Car shouldn't have crossed double line and biker shouldn't have kicked car, seems that this started before footage started. I'm somehow amazed how quick that SUV flipped though.

 

I disagree with that. I have never heard of that nor is it taught in drivers ed, at least not when I took it. Motorcyclist do not have special rules or privileges applied to them just because they are in a vehicle that is less safe then a car where car drivers are supposed to just accept or back off when it comes to motorcycles but not for other cars and trucks. If you refuse to let a car merge and it causes a collision it will kill the occupants of the car just as dead as someone on a motorcycle. You put a car or truck drivers life in danger if you do those same things you listed too, look what happened to that beige Escalade truck, it flipped from a simple side hit from the smaller car. If you are trying to say motorcycle drivers have special privileges to do stupid or careless things on the road because they are in a less safe vehicle and car drivers should just make sure they let them do it but they don't with other cars then you would also have to apply that rule to older vehicles who may not have airbags, stability control or compact cars that won't fair as well in a crash compared to a larger vehicle.

 

what if the biker gave him the finger instead of kicking and the car did the same thing. Did the biker cause the accident?

 

I don't remember being specifically taught that either in Driver's Ed but I usually don't treat riders like normal vehicles. I'm more cautious around them period because unlike me in a car with airbags they have nothing. In same collision scenario you are more likely to get hurt worse or die on a motorcycle compared to a regular vehicle. I lost a friend on a bike because a car made an illegal u turn had he been in a vehicle his chances of survival would have been much better. Not saying there aren't bad riders out there that act foolish but if I see them coming up behind I let them pass first or if merging I let them merge etc... I travel to CA a lot for work and I remember the first time on 880 and a bike cutting lanes how shocked I was but that is normal unlike here in MD where that never happens or is even legal from my understanding.

 

Every time I go through Baltimore at night I see sport bikes cutting lanes, flying 100mph+, just doing crazy dangerous things without a care, it happens in some places in Maryland. I use the same amount of caution for every vehicle I encounter in the road, I have never had any issues or conflicts with anyone on motorcycles from what I remember but I have seen many doing absolutely stupid things on the road like riding wheelies for hundreds of yards on the highway, standing up and doing tricks on the highway, passing on shoulder/side through red lights, saw a lowlife with a girl on back cutting the middle of traffic yelling at other drivers and throwing things at drivers and giving them the finger as he did it. I did see a man dressed as Santa Claus riding a Harley around Christmas on the highway once.

 

I've seen my share of crazy sport bikes here in MD, worse I've seen is in FL they don't require helmets and I've seen sport bikes on 95 doing wheelies going 100mph + but to each their own. I give bikes a little more leeway even if they are doing dumb stuff. Santa on a Harley I find entertaining lol.

 

A couple of years ago, a bunch of arrogant sport-bikers shut the D.C. Beltway down, in PG County, with a sit-in, then finally got rolling and blocking even more traffic.

 

^^ I remember that incident and a lot of people saying how if they were there they would have ran over the bikers for being in the wrong.........doubt they would have. I'm not sure if any arrests were made but that was way over board what they did.

 

the problem is a two way street. People not giving driving their full attention. Bikers who ride way faster than traffic around them, and doing stupid stuff. Drivers who think laws don't apply to them, but to everyone else.

 

here's one from Maryland.

 

Its not something thats "the law" or something thats "taught in drivers ed", but its one of those "practical life reality" things that my dad taught me when he taught me how to drive a car. At the end of the day, we're all trying to get through the day and come out the other side alive and not scarred for life. Bottom line is, one's body and life is at much more risk riding a motorcycle, bike, or walking on public roads shared with cars...I'm driving a 5,000 lb car, i can ruin or end somebody's life if they're on a motorcycle, bike, or on foot way more easily than if they too are in a multi-ton car. Its sort of like if you are a boxer, or someone trained in physical combat or a weight lifter you have a little higher level of responsibility say if you were to get into a bar fight. Thats something they DO teach in martial arts classes by the way.

The other side of it is, I don't want to have to live the rest of my life with the memory of watching somebody die falling off a motorcycle or running over somebody on the street and being involved in their death. I know a guy who hit two girls crossing a controlled access highway in the middle of the night and killed them. Wasn't his fault, they shouldn't have been there and he couldn't have seen them, but he has to live with that for the rest of his life, and it diminished the quality of his life substantially. Theres a degree of self preservation in it also.

So yeah, when I see some crazy biker barreling down the road at 100 MPH, I GTF out of his way...on the shoulder, whatever. If he dies, fine but I don't want to be involved in it. Somebody in a car? They can drive around me.

Come on, you know thats just not true. If somebody is involved in an accident, they are WAY more likely to die or suffer serious injury riding a motorcycle than driving a car. Thats just common sense. I also can't "fall out" of my car, if you startle somebody riding a motorcycle they could wreck it and hurt or kill themselves without ever even hitting somebody else...not going to happen to somebody driving a car.

And I would bet money that everybody in that Escalade was fine. Had the Sentra hit the motorcycle I would be shocked if the rider was fine. Thats the point.

You could take it that far, but you're making it overly complicated. In reality, its pretty simple. In a car you're surrounded by thousands of pounds of steel, seatbelt, airbags, the works. Really, its a rolling cocoon of safety. A motorcyclist or biker or pedestrian has none of that, so give them a little bit wider berth since you can hurt them so easily driving your car. Pretty simple...

 

As a rider myself, I know exactly why this biker did what he did. It was done out of pure frustration, and certainly a bad decision, but what the car driver did was a criminal decision. I run into bad drivers just about every time I'm riding, and it gets extremely frustrating. Just yesterday I was making a left turn, and as I'm sitting in the middle of the intersection waiting for the oncoming cars to pass so I can finish my turn the light changes and as I start moving some t#at in a huge SUVs starts moving right at me without letting me finish turning. I had to start honking and yelling at him to get his attention, and in the meantime the cars from the other direction also start moving. I'm sure this has happened to just about everyone who drives, but when it happens to you when you're driving a car its just frustrating, for a biker it is frustrating and gravely dangerous.

It's very weird how seeming normal and respectable people turn into complete a-holes once they get behind the wheel. Driving aggressively, honking, cutting in and out, not respecting the rules of the road, not yielding to pedestrians while making turns, having no patience, etc. As a pedestrian I once kicked a car that didn't yield to me at a pedestrian crossing and almost ran me over while making a right turn. There are of course irresponsible bikers out there as well, but these are usually a small minority of young kids and they either quickly learn how to ride responsibly or become asphalt paint. The wast majority of us are very responsible as self preservation is our first priority. I can also say that ever since I started riding I also became a much more attentive and courteous driver as well.

 

I have friends that ride both Sport and Cruisers and they all tell me similar stories to what you just said.