Posted on 05/19/2010 9:33:31 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Dallas police say a traffic accident Tuesday night involving a pedestrian and a motorcycle rider doing a wheelie at 70 MPH left both men dead.
Police on Wednesday identified the fatalities as 45-year-old Paul Bellard and 38-year-old Lashon Hudson.
The crash happened in the 6200 block of Bonnie View Lane.
Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse says witnesses reported that at about 10:30 Tuesday night Bellard was attempting cross the street, but did not use the crosswalk. Janse says Bellard failed to yield right of way to Hudson's motorcycle and was hit.
Janse says the motorcyle had "the front tire off the ground" when the wreck happened. Police on the scene of the wreck estimated Hudson was going 70 MPH in a 35 MPH zone.
After the impact, Hudson lost control of the motorcycle, crossed the median twice, hit a speed limit sign and then slid underneath a bus which was stopped at a stop sign.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbs11tv.com ...
Two things:
1. Look both ways.
2. Don’t do wheelees.
Sometimes Darwin and his theory comes with collateral damage.
I saw a dumba$$ on a motorcycle doing at least 80 mph pop a wheelie on the damned interstate I-75 a few months ago!
Could not believe it.
The next day I heard a motorcyclist had wrecked and died on the interestate. HAD to be the same guy!
Darwin award.
Sounds like in this case it was a 2-for-1 special.
Lashon Hudson.
Somebody watched to much “Biker Boyeeeeeeez”.
I ride, but I don’t do stupid things on it and I always wear a helmet. I see idiots doing crazy stuff on bikes on an almost daily basis. It’s usually only a matter of time before they make the obits.
You sound like my late BIL who died riding his cycle prudently and safely- then an idiot at a cross street stop sign pulled out directly in front of him, like this possibly suicidal pedestrian stepped right out in front of this guy. I image his wheel was up as he reflexively tried to avoid smashing into the pedestrian.
You know what ER staff call motorcyle riders?
Organ donors.
How about “Slow Down Dufus”.
Even though the guy on the motorcycle was being an ass, the pedestrian is going to get the blame.
A 45 year old should know better than to do a stupid stunt, especially at that speed. Condolences to the families of these two individuals, especially the pedestrian.
And his going 70 was okay?
Bellard was the pedestrian.
Note to self: Read more closely next time.
So, a 38 year old should know better. Condolences to Paul Bellard and his family.
I personally witnessed a similar outcome from screwing around on a bike.
I was coming home from the beach (down on Highway 1 in California). A couple of guys on bikes passed us, and one was wheelieing at about 60 mph.
It wasn’t 15 minutes later as we drove up Pescadero Rd. that we came upon the scene of an accident, and there was a dead motorcyclist (the wheelie guy) lying in a ditch.
FWIW he was from the same extraction as Lashon Hudson probably was.
Yeah, I needed more coffee I guess. I misread the first time through. Post #15 notes the correction.
I've seen the same thing on I-30 while I was commuting to work. I averted my eyes away from him because I did not want to see it unfold when he splattered. Apparently doing high-speed wheelies is a fairly common occurence. Several folks I've mentioned this to have admitted they've witnessing the same thing. I call the idiots that pull such stunts, a self-correcting error.
I don’t know what it is about “stunters”, but they seem to comprise a high percentage of black motorcyclists. Stunting is pretty cool, when it’s done in a controlled area. Out on public streets, it’s worse than street racing, because a large part of the time the front wheel is off the ground, removing any way for the rider to react to traffic conditions. I’ve seen bikers ride wheelies on controlled-access highways (bad, but at least all traffic is going the same way), surface streets (utterly stupid given all the variables), and even once on a road across the top of a dam (and what was he going to do if someone lost their boat or swerved into his lane). It’s inexcusable, and damages the reputations of those of us who are responsible riders.
3. Don’t speed.
That's a residential area, and at night too. Just moving out of the way of a half-seen vehicle at that speed is not easy. If a motorcyclist is doing a wheely at night then he's practically invisible from the ground. He's just a loud noise. Do you move forward, back, what? Hell, you just freeze and hope for the best.
No way this was the pedestrian's fault - despite the way the article seems to be slanted.
nope, he is dead- nothing is OK about that
Laying the bike down at 70MPH is a lot more dramatic and lifethreatening than laying it down at 35MPH, depending on what you slide under and hit
But want to bet the pedestrian would have jaywalked and killed them both, whatever speed he was doing?
My BIL was probably doing less than 30mph when he died
Oh yeah, that too. This man was a bloody menace.
be sure the next time it’s 1030 at night and you hear a hog roaring down the street- you step out in front of him and demand he yield to your pedestrian rights
I was riding my Harley on the CA91 in California. Six riders pulled up along side me in the #3 lane. All of em on rice rockets. The first set of two pulled wheelies, did I mention we were doing in excess of 70mph? Then the 2nd set did the same. The last set came along side me and they did wheelies.
I kept looking forward to watch my lane and would glance over when I could. I was looking forward when this last couple of guys were showboating when I heard a scrapping noise. I looked over and this one guy over rotated and was going down.
He ended up in on the shoulder and was lucky to be wearing leathers. I caught up with his buddies to signal they lost one. I rode the rest of the way home laughing. Dip Sh!ts.
So the speeder hit a speed limit sign too. weird.
yeah, we still smile at that joke when we think of the surgeons taking out my “accidents will never happen to me” BIL’s organs
I actually heard it from the ER nurse’s sister working at the flower shop that took my funeral flower order
What if the poor Joe was nearly deaf like me? Still OK to blame him?
If your front wheel is off the ground you are not trying to avoid the accident, you are causing one. You control a motorcycle by leaning in the direction you wish to go. It’s called counter steering and allows you to rapidly turn your bike. I’ve been a rider for over 40 years and have not had to lay my bike down yet. I know it can happen but as long as I keep watch and stay sharp I can handle anything that comes my way. This clown was doing stunts on a bike on a public street and caused the death of a pedestrian as well as himself.
I worked in a hospital for 11 years and many of the Doctors were riders too. Lots more organ donors ride in cars then on bikes. That is a fact.
Speed Limit 35.
He knows because he hit the sign too. heh.
Exactly. Tell my kids all the time that the hospital is a terrible place to celebrate moral victories. As is the morgue...
yep. Carelessness by both men. BAM.
Chances are this guy was in the middle of the street before the noise from this invisible blind lunatic could be registered.
Lacking radar or night-vision goggles, the poor pedestrian probably only had the chance to think "what the hell is that noise" before being mown down.
Excellent and comprehensive post. Thank you.
I’ve seen some great youtube videos of guys doing wheelies and nailing parked cars, etc.
God has already sorted it out- next the insurance companies and lawyers get their shot
I don’t blame him (pedestrian)
I blame the ass clown on one wheel doing 70 at night.
To be fair to the pedestrian, if you are crossing the street in a 35 zone and someone is coming up at 70, you would have to be hyper conscientious about looking and carefully calculating speed to not get hit.
With my street crossing MO, I’d have died too.
I notice a Crotch Rocket in the far right travel lane fly through the traffic doing a wheelie. He never put the front wheel down for over the mile I saw him speed up the highway and disappear over a rise in the road.
Since I was driving over 30 miles up 95 I never did see him splattered across the highway like I was expecting.
I actually had a very similar experience a few years back on my bike. I was riding in a residential area (speed limit 30mph) when I noticed a man in a car waiting to go across. He looked right at me, then promptly pulled right out in front of me.
I remember slamming on both brakes and damn near dumping the bike. I missed his left front fender by about two feet.
And what does he do? He looks at me like ‘where did YOU come from??’
Inattentive drivers are a biker’s worst enemy.
I did only one stupid thing when I was young. I borrowed a friend's big high-powered motorcycle and took it out on a freeway. At 65 MPH I gunned the engine RPM's and the bike took off - it popped a wheelie, and the handlebar grips pulled away from my hands. It was doing over 80 as I was frantically trying to reach the handlebar and not fall off. Extremely lucky I didn't splatter all over the freeway!
Oh man, you are really lucky. God bless.
RIP.
On 2 separate occasions I’ve come close to wiping out motorcycle drivers, on both occasions they were coming out of the setting sun on a road I was about to pull onto.
I try to be careful but sometimes they are very hard to see.
Several years back my 83 year old uncle was killed in the same manner, a garbage truck came out of a side street and didn’t see him. Unk used to ride that Harley regularly between his home in Florida and his home in Indiana. Yep, 83.
I agree with you. Before you step off the curb you look both ways however if you can not see a motorcycle at night because his headlight is pointing UP due to a wheelie while traveling TWICE the legal speed limit then liability is far less for the pedestrian.
If you want to stunt then do it in an area when you are not going to hurt innocent victims, friggen idiots.
Wow, pretty neat, you can do accident reconstruction over the internet without even seeing one photo.
My money are on the professional ON the scene.
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