[rebel1mm]

Riding down a two lane road with a friend side by side in the right lane. We stopped at a red light at a 3way intersection. The light turned green, we both took off together, and he decided to turn right. He was on my left, but stated he had turned on his blinker and I must have seen it. He initiated a turn to the right which ended up colliding with my bike and we both went down. He states that I should have seen his blinker and allowed him to turn, and it was my fault. What do you all think?

Thanks

[odinn7]

Motorcycles are not allowed to ride side by side so it's a tough call as to who was at fault. What did the police report say?

[Wondergirl]

He is wrong. He should have slowed and gone behind you first and then made his right-hand turn. A driver cannot know that another driver has seen his turn signal, and must do everything possible to think ahead and avoid a collision.

***ADDED I see motorcycles riding in pairs in the same lane all the time around here, so (noting odinn7's response above), I checked the IL online rules of the road for motorcycles: "Automobiles and motorcycles need a full lane to operate safely. Lane sharing is usually prohibited."

[odinn7]

Let me also add (since this is not in the legal section and I can add my opinion) that you might want to find better riding partners. If he was stupid enough to just blindly turn into you without looking or slowing down...he's an idiot and shouldn't be on a bike. These are the kinds of fools that get run down and then cause us to hear how dangerous bikes are.

[smearcase]

As odinn7 stated, side by side is not normally permitted, so you were both most likely wrong when you first accelerated away from the signal riding side by side.
If it had been a situation where he was in a lane to your left (it is not clear whether there were 2 lanes available in your direction, as you say 2 lane road, then say you were in the right lane?) but if he had been in a lane to your left, and turned right- into you- he would have been guilty of an illegal turn (turning right from a straight thru lane).
On the other hand, he could argue that you were the one who chose to ride side by side and but for your decision to be directly beside him, there would have been no collision.
Unless you were somewhere where side by side motorcycle riding is allowed, your best plan would be to each fix your own vehicles (hopefully no serious injuries) and not ride side by side in the future. Even if you find somewhere where you can do it legally, your experience is the best argument against doing it.

[odinn7]

Good point, Smearcase....In my answer, I had taken his original question to indicate that they were sharing the same lane, which isn't legal anywhere that I know of (though most of us do it anyway)...reading it again, it could be that they were in 2 different lanes but side by side. In most cases, this would put the OP in the turning lane and the rider in question in the through lane....which would put the rider at fault for turning from the wrong lane as you had said.

[Wondergirl]

He said, "Riding down a two lane road with a friend side by side in the right lane," so I'm thinking they are in the same lane.