Bicycler wrote:I think the car driver was still to 'blame' for this one if that word is even appropriate in such a scenario. I don't think the car would have cleared the junction had the motorcycle been doing 60mph but obviously if he had been doing half his speed and considered the possibility of the car turning then he may have been able to avoid the collision. I always say that 'blame' is fine for macho roadside posturing over scratched car paint and insurance claims but where people are liable to be injured or killed the question should be whether each individual had taken every reasonable action to ensure the collision did not occur (having priority is not sufficient). IMO both failed in this respect.
Try looking at this from the drivers pespective:
Stop the BBC video at 48 seconds. I don't think it would be unreasonable for a driver to decide at that point that they could make a right turn. The truck is over 200m away and will take about 9 seconds to reach the junction. Did you see the white van behind the truck? That is where the motorcycle would have been on the day. Now roll the video forward to 53s - if the white van was a 100mph motorcycle this would be the time of the crash.
Remember it takes time from the decision to move and the vehicle starting to move - and once you are moving it takes time to initiate a stop - so while it looks from the video as if the driver simply pulls out at the very last minute, the initiation of that manoevre will have been taking place very much earlier before the biker was even in view.