Lane splitting - please take care.

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Watty

Race Dog
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Messages
3,954
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Location
Port Elizabeth
Bike
Suzuki Djebel 250XC
PLEASE ... take care out there. 

Witnessed a rider on a silver BMW 1150GS that was busy lane splitting take out a cyclist on the way to work this morning.  The incident happened @ 06h55 at the intersection of the N2 off-ramp going towards Uitenhage on the R75 (opposite the Continental Tyre factory).  As the BMW rider was squeezed his way through between a big truck on his left and another vehicle on his right, doing so in my opinion at an unsafe speed, I could not help but thought "Now this guy is taking risks".  And as fate would have it ... something went wrong! 

At the intersection a newspaper delivery cyclist was crossing the off-ramp road leading from the N2, riding between the pedestrian crossing lines where the off-ramp road turns into the R75.  His misfortune was that the big truck to the left of the motorcyclist obscured the vision of the rider, who was IMHO going much to fast anyway.  Both BMW and bicycle went down ... newspapers, pieces of expensive BMW indicator lenses and satchels flying.

Fortunately no broken bones or open wounds, only brushes and scratches.  The Guardian Angles were spot on this morning.  Some damage to both BMW and bicycle with the bicycle coming off second best with a buckled wheel.

Now, the reasons I want to post this "little" incident that will most likely not even be remembered for long by the morning rush-hour commuters are:

1.  The motorcyclist was lane splitting in a dangerous manner - at high speed, squeezing with a big heavy bike through small gaps, and not taking cognizance of potential obstructions (view blocked by truck) whilst doing so.
2.  After the collision the rider got up, limped to this bike while shouting abuse at the cyclist for being in the wrong place and causing the accident, picked the 1150GS up and simply rode away!  Never mind if there was any injuries to the other party, getting info re reporting the accident, etc.  Perhaps this was not unexpected after witnessing his attitude towards safe riding .....

In conclusion:
When line splitting please take care and do so at safe speeds.  I witnessed the morning just how quickly a mishap can occur.

 
 
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