California Motorcycle Accident Attorney and Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez in Malibu, CA

Yesterday, Sunday, January 13, 2013, I rode my motorcycle from Palmdale, CA to Huntington Beach, CA as the first part of my move to Huntington Beach, CA.

Since I am moving this Sunday, January 20, 2013 to Huntington Beach a distance of approximately 100 miles, and I have to drive my car on the day of the move, I had to ride my motorcycle to Huntington Beach in advance of the move because I would not be able to do it on moving day.

It has been freezing cold these past few days; there is some sort of artic cold front that has been coming through. Before daylight on January 13, 2013, temperatures were about 17 degrees where I live, and it supposedly felt like 3 degrees with the wind. Imagine how cold it would have been on the motorcycle.

I decided to not ride in the morning, but to wait until midafternoon to do the ride. It was still freezing cold, at least for a southern California guy like me.

When I got on the motorcycle, it was in the 40’s at my home, but quickly got down to the 30’s in Acton and Agua Dulce.

It was a great ride, but a freezing ride. My hands and feet quickly went almost numb. There was a very real danger of hypothermia.

While riding my Harley Davidson Electra Glide on the 405 freeway south, past the Los Angeles International Airport, at around 70 miles per hour in the Diamond Lane, the car in front of me suddenly kicked up what appeared to be the remains of a hot tub or some sort of fiberglass tub.

I quickly grabbed my front brake, realized I was going too fast to avoid it, or to swerve away from it (there was no time), so I accelerated through it and held on tight.

The debris hit my motorcycle hard on the front fairing and the lower fairing which is attached to the right engine guard. Although traffic was going fast, there were a lot of cars around.

I shook my head in utter disbelief. I have been riding on the street on motorcycles since the age of 16 and I have never hit road debris which was this bad, ever.

As I type this I am having flashbacks of the incident. I realize now that I was riding too close to the car in front of me, violating one of my own rules. Had I kept a safer distance from the car in front of me, I would have had more time to react to the debris.

I was damm lucky that my front tire did not roll up on the debris and get stuck on it, which would have caused me to crash for sure. As a matter of fact there are many scenarios with the large amount of debris that was kicked up in front of me which could have caused me to crash. Had I locked my brakes up, or swerved to avoid it, I would have surely crashed.

Luckily, I was able to power through it.

Again, keep a safe distance from the car in front of you while riding your motorcycle, because on a motorcycle there are no second chances.

I need to listen to and follow my own rule!

By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney and Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez, © January 14, 2013

The post Had a close call on the freeway with road debris yesterday first appeared on Biker and Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Blog.

SEAL BEACH – California

A man and woman died Sunday when they lost control of their Harley-Davidson motorcycle, cut across the 405 freeway, hit a car and were launched head first into a cement wall, California Highway Patrol officials said.

The man, 60, and woman, 57, were wearing full helmets, but the blunt-force trauma was too strong, said Officer Stacey Willits, who was at the scene.

The accident occurred at 11:18 a.m. on the northbound 405 near the Seal Beach Blvd. exit. The two were taken to Long Beach Memorial Hospital with massive head wounds. They were pronounced dead at 12:07 p.m. and 12:25 p.m. Their identities have not been released.

The man was driving, and the woman was his passenger, Willits said.

Witnesses said the pair was driving in the first or second lane of the northbound 405 freeway at about 65 mph when the motorcycle started fish-tailing, Willits said. The bike then made an almost 90-degree turn and cut across the freeway to the sixth (slow) lane. It hit the left-rear corner of a Honda Accord and ejected the riders into a concrete road-construction divider.

The investigation is still open and officers do not yet know what caused the couple to lose control of the motorcycle. Willits asked that anyone who saw the bike lose control call the California Highway Patrol office in Westminster at 714-892-4262.

Law enforcement officers shut down the third through sixth lanes of the freeway for about an hour while CHP investigated the accident.

This accident is a horrible tragedy. I send my prayers and condolences out to the friends and family of the victims of this accident.

Based on the witness reports from this accident regarding the motorcycle’s rear end beginning to fishtail, it is possible that the victims suffered from a rear tire blow out, or a loose and unstable swing arm, or something to that effect. They could have even locked up the rear end braking too heavy. However there is no evidence based on the witness reports that the motorcycle was braking at the time of the accident.

Both victims were wearing full face helmets.

This accident should remind all bikers to check their tire tread and tire pressure before they ride their motorcycles. I am not saying that this is what caused the motorcycle accident, because I do not know, but it may have played a factor.

California Motorcycle Accident Attorney, and Biker Lawyer

The post A Rider and Passenger Die in Motorcycle Accident on the 405 Freeway in Seal Beach, California first appeared on Biker and Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Blog.