Run over by a rubbish truck at lights

[DougB]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n6333676.shtml

[blackdog]

messy.......

[Tink]

messy.......

Very...

[GOONR]

I'm confused, who collided with who??

........ when several motorcycles collided with a truck hauling garbage on the Carefree Highway in north Phoenix.

There were a total of nine patients. Six were listed in critical condition and two were flown to a Phoenix hospital, said Phoenix Fire Department Deputy Chief Frank Salomon.

Salomon told The Associated Press the accident happened when the riders got too close to the big rig.

"It appears the garbage truck collided with the group of motorcyclists. There was fire involved. It's a horrific scene," Salomon said.

[whowhatwhere]

All of the riders were stationary when the truck ploughed through - only way so many riders could be involved in an accident with one other vehicle. Best be keeping an eye on the mirrors even when stationary, plus leave an escape route in preparation for the unexpected. Tragic though - the one place where you think you can give your head a 'rest from riding', you can't.

R.I.P.

[Cayman911]

It's sad when something like this happens, how the the 1 second distraction of one person, affects the lives of many others.

[JimO]

on the Carefree highway

[Elysium]

Being in America I wonder how many of the riders had full protection gear on, though what differance it would have made when a truck hits you from behind.

[p.dath]

I hate when the press puts a slant on things like this. The motorcyclists were stationery, so they clearly did not collide with the truck - the truck collided with them.

If your wedged between a motorcycle and say ten tonnes of rubbish truck normal protective motorcycle gear isn't going to stop injury. I guess it will help hold all your broken body pieces together though - which could save your life on its own.

As a matter of interest, anyone know the crush force of a helmet? Can it sustain 10 tonne of weight being applied to it? I suspect most would instantly shatter or crack (depending on hard fibreglass or soft plastic shell).

[Goblin]

I hate when the press puts a slant on things like this. The motorcyclists were stationery, so they clearly did not collide with the truck - the truck collided with them.

Yeah that bugs me too. Read it and thought exactly the same. Wankers!

[Dare]

It's interesting, the last conversation I had with Ernie was about a call I was on being badly mangled by local media and he gave me a lot of sound advice about it. Again, the media is screwing it up and maybe about 40% of what we're getting is legitimate. Nobody is hearing the same thing from different outlets. All my prayers are with all the victims, particularly Ernie and the other fellow bikers in critical condition.

One thing I've learned in the EMS field is that helmets won't do a thing to help in some situations. This is one of 'em, unfortunately. Seeing what I saw I don't think a helmet would have helped any of them much.

Let this be a lesson: don't look through papers, don't answer your phone, don't send text messages - when you're driving, DRIVE. Don't try to do three other things while you're behind the wheel.

This guy in the comments seemed to know what happened better than the reporters themselves. dividing your attention is one thing, doing so while in control of a very large truck for long enough to miss an entire intersection is just criminal.