11/27/12 taken out by dingbat on four wheels

I was within 150 yards of a stop sign on 2 lane road when I was taken out by a dingbat. She had just turned onto Coates road, I saw a car and a truck stopped ahead at the red light, when the dingbat turns directly left into my path. Hard on the breaks I caught her rear bumper as I crossed the center line. Quick trip in an ambulance and here I am Asia days later still in the hospital. Atonal damage so far. 5 broke ribs, broke right scapula a punctured lung which is still not fully inflated and many days of pain past and still to come. I haven't seen the bike but the right side is bad. Was wearing my work pants instead of my Kevlar jeans. So I have road rash on my knees only. Helmet gone, jacket gone boots gone gloves semi-ok. A short post to say watch for the dingbats all the time. Will report more as more is available. Right side took the beating this time. Dingbat told the cop she never saw me and didn't think I saw her either, so it shouldn't be her fault. Witnesses at the scene said they couldn't believe she didn't see me as they could. I think cell texting/talking may have Been involved. See you more as I heal. By the way my knee replacement seems to be ok.

 

:hss: Glad you still around to tell us your story, Get well soon so you can shop for a replacement. Good luck

 

So just what the hell else are we supposed to do? Maybe we should start mounting missiles on the front of our bikes so we can vapourize these people who cannot see the fucking headlights on our bikes which come on automatically. I just get so pissed. I think you were right in that this bitch was probably on her cell phone. There is absolutely no way in hell someone cannot see a bike's lights if they are paying any attention at all.

I ride most the time during the daytime with four HID lights a blaring away. Some cages seem to think I should dim them but fuggim I say. Glad you are able to post up. I hope the bitch gets hung by the system and you fare extremely well with her insurance company.

 

glad you made it out ok. metal and leather can always be replaced, your arse on the other hand,,,CANT...

Mend fast, get back on two wheels as soon as you can fer gawds sake....

 

Major bummer.....so sorry to hear. Keep us posted.....(collapsed lung......fuck me).

 

Unbelieveable. I'm so sorry to hear this. And you've got a new bike on top of it which just adds to the pain. At least it sounds like you have no long term issues, so heal up quickly. I had an accident 2 years ago with my car where I was rear ended by a 20 something year old who was texting. Luckily I was in the car instead of the bike, but she hit me so hard, the insurance company was willing to total the car because the damages were right on that bubble of repairing vs. totaling.

 

I'm glad you're mostly ok. I hate inattentive drivers. Grrrrr

 

These stories always piss me off. Inattentive drivers always seem to have the same excuse! Good to hear that you made it to the hospital and not the "alternative" location! Heal up soon and good luck dealing with this person and her insurer.

 

Best wishes for a swift and full recovery - it really sounds like you took quite a hit.

The scary things is, that even when we do look - ALL of us do NOT see EVERYTHING. It seems we only clearly see bits and our brain makes guesses as to what is in between. Sadly motorbikes are often small enough to fit in those gaps. This happens so often in Britain that we even have a phrase for it SMIDSY (Sorry Mate I did Not See You).

ITs definitely no excuse for what happened, but this article explains: -

What an RAF pilot can teach us about being safe on the road

It is written by a British Fighter pilot and explains why human beings are actually pretty crap when it comes to seeing things, and gives some insight into what you can do to tackle the natural flaws in human eyesight. Since reading the article I move my head a lot more to force your brain to see fully rather than be content with guesses.

Really scary stuff to think we all do this..


Skimad4x4

 

Yeah, I do the same and they're always flashing their lights at me as if I don't realise I have my highbeams on. Dumbasses. - The highbeams are to protect them from the GBH I'll unleash on anyone who knocks me off my bike.

 

I will assume that means "Grievous Bodily Harm" as opposed to "Gorgeous Blond Ho"

 

This thread is useless without X-Rays :tongue:

On a serious note I am glad you are ok as it could have ended up much worst

Rollin

 

hi jugornot,

hope the body heals soon. . . and you are up and riding. Are you getting back on the 'horse'?

just the other day I was tootling along keeping to speed limit, and some young bimbo decided she wanted to be at the next set of lights before me and passed me on the INSIDE . . I had no idea she was there as I was checking the outside mirror mainly. . if I had veered over to curb slightly, would have been gone.................. agree with skimad4x4 above i.e. -- standard excuse: sorry mate, didn,t see you!!

Not good enough. Needs to be much more driver education in all countries... maybe mandating that all road-users have to spend first 6 to 12 months on 2 wheels (on learner plates) would wake up the self-absobed/distracted/ dont give a sh-t anyway, so-called 'drivers'..............

Cheers mates

p.s. read a piece in newspaper today about how American drivers are so courteous..the guy was making a point how he rented a car in LA and had to cross over 6 lanes of slow moving freeway to get to his exit...and everyone let him in and gave way! is that normal? he made the point, how in Sydney Australia, they would just ignore you and cut you off . . . good on you U.S A! umm, if that is accurate.................he didn't mention getting lost and being in the 'wrong' part of town at the wrong time....lol

 

Glad your still with us. Wow at first didn't sound like a bad hit. Then your explanation of injuries sounds like you got smashed!. Heal soon.

You may want to think about this. I've had bikes come at me with high beams/very bright lights during the day and have be blinded by them. So if I'm blinded by your lights and then run you over, does that give me a good excuse? To me it's no different than high beams at night.

Skimad4x4 that's a good article, thanks.

 

I believe that topic has been discussed in a previous thread. :tongue:



Get well soon jugornot!

 

Have they been able to determine of she was on her phone yet? There should be some sort of thing that dis-ables cell phones when vehicles are put in drive or gear. The bad thing is a freind of mine said he witnessed a person on a motorcycle the other day texting while riding at about 65mph. So it is not just the cages doing this idiotic shit.

 

Actually, for most, there is a huge difference. Bright lights blinding you is very much relative to the dilation of the pupils in your eyes. At night, your pupils are significantly dilated to allow as much light as available in so you can see. So when any other brighter light will seem too bright because your pupils have not had a chance to get accustomed to the brighter light. That takes a few moments. ( A foot note here, once this happens, it can take upwards of 20 minutes for you to regain the degree of night vision you had prior to the introduction of the artificial light.) During daylight hours, your pupils will be already constricted, so that same amount of light should have a lesser effect on blinding you. You should be already more accustomed to brighter light due to the presence of sunlight, albeit, it may be cloudy, but still brighter than night time by far.

An example may be if I were to come up to you in total darkness and from say five feet away, shine a flashlight in your eyes, that would be very hard on your eyes. If I were to come up to you during the day time, and you were facing the sun, and I was to shine that same flashlight in your eyes from the same distance, you likely would not even blink.

Now if a motorcycle has lights that during the day time are "that" bright so as to blind you to some degree, I suggest the electrical system would not be enough to power them. Regardless, during the day time, look away. You already know something with bright lights is there. End result for the motorcycle rider, he/she is less likely to be hit by you.

Having said all of this, in most jurisdictions, you are required by traffic laws to extinguish your high beam lights when you come within a certain distance front or back of an on coming or preceding vehicle. Here it is 150 meters or slightly more than 160 yards. I am not aware personally if anywhere has an exception for day light hours. Maybe somewhere it does. But in my former LEO life, I would never consider even stopping someone on a bike during the daylight who was riding with their high beams on. I don't want to be the one who has to do the notification of next of kin for a biker who fell victim to someone only because the other person did not see them.

I suppose if you are extremely photo phobic, that is your eyes are quite sensitive to the light, you may be adversely affected by someone's high beams during the daylight hours. Photo phobia comes in differing degrees. I am photo-phobic with reflective light. Looking at a wet road while facing south after a rain, or facing anything white in the sunlight is a bitch. Yet I can almost stare at the sun.

End result here, I still ride most of the time during the daylight hours with my high beams. Seldom use them at night though. Odd

 

Get well, jugornot. Glad you made it through.

 

Sorry to hear about your accident, glad you are still here to tell us about it. Hope you heal up soon.