went up and then they called for a red flag and stopped the race. Next thing I here over the head set is a call for a ambulance, then a call came out for life flight, then another call goes out from the paramedics to get the life flight to hurry it up. Then they decide that it is too dusty to land on the track so they take him down the road in the ambulance to meat the helicopter. Then a few hours later I here he didn’t make it.

Even though I didn’t know the guy, I’ll remember his name for a long time (Billy Bentaue). This makes all the BS that the bikes and quad rider say about each other, seem so childish and so unnecessary, we all love the same sport we just chose to do it on a deferent machine.

Everyone has to decide if it’s worth the risk or not, but if you do decide to do it just make sure you do everything you can to make it safe.

You never know when it’s going to be your time.
There is no call waiting when the good lord calls you home.


Good luck and ride safe!!

[jesseweaver]

Originally posted by Canadian144

I saw your pics of your R6 on Facebook the other day, nice bike man. Just remember to be safe....





thanks yea i love it but idk its scary but theres no way i could sell it right now. and it sucks when people doing the exact same thing your doing at the exact place your doing it get hurt and dont make it. leaves you thinking "why not me?" a lot

Thats the problem with motorcycles, yes a lot of accidents are from people doing stupid things but other drivers either dont see them or dont realise that they cant just stop on a dime.

[reptikes]

Originally posted by Canadian144
Hey everyone,

I'm pretty shaken up right now. I was about 2 minutes away from my home, on Saturday night, when I saw this motorcycle accident. My family and I were coming home from Father's day dinner (yes I know it's on Sunday, but we couldn't get a reservation for Sunday night). It was 11 ish at night (maybe 10:30). Anyways we were coming south on Bathurst Street, and there was a guy on a Kawasaki Ninja 250 who was driving at the same pace as us mostly. We just were going through the Bathurst/Glencairn intersection, and he was in the right lane, and us in the left. He was a few car lengths ahead of us, probably 2 or 3 (you can look up the streets on google maps if you want to, they are in Toronto, Ontario, Canada).

Anyways, this guy in a van pulls out into the cyclist's lane, trying to turn left onto Bathurst (to go north), and stops, completely blocking the cyclist's lane. The motorcyclist then pulls into our lane quickly, to avoid hitting the van, and the van then proceeds to make his turn! The cyclist goes RIGHT into the driver side rear door of the minivan, and basically did a flip up in the air while still holding onto his handlebars. He then lands on his head. The guy in the van KEEPS going, only sort of slowing down. Throughout the WHOLE incident, we could clearly see the van driver looking northbound, at us/the motorcyclist.

My dad was driving at the time, he stops in the middle of Bathurst, we both jump out of the car, first making sure that the guy in the van doesn't take off (I 100% feel that he would have had we not stopped him, just by how his van was positioned and the fact that he didn't bother to check on the cyclist immediately), and then checking the cyclist and calling 911.

Miraculously, the cyclist was fine - no concussion, no broken anything, just a cut on his legs - the ambulance driver was shocked. Not even a crack in his helmet. His bike was pretty much totaled though. The van was dented, but looked drivable. It took about an hour for the cops to show up. We wrote our statement, and that's all that we could do. By this time, the van driver had his lawyers, and some other people all standing by him.

Well waiting for the cops, I was talking with the motorcyclists a bit, told him about how some of my friends rode street bikes, how I ride off-road, and am thinking of getting a street bike. He actually only has his M1 (motorcycle learning permit basically)- and was going to write the full test on Monday. He said one of the restrictions of the M1 is that you can't ride past 1/2 an hour after sunset - well sunset happened at 9:30. He was worried that his insurance wouldn't cover it as a result. He said he was working, and his best friend was having his birthday party, and his friend convinced him to just come up for cake after work and then leave. He stayed a bit later than he planned. He didn't have all of his riding gear either - he was missing his boots and leather pants, luckily he had his jacket, helmet, and gloves, as well as jeans on. Again, he said he wasn't planning on riding up to his buddies at all.n addition, his grandfather died on Father's day a few years ago, so it's always a tough time of year for his family. That was the main thing he said was going through his head at the time of the accident.

I just keep replaying the whole incident in my head - I just can't stop thinking about it. I will probably get no sleep tonight. I really hope that the cops make the right decision and that everything turns out alright for the motorcyclist. I should have got the motorcyclist's phone number...just to see how everything turns out. A piece of his fender now sits on my desk as a reminder of what can happen when you ride a motorcycle... needless to say I highly doubt that I will be buying a street bike now, or ever.

Not to sound ignorant... but that is nothig to lose sleep over or to deter you from getting a motorcycle. :confused:

Stuff like that happen to people everyday NO MATTER what they are driving. And to top it off the guy is fine!

[steel1]

Ya, that would ruin the night for sure. Glad the biker got up........many dont. Makes u want to punch the van driver in the face for being such an ignorant driver. Alot of times u see these crotch rockets acting foolish in traffic,asking for trouble sometimes they find it. Feel bad for the guys that are just mindin their own then pow. Dont loose any sleep over it, could have been much worse. If u seen pcs of his head all over the road then loose some sleep.

[Canadian144]

Thanks for all the replies guys!


Originally posted by slightlybent47
I agree mine is a Kawasaki and its bright green and my ridding gear is the same bright green, so it makes me more visible. Plus I went to a ridding school as well, so that made me think about some things that i would not have otherwise and you can always learn something. Plus I was able to skip the ridding part of the test to get my drivers license.
Now that I have over 10,000 miles under my belt I want to do the advanced ridding school also. This doesn’t mean nothing will ever happen or that I will be able to do anything if it dose happen but being prepared can’t hurt. And I always wear my gear at all times.

Unfortunately for the guy in the accident, his Ninja was black, and so was his jacket. I think/hope if he decides to continue to ride, he will get a brightly colored bike... if it's another Ninja 250, hopefully it's bright green as well.

A riding school definitely sounds necessary. If I do decide to ride on the streets, I will make sure to go to one. I will also not ride until I bought all of my gear .... and I will try my best to buy the best quality stuff I can, even if it means getting a slower bike.


Originally posted by FlewByU352
Thats the problem with motorcycles, yes a lot of accidents are from people doing stupid things but other drivers either dont see them or dont realise that they cant just stop on a dime.

Yup, the percentage of times in a motorcycle accident when the cause of the accident is the motorcyclist's is so small.... it's ridiculous.

I'd say the times when it IS the motorcyclist's fault, it's because they are showing off or stunting or just being an idiot (like the guys I see doing 120 mph on the highway wearing a t-shirt and shorts).


Originally posted by reptikes
Not to sound ignorant... but that is nothig to lose sleep over or to deter you from getting a motorcycle. :confused:

Stuff like that happen to people everyday NO MATTER what they are driving. And to top it off the guy is fine!

I just keep seeing it over and over again in my head... I've watched thousands of videos on youtube of motorcycle accidents and car accidents, but this was the first time I saw one up close, and I dunno, it just really seems to have affected me somehow. The fact that the driver of the van was ready to take off, and the guy could have been dead, just lying on the road kinda scares me. I can't really explain it though.... it's weird.


Originally posted by steel1
Ya, that would ruin the night for sure. Glad the biker got up........many dont. Makes u want to punch the van driver in the face for being such an ignorant driver. Alot of times u see these crotch rockets acting foolish in traffic,asking for trouble sometimes they find it. Feel bad for the guys that are just mindin their own then pow. Dont loose any sleep over it, could have been much worse. If u seen pcs of his head all over the road then loose some sleep.

I was almost ready to punch the d-bag in the face... and after having today to reflect on the whole incident, if I ever see the guy again, I probably will. Not only for being ready to take off, but also for not stopping right away after the accident. The motorcyclist very easily could have been trapped under the van, or could have had a part of his body stuck in the van... and then what? He would have just been dragged around.

When the guy stopped, he didn't even get out of his car to check on the motorcyclist. He was sitting in his van looking at the motorcyclist lying on the ground. He didn't care about whether or not he was OK or not - I really think that he would have taken off if the guy had been moving around immediately, and if we hadn't been there. I just hope that if we hadn't been there, and the motorcyclist had been unable to move, that he would have gotten out of his van to check on him.

Like I said, my dad and I were at the motorcyclist's side before the other guy was even out of his van. My door was open the minute I saw the accident happen. After I called 911, the guy in the van said something like "are the police also coming, because I want to leave" - something along those lines. He was more interested and concerned with getting home quickly than with the motorcyclist. It makes me sick thinking that people can be this selfish.

And yeah, talking about it with friends today and on various online communities has made me feel more comfortable about it, and I hopefully can stop worrying about it.

[BlaineKaiser450]

I had a kind of similar expirience when I was 10. There we some boat drags, and there was a big bridge going over the river, so my dad and I were watching from there. I happened to turn around at just the right time to see a drunk lady hop over the guard between the sidewalk and the road, and walk into traffic going 50 mph and get nailed by a mustang. I still think of that every time I cross a street. Everytime.

[F-16Guy]

If it were up to me, anyone who went to the DMV to register a van or a Buick would have their license permanently revoked. If you own a van, you're a scumbag or a child molester, and if you own a Buick, you're too damned old to be on the road!!:mad: :macho

[krt400ex]

the other night i rolled up on a ninja250 a guy had just laid it down in the middle of an intersection. i had seen other cars drive by and not even help the kid. i stopped and jumped out. its fortunate he was completely ok. he only slightly scratched the bike and took one of the mirrors off. the kid was small. he couldnt pick the bike up by himself. i had to pick it up for him. even though it wasnt something too serious it still puts the thought in your head. i've been straying from a bike for a while now cuz i'm afraid of killing myself

[yam450_53]

Don't worry you'll get over it, you are still in a state of shock. It probably has to do with the fact that it happened so fast, it's like a flash, it stays in your head. I had a similar experience not too long ago.

Last spring my buddy and I were going out of town to get the sled he had just bought, and on the way there we witnessed a young girl die from a car crash. She had passed us about 5 minutes earlier doing about 160 km/h if not more... in a kia. The first few minutes we got to the scene of the accident I thought to myself wow, that girl was still alive about 5 minutes ago. We saw the meds trying to bring her back to life pumping her chest. She was gone though.

Next day it was like I had forgotten all about it, it didn't really affect me. My buddy on the other hand said he had trouble sleeping the next two weeks, which I think is a bit of an overreaction. You sound like you're a pretty sensible person, don't think too much about it, move on. I feel for you though, the guy in the van sounds like he was a real douchebag. He would have a deserved a good *** whipping. It's a good thing the motorcyclist is fine.

If I had a bike I wouldn't be scared of crashing, I would be scared of ignorant drivers who think they're alone on the road. Accidents happen so quickly, people should be safer out there and think more about the other people sharing the road with them. There are so many bad drivers and old people driving you have to be careful.

[slightlybent47]

Motorcycles are very dangerous but that also brings some of the excitement to the experience as well. Unlike driving a car there are so many things that can cause you to crash that it really keeps you on your toes. Simple things like a little bit of sand or gravel on the road or gaps in the pavement or when it’s wet or windy or derbies in the road or pot holes or man hole covers, stray animals or deer, and riding at night is even more dangerous then during the day.
I do recommend a motorcycle tanning cores of some kind for everyone that rides on the street regardless of there skill level.