XPost: alt.food.safety, az.politics, ca.general
XPost: ba.politics
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – A 27-year-old local motorcyclist died
Monday after colliding with the back of a car when failing to
split freeway lanes, officials said.
Daniel Amezcua, of San Clemente, was going more than 100 mph
around 8:15 p.m. Sunday while driving a modified Suzki
motorcycle northbound on the I-5, passing Stonehill Drive before
he attempted to dodge slower traffic in the fast lane, according
to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP officials said that as Amezcua veered left to avoid the slow
cars, splitting lanes between the fast and carpool lanes, he
shifted right because of his fast speed, and he collided with
the rear of a 2012 Kia Sorrento driven by Jenna Rae Schake, a 29-
year-old Pennsylvania woman.
The collision caused Amezcua to be thrown from the motorcycle
onto the nearby roadway.
“An off-duty EMT, a physician and a lifeguard encountered the
aftermath of this collision and provided medical care,”
according to a CHP release.
Amezcua was taken to Mission Hospital where he later died from
his injuries at 8:26 p.m. Monday, according to the coroner’s
office.
Officials said Schake, who was driving the Kia Sorrento within
the speed limit, was not injured in the collision and was not
arrested or cited.
In May, California state Assembly approved a bill that prepared
to legalize lane splitting. Motorcyclists would be allowed to
drive between vehicles at 15 mph faster than surrounding
traffic, up to a speed of 50 mph.
It would be the first state to formally legalize the driving
manuever, although it’s already a widely accepted driving
manuever in California.
Conversation on both side of the issue has caused the bill to be
delayed until 2016.
UC Berkeley transportation researchers analyzing the issue found
that lane splitting does not necessarily pose a greater risk for
injury, as long as motorcyclists do not exceed 15 mph more than
the surrounding cars.
However, 70 percent of lane-splitters said they exceed that
speed, according to the California Enhanced Motorcycle Collision
Data Project performed by the CHP.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lanes-674235-amezcua-
officials.html
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