A 25-year-old motorcyclist in Phoenix, Arizona was killed recently after he was involved in an accident with another vehicle. The details about the accident are few, and even the ones that the source article does reveal lack clarity. However, it seems as though the motorcyclist was not at fault in the wreck. Instead, it looks like a vehicle that “turned in front” of the motorcyclist could be at fault for the wreck.
What “turning in front” of the motorcyclist means isn’t exactly clear. Maybe that means the driver was trying to make a left turn, but the driver did so in a dangerous or reckless way thus leading to the wreck. Maybe that means the driver was trying to change lanes or merge, and the driver failed to check for the motorcyclist. As a result, the driver cut off the motorcyclist and caused the crash.
In either scenario, the result of the wreck doesn’t change. A motorcyclist has lost his life and the questions will swirl, as always, around whether a driver was negligent in the build-up.
Sadly, motorcycle accidents happen all the time because a driver “failed to see” the motorcyclist. While it’s true that motorcycles are smaller than cars and thus are “harder to see,” this logic only applies if the driver of the car is not taking a good, long look in his or her blind spots.
If a driver safely and appropriately merges or changes lanes, there should be no problem getting into the lane without hitting a nearby motorcycle. Motorcyclists aren’t invisible — they’re right there, and drivers simply need to give them more respect and pay more attention to them out on the road.
Source: azcentral.com, “Motorcyclist killed in W. Phoenix crash ID’d,” Brenda Carrasco, March 29, 2014