Anonymous
Update by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office
Deputies have closed Cathedral Oaks Road between Glen Annie and Los Carneros while they investigate a vehicle accident that resulted in the death of a motorcyclist.
At approximately 8:36 p.m. on Tuesday, August 17, 2021, Sheriff’s deputies responded with County Fire and AMR to the area of Cathedral Oaks and Glen Annie for a report of a traffic collision involving sedan and a motorcycle. When responders arrived, they found a red Kawasaki partially wedged under a green Subaru sedan. Responders immediately pronounced the motorcyclist deceased. The two occupants of the Subaru were uninjured and have been cooperative throughout the investigation.
Deputies closed Cathedral Oaks between Glen Annie and Los Carneros and requested the Sheriff’s Major Accident Response Team (SMART). SMART is responsible for investigating any traffic collision within a contract city where serious injury or a fatality occurs. Deputies from SMART have been at the scene for several hours conducting their investigation, which requires the roadway to remain closed. Deputies anticipate that the roadway will be reopened in the early morning hours.
So far, it is apparent that drugs, alcohol, impairment and distraction were not a factor for the driver of the Subaru. The motorcyclist who died at the scene is 22-year-old Mikha Benedictus of Goleta. The
cause and fault of the collision remains under investigation.
Update by edhat staff
A motorcyclist has died following a collision with a vehicle on Cathedral Oaks Road in Goleta.
At 8:36 p.m., Santa Barbara County firefighters responded west of Los Carneros Road and discovered a collision between a motorcycle and sedan.
The male driver of the motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.
The roadway was closed in the area while Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Deputies investigate the cause of the collision.
By JB86
Fatal traffic collision on Cathedral Oaks at Glen Annie. Initial report, motorcycle vs vehicle, fatality.
A good policy to have if you drive a motorcycle is to never forget:
Everyone in every other vehicle is drunk, distracted and out to get you.
It was almost certainly a U-turn: westbound motorcycle vs car making a U-turn from the westbound shoulder. Rider probably swerved left to avoid, unsuccessfully, so the wreckage ended up in the eastbound lane.
Via a photo from another news source, it happened 0.6 miles west of Los Carneros. No cross-streets, driveways, or turnouts around. And, a double-double yellow centerline. So not only was the U-turn itself illegal, so was attempting to cross the road.
U-turns are not a very common kind of motorcycle crash–nothing like left-turns–but they are particularly deadly.
I live in a wine-producing region where, on a typical weekend, I see dozens of tourists driving around to tasting rooms. When their GPS tells them they’ve missed their next stop, they pull over on the two-lane road and make a U. My lesson: If an occupied vehicle is pulled over to the side of the road at an unexpected spot–especially if its brake lights are on–I assume it’s about to make a U and kill me. I slow down, honk, wait til I get their attention, then pass slowly.
Rest in peace, young man.
I wondered the same thing myself. There is one house on the north side just east of Glen Annie. Maybe the motorcyclist was overtaking the car and the car turned left into the driveway without signaling. I am a motorcyclist and all of the fatalities lately are overwhelming.
Some people decide to make U-Turns in the strangest and often most dangerous places.
Nothing in the head. “We want to make a U-Turn : let’s just make it right here !”
Jeff, think that you can prove that beyond a reasonable doubt with the info in this article? Didn’t think so.
As for the car being basically sideways, remember that a collision where part of the bike wedging beneath the car even momentarily can easily rotate the car sideways (or even flip it over) at the kind of speeds allowed on that stretch of road. That Subaru probably weighs in below 3000 pounds but Kawasaki bikes over the years have ranged from under 100 pounds to almost 1000 pounds and the remains in the photo look like a large machine.