Motorcyclist killed in 'deliberate' Calgary freeway collision

[Catty1]

Calgary's Deerfoot Trail runs N-S in Calgary, and is also Highway 2 which runs from the US border up to Edmonton. Three lanes are on each side with a wide ditch as a median, and minimum speeds are 60MPH. AND - it's a very busy freeway.

If this was suicide, I wish the guy would have thought about how other people would be affected...the poor driver of the truck...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2008/03/21/biker-fatal.html

Last Updated: Friday, March 21, 2008 | 1:36 PM MT

A motorcycle rider who died after colliding with a pickup truck on Calgary's Deerfoot Trail on Friday morning may have been trying to get in an accident, police say.

"Initial investigations indicated that this was a deliberate collision initiated by the driver of the motorcycle," police said in a news release.

Drivers on the busy freeway reported a motorcycle travelling against the flow of traffic, in the wrong direction, shortly before the fatal head-on collision, police said.

The southbound motorcycle hit the pickup which was heading north in the northbound lane, police said.

The motorcycle rider, whose name has not been released, died at the scene, they said. The truck driver was not hurt.

Police closed the northbound lanes of Deerfoot Trail, between McKnight Blvd. and 64 Ave. NE while investigators completed their work.

[Freedom]

Hmmm, traveling in the wrong direction on a divided highway certainly suggests major confusion! Drugs, alcohol, some medical conditions, age, all possibilities. Sure hope it wasn't intentional. but the article says 'deliberate collision.' Oh geepers. Prayers for the truck driver.

[Catty1]

Sandy, I know the Deerfoot - there is just NO WAY to do this by accident unless you ARE totally whacked out on something.

I've attached a couple of pics...the first one is one half of it(not sure of the direction). The second shows the grassy median between the two directions. Hope it gives some idea...

[Karen]

From what I know, many suicide attempts are made by people seeking to end their pain, the thought of others is far, far from their minds. A woman I know eyed a certain set of rocks every day for months on her daily commute, figuring that would be a sure way to die, hitting them at 70 miles an hour. Afterwards, recovered from her depression, she acknowledged that it was good she never followed through with it, as that's a particularly bad section of highway for commuters anyway, and other people would have probably been injured when rubbernecking, never mind anyone hit by debris from her crash.