Biker Hits Bear

[MountainMan]

This is what it's like riding in Canada folks, the bears are as plentiful as dogs and cattle in Africa!

Video: RCMP uses shocking video of motorcycle hitting bear in PSA - The Globe and Mail

[Dodger]

Originally Posted by MountainMan

This is what it's like riding in Canada folks, the bears are as plentiful as dogs and cattle in Africa!

Video: RCMP uses shocking video of motorcycle hitting bear in PSA - The Globe and Mail

Aw, that was just a little one !

[MountainMan]

Yup, but big enough to almost cause a grizzly accident

[brclarke]

I've been on that section of highway many times. Sometimes the traffic is very light and the road is generally straight and flat. Your speed can creep well above the posted limit without even thinking about it, though that doesn't seem to be the case here!

[Gerri]

The local news reports mentioned that he was going 90 mph and apparently something else spooked the bear into running out into the road.

"He's going from zero to 140 kph in less than 20 seconds," said RCMP Cpl. Robert McDonald in describing the images to the news outlet.
"You can see that he is focusing on the speedometer when the bear is already into the roadway so he's distracted by filming. When he finally looks up to see the bear at 140 kilometers, there's not a lot of time to (react)."

The rider survived and apparently so did the bear, although they haven't been able to find it since it ran off.

[Dodger]

The cops must have better eyesight than me because I couldn't see 140 kph on that speedo .But what I did see as the rider tumbled was a bare arm and training shoes , obviously he prefers skin grafts to wearing decent gear .
Another thing was that he took no evasive action and just ploughed straight into the bear .
One thing I have learned in riding our roads up North is to stay close to the centre of the road and in a situation like this aim for a spot about two feet behind any wildlife , there's no point in aiming ahead of the critter , oh and watch out for the second critter ! [that is especially true of deer ].

Bears don't usually hang around ,that one was already scared ,but if he'd been badly hurt , he'd be bawling .

[MountainMan]

Good advice, aim behind the animal and hope he keeps going! With luck, you'll bearly miss him

On a side note, I've seen quite a few bears over the years but they usually never seem to be bolting across the road, unlike the deer you mentioned.

Having said that, just when you think they are somewhat predictable, a black bear shot across the road yesterday in front of me on my way back from Nakusp and I had to brake hard to miss him. Strange, though it was thick bush up to the road side though so maybe he had enough of waiting for a break in the traffic.

I couldn't make the HU meeting on the weekend so was driving instead of riding but even then hitting a low center of gravity bear can lead to handling issues that can run you off the road. The deer aren't usually too bad to hit in a truck, plenty of vehicle damage but typically you can keep going straight. I caught a random deer off the truck bumper on the Adams Lake cutoff between Highway#5 and the Trans Canada this spring. Bad for the bumper but worse for the deer On a bike, it could've been much worse for the rider as well.

[sellheim]

Last year in late July,

When I rode into the Yukon Canada on the Alaskan Highway from Tok-Alaska, at the first little town (cant remember the name - maybe Beaver Creek?) they folks at the tourist information booth told me to keep an eye out for bears on the road, as a biker 2 weeks before, hit a black bear near there.

The poor bear died instantly and the guy broke a lot of bones but survived.

There's a lot of thick forest close enough to the roads in certain areas, so its easy enough for something to dash out of the shadows and you wont see it until its in front of you if your riding pretty fast.

I had a few moose run out in front of me which scared the berjeezes out of me. Also saw either a black or brown bear daily along the roadside, some of which chose to trundle across the road. So, I backed off the throttle and had 180 degree scans in front of me in those heavily wooded areas and had more time to respond.

I must say though, its an amazing treat to see so many large mammals like the bears, elk, bison and moose up that way. Absolutely beautiful creatures, just got to be mindful of them is all.

a couple of roadside wildlife pics


A roadside black bear down in Banff NP, Alberta

Elk, Jasper NP, Alberta


Bison herd, northern British Columbia

cheers
Dom