Video of motorcycle wheelie crashing and burning sparks criticism

A motorcycle skids, crashes and explodes while its driver attempts to ride on one wheel on a public road in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. (Online community Bike Gallery)

Footage of a motorcyclist attempting to performing a trick on a public road, leading to an accident and an explosion, is drawing criticism online.

Several posts in the anonymous motorcycle forum, “Bike Gallery,” on Monday showed footage of an exploding motorcycle taken on Sunday, near US Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

In video footage taken from both the back and front of the explosion, three motorcycles are being ridden when one skids and crashes, sending the motorcyclist tumbling.

The accident occurred when the vehicle rode over an uneven part of the public road, while the driver was attempting a wheelie with the front wheel up in the air.

The vehicle then exploded into a ball of flames in front of another motorcycle, which had no choice but to pass through the ball of fire, sending it skidding and crashing, throwing the driver off as well.

The two riders who fell off their bikes in the footage fortunately do not appear to be severely injured, according to local media reports.

On Bike Gallery alone, nearly hundreds of posts referred to the accident and most of them railing at attempting acrobatic driving on a public road, worrying that it could implicate other vehicles in a potentially catastrophic traffic accident.

The videos have been shared in other major online communities and criticized by local netizens.

Acrobatic driving is banned by the Road Traffic Act in South Korea, which stipulates that it is publishable by an up to 200,000 won ($153) fine.

By Lim Jae-seong(forestjs@heraldcorp.com)