Joint Base Charleston, S.C. –
It was a beautiful, mid-spring Sunday afternoon in Kenai, Alaska, a few years ago when my wife and I witnessed what we thought for certain was going to be a motorcycle fatality
After stopping on the side of the road to get a few photos of a young moose grazing in a pond, we pulled back onto the highway and fell in line behind a motorcycle which was following a pick-up truck. A few things immediately caught my eye about this situation. The motorcyclist was tailgating and his lane selection, middle of the lane, was a poor choice for the current traffic flow, all this insight, courtesy of being a past Motorcycle Safety Foundation rider coach.
The motorcycle was a full-dresser type; windshield, fairing, tandem seat and saddle bags. The rider was also a full dresser; full-face helmet, boots, mittens and a snow suit. Yes, I said "snow suit." Remember, this is Alaska in the springtime. As I got up to highway speed, I kept some extra space between the motorcycle and my vehicle, to allow extra time to react, just-in case. I didn't really believe "just-in case" was up the road about a quarter mile.
My wife saw it first. I could tell something was amiss because she does this "Tsk Tsk" thing when something astonishing is happening or is about to happen.
Because of a slight left bend in the road, I was a split second behind her in deducing the developments at hand.
The motorcyclist had grown impatient with the slowing pick-up truck in front of him; he moved to the left, one third of his lane, saw that he had room to pass, performed a head check to his left and rolled on the throttle. I saw the lane change and heard a roar come from his exhaust pipes at about the same time I heard the "Tsk Tsk".
What the motorcyclist couldn't see because of his poor choice to tailgate was that a full-size crew-cab extended pick-up was about to enter the roadway from the right, at the upcoming "T" intersection. I could see that the young girl driving the crew cab had spotted the same break in traffic that the motorcyclist had seen, and was impatient, as evidenced by her perfect execution of a classic "California" rolling stop". She immediately turned left into the traffic.
What she couldn't see, but my wife and I had a perfect view of, was the motorcyclist starting his passing maneuver. It was at about this time I said to my wife, "this is not good." Teaching MSF courses makes you adept at being able to tell when a motorcyclist applies brakes and/or rolls on and off their throttle, and in this case neither occurred. The rider was full on throttle until impact.
I'll leave out any gory stuff, but let's just say he looked like a hockey player being flattened up against the ice rink boards as he impacted the left rear door of the crew cab. This flattening probably saved his life by spreading out the force of the impact along his entire body length.
I swerved around the downed rider and mishap vehicles and found a safe spot to pull off the road and called 911. By the time I got out of the car, there were about 10 people on site helping the injured rider. One of the people helping was a nurse who gave the rider two cardiopulmonary-respiratory rescue breaths to help him breathe again. I found out the next day that the rider survived and was released from the local hospital a few hours after the accident. It seems his wife was adamant about him wearing "full-body armor" which incorporates; spine, chest, leg and arm protection into a zip-on under suit.
As with most mishaps there were a lot of factors that contributed to this accident. One of which, both operators were impatient with the traffic flow. This summer, while traveling, give yourself plenty of time so you're not rushed and become impatient; factor in rest stops along the way to keep you fresh and alert and expect the unexpected. Remember, "Check yourself before you wreck yourself."