It goes without saying that, when riding a bike, it can only take roughly a second of lesser awareness to crash. Older, more experienced riders know this only too well, as most of them in fact crashed or almost crashed this way. I tend to believe that this is a somewhat natural type of behavior. That is, not being a question of if, but of when, and with what results.
There are countless times when our focus is not centered on the road and what is happening on the road, but a smart rider knows that he or she should limit these to the minimum possible.
No matter how skilled one could be, taking unnecessary risks is not exactly the smartest choice when on two wheels. Unfortunately, things can go wrong because of apparently minor actions, such as adjusting the face shield or sun visor.
That split second when you don't see the road ahead can sometimes prove ill-fated.
The rider in this video only takes his his left hand off the bars for a brief period of time, but this is more than enough to become dangerous.
Some newer riders fear that taking a hand off the handlebars would send them wobbling off the road, but it's usually the lack of concentration or other distractions that does this.
In this particular case, it was the fact that the rider's hand adjusting the visor (or so it seems) prevented him from seeing that the traffic head was slowing down and almost halted. By the time the rider's focus was back to the traffic conditions, it was way too late, and the crash was inevitable.
Luckily, this has been a rather slow ride. A greater speed would have yielded a much worse outcome, with more severe damage and injuries. However, the guys from the insurance company will definitely not be happy when the paperwork gets underway.
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