HOPE, B.C. -- A motorcyclist appeared to be too busy pointing a helmet camera at his speedometer as he rocketed down a B.C. highway and didn't notice a bear run across the road right into his path.
"There's no reason to expect the bear to come out and yet the bear came out and the motorcyclist almost killed himself," said RCMP Cpl. Robert McDonald.
Footage of the accident captured on the helmet cam has been posted online by the RCMP in an effort to warn distracted drivers.
"He's going from zero to 140 in less than 20 seconds," McDonald said, describing the images. "You can see that he is focusing on the speedometer when the bear is already into the roadway so he's distracted by filming. When he finally looks up to see the bear at 140 kilometres, there's not a lot of time to (react)."
McDonald said the man, who has not been identified, suffered a concussion and several broken bones. He said it is unclear whether the bear was injured or even hit by the motorcycle.
"There are no signs of impact on the front end of the motorcycle. The mirror was broken from falling over and (there are) scratches on the motorcycle from skidding down the road, but we couldn't see any signs of impact."
McDonald said officers tried to find the bear but were unsuccessful.
