Reasonable Explanation?

I saw this report on the news and it made me wonder.

The report is pretty short without very many details.

I wonder how they determined the cause of the accident.

No mention of any witnesses.

Must have been one heck of a speed differential between the motorcycle and the passing vehicle.

CARBON COUNTY, Utah – A woman riding a motorcycle on State Route 6 in Carbon County was killed after wind turbulence from a passing vehicle caused her to lose control and strike a guardrail.

According to information from the Utah Department of Public Safety, the crash occurred on State Route 6 near mile post 270 around 2:52 p.m.

A motorcycle was traveling west when, “…wind turbulence from a passing vehicle caused it to lose control. The motorcycle went off the right edge of the roadway and struck a guardrail.”

The motorcyclist was thrown from the vehicle and she struck the guardrail, which caused fatal injuries.

The victim was identified as 51-year-old Judy Jones of Price, Utah. It was not clear if she was wearing a helmet.

https://fox13now.com/2015/05/21/woman-dies-after-wind-turbulence-from-passing-vehicle-leads-to-motorcycle-crash/

By "passing vehicle" I'm assuming it was a vehicle going in the same direction as the motorcycle....and having that vehicle create enough wind turbulence to blow the motorcycle all the way into the right guardrail seems unlikely unless there was also a very heavy crosswind involved.

If you look at the attached pictures you can see the guardrail on the right and a passing lane on the left, so I'm guessing both vehicles were traveling the same direction.

stealth1 said:

If you look at the attached pictures you can see the guardrail on the right and a passing lane on the left, so I'm guessing both vehicles were traveling the same direction.

Click to expand...

I hadn't seen the second picture but now it really seems unlikely that a passing vehicle wind turbulence could push the motorcycle into the guard rail, maybe could push the bike a foot or two if the rider was close to the center line but not all the way across the lane. Much more likely that the rider flinched (which is very easy to do if you don't realize that you are being passed), lost control, and then hit the guardrail.

I was initially going to question the size and condition of the motorcycle but after seeing the picture, that's out. New, heavy, low center of gravity and in remarkably good condition after the crash.

Now I would question the experience, skills (if any) and attentiveness of the rider.

As MCRIDER007 says, being suddenly and unexpectedly passed can make a driver jerk in reaction, especially with a lot of speed differential. I have a whole collection of fond remembrances from passing slow, dawdling, totally vegged drivers and their reaction as I go by. Twice I have gotten heads to snap around so fast and violently that one driver lost sunglasses out the window and another lost their regular glasses out the window as they were flung off the drivers head. I have seen the recently passed suddenly jerk the wheel and cross the center line and others hook wheels off the edge of the road. On one pass I was afraid that after the driver hooked the wheel that they were going to crash.

stealth1 said:

I saw this report on the news and it made me wonder. The report is pretty short without very many details. I wonder how they determined the cause of the accident. No mention of any witnesses.Must have been one heck of a speed differential between the motorcycle and the passing vehicle.

CARBON COUNTY, Utah – A woman riding a motorcycle on State Route 6 in Carbon County was killed after wind turbulence from a passing vehicle caused her to lose control and strike a guardrail.

According to information from the Utah Department of Public Safety, the crash occurred on State Route 6 near mile post 270 around 2:52 p.m.

A motorcycle was traveling west when, “…wind turbulence from a passing vehicle caused it to lose control. The motorcycle went off the right edge of the roadway and struck a guardrail.”

The motorcyclist was thrown from the vehicle and she struck the guardrail, which caused fatal injuries.

The victim was identified as 51-year-old Judy Jones of Price, Utah. It was not clear if she was wearing a helmet.

https://fox13now.com/2015/05/21/woman-dies-after-wind-turbulence-from-passing-vehicle-leads-to-motorcycle-crash/

Click to expand...

Stealth1,

There may have been a passing vehicle, and the passing speeds may have been well above "normal." We may never know.

Maybe more likely, we have had some really wild weather here lately. That area is elevated, maybe more than a mile (1600m) high, MSL. Weather can happen very fast here, in the Springtime. In the last few days, we have seen small but violent thunderheads, microburst winds (gale force +), and intense rain, lightning, and hail. All can be very locallized; a few miles away, it may be sunshine and gentle breezes. A sudden brief rain can wet the roadway, leaving a serious lack of traction, and be gone before a rider knows it. The road that you see in the pictures can collect oil and dust, until a little rain brings it up to the surface. Microburst winds, with or without a passing vehicle, can cause a sudden lane-change that the rider was not even considering. You learn to recognize the tall and angry clouds that can cause these winds here, and nobody sane will try to "tough it out" with potentially gale-force winds. Cars and semi-trailers often lose that bet, here.

Infrared

It is hard to imagine that the turbulence from a passing vehicle alone would cause that. The article does not mention how that determination was made or how much experience the motorcyclist had. I guess we'll never really know.

MCRIDER007 said:

Much more likely that the rider flinched (which is very easy to do if you don't realize that you are being passed), lost control, and then hit the guardrail.

Click to expand...

That is much more likely.

Condolences to her family.

Even with a vacant lane, and especially if the bike was in the left lane, a semi coming the opposite direction can pack a pretty good aero wallop.... That could still be a "passing vehicle."

Complete speculation on all out parts, of course, and tragic either way.

With no witness and simple guesswork, it's even possible she was looking down and simply rode into the rail, no other traffic involved at all.

The crosswinds in Utah, Montana are a major force,

I have had my magnetic Tank bag neary blow off the bike, resulting in riding across Montana up to Calgary with one hand on the tank bag, cranked over at a 30 deg lean.

The winds coming down the east slope of the Rockies is not to be taken lighty.

Inexperience may well have been a factor, but if she was blanketted from the crosswind by a semi, the turbuance plus the crosswind hitting her again after the semi passed is a major correction.

Condolences.

My wife and I once rode in crosswinds over 50 MPH, briefly. We quit as soon as we found a flea bag motel in SW Kansas. Inexperience or inattention can result in a change in direction that can be anywhere from scary to fatal. Pity her loved ones.