I should have clarified...Nearly half of MC deaths are caused by people/cars making left turns at intersections, failing to yield to the MC. And most of those fatal incidents occur when the MC is going only about 40mph or so.
These intersection collisions where cars fail to yield, are nearly head on and can be quite severe for the motorcyclist even at 30-40mph.
Yep, happens all the time unfortunately...it was just that particular L.A. high speed chase photo that was a bad example of it. ;-)