Photo: Liveleak.com
Even though being rear-ended by a truck while riding your motorcycle is far from the ideal way to end the year, we have to admit that this Taiwanese cop was very lucky. Things can go extremely bad in such scenarios, with fatal results being unfortunately, not as rare as we’d like. The risks of being run over by the impacting car or other traffic is very high and only get higher as the speed increases.
Luckily, the traffic in the left lane was pretty slow in the rainy afternoon, with the dashcam vehicle moving at some 26 km/h, which is around 16 mph. The speed of the truck approaching from behind seems to have been about double these figures, and yet again, a decisive factor in the zero-casualties result of the crash.
Even more, if you look closely, the truck’s front left wheel is almost half a meter (20 inches) over the center line by the time the vehicle enters the viewing angle. And anyway, he or she should not have crossed the double continuous lines, also.
Such crashes always make us wonder which scenario is less likely to end up extremely bad: riding slowly and being rear-ended by a vehicle traveling at significantly higher speed, or riding fast and being bumped into by a vehicle at roughly the same speed?
Each of these has its bad and less bad parts. When we’re considering a small bump at high speed, the impact is not that powerful, but coming off the bike while traveling fast is not the most pleasant thing. Even more, other road users might find it very difficult to slow down or stop in time, so the risk of being run over is rather high.
On the other hand, coming off the bike while traveling at low speed may result in less sliding on the roads and a noticeably softer impact with the ground, but it’s the big speed difference between the two vehicles which worries us. All in all, it’s better to avoid being rear-ended in the first place, but there are a lot of occasions when it’s simply impossible to prevent this.
No reason for derogatory remarks against the cop
Some say that the cop was riding too close to his lane’s right limit, and this played a role in the crash. We played back the video a couple of times and watched closely the bike’s position and how much the truck’s left wheels are passing over the double lines. Honestly, our call is that the officer wasn’t doing anything wrong and even his right side case was well within the lane space.Even more, if you look closely, the truck’s front left wheel is almost half a meter (20 inches) over the center line by the time the vehicle enters the viewing angle. And anyway, he or she should not have crossed the double continuous lines, also.
Such crashes always make us wonder which scenario is less likely to end up extremely bad: riding slowly and being rear-ended by a vehicle traveling at significantly higher speed, or riding fast and being bumped into by a vehicle at roughly the same speed?
Each of these has its bad and less bad parts. When we’re considering a small bump at high speed, the impact is not that powerful, but coming off the bike while traveling fast is not the most pleasant thing. Even more, other road users might find it very difficult to slow down or stop in time, so the risk of being run over is rather high.
On the other hand, coming off the bike while traveling at low speed may result in less sliding on the roads and a noticeably softer impact with the ground, but it’s the big speed difference between the two vehicles which worries us. All in all, it’s better to avoid being rear-ended in the first place, but there are a lot of occasions when it’s simply impossible to prevent this.
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