FIRST PERSON/OPINION: Via e-mail: Hey Guys, Thanks for the post about Matt Dieckmann’s accident, he was a young man with a lot of big things ahead of him who was tragically taken off this earth much too soon. He really was one of those extremely special people you are lucky to meet one or two of in your lifetime. I just wanted to add a few facts that I’ve been able to find out about the incident that were not mentioned in the attached article. For one, Matt was wearing a helmet, his Shoei RF1000, although he did not have on a jacket but rather regular street clothes he would wear while working in the shop. He also wasn’t some electric scooter geek but rather an experienced rider who also owned and rode a Yamaha R1, and raced with the AFM. His eventual goal was to build an electric road race machine that could compete with and beat gas machines, and he died trying. The fatal accident took place as both vehicles approached an intersection at the same time, with Dieckmann traveling eastbound and the Prius driver heading west, both with solid green lights. There is no green turn arrow lights at the intersection although there is a short left-turn lane in the westbound direction that the Prius began to make a left hand turn from under a solid green light without either looking or seeing Dieckmann, and turned right in front of him. He was out performing initial testing on a new Electric Race Bikes prototype consisting of an ex-GP Aprilia RSR125 chassis with carbon fiber subframe powered by a single Agni motor and an experimental battery pack. Looking at the pavement at the scene of the accident, there are no skid marks. Combined with the fact that the bike suffered no damage to front wheel or forks but rather damage to the right side, and the location of the collision on the Prius was on or around the right passenger door, would lead one to believe Dieckmann saw the Prius at the last second and began to swerve left to avoid the collision but was unable to. It appears he died within seconds of impact, although details about the exact cause of death aren’t being released at this time by the SRPD or coroners office. The accident is still under investigation, and word is emerging that the 71-year-old attorney driving the Prius, who was uninjured in the accident, is claiming he is not responsible for any damages despite which party is eventually determined to be at fault in the accident because the special construction vehicle Dieckmann was riding did not have DOT approved lights, mirrors, and blinkers. It is unclear what type if any lights Dieckmann had on the vehicle, and also unclear whether or not he was required by law to have any lighting at all due to the complexity of DMV guidelines regarding the matter. The confusion in interpreting the law is in my understanding due to the fact that the law guidelines are based on engine size by c.c. which does not apply to an electric motorcycle. What is clear is that the motorcycle Dieckmann was riding was completely legal for him to operate via his special vehicle manufacturer license. Regardless of any of these things, another fellow rider was killed by a guy not paying attention while driving his car on the street. This isn’t the first friend I’ve lost like this, and it surely won’t be the last. Pin it while you can. I will miss you bro, godspeed MD. Memorial/Celebration of Life for Matt Dieckmann will be Saturday, September 11 at 3PM at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road Santa Rosa, CA 95403 There is also a fund set up to help Matt’s family with funeral expenses. The link is here: ~http://www.giveforward.org/Matt-Dieckmann-Funeral-Expenses~ Thanks, Mike Hannas Windsor, California