Back in my "bike greenhorn days," I was riding at night with one of my friends and I noticed that he was significantly slower than me, even in sections where the road was wide and would allow higher speeds.
During one of the stops, I asked the guy why he was not doing over 80-90 km/h (49-50 mph) and he replied that that was the speed he felt comfortable at. "I can't see too well at night," he told me, "so I'd rather stay on the safe side, no matter how wide the highway is."
Being a rookie, I offered to ride in front, so that he could safely trail me, but his answer was more than clear. "Of course, you could most likely go faster, with your good sight, and maybe even stay on the road until we get home safely, but me in the back, I'd still struggle to see at night, so I'd ride just as fast as I am now."
That was a cool lesson I learned that night, and that was always to adapt the speed to how good my visibility on the road was. I stuck to that rule and never got in trouble, and this is exactly why I brought this matter forth.
The chap in this video would have been way luckier if he had a mentor like I did, explaining to him why it's so dangerous to throttle on in scenarios where you can't get a good picture of the road ahead.
The flare of the camera is most likely bigger and stronger than what the guy perceived with his eyes. After all, he doesn't seem to want to lower his sun visor too early, making me believe that the situation was not that nasty.
However, he WAS already going too fast, so unfortunately, his crash does not come as a surprise. Watch and learn, and have safe rides this spring!
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