It is always best to assume, as a motorcyclist, that cars don't see you, won't see you, or can't see you. The don't see you because they are not looking, the won't see you even if they do look because you are not a car, which is what they are looking for. They can't see you because they are impaired in one or more ways.
Therefore, 100% of the responsibility for avoiding accidents while on a motorcycle lies with the rider.
For instance I honk at cars pulling out of driveways and turning left, even when they appear to be looking at me. The maybe are in the "won't see me" class. Can't take the chance. So I Honk.
Some people seem to hate motorcylists, not many but they are out there. We don't know exactly what happened, but from the witnesses description it does sound like the cyclist was acting appropriately. He was in the fast lane, which is actually separated from the main freeway by a big, bumpy "Do not cross" yellow line. It's pretty clear that if you *are* crossing that line you need to be extra cautious of the cars on the left, which have the right away.
So dummy in the silver car at minimum was not driving well, and cut off the Scooterist, which can be a rage-inducing event when you think "that guy almost killed me". Because of the "Won't see" effect it may have appeared to the Scooterist that the silver car looked right at me, which in normal circumstances one would interpret as "he tried to kill me on purpose".
In fact what happened is that Silver Car's brains's pattern recognition was looking for a large object in the lane and litterally didn't see him even though he looked that way because he didn't "match" the "pattern" that he was looking for.
If a motorcyclist cannot handle that kind of traffic, he should drive a car instead. Yeah. And if you can't handle your emotions you shouldn't drive at all. Scooterist was very wrong to kick at the car. First: it's incredibly dangerous, your foot could get caught in the bumper and ripped off easily. That was bone headed.
Dummy in the Silver Car, acted even worse, attempting homicide in retaliation for someone bumping his car.
Imagine you have first in line at a red light and you have stopped with the nose of your car protruding into the crosswalk. Someone angrily walking across the street slams his hand into your hood -BAM! - denting it.
If your response is to instantly *hit the gas* running the miscreant over and killing him you would be acting exactly like this DSC (Dummy in the Silver Car) does in this video.
If the person you were trying to kill jumped out of the way but your car crossed into the intersection and smashed into a truck flipping it, well it's still your damn fault.
Someone smashing your car does not exhonorate you going into attempted murder and drive like an ass mode, at least it should not.
Because there is a motorcycle involved, and the generally low opinion many have of motorcyclists, I think many people will not see this, and place all the blame on the Scooterist, when, in fact, it is shared with the larger part resting on DSC.
>Therefore, 100% of the responsibility for avoiding accidents while on a motorcycle lies with the rider.
BS. Over a dozen times I’ve had people try to merge into me while riding a bike and I always ride at the speed limit. Cars drivers ignore than you’re there which makes riding a lot more dangerous than it should be. I’m not responsible for someone failing to look over his shoulder before merging.