AntonioRossi

Very shocking video. Be warned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFa...e_gdata_player

exact location:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q&layer...0%2C0%2C0&z=16

Fortunately it seems that the cyclists are alright. Very freaky accident. Helmets save lives.

hamster

Wow.

Had to happen sooner or later though. There are tons of motorcyclists and bicyclists in that section of Mulholland on weekends. Very fortunate if no one got badly hurt. The guy in the rear was clearly saved from a very serious head injury by the helmet. He's able to walk (very good sign) but I had a similar fall when I was a kid, I was diagnosed with vertebral compression fracture and had to spend three weeks in bed in a back brace. I hope he turns out OK.

lesiz

Many of the motorcyclists on this route ride like they think they're immortal. There are on average 2 motorcycle wipe-outs per week along Mulholland.

It's just too bad that this guy took out someone else because of his misjudgement, or should I say "lack of judgement"?

This accident is not so much freaky as "inevitable". Hope the cyclists are ok; hope the reckless driver is insured.

Angio Graham

judging by the way the cyclist head jarred backwards he is lucky he didnt have a vessel disection which would have been fatal in minutes.

the motorcyclist should be in jail.

i have warned about that stretch for years and i have even posted about avoiding it on this board.

Joe Minton

The cyclist would likely have been killed but for his helmet. I know about helmets and their effectiveness: This cyclist struck the back of his head after a fall of more than five feet; he would have, at minimum, been severely injured and permanently disabled. More likely he would have been DRT (dead right there).

I have ridden motorcycles through that section of Mulholland Hwy for over 40 years and was once struck head-on (1982) by a motorcyclist who was so far into my lane (midst of a corner) that he was actually to my right. Neither of us were permanently injured. He was young, inexperienced, tried to lie his way out of it and -- got the ticket.

In that 40 years there has been at least one death (motorcyclist) between the Rock Store and the top, near where the video was recorded. I witnessed that fatal accident. It took firemen more than 20-minutes to extract the rider's body and bike from inside the car. The driver was not physically injured but suffered nightmares, so I'm told, until she died some years later.

That section of Mulholland Hwy, from the rock store to Kanan Road, is now so dangerous that I strongly recommend all cyclists, of both persuasions, to stay the hell away from it on any weekend or holiday period. It has become a public race-road for arrogant young men on fast motorcycles.

I hope what you see in this video serves as a warning --- don't go there!

Joe

peckma

Ugh. The accident occurred maybe an hour or so after I rode through there - going towards the Rock Store. Was fairly quiet then (around 11AM). But there were other loonies out on the road. 12 or so cars hot-rodding down Latigo on the curves,as I was going up, was a hair-raising experience.

Notice the Helen's van in the video - I heard there was a private ride on Saturday with Big George that Helen's was supporting. Wonder if the cyclists were part of his group.

HBxRider

I think it's time to make a rule for myself never to read youtube comments for any video that involves a motor vehicle and a cyclist. The comments are sure to feature people insulting cyclists, saying it was their fault, complaining that they dont pay road taxes, and all kinds of wonderful assortments of ignorance and hate.

What I don't understand is what made the motorcycle driver veer into the shoulder the way he did.

Angio Graham

if you watch the videoographers channel you will see hundreds of videos from that location of motorcycle crashes. basically they just carry too much speed into the turn and are forced into a single line to take or crash. this motorcyclist chose to keep his line and unfortunately there was a cyclist in it. my guess is the motorcyclist never saw the cyclists until he was right on him.

TrojanHorse

That's a popular crash location.

I tell you what - every time I ride up GMR I get the willies when motorcyclists come flying up behind us... I'm just waiting to get low sided or something. Ugh. I don't think GMR has the same proportion of crashes that the rock store does though.

hamster

I don't think so. He's completely upright by the time of collision. Which means that he was far from going too fast for conditions. It's a classic case of target fixation: if you focus too much on something (even if it's something that you don't want to hit), you are going to steer into it subconsciously and, most likely, hit it. Compare:

jeepseahawk

Hwy 18 nearby claims 4-8 motorcyclists a year, adrenaline junkies. Curves attract them and I worry every-time going up GMR.

gerald_g 

"It is very unfortunate, and a rare case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

No - it's an all to common case of a motorized vehicle driving on the edge and or out of control.

Astrozombie

Thing is he has a bit of time coming out of the turn to correct or just go off the road and avoid um but the guy must have had a brain fart, NTM slamming on the breaks or do they not believe in using them?
Didn't take long for my uncle to break his leg crossing into the next lane on a 1000CC bike once he got it.....

Shimagnolo

I think you might be on to something here.
The funniest story I ever read about target fixation was about a guy making his first skydive, then landing in a tree. An aerial view of the landing area was included: A huge, empty, grassy field, with a single lone tree in the center.

Gallo

It looks like he was just plain inexperienced to me. His speed and line were fine coming in. It appears that he might have grazed his peg while looking left at the cameras. He then over straightens and his line is heading for the dirt which cyclist or not is generally a bad idea. Just before impact in an oh s*&t moment it looks like he lets go of the gas and puts his feet down but does not appear to brake.

This does not look like target fixation to me but sheer lack of experience and skill on a motorcycle. He had more outs than glass of water hitting a spaghetti strainer and chose none of them and panicked. I think he do not see them until he was right on top of them as he was not looking at the road as he should have been but at the spectators on the side of the road.

I hope the cyclists are recovering as that looked like it hurt allot

volosong

My prayers to the cyclist. He must be hurting a lot this morning.

calamarichris

+1 I'm afraid he's going to have some form of back trouble for the rest of his like, unfortunately. I've had two back surgeries so far, and the first time I watched that vid, I didn't see a motorcyclist and two cyclists; I saw three boney, jagged spines with poorly designed little silly-putty disks between them, about to suffer irreparable harm.

Edit: Watched it again and the Noob motorcyclist was already VERY clenched up going [slowly] around that corner, even before he saw the cyclists. Too bad the cyclists are stuck paying the tuition for this Noob motorcyclist's lesson. Hopefully he gets some girl pregnant, marries her, and is forced to give up motorcycling altogether.
I've seen more seasoned motorcyclists take that corner much faster, much less clenched up, and manage to not strike objects much larger than two cyclists riding in single file.
Our lesson in this vid is that any time we ride on a road popular with motorcyclists, you run the risk of young men with more balls & horsepower than experience. Invariably, the less experience they have, the more they have to prove.

Joe Minton

The motorcyclist in this video is neither experienced or skillful. He wasn't even going fast enough to severely limit his choices. --- He didn't know what to do, didn't have the skill-set to do what was needed; his brain froze in indecision.

When confronted by an important, vital, decision like dropping one's bike or going up the side of the hill to avoid a cyclist, the untrained rider needs time to figure-out what to do. It may require five seconds to make such a decision. When folks say "he panicked" they are actually referring to this lengthy decision process. The main difference between one trained to react properly (and quickly) and a newby is mostly time; the newby needs time decide what to do, the trained person only has to make a choice of appropriate and trained-for actions.

This guy didn't have enough time to realize and decide that he was going to and how he was going to go down, but -- he did realize (emotionally at least) that something bad was about to happen. He is a typical 'kid': ambitious, eager to please his audience and, perhaps, eager to get on youtube. I hope his daddy has to pay and has some influence over his future actions. (This rant is composed of my personal opinions, experience and jaundiced attitude).

Joe

Ns1

more from bikinginla:

view from behind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av5nQ...layer_embedded

https://bikinginla.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/exclusive-what-really-happened-in-the-mulholland-motorcycle-crash-that-took-out-two-bike-riders/

sautan

the motorcyclist is a newbie, i can pretty much sure. not sure if he went to motorcycle school. we were taught not to look at thing you don't want to hit (same as bicycling). he wasn't going too fast and it could have been avoided if he had focused and stuck to his line. TARGET FIXATION

sautan

i ride both type of bikes and i do the big bike on the track where if i went down, i know no one will be hurt and i will be pretty much safer than crashing on road maybe hitting a pole, car, down the hill or hard object. I have heard many newbie bikers that either BYE BYE or went to hospital before they even pay their first month payment!

volosong

I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation basic rider safety course the other year, (for my Vespa GTS 300 Super and Piaggio MP3 500), and they taught us that when going through a curve, to look to where we want to go, not to where we are at. This rookie motorcyclist obviously did not take the MSF class.

sautan

Totally Agree.

nesdog

FWIW, I hate that there are photogs up there every weekend. Nice guys, I've spoke with them on occasion about random stuff. But when you place a big sign that says your picture is being taken, it causes people to get stupid. (including cyclists, motorbikes and car clubs.) I love the RS climb but I try to avoid riding it after 10 in the morning on weekends.

calamarichris

I must respectfully disagree to a degree. I know of at least one incident in which a hit-n-run violator was caught by the photographic evidence provided by those guys on Palomar; seeing those roadside photogs is also a good indication for us that this is one of those roads, (annnd they've gotten a few decent pics of me over the years. )



Although I don't understand at all why the car guys would pay for a picture of their car going around a corner, when they can pretty much park the car on the corner, get out and go take a picture of the car themselves.