Start Seeing Police Motorcycles

We know from experience that motorcycles and even small sports cars are virtually invisible to far too many drivers. You can blame it on all sorts of things: driver distraction, big SUVs/trucks, high beltlines on modern vehicles, complete lack of caring, etc. But the included video shows even police officers have to deal with this dangerous aspect of riding.

Watch dogs destroy a car trying to get to a cat.

Tigard Police Officer Gregston was riding through an intersection, responding to a priority call, when an SUV driver turned left right into him. Keep in mind he was running with both lights and sirens.

That’s right, even with flashing emergency lights on the motorcycle, the driver didn’t spot him. If that doesn’t work, what will make drivers see motorcycles? Some riders wear safety vests, but are they more visible?

Then there’s the siren. Some motorcycle enthusiasts believe “loud pipes save lives” because it will make drivers aware of their presence. But doesn’t a police siren do the same thing? They’re plenty loud, yet despite having that going, this officer still wasn’t noticed by the SUV driver.

Thankfully, Tigard Police Department says Officer Gregston wasn’t seriously injured in the crash. He did suffer a minor injury to his knee, but that was all. The bike, on the other hand suffered heavy damage, so we’re assuming it was totaled. The SUV smacked it good and hard, as you can see in the bodycam footage.

Of course, the SUV driver was fine. They usually are.

This situation could’ve been so much worse. But what could the officer have done differently? He wasn’t riding super fast, nor was he weaving around, making it hard for other drivers to see where he was traveling.

The only thing we can see in the video was a smaller SUV turned left in front of the larger one that hit the officer right before the motorcycle entered the intersection. Had the officer hesitated for a moment, realizing most drivers behave like lemmings and just follow the leader in front of them, he might have avoided the crash.

We’re not saying this was the officer’s fault. In fact, we’re pretty sure once he goes lights and sirens he has right of way in an intersection. But even if you’re right in a situation, if you get hit by a much larger vehicle you can still lose big time.

Images via TigardPolice/YouTube