Rear-ending another vehicle when approaching an intersection is indeed one of the very, very stupid accidents. That is, it’s not like the guy in front of you decides to suddenly slam the brakes as hard as possible, out of thin air, catching you wrong-footed and sort of asking for a crash. Of course, there are idiots who believe that brake-checking is a cool idea and use such childish behavior to somehow take revenge for something.
Now, fact is that dashboard and helmet cameras are becoming more and more popular, and the chances for a police officer investigating the crash to believe in the innocence of a motorist who rear-ends another vehicle are lower and lower. Dashboard cameras don’t lie and the stories they tell are a most valuable piece of info for establishing who’s to blame.
There are two major causes for such crashes: the drivers who are not paying attention at all, and those who are not paying enough attention to notice that the bike in front is slowing down even though no tail light was lit. The former category can be seen involved in a multitude of other crashes, while the second one is somewhat funny.
These drivers are trying to find an excuse in the fact that they did not see the tail light of the bike. What they don’t know is that motorcycles can slow down quite a lot by downshifting alone (at the expense of some chain kit use) and riders often use engine braking instead of actually using the brake lever. Even so, a road user is expected to pay attention to traffic and observe speed changes in his surroundings.
This guy obviously didn’t and you can see for yourself the crash was no fender bender… One doesn’t fly on top of the car in front of him from a fender bender…
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