motorcyclist is dead. was likely speeding 'a little' through the intersection

car driver had flashing yellow but turned left in front of motorcyclist.

is the car driver guilty of anything in your opinion?

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Motorcyclist trying to ‘beat the red light’ killed in crash, Raleigh police say

Wake County News

Posted: Mar 31, 2021 / 07:24 AM EDT / Updated: Mar 31, 2021 / 07:24 AM EDT

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A motorcyclist was killed in a crash on Tuesday in Raleigh after, according to police, he “sped up to try and beat the red light” at an intersection and slammed into a car.

The crash occurred just after 6 p.m. at the intersection of Falls of Neuse and Honeycutt roads, police said.

Angelo Buliro, of Raleigh, was traveling westbound on Falls of Neuse Road on his Suzuki motorcycle when he accelerated through an intersection in an attempt to “beat the red light” and slammed into a Kia sedan, according to a Raleigh Police Department crash report.

The report shows that Buliro crashed into a car making a left onto Honeycutt Road. The car had a flashing yellow arrow and was traveling at about 15 mph at impact.

The speed limit in the area is 45 mph and the report shows that Buliro was estimated to be traveling at 55 mph when he slammed into the car. According to the crash report, Buliro “appeared to run the red light” and then struck the Kia. He was ejected and died from his injuries, according to police.

No charges have been filed at this time and the crash remains under investigation, police said.

https://www.cbs17.com/news/loc...-raleigh-police-say/

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The article isn't written that well, but it sounds as if the motorcycle was heading west and the car east. If the eastbound car had a flashing yellow arrow then westbound traffic should have had a green or yellow.

If all of that is true, then the eastbound car had a duty to yield to westbound traffic and did not.

News story make NO sense! I've never seen a intersection where one direction of travel had a blinking yellow (yield) and any other direction or roadway entering the intersection had a traffic light controlling it. The Motorist, at the very least, is guilty of Failure to Yield!

I pretty sure 'Left Turning Motorists' kill more Motorcyclists in this country than ANY other cause of Fatal MC Accidents!

Technically the car driver could be charged with failure to yield the right of way (for the left turn in front of oncoming traffic) or failure to see before starting/stopping/turn....and misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.

I would think that the traffic unit or even a trooper wreck reconstructionist is waiting to see if the driver could see the oncoming motorcycle, before charges.

That is horrible. How awful.

The motorist certainly looks as though he must shoulder most of the blame.

They have started installing those flashing yellow arrows around here. My understanding is that you are allowed to turn left, but only if there is no traffic in the oncoming lane.

Not to mention that, as I recall, those turning left are required to yield to oncoming traffic.

quote:

According to the crash report, Buliro “appeared to run the red light” and then struck the Kia.

If that's the way they write it up, it's over.

Technically, if the motorcyclist actually did accelerate on yellow, that's probably a violation, particularly in conjunction with exceeding the speed limit.

The motorcyclist was definitely not operating defensively, assuming the article is actually written with an accurate depiction of events.

That having been said, all drivers are responsible for avoiding collisions, and the turning vehicle should have yielded to the through vehicle. There is probably some decent amount of fault to be assigned to both parties.

quote:

Originally posted by yucaipa:

quote:

According to the crash report, Buliro “appeared to run the red light” and then struck the Kia.

If that's the way they write it up, it's over.

Flashing yellow left turn arrows are everywhere here. If you are at a flashing yellow left the opposing/oncoming through traffic has the green. You can go, but must yield to oncoming.

Where it can get dicey is exactly what this situation seems to indicate. The flashing left and the oncoming traffic's green change to solid yellow at the same time on a lot of them, (while others go to green left arrow after flashing yellow). That's where both lanes will sometimes try to beat the red. Seems like what happened here. As someone who's been wrecked on a motorcycle by a left-turner, I hate to say it, but it seems they both bear partial responsibility. Especially if the M/C borrowed a little on the red.

Well the motorcyclist won't have the frustration of having to deal with red lights any more.

If the motorcyclist accelerated into a yellow/red light he's at fault in my book. I'm guessing if his light was turning red/yellow the other direction was doing the same and the vehicle that was making the turn was trying to clear the intersection after letting other westbound traffic by. Here's the intersection on google maps:

From the motorcycle perspective:

https://www.google.com/maps/@3...g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

From the vehicle perspective:

https://www.google.com/maps/@3...w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

I guess the driver of the KIA will say in his defense: "I didn't see the motorcycle" and everything will then be OK.

In my world, the KIA driver would be charged.

thanks for the responses

it seems there is shared responsibility unfortunately ending in a fatality

i coach my young drivers to be highly attuned to other drivers -- but tough to account for speeders traveling at higher than prevailing roadway speeds

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Looks like a very busy intersection with a lot of traffic.
Which lane was the motorcycle in? I'm gonna guess the outside lane.
If there was another vehicle on the inside lane a bit ahead of the motorcycle (going the same way), then as the lights are going solid yellow, envision the scenario where that vehicle starts to slow instead of "running the light". Meanwhile the car waiting to turn sees that car slowing to a stop but can't see the motorcycle on the outside lane because it's hidden behind the other car. They then make the assumption that the outside lane has no vehicle and/or it is also slowing, so they make their turn before their light turns red. Meanwhile the motorcycle guns it to beat the light but that same car in front and to his left is also likely blocking his view where he can't see a car waiting to turn left. Result is two drivers who are taking questionable action while possibly having partially blocked vision.

If the motorcycle was on the inside lane, then they should have seen each other but apparently didn't for some reason.

If he ran a red and was speeding, its on the biker in my opinion. When I ride through an intersection, I usually slow down as I approach. Its a dangerous spot.

I'm not an expert, a cop, or an attorney, but not sure if there is pending drug test and toxicology reports still out, and also wondering, of course, if there may not be a criminal charge filed, and lastly a civil lawsuit filed.

Would be interesting to follow up to and past conclusions.
.

I caught an accident like this on my dash cam, but between two cars. Car 1 was in the intersection waiting for oncoming traffic to clear to turn left. The light changed to yellow and car 1 started to turn left. Car 2 accelerated into the intersection on the yellow and t-boned car 1.

Before I watched the video, I would have sworn on the Bible that Car 2 had entered the intersection on a red light. I told the deputy that’s what I saw happen. As the deputy and I watched the video in slow motion, we saw that car 2 crossed the super wide white line just before the light turned red. For the deputy, that made the difference between citing car 2 for running a red light or not. He didn’t write the citation.

I would say car 2 was more at fault than car 1.

I would say the same about the motorcycle. The yellow light isn’t the hit the accelerator to beat the red light signal. If the motorcycle had a green, then it would be the car driver’s fault 100%.

That intersection is a “T”. The MC crossed through it with the car turning left into it..

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:


i coach my young drivers to be highly attuned to other drivers -- but tough to account for speeders traveling at higher than prevailing roadway speeds

A few months ago I was leaving a restaurant located on a state route/highway (40-45mph speed limit). I was turning left and I looked both ways, two times. I pulled out and nearly killed a man on a motorcycle and it would have been my fault. It was late November/early December and I hadn't seen a motorcycle on the street for weeks (it snowed in mid November so most people put their motorcycles away and I wasn't expecting any) but more importantly his jacket/bike were brown and black and he blended into the trees in the background. Maybe he was speeding, maybe he wasn't but either way I pulled out in front of him and nearly shit myself. If I hit/killed him it would have been 100% on me.

I've been driving for 20+ years without ever causing an accident and other than a few speeding tickets in my late teens/early 20s I have a spotless record. I wasn't drunk (it was a business lunch meeting, no booze) or driving distracted and I always look both ways, usually two times before making a turn. Despite all that I just didn't see him and that should scare the shit out of anyone who rides a motorcycle.

While rarely exercised, I believe you are not to stop in an intersection. Even if waiting for oncoming traffic to clear.

If you are turning left, you should stop and wait at the limit line not mid-intersection.

Is it illegal to increase speed when a light goes yellow to pass safely before turning red? Is it more or less dangerous than slamming on the brakes and possibly being rear ended by the vehicle behind you?

If that’s the case, both vehicles “tried to beat” the yellow as the flashing yellow should have turned solid at the same time the green turned yellow for the bike.

Bottom line, car has duty to yield, bike had right of way but the legal right doesn’t suspend laws of physics however and biker paid the ultimate price.

Car driver should be charged appropriately for failure to yield and so on.


Seems the writer had a bit of an anti-motorcycle slant.