A lot is written about people turning left in front of you, and that is a very common and dangerous problem, which has actually happened to me.  However, I think we must not forget the Rear Enders out there as well.  All three are true accounts:

1.  Many years ago, I worked with a BIKER.  He was a Harley riding year-round fat long haired long bearded guy on a hard tail that he had basically rebuilt over the years.  He was stopped at a red light with a cop beside him, and a truck behind him. 

Everyone was stopped at the red light. 

Then the truck decided that the light turned green (I say the truck decided, because the light was still RED).  So they proceeded to run ray over.  The officer said I looked left and there you were then I looked left again and a truck was there.  Luckily Ray was unhurt for the most part, but his bike was totaled.

2.  A new rider that I used to work with was stopped with a group at a red light.  Then a drunk driver came up behind him and rear ended him.  He was injured very badly and of course his bike (a brand new 1200 sport tourer) was totaled. 

Then the driver hit three other cars before trying to flee the scene.

3.  There was a rider that I did not know who was KILLED this year 20 miles from my house after being…YOU GUESSED IT … rear ended at a stop light.

The point is that this is a very common problem and we should not only leave escape space when stopped, but PRACTICE ESCAPING through that space.  Basically accelerating from a dead stop around the vehicle directly in front of you. 

Good luck and ride safe,

Mike

I was rear-ended at a stop light in 1990. It was probably the worst visibility conditions I could have encountered - raining, and twilight. On the other side of that coin, I was wearing a full-body yellow rain-suit. Let go of the bars to adjust my gloves, took a quick peek in my rear-view, saw a headlight, and then BAM!

Y'all may not believe this, but my pillion seat launched me into the air. A witness told me that I did a complete front flip. What I remember was landing on my feet, running, in the middle of the intersection, wondering what the hell happened! I looked to my right, and there was my bike.

It seems to be a quite common problem now a days, people turn back after the red light, i also faced this many times but what should be can do for this, this is the duty of the officer to take a look on such incidence.