Man on electric bike killed in Bucks county pa

Wow that is awful... this is pretty close to me. Looks like a huge steel chinese washing machine build with a mxus in a rear moto wheel. Really heavy potentially fast bike. RIP fellow ebiker
 
Rest in peace fellow ebiker and shipmate on our beautiful spaceship.
 
Yeah, very sad. He was a member of endless sphere facebook and you can go back and find posts by him. Pretty chilling. Not sure what his name was on here..
 
As the man on the motorized bicycle was crossing the intersection at Central Avenue, witnesses said the driver of a rented transit van traveling in the opposite direction turned left right into the path of the oncoming bike.

Paramedics arrived moments later, but the man on the motorized bike was pronounced dead on the scene.

He has been identified as 50-year-old Matt Petcel.

The impact damaged the van's passenger side door, but no other injuries were reported.

The ensuing police investigation resulted in a backup in both directions along Street Road, a very busy thoroughfare through this part of Bucks County.

Investigators said they're still not sure who was at fault here.
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Rip. It will be nice to know details. Only a dented door, but the rider dies? Was he thrown, did a helmet have any play? Speeds etc?
Does Matt have a build page?

edit// I can't find the intersection of 'street road' and 'central avenue', but that is a pretty busy thoroughfare up/over there. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1391324,-74.9873325,3a,60y,309.58h,84.6t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s30hcKqD9yeHSe3YUwyLULg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
 
That really sux....about the same bike and I'm about the same age.......

Hope he's in a better place.

Tom
 
Very sad. Hitting a van at even 30 mph should be survivable. But nothing is a sure thing.

Van turns left into a bicycle, and investigators are not sure who was at fault???? I hope they really meant no comment till the official report comes out.

His speed must have been a factor in his ability to avoid the van. Keeping up with traffic is great, but you need to think about what might happen, what you could do about it if it happens, and be going a speed you can do something other than hit the van. For me this means slowing at big intersections, car, motorcycle, or bike.

As usual, I'm betting the van never saw him at all, much like they fail to see a motorcycle with headlight on. Personally, I failed to see a cement truck once, which I thought would be impossible to not see. Since then (1975) I have learned to drive/ride like I'm invisible, and really try harder to look and see, rather than just look.
 
dogman dan said:
As usual, I'm betting the van never saw him at all, much like they fail to see a motorcycle with headlight on. Personally, I failed to see a cement truck once, which I thought would be impossible to not see. Since then (1975) I have learned to drive/ride like I'm invisible, and really try harder to look and see, rather than just look.
Click to expand...

Fantastic advice. My work vehicle was a motorcycle for many years, and that was my mantra. If I rode like no one could see me, no problems. As soon as I assumed someone would see me it was trouble.
 
Most of bike crashes in the city, are caused by a driver who did not see anything. That is all they know to say: I did not see him. This is not always true, some of them just believed they could pass before you, and decided to bet YOUR life on it. On 2 wheels in the city trafic, you can't trust anyone. Your safety is in your own hands and any vehicle is a potential threat. Unfortunately, the learning of this fact does hurt and kill many riders every year.

Even when you are conscious of all the risks, you never know when some unpredictable situation will happen. Dealing with the unpredictable is the most difficult task for a rider. You need to watch for every possible evasion solution at all times, to be ready when the time comes. It does require to remain calm in a moment of extreme stress, to make a series of quick decisons, and to have mastered the skills to apply them in rhytm.

This particular situation when someone does a left turn in front of you, does happen very often when you ride a lot of mileage in town. It is predictable and you need to ride every time like it will happen. This means, when you notice someone oncoming planning a left turn, slow down enough to be able to turn with him if he does it suddenly in front of you. I can't count anymore, the number of right windows that I have broken with my left shoulder in 50 years. Sometimes, it is just too late to slow down and this is YOUR mistake for failing to anticipate. Braking then, would leave you without any control on the inevitable crash. As a result you have to select the best crash quickly, and do it without any fear or hesitation. Never presume that you can time yourself to pass behind them, for many idiots will stop when they finally see you coming. If there is trafic in the oncoming lane and you can't clear behind the idiot, best is to target his front wheel and jump off the bike just before the hit, to fly over and go taking a slide on the other side.

Sorry to have avoided the usual words about the poor guy who died. I figured out I might try to save another instead.
 
RIP.

Yeah, and sometimes they literally don't see ya. Humans are programed not to see what they don't expect to see. Even I've been surprised by bikes where I don't expect them (typically with someone wearing dark colors). Personally, I commute with LED strobes and fluorescent clothing. I look like a dweeb, but I know when I don't do this, people just don't see me. LIterally. That and I avoid cars as much as possible, and I assume that they will all pull out in front of me.

Let's be safe out there. There isn't much protection on a bike if a van turns right in front of you.
 
Ideally, the guy left crossing you does not stop. Then you can do the Z turn. left, then quickly back to the right because other cars are still crossing the intersection going straight. You end up on the center line, or the line between the turn lane and the go straight lane. The Z shape turn buys you tons of stopping distance. This can be done with the rear brake locked up, if you must.

I call it threading the needle, and yeah, every time it saved my life I was going waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast on a motorcycle. Now I come to a slower speed for intersections, at age 58.
 
MadRhino said:
Most of bike crashes in the city, are caused by a driver who did not see anything. That is all they know to say: I did not see him. This is not always true, some of them just believed they could pass before you, and decided to bet YOUR life on it. On 2 wheels in the city trafic, you can't trust anyone. Your safety is in your own hands and any vehicle is a potential threat. Unfortunately, the learning of this fact does hurt and kill many riders every year.

Even when you are conscious of all the risks, you never know when some unpredictable situation will happen. Dealing with the unpredictable is the most difficult task for a rider. You need to watch for every possible evasion solution at all times, to be ready when the time comes. It does require to remain calm in a moment of extreme stress, to make a series of quick decisons, and to have mastered the skills to apply them in rhytm.

This particular situation when someone does a left turn in front of you, does happen very often when you ride a lot of mileage in town. It is predictable and you need to ride every time like it will happen. This means, when you notice someone oncoming planning a left turn, slow down enough to be able to turn with him if he does it suddenly in front of you. I can't count anymore, the number of right windows that I have broken with my left shoulder in 50 years. Sometimes, it is just too late to slow down and this is YOUR mistake for failing to anticipate. Braking then, would leave you without any control on the inevitable crash. As a result you have to select the best crash quickly, and do it without any fear or hesitation. Never presume that you can time yourself to pass behind them, for many idiots will stop when they finally see you coming. If there is trafic in the oncoming lane and you can't clear behind the idiot, best is to target his front wheel and jump off the bike just before the hit, to fly over and go taking a slide on the other side.

Sorry to have avoided the usual words about the poor guy who died. I figured out I might try to save another instead.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by target his wheel ?
 
If you have no room to clear behind an oncoming vehicle who does turn left in front of you, and you are going too fast to brake or turn right, your best crash option is to go hitting his front right wheel and jump off your bike just before the hit. This is making you fly over the front and land on the other side. Then, if you are good at landing and sliding, you can get away unharmed. Even if you can't control your landing, it is still much better than hitting the vehicle.
 
MadRhino said:
If you have no room to clear behind an oncoming vehicle who does turn left in front of you, and you are going too fast to brake or turn right, your best crash option is to go hitting his front right wheel and jump off your bike just before the hit. This is making you fly over the front and land on the other side. Then, if you are good at landing and sliding, you can get away unharmed. Even if you can't control your landing, it is still much better than hitting the vehicle.
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I would have to hire a stuntman, being that I am past the age of doing my own stunts. :|
 
This is not a stunt, it is the decision to crash for the best when a crash can't be avoided. If you observe the situation, it is the lesser danger. Hitting the middle you may not fly over, and hitting the rear might send you sliding in the oncoming lane. Hoping to pass on the rear after he is further in his turn is taking 50% risk because half of them hit the brake when they finally see you coming. It did happen to me twice that an idiot did brake when he could have cleared me the way just continuing to turn, that is making a bad crash because you can't react anymore. Passing behind is good only if there is no other vehicle coming and you can use the oncoming lane. Better 100% fly, than 50% hitting square. F*** the bike, your bones are worth more. That is why I alway try turning right in that situation. When I am within the speed that does let me, I end up turning with him. If I am too fast, I start turning with him but side bump his passenger window with my left shoulder. If I am much too fast, I can't turn with him so I target his front wheel. All three moves are the same sequence at first, and can begin with braking as hard as you want, as long as you release the brake before turning.
 
MadRhino said:
This is not a stunt, it is the decision to crash for the best when a crash can't be avoided. If you observe the situation, it is the lesser danger. Hitting the middle you may not fly over, and hitting the rear might send you sliding in the oncoming lane. Hoping to pass on the rear after he is further in his turn is taking 50% risk because half of them hit the brake when they finally see you coming. It did happen to me twice that an idiot did brake when he could have cleared me the way just continuing to turn, that is making a bad crash because you can't react anymore. Passing behind is good only if there is no other vehicle coming and you can use the oncoming lane. Better 100% fly, than 50% hitting square. F*** the bike, your bones are worth more. That is why I alway try turning right in that situation. When I am within the speed that does let me, I end up turning with him. If I am too fast, I start turning with him but side bump his passenger window with my left shoulder. If I am much too fast, I can't turn with him so I target his front wheel. All three moves are the same sequence at first, and can begin with braking as hard as you want, as long as you release the brake before turning.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

Pick lines that you don't expect to hit things you're not comfortable riding over, and when the plan changes crash with grace in the method that involves the lowest rates of change in speed.
 
Agreed. I did it on the rear wheel myself, though in a different situation. And I was only doing about 30 mph on a motorcycle.

Car backed out of the driveway into my path. Particularly since that was my last ride without a helmet, it was much better to go flipping over the trunk of that car, vs inserting my head through a hole in a back window. I did one flip in the air, two on the ground. Came up more or less un hurt, at age 20 when you can take a beating.

To be fair, I did nothing, planned nothing, it just happened that way. After, I thought, well that worked. And planned to try to hit hoods or trunks of cars if possible, vs ramming the side. If ramming the side, try to jump high enough to clear your head.

None of this will do a lot of good at 65 mph of course. Slow to crashing speed at intersections!!!!
 
Agree- I was just in a lighter mood than to discuss those particular aspects of crashing. But yeah, learn to handle yourself and bike, learn to fall, and be aware and alert at ALL times.
I think the only time accidents happen is when you're not looking out for them, and/or you're doing something beyond your ability to physically control the outcome of.
 
I'm not sure why investigators are not sure of fault. The rider/driver going straight has the right of way. Period. If the van turned into his path, well...................
otherDoc
 
I'm not sure why investigators are not sure of fault. The rider/driver going straight has the right of way. Period. If the van turned into his path, well...................
otherDoc
 
docnjoj said:
I'm not sure why investigators are not sure of fault. The rider/driver going straight has the right of way. Period. If the van turned into his path, well...................
otherDoc
Click to expand...

Well, not necessarily if there was a red light. Then it becomes a matter of what the van driver saw and judged. If the bike was travelling very (and possibly illegally) fast I'm betting he (van driver) either didn't see him at all or grossly misjudged his speed an/or thought he was stopping. The condition of the van's door suggest that the bike rider was travelling pretty darned fast.

So part of the investigation is checking with witnesses about lights and such. The guy turning left is likely, but not automatically at fault.
 
Usually when there is a death by motor vehicle, there are toxicology tests of both the driver and the victim. The results are a factor in determining fault.
 
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