Richmond, IN — A man on motorcycle was injured in Richmond after he was hit from behind by a dump truck on National West Road, This happened late Wednesday morning (April 15, 2015) at about 11:30 a.m. Police identified the man as Blake Babock, 21 years old, and said he was from Centerville.
According to their reports, Babcock was riding his motorcycle west along National Road that morning when he slowed down to make a left turn at J&J Winery.
As he did so, a dump truck that was following too closely failed to brake in time, crashing into the back of Babock’s bike. Police said that Babcock was injured and had to be taken to a hospital. He was in good condition, at the last update, though.
The dump truck driver was identified as Judy Cochran and she was issued a warning for “following too closely.”
This may need some more investigation.
Map of the Accident
Commentary:
I’m glad that the injuries here were so minor because something like this could have easily turned fatal. Often times, I feel like motorcyclists aren’t extended the same courtesy as other drivers on the road, especially when it comes to giving them their space. The worst thing to do to someone on a motorcycle is to tailgate them, because if anything goes wrong, they’ll likely lay the bike down and you’ll hit the rider first, then the motorcycle.
It sounds like this dump truck driver was simply following too closely, but if we look at this a little closer, will we find that it was because she was looking at her phone? Distracted by the radio? I doubt this driver mean to cause the accident, of course, but it doesn’t mean that we should just forget about this whole thing and not investigate.
At the end of the day, someone went to the hospital here because of this driver’s negligence. Both she and her company need to answer for what happened and make things right, if you ask me.
— Grossman Law Offices
