So This Just Happened Minutes From My Home

"Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura" (sundowne36)
10/01/2016 at 23:15 • Filed to: None

One of my friends posted this up on Facebook, where one of her friends had been in involved in a fatal motorcycle accident. From what it sounds like, she never knew what had happened until this news story came up.

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

I don’t even know if she blames the mother for this, but I have to take the side of logic and state that there are a number of factors that contributed to this accident - speed made the top of that list. Sure, she might also shoulder some responsibility unless she did check to her left, but... I don’t know. I just don’t understand humans sometimes.

DISCUSSION (21)

Sam > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
10/01/2016 at 23:21

I just want to say that the amount of speed necessary for a bike to push a car considerable distance is quite large (assuming that’s what they meant by “forcing her car into a parking lot”). He must’ve been flying.

Berang > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
10/01/2016 at 23:22

Doesn’t say if the lady was using her blinker. In any event, she was turning left and should have yielded right of way to any oncoming traffic.

Will probably be chalked up to “I didn’t even see them”.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Berang
10/01/2016 at 23:33

Comments from witnesses sounds like he was doing triple digits. I bet she didn’t see him coming.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
10/01/2016 at 23:35

That’s a shitty situation. The comments are interesting. Half say she was texting, the other half says he was flying down the street

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > OPPOsaurus WRX
10/01/2016 at 23:38

It did say 69-year-old lady, so I guess it’s more of the latter from what the story tells me.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
10/01/2016 at 23:42

That probably decreases the chances it was a phone distraction but the you can throw the old age card but 69 isn’t that old

CorgisAmorgis > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
10/01/2016 at 23:43

My uncle, who loved to ride, was out on his bike on an old county road with his wife on the back. A car pulled out in front of him, and later said that they didn’t see him. My uncle lost his leg. And his wife? He goes to visit her faithfully every day to eat lunch with her at the nursing home. Traumatic brain injury, she’ll never come home.

So when I come to an intersection or am turning or merging, I look and wait, and scan for motorcycles. I don’t want to be that person saying “I didn’t see them”.

Berang > OPPOsaurus WRX
10/01/2016 at 23:46

If the road is on a hill or a curve, sure. If not, then not seeing probably = misjudged his speed which = failure to yield.

It can be hard to judge the speed and distance of an object coming straight on, which is why so many people pull out in front of trains. But that’s not the same thing as not seeing.

Urambo Tauro > Sam
10/01/2016 at 23:46

Good catch.

It’s possible that she even saw the rider and had a large enough gap to make it through, but the rider closed that gap too quickly.

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > OPPOsaurus WRX
10/01/2016 at 23:46

Still, I do believe that he had a major role in this accident. Call me being blunt, rude or who knows what, but I want to say that had he not sped , he would still be here. In fact, I’m going to kick it up a notch on the blunt side and say he shouldn’t be on a bike if he’s that irresponsible, period .

Either way, I know that lady (and maybe a commuter according to the comments) would probably be traumatized for a while. What a damn waste, man.

Alfalfa > OPPOsaurus WRX
10/01/2016 at 23:47

Don’t you just love how keyboard warriors always seem to know exactly what happened like they were right there to watch it?

Berang > CorgisAmorgis
10/01/2016 at 23:48

Hitting somebody on a motorcycle or bicycle is my biggest fear when driving. Always has been, since I started driving.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Berang
10/01/2016 at 23:49

I can see how it happens. I live on a straight road. You see a vehicle way up the road aand think your good to turn, but suddenly they are there. I don’t anticipate people doing 80 infront of my house bit down didipshits think its ok. You do t really see it happening.

smobgirl > Berang
10/01/2016 at 23:53

I entered a highway behind someone doing 30, so I quickly merged left to pass. No one in that lane before I merged, no one there immediately after. Checked the speedo a couple seconds later and I was going 72, glanced in my mirror and there’s a Honda (car) on my ass that must’ve been going nearly 100 (and no need to defend them, there was an empty lane to my left they could’ve used). When oncoming traffic is that much in excess of an expected speed, the rate of approach is not always apparent and he very well could’ve enter the danger zone without ever being in clear view of the woman turning.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
10/01/2016 at 23:54

Yep. Sucks he died and sucks she has to deal with being a part of it. People speed on my road. I’ve had a close call. When you make the same turn every day and see a car at a certain point, you know your good to turn until that vehicle is doing twice the speed. The limit infront of my house is 45 mph. I see people doubling that if not more.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Alfalfa
10/01/2016 at 23:57

Haha everyone in the internet is right.

CorgisAmorgis > Berang
10/02/2016 at 00:04

I honestly don’t think I ever thought about it before. I hadn’t had any or seen any close calls with motorcyclists and my instructors definitely didn’t talk about it during Driver’s Ed way back in high school. I hope they cover it more nowadays.

My area has put up billboards “Look twice, save a motorcyclist’s life”. I hope this makes more drivers take that extra pause.

bob and john > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
10/02/2016 at 00:15

Holy shit.

*Sigh* I want to be done reading about motorcycle deaths causes by stupid, moronic, idiotic, useless, retarded, senseless ways.

old lady turning left. take away her fucking permit, throw her in jail, publicize the crap out of it and get this. fucking. shit. to. END.

iSureWilll > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
10/02/2016 at 00:26

Wow. Absolutely horrible. From the comments... Sounds like the guy was estimated three times the speed limit (150mph). I found the spot on Google Maps. Guess the woman was turning into a day care. I can’t imagine what the woman is going through. Prayers for her.

21402 Mountain Hwy E, Spanaway, WA 98387

Steve in Manhattan > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
10/02/2016 at 01:00

Even if an investigation happens, we can never be sure precisely what happened. It’s a bad deal all around.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
10/02/2016 at 15:14

A friend of mine was filling up at a gas station and witnessed a similar accident. The bike was the first in line at a red light. When it turned green, he took off like he was at a drag strip. Meanwhile, less than a block away, a woman driving a long bed f-250 was turning left out of a parking lot. When she pulled out, the light was still red.

The kid on the bike was focused on the tach and not where he was going. He hit the truck behind the driver’s side rear wheel, spinning the truck completely around so that it stopped facing back toward the parking lot. As the kid flew through the air, his unfastened helmet slid off his head and he promptly landed on it.

When the parents sued the woman, my friend was called to testify in court. He confirmed the woman’s story that the light was red when she pulled out and that the kid was speeding. The proof? He said the kid was just about to shift from 3rd to 4th when he hit the truck, so the bike would be in one of those two gears. They adjourned court to check the bike. He wasn’t sure what they found, but the lawsuit was dropped.