Motorcycle Community Suffers Another Tragic Loss
I was so sad to read about Mr. Mestas’ passing, and my heart goes out to him, his family and friends.
Motor vehicle crashes are avoidable. How this happened, I cannot be sure without more information, but what I can be sure of is that his death will affect many different people.
The obvious are the lives of his family and friends. But, there’s also the trucker he was passing, other motorists in the area, the first responders, fire, rescue, ambulance, and our troopers all responding to the scene.
Please use this tragedy as a reminder that you might be alone, but what happens to you affects many.
Again, my condolences to the Mestas family. Please ride safely out there.
I found this Q & A and wanted to share this with you all. There is not a lot of good safety tips when it comes to motorcycles passing semi trucks and I found this to a great way to describe the concept of passing a large truck on the highway and what a motorcyclist should do when on the highway.
I am a fairly new motorcycle rider with about 4 years of riding back roads. I ride a Triumph America 855cc motorcycle and the other day I was on an interstate passing a semi truck when my motorcycle shook horribly. I generally never get scared or worried on my motorcycle, but passing these tractor trailers blew my bike around a lot and I had to compensate for the wind and at one point my bike came close to getting blown off the shoulder.
Besides getting more highway/interstate riding experience is there anything I need to know about passing big trucks on a motorcycle or tips I can use when passing them?. I had to compensate and lean the bike almost towards the semi when passing so I wouldn’t get blown off the shoulder, was I correct? Any tips are welcome, thanks.
Answer:
Large trucks on the highway create lots of turbulence. Imagine the bow wave and wake created by a large ship and, although invisible, semis create a very similar pattern. Wtih more experience, you will be able to predict where these wakes are, and compensate automatically for them. At highway speeds, a bike is VERY stable. There’s no way it will “fall over”, but its path will be altered, as you have found.
Ever see a boat wake? Same thing in air.
My advise is to get as far away from the truck as possible, pass as quickly as you can, speed is irrelevant, a quick SAFE pass @ 100 is better than an unsafe longer pass @ 80, the longer you are in the wake the more danger. Just in front of the air wake the wind stops, be prepared for that, the ABSENCE of turbulence. You’re supposed to pass on the left, there is a crown on the road, an arc the angle at the shoulder is more pronounced than the center, the TOP of the crown.