Multi-directional off-road trails seem like a bad idea on paper and even worse when you’re actually on the dirt. Whether you’re coming around a blind corner or climbing over a blind crest, you want to be confident that there isn’t a car facing you, going in the opposite direction. Especially if you’re on a dirt bike, like this rider was in this terrifying crash.
In this clip posted by TCD News in Dearborn, Michigan, you can see the dangers of suddenly finding out that there’s a car on the other side of a blind crest. (Warning: the video shows a graphic impact). The 21-year-old rider was heading over a small sand jump at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes in Michigan on the afternoon of August 10. As soon as he got some air over the crest, he suddenly saw a Jeep Cherokee right in front of him. There was no avoiding the collision since he was already in the air, and the green Kawasaki crashed into the windshield of the Jeep, while the rider was sent flying.
Thankfully, the rider survived and is expected to make a full recovery, but he isn’t without injury. He reportedly suffered a concussion, a compressed L2 vertebrae, and a small lung puncture. The 25-year-old Jeep driver was taken to the hospital, according to WOOD-TV, but has since been released.
“He cheated death right there,” Oceana County Sheriff Craig Mast said of the dirt biker. “If he were a cat, you’d say he’s down one life for sure.”
Technically, neither party was in the wrong. Since there’s no speed limit, nor any directional rules at Silver Lake, both the driver and rider were doing exactly what they were allowed to do. However, this video proves just how careful you have to be there, or at any multi-directional off-road trail. Silver Lake is also where a 33-year-old woman was tragically killed in May when a drag-racing Jeep CJ veered off course. With such trails, spotters are critical to provide warnings for dangers drivers can’t see.
“Lessons learned,” the biker rider, who chose not to be identified, told the news channel. “I’m just glad everyone made it out okay … I grew up on the dunes. You constantly have to keep your head on a swivel. I usually do a good job of spotting and checking the area.”
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