Group Riding Accident Video-Bob's Final Ruling

[bobhamlin]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2a3_1272417187

Does it look like the first bike just fell without reason? Did the trailing bike fall trying to avoid the front bike?

It doesn't look like the trailing bike rubbed wheels with the front bike to cause the accident. Input?

[fish]

maybe the first guy fell asleep and the second just freak because of it :-/

[sly]

Maybe more preoccupied by the camera than the road...., lucky the second bike rolled over him and not on him. The "funny" thing is that I just read the thread on helmets, yes or no! I'm going for yes. Safe riding everyone.

[dabull]

wow, that sux.

Looks like first rider not paying attention? Hit his rear brak (puff of smoke) then locked his front brakecausing the bike to dump?

Second rider locks up and dumps in effort to miss first rider?

[dantama]

Originally Posted by DaBull

wow, that sux.

Looks like first rider not paying attention? Hit his rear brak (puff of smoke) then locked his front brakecausing the bike to dump?

Second rider locks up and dumps in effort to miss first rider?

That's how I see it too. Locks the rear brake for no reason at all. I wonder if he was inexperienced and was going to down shift and get more sound for the camera, and instead of stomping down on the gear shift, stomped on the brake?

Whatever the reason in his head, he was going long fine and for no reason locked up his rear brake. As soon as it happened, the rear stepped out to our right, and he instinctively put down his foot and and dragged himself off the bike.

The guy behind him was riding in staggered formation and only needed to swerve a little to miss it all. The other rider bringing up the rear rode through it all, and he could have too. But he seemed to have instantly locked his up too.

The first rider to go down won't have any good excuse at all, the second guy will turn it into something like, "I had to lay it down to try and miss Dave when he went down".

He could have easily moved over a little and ridden right past it all.

[Yellow Jacket]

Geeze Louise! I could see absolutely no reason for this accident. Obviously, he must have hit his rear brake.

The main thing I noticed however, was the lack of riding gear! No gloves, short sleeve shirt, blue jeans. Lots of road rash I bet!

Also, the first bike that went down darn near righted itself once the rider had fallen off.

Gear people, wear some gear!

[dougster]

Well said, Bob!

[dougster]

I had a couple of thoughts: It almost seems as if the first guy fell off the bike. The bike is not even down yet, when he is off the bike and on the pavement. Second, is it possible his rear wheel locked up for some reason? I wish they would have run it forward in slow motion instead of backward. Might help.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

One thing I did notice was the second bike that went down was running a little too close to the other. Might could have avoided the crash if he had kept a little more distance. I ran the video three times and still couldn't really tell for sure what caused the first one to go down. I don't think the guy behind rubbed his tire but then again he was pretty close.

[rickyboy]

I thought the same as Dan and Derry. You can see the puff of smoke when he hit the rear brake. The fellow behind him seemed to have a lot of room and didn't touch the frt. man.

I think I did much the same thing when I first saw the deer that hit my wife and I a few years back.
I didn't lock the frt. brake up or put my foot down. The deer struck us before I could. Or I might have done that too.

[dantama]

Originally Posted by Yellow Jacket

The main thing I noticed however, was the lack of riding gear! No gloves, short sleeve shirt, blue jeans. Lots of road rash I bet!


Gear people, wear some gear!

I thought the same thing when it was going slow motion backwards. Watching him instinctively put his arms out and knowing the pavement was taking chunks out of his palms, elbows and forearms was hard to watch. Bet he was wishing he had at least some gloves on now.

Originally Posted by dougster

I had a couple of thoughts: It almost seems as if the first guy fell off the bike. The bike is not even down yet, when he is off the bike and on the pavement. Second, is it possible his rear wheel locked up for some reason? I wish they would have run it forward in slow motion instead of backward. Might help.

It looked like he didn't just put his foot out reflexively, looked like he jabbed it into the pavement and being at speed it pulled it backwards and dragged him off the bike.

Originally Posted by AlabamaNomadRider

I don't think the guy behind rubbed his tire but then again he was pretty close.

He was staggered, and so he couldn't have hit the tire of the guy in front. He certainly had no reason to go down himself.

[ercbf]

Improper shift? Locking up the rear wheel? Is that possible?

[johnb]

Seems like the first rider locked the rear and then put his foot down. He obviously didn't know what to do if he locked the rear wheel up at speed. The second guy apparently locked his and ended up doing the same thing. Don't know why the first guy would've locked his brake, seemed like he had enough space between him and the guy in front.

I've done that myself out of reflex, when the guy in front of me overcorrected his speed and locked up the rear brake and I then did the same. We didn't go down, I knew once the brake was locked to keep it locked until the bike was straight and controllable.

Just reinforces the importance of maintaining our emergency braking skills and wearing "all the gear, all the time". If you do go down, you definitely won't get as bashed up and maybe don't get seriously hurt.

[ringadingh]

I think either way its lack of skill or poor judgement.

[peterdarby]

I would have to cast my ballet with locking the back brake, although the puff of smoke could be from the sudden sliding of the back tire. I saw the same thing on a car that lost traction and went into a skid. His wheels started smoking right away. But it is pretty obvious that the whole group isn't very experienced. Between the lack of safety gear on almost anyone to the lack of riding skills. by the people behind the first bike down. I would say that while they may have been riding awhile, they didn't use their time in the saddle learning much.