There doesn’t seem to be any provision in most traffic codes for collisions with particularly “vulnerable” vehicles such as motorcycles or tiny econoboxes. If instead of the bikes, it was an SUV sitting at the red light, and a similar vehicle going a little too fast for conditions slid into the SUV, probably nobody would have been hurt and we’d see a very minor traffic charge.
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What if your a pedestrian? And let's just say you're in a crosswalk. If it were my relatives killed you can be sure a manslaughter charge would be forthcoming.
There was this one time that I was sitting in the left turn lane of a traffic signal. I was over to the right side, where car tires would be, rather than dead-center in the lane, where there are lots of puddles of oil. The driver of a car just didn't see me sitting there - I'm 6'4" tall, with a bright red helmet, on a bright red Ducati, in the middle of a sunny day - and came within 2" of hitting my left leg... I rapped my knuckles on his passenger window, and his girlfriend completely freaked out, as did he.
There are so many distractions for drivers, and they're looking for dangerous situations with objects BIGGER than them. Consequently, they just don't see you. Someone once told me that they rode their motorcycles as if they were invisible to the rest of the drivers. I disagree. I rode my bike as though the drivers around me were trying to run me down.
Mark