Blaze:
A Vermont man now faces a single charge in connection with a fatal crash that killed actor Treat Williams.
On the afternoon of June 12, Williams was riding his 1986 Honda VT700c motorcycle along Route 30 in Dorset, Vermont, in the southwestern corner of the state near the New York border. Ryan Koss, 35, was reportedly driving a Honda Element SUV in the opposite direction on Route 30, which in Dorset is a two-lane road.
At about 5 p.m., Koss stopped in his lane and signaled that he intended to make a left turn into a parking lot. Unfortunately, Koss then reportedly turned right in front of Williams, who “was unable to avoid a collision and was thrown from his motorcycle,” a statement from the Vermont State Police said. more
This type of collision happens alarmingly frequently. FAR too frequently, and is completely avoidable.
Put down your phone and WATCH FOR MOTORCYCLES!
I used to really love riding, but this is exactly the reason I quit.
Severe trauma to his body?
No way that driver stopped before turning.
I wonder how fast Treat was going to have the impact to the passenger side of the car cause injury to the driver? A VT700 isn’t as heavy as a Harley. What time of day was it? Was it on a curve? Some states require MC to have their headlights on all the time; a good idea.
Riding a motorcycle requires you to believe every car is trying to kill you.
I’ll often times move left to right in my lane, to increase my visibility.
I gave up street bikes 4 years ago. Too many near-death experiences due to distracted drivers crossing the center line and running up on me at stop lights. At least I know trees won’t cut me off brake check me.
I’m not sure what it is, but something about the dude’s mugshot screams “douchebag”. Something is telling me that I would intensely dislike this individual if I were ever to meet him.
I had a Norton 850 Commando, bought in the early 70s. Selling that when I was about 25 after several near death close calls with cars was about the most sane thing I did in my 20s.
So on little more than 2 months it was determined criminal charges would be filed for this terrible accident. Meanwhile in NM, a certain actor accidently shoots and kills a coworker and injures another and it takes, what, 18 months to determine no charges will be filed. gotcha!
Years ago I almost pulled in front of a motorcycle because he blended in with the shaded background. Good idea to use your headlight even in the daytime.
Started on a Suzuki X6 Hustler then 2 Harley XLCH Sportsters and finally a Harley Superglide. 40 years. First and foremost, every other vehicle on the road is out to kill you. If you get hit from behind it’s because you weren’t watching your back.
“…and was thrown from his motorcycle”.
…I feel like there’s something left out here. In my experience what happens AFTER you are “thown from your motorcycle” tends to be the more damaging part, depending on what you are thrown down, into, or in FRONT of.
Many a time we’d roll up on a MC TC and find the motorcycle HERE, and the guy that was riding it THERE…and THERE…and over THERE…and some more right near HERE…and stuck in THAT… it could be pretty gruesome, and often not survivable.
There is one phrase that has stuck with me from a Basic Trauma Life Support book that I read decades ago, as concerns motorcycles. It said this several times in many different places having to do with different types of bone, soft tissue, head trauma, amputation, avulsion, and otherwise exsanguinating injuries. And that phrase was this:
“For treatment purposes consider a motorcylist to be a high-speed pedestrian, and evaluate accordingly”.
Yep. Didn’t know how true that was when I read that, but found out in SPADES later.
All of the vulnerabilities and none of the protection, coupled with being virtually invisible and with the formula K.E. = 1/2 m v2. with K.E being Kinetic Engergy, m being mass, and v being velocity (squared) very much in play for the end of his short, wingless flight.
Which usually ended in a header.
…brain buckets mitigate the force of your head hitting the thing, but not the force of your brain hitting your skull, and certainly do nothing for the neck that the rest of your body is attached to. But they do make it easier to have an open casket at your funeral, which is apparently all it did for him.
If you’re on a motorcycle, you’re one other person’s lane change from making the leap between happy rider and hazmat incident.
As Cmn¢¢guy says above, if you choose to ride assume no car sees you and every car wants you dead, and act accordingly.
And it IS safer to ride in groups, for both visibility and to scare cars away. And it also makes it so someone can tell your wife what hospital you were taken to and where to pick up the bike, the last being of interest for Harley riders ONLY from what I’ve seen…
How could he cross in front of Treat making a right turn when they are going in opposite directions? I think he signaled a right turn and then made a left, not left, then, right as the article indicated.
I RIDE AS IF I AM INVISABLE….
@ Doug: Replace the word “right” from the article with ‘directly’ and it will make more sense.
aleon;
I had an X6 back in the 60s. Fastest production 250 made at the time. Throttle cables were a pain tho. Still have a Goldwing, an XV920 Yamaha and a ’76 TT500. 55+ years of dirt/street riding and no accidents.
My only accident was when I was hit from behind at a stop sign. Lucky me, no cross traffic because I was sprawled across that lane.
aleon is right, I wasn’t watching behind me, poor SA. Like many have noted, you gotta be on swivel when riding.
Left turning automobiles are the worst. I got whacked by a right turning girl. As I approached the intersection we made eye contact and I thought she was aware. She must have been thinking about her boyfriend or something because as I came into the intersection she made her right, across the first, and into the second lane into me. Next thing I saw was all the signal lights of the cars in the opposing turn lane dropping away below me. As I reached the apogee of my flight I thought, I’ll turn and face my direction of travel and… at that moment my feet made contact with the ground and things got really hectic for a moment. Ripped all the body seams out of my jacket, cracked my helmet, one leg had a comic L shape and I was PISSED!! So yeah, they’re all out to kill you.
treat williams was a great actor. he made a very funny movie around 1980 that I am trying to track down called “Why Would I Lie”
RIP Treat.