image courtesy of Playbill.com 2023
The actor Treat Williams died yesterday in a motorcycle crash that was probably not his fault. Treat was a staple of my youth and generally seemed like a decent guy living his life in Vermont. He was killed when a driver made a left turn across Williams’ lane of travel and Williams slammed into the car on his motorcycle.
These left turn cases are often devastating crashes because of the speed involved and impact of one car going fast and another nearly stopped. These are often jaws of life situations that neither driver really saw coming.
The problem with motorcycle crashes is that there is little margin for error and no protection for the rider. They are often messy and upsetting cases. I have handled injures where people have lost fingers, legs, been badly burned by the road, and died after hitting things.
The quality of driving on the roads post-pandemic is pretty poor right now by all accounts. I see people making right turns into oncoming traffic and misjudging the speed of oncoming traffic. I see uber eats or other delivery drivers simply stopping on busy suburban roads and turning their flashers on to make a delivery, which is absurd and totally unexpected by other drivers doing 40mph. And, of course, there is always the person who hates cyclists. A special thanks to the sedan that kept honking at me as I was riding through Plymouth Meeting because he was upset that I was waiting for the red light and he wanted to turn right on red through me, but could not get past me because of traffic to his left. So, he had to wait. People are crazy on the roads. Be careful out there!