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        riddles >> what happened >> Motorcycle and truck
        
(Message started by: Lightboxes on Aug 12^th, 2003, 7:28pm)

Title: Motorcycle and truck
Post by Lightboxes on Aug 12^th, 2003, 7:28pm

There's a motorcycle going 95 mph on a clear stretched freeway. All of a sudden the motorcyle driver sees a truck driver that is stopped on the freeway. The motorcycle driver doesn't have time to stop or dodge him and hits the truck driver!

The motorcycle driver lives, yet the truck driver dies...
What happened?

Title: Re: Motorcycle and truck
Post by BNC on Aug 12^th, 2003, 11:15pm

From my experience, usually when a motor vehicle hits a pedestrian, the pedestrian takes the more serious hit. What's the puzzle here?

???

Title: Re: Motorcycle and truck
Post by Lightboxes. on Aug 13^th, 2003, 8:35am

Gj, you got it.

Title: Re: Motorcycle and truck
Post by Icarus on Aug 13^th, 2003, 6:48pm

A biker who hits a pedestrian isn't likely to stay on his vehicle, (or be any better off if he did). At 95 mph, a biker would require almost as much luck to survive the collision with the trucker as he would a collision with the truck.

Title: Re: Motorcycle and truck
Post by Lightboxes on Aug 13^th, 2003, 8:15pm

The moto driver isn't going to stay on his vehicle, so I made sure not to put that in the riddle; however, from my experience of internet browsing, watching the news, and hearing stories of motorcycle crashes...the moto driver tends to not survive when it hits an object that has a lot more mass (inertia). This means the drivers get all the energy blasted into his body (or bike) by either bouncing off or simply ramming directly into the object. Fortunetly (for the moto driver) it was a pedestrian who has not much mass (say 150 lbs vs. 1,000 to 1,300 for a nicely sized bike for such high speeds). I believe, the driver is most likely to lose control then crash or fly off the bike (and slide along the ground, tumbling, etc.) but not have any fatal injuries.

Title: Re: Motorcycle and truck
Post by maryl on Aug 15^th, 2003, 5:00pm

Ouch!