Maybe the left lane was about to turn into a "Left Turn Only" lane and he wanted to continue straight?
Dude did nothing wrong, armchair quarterback it all ya`ll want. Shit happens, and he got lucky.
i dont see how people are saying the the left lane is clear either...
time line of video:
0.06: starts braking due to suv in front hitting brakes hard
0.07: full stop
0.08: car seen passing left lane
0.08: car hit him from behind
0.14: view of line of cars behind probably stopped due to the accident, note car in right lane too, probably hit the brakes and stopped there due to the accident.
i personally cant see how the rider could have done anything different... he couldnt go left, a car was right behind him on his left, there was a car on the right where he probably could have made a slightly dangerous cut to the right... in this case, i'd say the safest option is normally stop. he had approximately 2 seconds to notice that the car behind him was not going to stop in time and had to notice this while dealing with a unexpected and sudden stop from the cars ahead of him. to see how sudden the stop was, check out how much the suv in front of the rider pitches forward and rocks back on it's suspension.
if he was at a dead stop at a light and was checking his mirrors, then yes, he might have been able to avoid it. but in that situation, i dont think there are many people that would have been able to safely react fast enough to avoid everything. in that two seconds he would have had to check both mirrors to see if there was a clear lane and then determine if the cars moving behind him were far enough away to cut in without causing another accident which would have been his fault.
