(1) She should NOT have stopped in the left lane.
(2) A driver is responsible for not driving faster than his ability to see the road ahead and stop in time if there's an obstruction on the road.
The motorcyclist would have been just as dead if there was a disabled car, a dead deer, a tree branch, or some item which fell off the back of a truck. He should not have been moving faster than his ability to notice an obstruction and stop safely.
We had a new driver here in Georgia who planted (stopped) herself in the merging ramp at the entrance/junction split of I-75 and I-575.... she ended up causing the death of a motorist. She just effing STOPPED.... waiting to merge into the heavily trafficked merge where she had plenty of room and distance to do so while moving..
Good points, and true.
I ride every day, for years and one thing that will keep you alive is expecting every kind of stupid activity from other drivers.
Never fails.
If you cannot adopt this mindset you should, IMHO stay off motorcycles.
Tragic story though.
Oh, forgot, NOT GUILTY.
“(2) A driver is responsible for not driving faster than his ability to see the road ahead and stop in time if there’s an obstruction on the road.”
In theory, sure, but in practice I don’t think anyone drives in this manner. In order to see an obstruction with no lights on a road at night in time to stop, we’d all have to be driving 35mph on the highway, and slowing to 15-20 going around curves.
Correct, PapaBear.
That is easier said than done in some circumstances. I was driving I-80 in Wyoming doing about 65 in the left lane. The speed limit was 75. As I topped a gentle rise there was a car behind a car with a boat trailer stopped in the left lane. From the moment I saw it there was barely enough time to swerve into the right lane and avoid plowing into it. Had there been traffic in the right lane next to me I would have hit that mess before I could have touched the brakes.