Oof-Da! Canadians just as ignorant as Duhmericans

[Frank Lee]

169.18 DRIVING RULES. Subd. 8.Following vehicle too closely. (a) The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of such vehicles and the traffic upon and the conditions of the highway.
(b) The driver of any motor vehicle drawing another vehicle, or the driver of any motor truck or bus, when traveling upon a roadway outside of a business or residence district, shall not follow within 500 feet of another vehicle. The provisions of this paragraph shall not be construed to prevent overtaking and passing nor shall the same apply upon any lane specially designated for use by motor trucks.
(c) The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow within 500 feet of an authorized emergency vehicle that is traveling in response to an emergency.

500 feet is roughly 1/10 mile. That would be plenty sufficient for a non-speeding cycle to come to a stop or change lanes. Oops- speeding and following too close, not to mention lacking situational awareness (there was a truck and trailer AHEAD of the bike that managed to avoid the car. Are bikes more maneuverable than trucks with trailers? Yes, they are).

Agreed Patrick- neither party is blameless and neither party should get all the blame.

Here's a bit on liability: http://www.all-about-car-accidents.c...-deciding-fact

http://accident-law.freeadvice.com/a...d_accident.htm

The 'Rules of the Road'
If someone hits you from behind, it is virtually always his or her fault, *regardless of the reason you stopped. A basic rule of the road requires that you be able to stop safely if a vehicle stops ahead of you. So, as a tailing driver, if you *cannot stop in time and wind up rear-ending the vehicle in front of you, you are not driving as safely as you need to be under the circumstances.

Can't speak for CA but I'd imagine their rules are the same or similar:

Minnesota’s basic speed law requires you to drive at a speed no faster than is reasonable under existing conditions. These include weather,
traffic and road conditions. Driving faster than the posted speed limit is illegal.

[user removed]

If they put a MORON filter at the approaches to I64 here, the road would be deserted.

I never posted that the woman driving the vehicle that stopped in the middle of the road to "save" the ducks was not stupid and negligent or that she was not criminally negligent, or that I have any great love for ducks, none of which makes the father and daughter any less DEAD. I have told police officers that they can write me all the tickets they want when I do something illegal to keep from being killed-injured, when they told me I had to sit there and have some idiot smash into my rear end stopped at a red light.

Laws apply to us all until one of us does something stupid enough to endanger the life of another, regardless of "intent". When it comes to survival or avoiding serious injury or death there is only one law that applies.

Survival

regards
Mech

[nemo]

No doubt both were in the wrong.

Prosecutor Annie-Claude Chasse had a message for motorists.

"What we hope is that a clear message is sent to society that we do not stop on the highway for animals. It's not worth it."

Sound like someone with an ax to grind or an overly self important attitude. The time for such a message would have been before the indecent.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Driving too close to another vehicle, one is assuming the danger. Including the dangers caused by other drivers. So, the biker was driving a clearly unsafe vehicle in a reckless way while hauling his daughter, while he could have time and space to escape from the tree-hugger ***** if he wasn't a moron.

[Cobb]

The Chevelle as was unable to control her vehicle, following too close. I did this swerve around a stopped semi and heard something hit as I was passing the trailer.

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

I had a similar situation. I was being tailgated by a woman in a 1966 Chevelle. The car in front of me, a silver 68 GTO convertible stopped very quickly and left his rear end sticking out in the left lane of a 4 lane divided highway. Knowing I was clear in the right lane (situational awareness), I swerved over and the Chevelle slammed into the rear end of the GTO, spinning it around two complete revolutions, the impact was like an explosion.

So who was at fault?

regards
Mech

[Cobb]

+!

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

If they put a MORON filter at the approaches to I64 here, the road would be deserted.

regards
Mech

[Frank Lee]

I find it scary and worrisome that a basic Rule of the Road is being so hotly debated. Dayam, and I have to share the road with these people!

I won't park on the highway w/o flashers but by the same token if I'm stopped on or near the highway legitimately I don't want any morons doing this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KFKIBrzawQ

[user removed]

Made me think about the brake job my buddy was doing when I went to his shop for lunch today. New meaning for "metallic" brake pads, otherwise know as no friction material left.

But the killer was the Z car with one side of the crossmember completely detached from the unibody due to rust. Weight of the engine, steering rack mounted to the crossmember, and the lower control arm mount, with only two bolts on the other side and the transmission mount to keep all of it form falling out on the road with complete loss of alignment and any control of the car.

The customer even had the cohones to ask me to test drive it!

Or the Chevy truck that jacknifed when the front u joint failed and the prop shaft hit a seam in the concrete pavement and it jumped straight up in the air and rotated 180 degrees and slid into a ditch.

My Moron alert is on continuously.

regards
Mech

[Cobb]

The mythbusters spent quite a bit of time to get that to happen in their tests. If that happens to me, Id buy a lottery ticket. Of course I always check my propeller shafts and U joints. Dont want to go to do a screaming burn out just to snap the U and look like an azz.

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Or the Chevy truck that jacknifed when the front u joint failed and the prop shaft hit a seam in the concrete pavement and it jumped straight up in the air and rotated 180 degrees and slid into a ditch.

My Moron alert is on continuously.

regards
Mech

[ecomodded]

I am displeased with the woman that stopped as it was a inherently dangerous and a Stupid thing to do , in the end it proved to be tragic , RIP to them.
I do concede that the motorcyclist did indeed error.
He was either following to closely or did not see the already stopped car and slammed into it.
I have avoided a few high speed highway rear ends in the last second or I would of died myself , its a chance we take and not paying strict attention could cost ones life or others.

It is apparent that this biker did not have fast enough reflexes to deal with what was in store for him.