Man Runs A Red Light On His Dirt Bike, T-Bones Car, Bursts Into Flames... So Much Flames... More Flames Than I Thought Were Possible
Told you it was a lot of flames. Almost a suspicious amount of flames. Enough flames that if it were 9/11, people would call it an inside job. Enough flames that I'm still not 1000% certain I'm not being duped by some AI bullshit. Dirt bikes aren't supposed to explode that fast. But there are news articles about the incident. Which is how I know it's ok to blog this. Because somehow flames boy got out there with nothing more than a broken ankle and minor burns.
KSBW – Police say the teens ran the light, and the older teen sideswiped the car. He and the bike briefly caught fire, police said.
The 16-year-old suffered only a broken ankle.
Police said both teens were cited for infractions and released to their parents.
Likely because his friend (I'm assuming the other biker was his friend) is a god damn hero. Moving forward, he deserves to be recognized on National First Responders Day. I'm almost more shocked by his response time than I am about the flames. There wasn't a lick of hesitation there. While all the other cars just sat there in awe at what they witnessed, he didn't even waste time stepping off his bike. He used his forward momentum to lauch himself over his handlebars and into the fire. Just started ripping the flames off his buddy with his bare hands. That's the type of friend you need if you want to live to see adulthood as a red light blowing dirt bike guy.
There must be something about getting on two-wheeled vehicle that makes people forget the rules of the road. It's like they're overcome with a wave of entitlement, and a sense of boldness that they probably don't carry with them in any other area of their life. You'd think it would be the opposite. Our whole society is built to cater to cars. Bikers are lucky if they get their own lane. You'd think hopping on a tiny like two-wheeled contraption with no seatbelt would have the opposite effect. That you'd look around and think, "Shit... I'm surround by things that could kill me in an instant... I better be especially careful."
But nope. Traffic laws do not apply in the mind of some bikers. Not all of them. I probably shouldn't be making any sweeping generalizations about the biking community. There are plenty of conscious law abiding cyclists out there. And to be fair to the bike community, this guy was on a dirt bike. An exploding dirt bike, no less. Which makes running that red light especially insane. Running a red light is one thing. To do it without looking both ways is borderline suicidal. In hindsight, that's probably why his friend was so quick to act. He had probably played that scenario out in his head at every intersection as he watched his pal go flying through reds on his motorcycle full of dynamite.
Also, do they not teach stop, drop, and roll in school anymore? That's the one thing I know to for sure do in a caught-on-fire situation. There's a lot of real practical stuff they fail to teach us when we're kids. But in the event that I ever found myself on fire... something I was once led to believe would be a fairly common occurrence in life... I had stop, drop, and roll on lock. But apparently they don't remind kids of that enough anymore. Clearly this one did not get the memo.
Glad you're ok man. Please never get on a bike (of any sort) again.