So, Who's At Fault Here?
This is the kind of video that causes sleeplessness in back-road thrashers. An Ariel Atom chases a sportbike down a California two-lane, only to find a stopped car around a blind corner. At first glance it seems to be a stunning indictment of reckless vehicle operation, but there might be more to the story.
The low perspective — a camera mount on top of an Atom’s sidepods is about as high as the headlight on a Camry — and wide frame make the video feel fast, but how fast, exactly, are these drivers going? A YouTube video commenter took the time to measure speed and distance with a known 100-meter distance at the ten-second mark and came up with a guesstimate of…
40mph.
In a 35mph zone.
That relatively low estimate is backed up, in my opinion, by the relatively tame lean angles the sportbiker’s demonstrating and the lack of suspension compression as the Atom negotiates the corners. The speed limit on a road like this in California is unlikely to be any lower than 35mph and I’ve seen Ohio roads just like this where the limit is 55, as with the Hocking Hills test loop used by Road&Track for the Performance Car Of The Year test. So this might not be as reckless as it appears.
On the other hand… you’re always responsible for maintaining assured clear distance. If you can’t see around a corner, that might be a good reason not to do the speed limit, or slightly over the speed limit, around it, right?
More by Jack Baruth
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Is the Atom legal to be driven on the street?
I was an insurance adjuster for seven years. Not once did I settle a claim involving a rear-end collision where the leading vehicle was found to be at fault. If you collide with something that is in front of you, then you caused the accident - period. Of course, there may be exceptional circumstances, such as the case of the Quebecois driver who stopped her car to escort ducks off the road. But ask yourself this: Would the case be settled differently if the driver had stopped for an obstruction in the roadway, and then been rammed by a transport truck rather than a motorcycle? In order to work, the law should be simple to interpret and simple to apply. If you're driving a vehicle, whether it be a bicycle or a bus, you are obligated to control it in such a way that you can stop in the event hazards occur ahead of you. No tailgating. No speeding. No excuses.
15 second mark. The motorcycle rider has to lift his left leg up at a 90 degree angle to maintain control. Not a skilled rider. Putting others in danger.
Thirty plus years on two wheels, 500,000+ miles. I see a whole lot of aggravating factors here, the least of which is the BMW. I have been amazed at the increased level of asshattery coincident with the advent of cheap mobile cameras. Rest assured that rider is anything but experienced. His lines are wrong, his braking is wrong, and his body positioning is more influenced by watching (and misinterpreting) MotoGP videos than any understanding of weight transfer in cornering--and I suspect his previous bike, if any, was a cruiser given the way he is waving his knees in the breeze. The reaction response after he saw the BMW would tend to remove any lingering benefit of the doubt. His line carried him past the car despite his near lowside; he probably had no idea how he got out of that alive. Add an oncoming car and this would have looked like a Russian dashcam video. His biggest problem is that he is more concerned about the camera behind him than the road in front of him. I ride with a small number of quick, safe street riders who don't tolerate idiots. We'd have found an excuse to ditch this guy within the first ten minutes.