Published Sunday, October 21, 2012 at 1:00 am / Updated at 12:42 am

Motorcyclist critical after pickup collision

A motorcyclist who collided with the side of a pickup truck was critically injured Saturday, Omaha police said.
The motorcycle was initially traveling behind the pickup, a 2000 Ford F150 that was westbound on Pacific Street from 72nd Street.
The collision occurred about 6 p.m. when the motorcycle changed lanes to the left and the pickup attempted to make a U-turn from the right lane, police said.
The motorcyclist, Ken E. Kocanda, 49, was taken in critical conditional to Creighton University Medical Center. His injuries are life-threatening, police said.
Kocanda was wearing a helmet, police said.
The driver of the pickup truck, Paul Knudsen, 60, of Glenwood, Iowa, was not injured, police said.
— Emerson Clarridge

Making a U-turn from the right lane. Freaking A-hole.

 

[/I]Making a U-turn from the right lane. Freaking A-hole.[/QUOTE]

No kidding. What in the hell would make someone think to try that. The driver probably isn't going to pay much of a stupid tax whether the rider lives or not.

 

Hang him high.

 

Never underestimate the stupidity of cagers. A sixty year old should know better. Hope biker heals well.

 

We had an Air Force member get killed on his bike last week here in Texas. Was riding to work in some pretty extreme fog on one of the roads into town. Lady pulled out onto the road, he hit her. Due to the fog, the other cars that approached their scene ran him over too. Sad.

I was told they had a nice motorcade for him from here to Dallas. The Patriot Gaurd escorted him into town.

But as for the idiot in the OP...Eff Him!

 

Sounds more to me like the driver of the truck didn't like the idea that the motorcycle was going to pass him and tried to cut him off and is just using the excuse he was trying to make a u-turn as an alibi, claiming he didn't see the bike.

 

A year ago I might have said the exact same thing, and you could be right. I'm not making any excuses for the truck driver, just that sometimes there are other things that can be a factor.

About a year ago, my dad did a similar move and decided to do a U in front of a semi coming the opposite direction. The truck hit him and he was okay except for some bruising and cracked ribs. He said he never saw the truck. It scared him pretty bad.

It was later found that he had been having mini-strokes for a short while, and admitted that he was having trouble concentrating while driving. As hard as it was for him, he gave up driving.

He passed away in March...

 

I have been guilty of u-turns from right lane. Trick is to make sure no traffic from either direction. No excuse for turning out in front of oncoming traffic, be it a u-turn or otherwise.

 

See my post re:yesterday
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/gener...nday-here.html

Drivers ARE getting worse IMHO.

 

I read that. Sometimes I feel like it's open season on people who ride. Never, ever let your guard down.