Posted on 06/21/2019 10:58:03 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Seven motorcyclists were killed and three others injured when they collided with a pickup truck going the opposite direction in New Hampshire, police said.
Authorities received a call around 6:30 p.m. Friday about a motor vehicle crash on Route 2 in Randolph, New Hampshire State Police Capt. Chris Vetter said.
The pickup truck, a 2016 Dodge 2500, was traveling west on Route 2 while the motorcyclists were traveling east, police said.
State police collision analysis and reconstruction teams are investigating the crash, and will continue overnight in conjunction with local police and the Coos County Attorney's Office.
"Route 2 is closed for the foreseeable future. The scene is pretty large and there's a lot of work to be done," Vetter said. "I don't know that I have ever seen a crash with this much loss of life. It was a pretty significant accident."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
When I saw the picture of the trailer, I thought it was being towed by a big rig. Offhand, I would think that a standard pickup could easily lose control of a trailer that long if the driver had to suddenly slow down or swerve to avoid the motorcycles, especially if that group was following the practice that I have seen of having outriders on the center line to make oncoming traffic hug the shoulder. An aquaintence of mine was killed doing this when an oncoming driver would not give way. He basically had to make a split second choice of how he was going to die.
People tend not to “see” motorcyclists with proper brain processing and hence all the accidents with cars making left turns in front of bikes.
Those pictures are amazingly grim; obviously taken prior to emergency response. I see scattered bikes, but no riders, or injured people, or uninjured people trying to help injured people. I’ve seen many accident scenes and understand the inexplicable nature of some physical encounters, but the images depicted seem so unexpectedly final. So very sad.
One tourist death per day, though they don’t publicize that. Most are traffic related vs. crime though, for whatever that’s worth.
IIRC, there so no sun on Friday; it was cloudy and overcast with threat of rain.
Sad. Prayers for their souls and their families.
Problem is, bikers can come out of nowhere, they are so agile.
For all the warnings for motorists to *Watch out for motorcycles*, it's past time to tell the idiots on motorcycles to watch out themselves.
I have been on I-81 driving in heavy traffic above the speed limit and had idiot bikers riding the dashed line in the middle to squeeze between me and the other car to pass us cause 70-75 was not fast enough for them.
it didn't come without a certain amount of regret.......but he's got his 4 wheeler....
I experienced much craziness on HD motorcycles 2-45’ flatheads and, then, a Sportster until I was about 21. My final wreck (an idiot in a van ran a stop sign, pulling right in front of me. Screech, bang, thud...blood. That was over 50 years ago. Now I get my thrills by driving a Corvette with the top off and may hair (what’s left) blowing in the wind. I believe I’d be dead years ago if I had continued my wasted-youth ways.
CNN headline blames the dead (mostly former Marines) cyclists...
Daily Mail (UK) has this headline: “Seven motorcyclists are left dead and three injured in a ‘devastating crash’ after a Dodge pickup truck plows into their procession along a rural stretch of highway in New Hampshire” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7169379/7-dead-crash-truck-motorcycles-New-Hampshire.html
8:33 PM
Friday, June 21, 2019 (EDT)
Sunset in Randolph, NH
So that's YOU speeding down our little 25 MPH country road!!??
A terribly tragic event. Just awful.
You betcha! School zones...hospital zones...snow covered hilltops...I'm doin' 64MPH!
“4 wheeler”? You mean one of those ATV things that costs as much as a new Porsche did in 1970? One of those would have been cool when I was 13 and living on the farm.
Better pictures at the link.
Not only were the conditions clear and dry, it looks to be a long, straight, wide open stretch of road.
I live on a three way intersection in rural Pennsylvania. I see bikers doing stupid stuff everyday during riding season. Running the stop sign,doing 70 in a 35 MPH zone,etc. I also see folks in 4 wheelers doing stupid stuff too.
It happened in a no passing zone. One of the pictures in the Daily Mail link shows a little bit of a hill near the impact site.
Based on this image, the Truck/trailer point of rest appears to be on the wrong side of the highway. Looking at the skid marks seems to substantiate that.
In addition, looking closely at the front end of the truck below, it appears to have significant front end damage. Based on this alone, there is likely a good chance this was a head on with the truck crossing over the center line.
However, there is also a possibility a motorcycle had crossed over the line into the trucks direction of travel, causing the truck to veer to it's left, over the center line.
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