is there an argument that abs might have killed him? he does a helluva stoppy before impact...helping catapault him clear. would abs have kept the rear wheel on the ground and mashed him straight into the car with the impact of the combined speeds?
I think you have to accept the balance of probability. That is that in the vast majority split second emergencies where you decide to brake hard as foc ABS is a big advantage. ABS or not, he might have over braked a bit, which may have ultimately helped him a little, but he did, no doubt, do a sterling job on the brakes all considered.
There are all sorts of discussions to be had as to how this poor fella reacted. But he only had a split second to react, and frankly the two other realistic options that he had would have also had a bad outcome. His best option ( Ithink - and only with hindsight) was to leave the road to the left of him and crash – but he wasn’t to know that and I don’t think any of us would have reacted in that way. Cool and super quick reactions would, might have, had him counter steer swiftly to the his right – but there is no way of knowing where that car was going to go, so it’s a gamble, which in any case would have left him being hit head on by the following car.
It’s just an absolutely dreadful situation to be in. His breaking substantially reduced the impact speed, and that along with his quality riding gear allowed him to survive - just -, albeit with possibly life changing injuries – though I sincerely hope with luck he makes a full recovery, and if he wants to, gets back on a bike again.
I note Steve’s comment. Yes, we just keep out fingers crossed and try to keep things sane.
