Passing of a friend brings question about accident investigations

[baylensman]

So a good guy I had just recently meet (with in a year or so) was killed in a motorcycle crash over the weekend. I had just chatted with him at my desk on Friday and he was out riding with my brother and my boss that morning!

 

Other than being sad for the loss of a friend and the devastation to his family, I have another bone to pick.

 

Several people saw the accident, one may have actually caught it all on video. Many were at the scene and gave statements to the police.

This shows that at least in this one little part of the country folks are starting to understand that bikers are their neighbors and friends, many folks stopped to render aid or direct traffic around that shoulder. They stopped to help not to gawk.

 

It appears that he was proceeding north on the interstate and merging where a feeder belt met the main highway (not a ramp but two lane meeting 3 and becoming a 5 lane hiway for a distance) I've riding this area hundreds of times, its not a difficult curve at all, the weather was clear. Witness statement say that an unknown at the time white car moved to the right forcing his bike to the shoulder where he lost control and left the bike and hit the guardrail post with his side.

 

Well the police report and write up in the media the next day had

1. the type of bike wrong ( he was on a 2007 harley not a 2005 honda)

2. They said he had no helmet but witnesses said he had it on and the pieces where next to his body.

3. claimed he died of his injures at the hospital, but the paramedic pronounced him DOA at the scene and left without light and sirens.

3. blamed the accident on excessive speed despite witnesses saying he was in the right lane and being passed by others.

4. No mention of the other vehicle despite the multiple eyewitness accounts

 

 

I've heard from others that this has happened to them also to caring degrees and often liability and insurance rate changes are based on police reports.

 

So does one else have experience with this or is anyone in law enforcement that can explain it to me?

[saddlebum]

It happened to me in the accident I had in 2007. I was cut of by a car who suddenly changed his mind about turning left and swept across the dividing 6 ft wide median into my lane cutting me off which caused me to wipe out. Initially it was deemed that the driver of the car was 100% at fault. While I was in Germany the final police report came in and based on it's findings, the insurance Co. decided to hold each of us 50% responsible. the other guy claimed he was in my lane all along and that I came up behind him and lost control. Despite the fact that this guy had no license (it was suspended) and drove an uninsured Car borrowed from a friend, the officer gave his version more credibility then mine. She did not even show a left hand turn lane in her report nor included the skid and scrape marks on the pavement which clearly backed up my version of what happened. I did up my own version of what happened included a google aerial pic of the intersection indicating vehicle positions and movement prior to during and after the accident. I also indicated were the the skid and scrape marks on the pavement were and pointed out that I had shown these marks to the first officer on the scene and then Later tried to show them to the second officer who refused to go look at it and was the one who wrote up the report, and failed to include any of this in her report. I then sent this in to the police complaint dept. The head officer of the complaint board promptly investigated into it and was able to verify my version of the events and verify that there were collaborating marks . Apparently the officer who took over the investigation was new and this was her first solo report and she had left this fact out of her report. As a result the police dept promptly corrected this error and kindly contacted my insurance co. who has now agreed that the other person is once again 100% at fault. They offered me a $6,600.00 settlement minus $250.00 should I decide to keep my bike. Needless to say I kept my bike and spent the summer of 2008 restoring the bike.

[Sailor]

Look up the "Hurt Report". Dr Hurt got the co-operation of the local police and had a police scanner in his office. When there was a motorcycle accident his crew would rush to the scene to investigate. What they found is that 70% of motorcycle accidents are caused by car drivers and that most police reports were wrong.

 

The police would automatically take the word of the car driver and discount the bikers testimony.

They would not check for skid marks.

They would not check the damage done to confirm the car drivers claim the biker was speeding.

The car driver inevitably claimed the biker "came out of nowhere, must have been speeding" and that is how it would be written up.

 

I had an accident about 5 years ago. I was in bumper to bumper traffic when a chunk of wood came out from under the car ahead of me. It had metal shards on it and went under my front wheel. I was in the inside lane as I was planning a left turn a couple kilometers ahead. I tried to get to the shoulder but the traffic had me blocked and I could not get through. The tire came apart and I hit the pavement at 80 KPH. The first two officers at the scene accused me of speeding ( in bumper to bumper traffic?).

One then accused me of cornering too fast (on a dead straight road?). When I told them what had happened they basically accused me of lying and told me to prove my story. The bike was right there with the front tire shredded. It wasn't until another officer showed up that I got to say what had actually happened. I came out of it with a broken ankle and broken ribs but I was damned if I was going to let them put in a false report blaming me for the accident.

 

I have noticed that in the local media when there is a picture of a motorcycle/car accident the car usually shows little damage and there are no skid marks indicating the car turned into the bike giving the rider no time to hit the brakes. The lack of damage shows the bike was not speeding. The media always reports it as the bike running into the car, no mention that the car was acting illegally.

 

My son got nailed on an extremely obscure regulation that no one knew about and had not been enforced before. When I went after the cops to find out why he was being harassed they assured me it was not just him, the politicians had ordered them to harass all motorcyclists.

[videoarizona]

I still firmly believe that the police should never accept the car driver's statement "I didn't see the motorcycle", as a valid excuse.

 

Scary...

Edited July 19, 2018 by videoarizona
sp

[joeke3el]

So sorry for your loss. My prayers go out to the family. I don't have any experience with police reports and how they appear in the news, but I can say that one experience I had with a newspaper was an eye opener to me. It was a momentary flood in a neighborhood I used to live in. I was interviewed, had pictures taken, etc. and a couple of days later when it all appeared in the paper I couldn't believe the editing that had taken place. Quotes of mine and others were out of context, photos were edited to make it look worse than it was, etc. So where the police in your case may have got some things wrong, there's also what happens between the police report and the news outlet. May his family find peace at this time.

 

 

Joe

[Sylvester]

Just yesterday a sheriff's deputy turned left in front of a motorcycle causing a fatality. The cyclist was also a deputy from the same county. I fear where this will go, being a former deputy.

 

[Patch]

Unfortunately I went though the aftermath with the police after my sons accident while he was in emergency. There was quite an exchange between us. I had been called to the scene and was well aware of what took place and the speeds involved, also knew all the witnesses to the accident. I took offense to his allegations and ended up pressing the matter through the change of command. You could say he picked on the wrong dad.

 

Recently I came across a local neighborhood man in his sixties cut off by a left turning dimwit. He too was pronounced DOA but had in fact pasted on the stretcher. I still see his mangled bike in the intersection every time I go for smokes.

 

I had a sudden stop that caused my helmet to fly off, this was a full face helmet.

[Sailor]

Media farce. I have given a number of interviews in my time. I have found the truth to be irrelevant. All they want is sensationalism. They will twist your words into what their editor wants. Even with a sympathetic reporter the facts get twisted because the editor has last say and as they say " If it bleeds, it leads". Most reporters will simply take whatever the cops say as fact and won't bother going any further.

[Kretz]

So sorry to hear of the loss of your friend & Thanks & Kudos to those who tried to help him.

I agree with what's been said, but especially regarding media coverage, just about everything now is reported & portrayed as "sensationally" as possible!

Sadly the biking community are often seen as "untrustworthy" or "strange" in some way.

People forget there are probably more respected & accepted members of our communities riding motorcycles (ordinary working guys & ladies) than there are those that cause the problems, BUT who is it that gets the adverse media attention, which is then used to tar us all with the same brush!

[RDawson]

I've seen my own reports twisted in the paper, they may have quoted the report correctly or not. I don't know the laws there but they vary state to state, here the only people with the authority to pronounce a death are a dr or coroner. We are in a small town so usually the coroner comes to the scene, if a person is transported by ambulance then they are pronounced at the hospital.

It also seems to make a difference whether they actually hit the other vehicle or wreck while avoiding it as far as fault goes.

Sorry for the loss of your friend and I hope this all gets ironed out.

[snyper316]

https://newstalkkzrg.com/2018/07/20/joplin-police-officer-and-wife-killed-in-motorcycle-accident/

 

Most the time they get it right here, cars will pull out and say I didn't see them.

[RSTDdog]

My condolences to the OP for his loss. Most police officers have no formal training in accident reconstruction. No ability to interpret skid marks, yaw, rear crossing over front, etc. or Interpreting transfer marks on vehicles, directional patterns, etc. Accident reconstruction involving motorcycles is a science unto itself. Saddlebum did what is often done professionally, superimpose all the available pavement marks and information (Skid, peg gouges, vehicle points of rest, etc) to scale on an aerial of the accident area. That typically will clarify a number of things including when driver(s) or eyewitness accounts are mistaken or inconsistent with the physical evidence.

 

In the OPs friend's circumstances, if the unknown car that caused the accident can't be found (No plate number, insufficient information to ID it ), it becomes difficult. It is also a lot shorter report and a lot less work for the officer to not document all the witness statements and consider them when rendering the case opinion. The family may have to do this themselves and bring them to the attention of the officer in charge if nothing more than to set the record straight.

 

See if any of the local "News on your side" or "in your corner" reporters, most stations have one, will take up all the facts and report on it.

[Chaharly]

Wish I had some wise words for you or any insight on insurance, but I just want to that I'm real sorry to hear about you and your family's friend. Its never easy losing anyone especially someone that you talk with often. Take care of yourself and I hope the best for your family as well!

[cowpuc]

TOTALLY MISSED THIS ONE!! Tip and I must of been lost somewhere out CTFW or something, my bad.. Sorry to hear about your friends passing Bay!! Prayers Up for his family!!

If there is one thing that life on the road on a motorcycle has taught me it is that right, wrong or indifferent - no matter who is a fault in a car/motorcycle accident - the biker ALWAYS looses and this is all another case in point.

RIP Bay's friend.