I just witnessed a fatal accident....

[PCIntern]

Not my first, but frightening nonetheless.

We were headed east on the Atlantic City Expressway coming from Philly, and I know most of you have experienced this, about 15 high performance motorcycles came out of nowhere and passed us in between cars which themselves were doing between 65 and 75 mph. They swept past us like we were in reverse… Weaving in and out of traffic and generally scaring the shit out of everybody. The noise as you all know is almost deafening. My guess is that the minimum speed was 130 mph.

About two minutes after that occurred the traffic just came to a dead stop and after another 10th of a mile of crawling and people signaling to move to the right in the 3 lane Highway, we started to see motorcycle parts on the road And there were a couple of cars stopped and slightly ajar so to speak in the lanes. The closer we got to the incident the more motorcycle parts were on the road and we saw from about 50 yards what looked like a woman performing CPR which went on for about three or four minutes and she ceased. Stood up. And slowly walked away. I cannot imagine how many times this cycle must’ve flipped over before it came to rest my guess would be upwards of 10 just based upon the distance the parts covered. .


Just a little bit past that there was another cycle on its side against the median strip, the so-called Jersey barrier, and I don’t know where that rider was. The strange part so to speak was that when they zoomed past me, I thought to myself one day somebody’s gonna die because of this, either a rider or a driver who is so frightened by what happens suddenly that he or she drives the car off the road and plummets to their death. I will say that this is the closest I have ever had a cyclist zoom past my driver’s door I would say about 18 to 24 inches, no more. I don’t know if that’s the gentleman who was killed but it was scary AF. I have witnessed people falling out of buildings twice in my life and a fatal automobile accident which consisted of a speeding car zooming past me and then hitting a bridge abutment on US 309 N. of Philadelphia back when I was in college. There was something about this however that was just transcendentally horrifying.

In times like these, I wonder what the man’s compatriots are thinking right now, as it occurred to me that next weekend they’ll be out doing the exact same thing because that’s how we are wired. It’s sort of like listening to all of Trump’s lies and then his acolytes are just assuming that he’s telling the truth next time. And the next time. And the next. And before you know it, you’re dead or indicted.

[Nevilledog]

1. Umm.... People falling out of buildings?

You in Russia?

We tried to be a motorcycle couple although I'd never ride on public roads. That stopped when my husband was hit by a vehicle head on. SUV decided to pass another vehicle in a blind corner and hit him. Luckily, hubby *only* suffered a broken kneecap after being thrown about 30 feet.

[PCIntern]

3. Graduate student at 36th and Chestnut in 1978 at Penn,

and a Temple University student on 16th Street who fell onto a woman also nearly killing her as well. Both suicides.

Horrifying.

[barbtries]

25. had to be.

i have twice been in situations, not where i might witness a person die, but once where i saw a dog about to be hit in the street and another time when a person ran in front of my car into approaching traffic. The car on my left couldn't see him and hit him. In both situations I covered my eyes as if by reflex. With the dog, my young daughter was with my ex and me and i kept my eyes on him as i covered her eyes; with the person, i put my head into my son's lap.

I still remember the look on my ex's face when the dog was struck, and my son's voice when he said, "he hit him."

I just can't. You have been unlucky in this regard.

[alphafemale]

28. People jump and fall out of buildings. In the US. Fairly frequently.

Usually the falling is trusting that their windows or balconies are secure.

Anything over a second floor is likely to be deadly or life altering.

[Rebl2]

48. I remember

in the 70’s when I was in college a friend was driving to class on a highway, and she witnessed a man jump from an overpass. She was of course very upset when she got to class. This was of course before cell phones. Don’t remember if she stopped somewhere and called the police to report it. All I remember is how very upset she was.

[SharonAnn]

30. My father forbade us to drive/ride motorcycles. He was a trauma surgeon.

Obviously he saw some pretty gruesome injuries/deaths from motorcycle accidents.

He said it doesn’t matter how good a driver you are, you can’t control for other drivers, gravel, ice, deer running onto the road, etc. You have no protection on a motorcycle.

At least you have some protection in a car.

[paleotn]

45. Same here, but he really didn't have to...

As mom would say, I was born 40 years old. Motorcycles? Way to many "what ifs" with really bad endings for me to take such risks. My partner worked ER in Nashville for a time. Too much adrenaline even for her, so she moved to the OR and found a home. Even there they'd occasionally end up with the remains of a motorcycle accident. More stable usually than when they were wheeled in on a gurney, but still an absolute mess. Injuries that pushed trauma surgeon's skills to the limit. You just can't cheat physics.

[3catwoman3]

56. As your dad probably knew, ER personnel call this form of...

...transportation "donor cycles."

[ShazzieB]

72. Yes, and not just because of the danger aspect.

It's my understanding that people who are killed in motorcycle crashes often die of head injuris, leaving their other organs suitable for donation. 😬

[blugbox]

58. My grandpa always called them "murdercycles". nt

[WhiteTara]

69. ICU Nurses in WRMC wear tee shirts that say

Dress for the slide, not the ride. But it sounds like no matter what that person was wearing would have saved them from death.

[Doodley]

2. Horrific. Makes you realize the fragility of life a bit more. I hope his

companions learn something.

[renate]

4. I'm really sorry you went through that... how terrifying

You probably have already heard that EMDR is a really useful treatment for people who've witnessed (or been through) traumatic events. It must be so strange to know in retrospect that at least one of the people who had passed you just moments earlier was seconds away from death and didn't realize it. Life is so resilient but also so fragile.

[PCIntern]

57. I have heard of that....

Thanks for the input.

I’m ok though…thanks.

[PCIntern]

7. That was mentioned in the car....

[thomski64]

39. And..

...clean up the gene pool...

[Mr.Bill]

6. People in the medical profession have a term for such people.

Organ donors.

[mitch96]

50. At my hospital they called them "Donor cycles" also ..nt

[Tetrachloride]

8. ty for the post such as it may be

[viva la]

9. Take care of yourself today

There is such a lingering shock from such an event.

[dalton99a]

10. "That was fun," said the dying man.

[brush]

11. Daredevils and thrillseekers take their lives into their own hands...

when they zoom between cars at high speed. All it takes is one driver to swerve, scared by the noise and sensation of a rider flying by. And that would of course be horrendous injury for an unprotected motorcycle rider.

[Harker]

16. And the lives of others. n/t

[stopdiggin]

73. +1. that's what REALLY pi**es me off!

Your life means F-ing nothing. I understand that. But, buddy - there's a widowed mother of two - who's praying she can get to the b-ball game before its over today, and disappoints her 10 year old one more time. You selfish F-ing as*hole!

Do your death defying sh*t away from me and the rest of the civilized world. Oh - and get your tubes snipped. 'Cause, you know .... Not like you're really interested ....

[spanone]

13. K&R

🤕

[erronis]

14. As you said "next weekend they'll be out doing the exact same thing". But in order to honor

their fallen stupid buddy.

Just like gamblers placing more losing bets, or trump digging his own grave deeper and deeper.

We can't seem to see the idiocy in our ways.

[NullTuples]

26. Fossil fuels, pesticides, capitalism...we are apes good at ID'ing very mmediate threats only.

We are absolute suckers for an immediate benefit of any sort in front of a long term threat or a rising-probability threat.

[NJCher]

40. I know it's just an expression:

"We can't seem to see the idiocy in our ways."

But not everyone is like that. I think these people have a sensation gene that many of us don't have. I'm grateful I don't have it.

To add to your point, though, from another angle: Think about all the people who flaunted Covid. And we still have what---500 people dying every day? That's what I heard on my local public radio a few days ago.

That figure might be exclusive to the NY area.

With the motorcyclists, so much is at stake and it isn't even considered. The momentary thrill is what counts.

[3catwoman3]

67. Using Google, you can find several articles...

...about the genetics of risk-taking behavior. I must not have any risk-taking genes - I am a total physical coward. Bungee jumping, sky diving, scuba diving - not for me.

I think the people who do things like free-climbing El Capitan are out of their ever-loving minds.

[NJCher]

75. Hmmm

I was going to do a search similar to that. I am curious about whether there is a gambler gene. I’m pretty sure there is, but in the case I am curious about, it did not exhibit (doctors would say “present”) itself until the age of 42.

I wonder if they’re related. One gambles with their life and another with their money.

[BigDemVoter]

15. This might be the same there, but in California motorcycles can pass on right in between

cars, and it always scares the piss out of me. I'm always afraid that I will fail to see someone and will try to change lanes & run over someone inadvertently. My friends who have motorcycles always say that they don't fee afraid and that they pay attention, but I don't see how they can. . . But then again, I don't have a motorcycle, so I don't have first hand knowledge!

[Sky Jewels]

18. I don't know how people can make those crucial judgments at such high speeds.

I don't completely trust my own judgment with how fast vehicles are going, and I've been driving for 40 years. So I always err on the side of "I will just wait for a biiiig gap until I turn or merge or change lanes."

[lambchopp59]

21. I used to ride... as defensively as possible

That's a suicide mission all over the state now. I finally sold my Harley and hung up my broken wing vest for good nearly 20 years ago. Drivers generally had some measure of respect for bikers, keeping a sane following distance. That's gone.
Since, I've been injurously rear-ended in my car 3 times by way too-hurry drivers, and totalled out in a T-bone collision that spun me around three times: driver ran the red light while texting on his damn phone.
On a motorcycle, I'd have met my maker with each.
I did not do that except at a red light very, very carefully with a wide berth. Done carefully, it can get the rider out of hazardous snarl.

[mnhtnbb]

23. I had a grad student classmate at UCLA

in the early '70's who was a former Navy corpsman. Vietnam. He rode his motorcycle to campus on L.A. freeways. The rest of us--we were a class of 12-- begged him to stop riding his motorcycle in L. A. He had every reason under the sun to not stop.

One day he came to class and was white as a sheet. I'd never seen anyone so pale. He'd been literally scared to death from a near miss on the freeway. That weekend he sold his motorcycle.

[NullTuples]

27. I wish that behavior would be tallied as part our losses during a war

I knew a half dozen Vietnam vets over the years who are gone now because "reckless behavior" was part of their way of dealing with c-PTSD / PTSD.

Or in some cases, an effect of not knowing how to deal with it, or not being able to reduce it despite help, and just wanting the pain to stop.

But I fear that would require a shift in our society from seeing mental health injuries as equal to physical injuries or illnesses, and we can't even bring ourselves to take care of those as a society.

[2naSalit]

60. It usually works best when...

They either scare themselves or see someone get hurt that scares them sensible.

[madville]

51. Most don't follow the rules for it though

I’ve lived in CA also, it’s supposed to be done no faster than 35mph and the speed difference between the motorcycle and the cars being passed is supposed to be no more than 10mph.

It’s not meant to be done at 85mph when all the cars are going 55.

[IbogaProject]

53. Wow that is almost reasonable

I like the idea that they can slink through traffic jams at only 10 over the prevailing rate of movement. That is actually reasonable.

[Quanto Magnus]

76. As someone who is paid to ride a motorcycle.....

I have been riding almost 40 years.

I am a motorcycle funeral escort now, so am out on the road several days a week working in traffic.

Lane splitting/filtering is not nearly as sketchy as most people think... and no... not at 130 mph (before someone gets on their high horse about it).

Yes, the biggest issue is cars lane changing while not paying attention. No one wants to look over their shoulder anymore....

With that being said, there's a lot I've learned to help mitigate those dangers and that goes for most motorcyclists.

As for the OP, driving that fast in traffic is f'ing stupid. However, several of the responses seem to indicate this is the norm for motorcyclists. It most definitely is not the norm.

[Sky Jewels]

17. Horrible/horrifying, BUT

at least it seems the cyclist "only" killed himself instead of an innocent, law-abiding driver. In this instance, at least.

[elleng]

19. Oh golly!

and I think, I'm glad I haven't heard any bad news from my daughter (who lives in nearby NJ.)

[Marthe48]

20. Be nice to yourself

It is horrifying to see an accident. Horrifying to know that people died right then and there.

[Hekate]

22. I'm so sorry you had to experience that, PCI. As others have said: take extra care of yourself

[barbtries]

24. i know i may be a minority,

but i hate motorcycles. i don't think they belong on the same roads as 4 wheeled cars and big trucks. I have a terror of seeing somebody die before my eyes on the road.

I'm sorry you had this experience, I'm sorry for the people directly involved, I'm sorry for the cyclist's loved ones. But this clearly was a wreck that did not have to happen and should not have happened. Combine the motorcycles with the reckless desire for speed, multiple bikes with riders most probably showing off for each other and deliberately flouting traffic laws...it's not enough to say it was an accident waiting to happen. You could say it was not even an accident. As with impaired driving crashes, it occurred because of a terrible choice made by a human being.

smh. i have a dear friend who rides a Harley. she's 67 years old and started about 10 or so years ago. She takes all necessary precautions but I worry about her all the time. She's been all over hell and back on that bike and loves it. I personally think there are better ways to have fun.

[alphafemale]

29. It sounds as if it was a single fatality.

Good.

I hate how they try to intimidate people with those stupid crotch rockets.

The only tragedy would be if he would have killed an innocent person with his ass behavior.

How am I certain it was a male?

heh

[Meowmee]

31. A terrible event, sorry you witnessed that

Motorcycles are not safe and never will be. Just a couple of weeks ago, someone on some type of small motorcycle zipped passed me at a very high speed in an out between the cars, disobeying all the traffic laws.

I always give motorcycles a wide berth but there is nothing you can do when people behave this way and it never seems to be monitored, instead they just give tickets to people who are driving 1 mile over the speed limit or something like that in a car.

I’ve seen a lot more of this behavior lately, a few weeks ago someone in a car cut in front of me on a highway and then turned left through a red light across the highway. Specifically with motorcycles there should be laws against driving in groups like that and interfering with normal traffic. I suppose there are, but have they ever been enforced?

[rainin]

32. It must be too soon, I can't find anything in the news about it. I'm wondering

what finally happened to them. Did they just lose control or did they hit a vehicle or something else? Can you find any links online to the story?

[mollie8]

33. Be safe

My husband and I were recently driving on I40 in moderately heavy traffic when two motorcyclists whizzed between us and another car. There were several cars in front of us and the cyclists did the same thing again. But I noticed farther in front of us they slowed down and fell in behind. Maybe the experience sobered them up." So stupid and thoughtless of themselves and others. Sorry you had to experience that.

[tenderfoot]

34. Did any of the other riders stop to assist? Or did they keep going?

How horrible to have to see that.

[Warpy]

35. Seeing that sort of thing is always tough

because we all know if our lives had turned out differently, that could be us.

My sympathy, however, is reserved for the driver he involved, whether he clipped the vehicle or the vehicle clipped him.

His pain, whatever drove him to try to out macho his buddies on a crowded highway, is over. The other driver's pain is just starting, as is the pain of people the reckless motorcyclist left behind.

The memory of what you saw will never be completely forgotten, our brains like to hang onto that stuff to discourage us from taking too many stupid chances. However, the horror will fade over time.

Been there, saw that, done that.

[fightforfreedom]

36. When I was around ten years old I witnessed this.

I walked across a 4 lane road on the crosswalk, the light was red. A woman walked past me crossing the other way. As I was about to reach the sidewalk I heard tires screech, Then a loud thud. The woman was hit by a Cadillac who ran the light.

I saw her fly through threw the air for about twenty feet. What I remember most was after she landed she did not move and everything got really quiet. It was winter time, her winter hat was rolling down the road being driven by the wind. I ran home. It haunts me all these years later.

[wysimdnwyg]

37. It's riders like this that give the rest of us a bad rep

I drive down the interstate in my truck and get frightened by so many of the idiots out there (both bikers and cagers) going 20+ mph faster than traffic, and it’s a simple call to decide to never ride my motorcycle there. I know I’m taking a risk every time I put on my helmet, there’s no reason to compound it by riding places where the stupid tend to congregate.

[Ferrets are Cool]

54. It always made me very angry to see any motorcycle flaunting the laws.

It made the rest of us look bad. But, isn't it funny we don't say the same thing about idiot car drivers...and I see those every day.

[Ilsa]

38. Coworker of Hubby, older, married, no kids, with lots of disposable

income finally got his dream machine. He had an accident, broke his ankle, I think, but was so happy to be alive that he sold his new motorcycle ASAP.

Thankfully, a handful of people have a little common sense.

I feel bad for whomever was doing the CPR. It might have been a trained professional, but it might have been like a school PE teacher. A cousin who was refereeing a volleyball match had to do CPR on a college student who collapsed. She couldn't resuscitate him. Turns out he had a weak aortic arch which dissected. The trauma hung with her for weeks.

[AverageOldGuy]

41. I'm an EMT with a volunteer rescue squad in rural VA . . .

Motorcycle accidents are not our favorite dispatches because in most cases you know what you'll find.

Ours is an agricultural county, growing winter wheat (harvested in spring); corn (harvesting now); and soybeans (harvested in late October) All the planting, tending, and harvesting involves BIG farm equipment moving along narrow roads. The first motorcycle accident I worked as an EMT involved two bikes with two drivers and two passenger, estimated 90 MPH, whipped past a line of traffic, met a corn combine head on. We pulled most of the bodies out of the combine and wound up with the volunteer fire department washing out pieces. With families standing alongside the road.

[erronis]

44. That's a horrible image (and experience.) The cycle drivers were gone in an instant, the memories

for everyone else will live on the rest of their lives.

[Ms. Toad]

79. Unfortunately, it doesn't always stop EMTs from engaging in dangerous behavior.

A high school acquaintance, who is a retired first responder is still in South Dakota recovering from a Sturgis motorcycle rally accident. I'm not sure of his level of medical training, but yesterday's post by his wife indicated some medical training (he was bagging himself when they moved rooms yesterday and had to fit through a tight spot so his nurse couldn't stand close enough to do the job. Others commented about all of the experience he had).

And yes, more than a month later, he cannot breathe well enough on his own for a short trip from one room to another. Can't eat yet. Will probably never walk again. They are hoping he is stable enough by tomorrow that they can move him to his home state.

[eleny]

42. I'm so glad you weren't in the accident

It's chilling to deal with seeing all that so thanks for relating your experience. We love you here at DU, PC. Post about it any time if you need to. Some things don't leave us quickly.

[PCIntern]

52. Very sweet....

Thank you!!!

[LisaM]

43. How awful.

We've been in a couple of situations where we've been swarmed by these packs and we've had them pass us unsafely on the right and my comment as they go by is "enjoy your short, happy life".

Luckily I have never had to witness what you did.

[ColinC]

46. Witnessed something similar in the OC in California 10 years ago

Motorcycle tried to swerve into the fast lane in front of me and an SUV collided with him throwing him and his wife off his bike and killing the guy immediately. I will never forget the wails coming from his wife after it appeared they concluded he was dead.

[TheBlackAdder]

47. Sorry you saw that. My mom saw something similar decades ago and I could tell it scared her.

.

She was driving down Route 30 to Atlantic City and a bunch of biker passed her. Down the road, there was an accident and the girlfriend of one of the bikers had her leg severed off at the hip. The biker was holding her in his arms and crying.

She would tell that story every now and then, and each time you could see she was reliving it.

.

[PCIntern]

55. Yuck.

[drmeow]

49. "next weekend they'll be out doing the exact same thing"

Because "at least s/he died doing what s/he loved"

[3catwoman3]

66. One of the "stupider" statements...

...people can make.

[drmeow]

74. Unless they have a terminal illness

and are doing something on their bucket list or are quite elderly (as in 95 year old collapses while playing favorite game).

[Victor_c3]

59. I'm surprised vehicles aren't required to have speed limiters

I have a sporty SUV that will easily get up to 150+ mph (don’t ask me how I know). There isn’t any reason for a car driving on public roads to have that capability.

[PCIntern]

61. At that speed it's like marking a javelin

at a track meet. You only get one mistake.

[BumRushDaShow]

65. "To take this man's life and twist it politically is why we are losing 'so to speak'"

So exactly who is "we" how are "we" "losing"?

[BumRushDaShow]

71. So does that mean

that you "can't" or you "won't"?

Am still trying to figure out how one can see "Biden stickers", or any sticker for that matter, on a speeding motorcycle.

[Pepsidog]

63. Last year I was coming from Atlantic City on same expressway and car in front of me was hitting the

concrete barrier, scraping it and then going into my lane. I have seen hundreds of police videos of drunk driving so I just slowed down and called 911. My son who is an orthopedic surgery resident said motorcycle accidents cause with death or massive trauma. These idiots who drive in and out of traffic at high speeds have a death wish. One mistake, bump in the road or other car not seeing the motorcycle and their dead. As a kid I broke my shoulder on a dirt bike and that was the end of motorcycles for me.

[Straw Man]

64. As a former motorcyclist ...

... I am reminded of the adage that there are old bikers and there are bold bikers, but there are no old, bold bikers. Seriously, you tempt fate every time you go out, and you have to ride as if every car out there is trying to kill you. Taking foolish chances is putting too much stock in not only your own abilities, but those of everyone else on the road.

[LNM]

68. We had a similar situation, fortunately no one died

I was driving about 65 on a crowded freeway and didn't hear the cyclists until they screamed by me. If I'd have changed lanes I would have killed them. I told my husband I'd hate to see an accident. His comment wasn't so kind.

I can't imagine how difficult this is for you. Take care.

[SWBTATTReg]

77. I am so sorry that you witnessed this, be sure if you need therapy to go and get. This is trama

indeed, for anyone to witness, etc.

We have these motorcycle groups that seem to congregate downtown STLMO and then groups of them will spiral off towards other parts of the city of STLMO. They are indeed dangerous and reckless as other drivers on the road will all of a sudden be surrounded by these cycles as these donor cycles zoom on by them. Terrifying.

The city is trying to abate the groups of cyclists and I hope that they succeed.

If anyone else here on DU know of a successful manner to stop or ebb these motorcyclists and their gangs, let me know and I'll FYI our city officials.

Someone is bound to get hurt eventually as they continue to go up and down our residential streets in STLMO. Personally, they have cameras and thus, they should start seizing these bikes for being a public nuisance, but I don't know if they can do this or not, but still, the bikes are a danger to the public when they are like this, doing wheelies and such as they are going down the street.

[Ms. Toad]

78. A high school acquaintance of mine was severely injured at Sturgis this year.

When I searched the internet for information about the accident, I was shocked to learn there is a Sturgis crime and accident really is kept every year for much of it's history.

The acquaintance of mine will apparently never walk again, is still on a ventilator, still in South Dakota (more than a month later) but may be stable enough to move to his home state tomorrow.

And thousands of them will be back again next year . . .