Don't you hate it when car drivers don't do their stop?

Here I am, cruising back home from work. I'm like 3 blocks away from my house.

At the intersection, I do my stop. No cars at the stop. A car was across but was at a certain distance from the stop. So I go ahead and as I am almost fully crossed, I see at the corner of my eye that the car simply slows down at the stop and starts going again.

In my head, I was WTF? Accelerated a bit and the back side of my bike gets hit. I swirl and get ejected from my bike. Luckily, just a sprained knee. If I had not accelerated, the car would have hit my leg.

Worse part, the fat lady driving the car comes up to me while I'm laying down in pain with people checking up on me, she goes I didn't do my stop. I was ready to whoop her ass on one leg. Man was I pissed.

But I may be lucky. Thar car hit my side case. So maybe my bike will be ok? Hope so. Still waiting for the mechanics to check the frame.

Here are some pics of the damaged. Surprised how not too much damage my bike got.


Do you think the frame could be impacted?

 

Shit dude!. Glad you are OK. Kinda. That flabby bitch. Did you get witness names? I am sure there is some traffic law in Florida that she failed, more like refused, to abide by. Hopefully the witnesses heard her comments. Her insurance should cover not only your injury, fortunately mild, but also complete repairs to your bike. That would include a close inspection of your bike for hidden damage. That could be very much a safety issue for you.

 

sliders would have helped, I use folding levers :bluesbros: I doubt the frame is bent -the vfr is a battle tank of a bike just add a big club

 

I am sure the frame of the bike will be fine, but it won't hurt to check it out. But the frame for the hard bags could be damaged, so have a good look at those. When and if I ever change out my bent levers, I will likely switch to similar folding levers. I have broken a couple of them now. But I got very used to riding with the present bent levers once I straightened them out best as as I could.

 

glad your ok dude

 

the folding levers were pretty funny, they shipped from 8,000 miles on a very slow boat-took close to a month to get them and cost a whole $30 bucks, they are light and actually work good and are adj for length and fold right over when the bike drops, there is no reason not to order them if you have bent levers. I too tried to bend them back, but they will never work as good as new folding levers from hong kong. the sliders have saved my plastic many times and will also save your foot if you happen to drop the bike on your foot-it did happen to me-trying to save my plastic as the bike is more important then my foot. my foot was sore for a month only a huge racing boot saved it from getting broken.

 

Aside from SOW's babble, The OP does not fully describe the intersection. Stoplights or signs posted? Some intersections have stop signs signifying travel in one direction and not the other.

Then again, sow #2 may not read that other funny Canadian language and was thinking aboot where to get some frog legs.

 

So that's what trolls eat Frogs, I guess that would make some cents.

 

Thankee Jesus that the scent of frogs is less than that of a bunch of inbred cats.

 

First of all, sorry you got run, bougah. Secondly I'm sorry your thread got intercepted by that bottomless pit of attention seeking verbal wanking (again).

Not sure what you call it in Quebec, but in the rest of Canada we sometimes refer to what that woman did as a "French Stop". I know, it's not nice to generalize. (In my worst Jean Chretien accent: "You know, in K- beck, the traffic signs are just a suggestion..."

 

I'm sorry you got whacked and I'm not making any apologies for brain-dead cagers that blow through stop signs, but YOU effed up big time as well.
You obviously misjudged the other car's speed and or distance and certainly weren't riding defensively enough.
For the scenario you describe, there is no way you should EVER have put yourself in a position to be tagged.
It's the 'WTF' part of your description that tells me this. You were surprised that the car didn't stop. You should have been mentally prepared for that.

So take this lesson to heart.
Rule #1:
Ride paranoid because everyone and everything is out to get you!
Corollary: Malice and intent are not required.

 

Yes, each area tends to call this technique their own. Visiting my friend years ago in Chicago, he did this same thing then excused it as a "Chicago stop." I suspect the only place we will not find a localized name for it will be the heaven where the people don't do it.

 

You are correct to a degree. Self preservation is #1. But how long do you wait at a stop sign to see if others are going to come to a complete stop thereby fulfilling their moral and legal requirements? 5 Seconds, 10, 15?

Unfortunately we on bikes usually suffer the most when others fail. There are very few accidents that cannot be prevented, but it is not always the innocent person who can prevent them unless they stay locked up at home and don't ride their bikes. We as riders have to accept there is a risk to what we do. I am not excusing this woman or people like her. But this is what life out there on the road is.

From what I have read on OP's post, he rode defensively. I have done my fair share of not only attending collision scenes, but investigating them and their causes in depth. Of course, we are reading just one side of this.

MHO for what it is worth.

 

Still missing is the signage or lack therof at the intersection in question. If there is no stop sign or stoplight , at least in most States there is no obligation to stop or even slow down. If this case goes to court say in the US, and there is evidence that the driver did not stop for proper signage then the OP has a winner. If not then the poor dude that got smacked should have hired a better lawyer or at minimum a better insurance company if he has or had one.

Whilst in Oregon, I live near a community where many of the residential neighborhoods have streets that run due East and West as well as almost due North and South. The North-South intersections are posted at nearly every intersection with the US Standard stop sign. The East-West are not, with the one exception of stop signs and stop lights at the intersections of the residential streets and Highway 101.

Good traffic management on one account, and the signs and lights at the intersections meeting 101 probably have saved the lives of more dumbshits and harleydoods than can be counted on fingers and toes..

 

you all ways try to ride better if you can, # 1 rule on a bike-just don't hit anything-due whatever it takes to follow rule #1. Speeding out of the way has saved me many times, also you can simply ride your way out of trouble quite often. You also can't sit a stop unless you have to-that's a duck waiting to get hit.:spy:

 

My point is, he said he saw the vehicle and then got tagged by it. Obviously he wasn't riding defensively enough. Never ignore a threat once it's been ID'd.
Not enough detail in the description to conclude whether waiting longer or a more aggressive throttle application would have been better, so I didn't go there.

Otherwise, I agree with your positions.
I was on a long trip to AK this summer and was constantly encouraged to "be safe". While I appreciated the underlying good wishes and never voiced any dissent, my thinking was that If I had wanted to stay safe, I never would have left home. To me, "Be careful" would be a better way to express it.
Personally, I go with the "Ride paranoid" statement.

 

What a load of bunk. "never put yourself in position to get tagged" so... What? Never cross an intersection? How do you propose this exactly?

It wasn't like he was approaching a side street while having no stop and there was a car waiting to turn left. Those you can watch out for to a degree. He was proceeding through an intersection when someone Cali rolled through. No different than a red light runner. So do you brake at every green light to check for cross traffic, I assume not.

If he told you he was riding through the woods and a tree limb dropped on his head. I bet you'd say if was his fault for not knowing the condition of the wood rot and should have expected it.

Your reply is something I see quite a bit on motorcycle message boards. Someone posts they get in a wreck, and even though it's 100% not their fault there's always the riding "pros" who come out of the woodwork to say they'd NEVER have been in that accident, and then proceed to lecture on the lack of the rider's ninja skills.

 

I slow down at every intersection and check the traffic from both left and right, to the degree that it is possible. If it is slow city driving I may not have to slow down, but I look straight at the traffic from the left, then straight at the traffic from the right. If someone blows the light, I might get tagged, but not before having a good idea it is happening and then beginning extreme braking or acceleration.

When leaving a light I make an effort to get ahead of the accelerator crazy car crowd. That way if there is a close light up ahead, I can brake before going through and not cause the drivers to swear at me. Otherwise in the city I let cars go by and am happy to be at the back of the pack as well.

When I read the account above, I thought two things: One I would have started inching into the intersection just to let them people behind me know I am not asleep, or I would have hit the gas hard. I agree with the criticism. I assume that car is going to hit me, period. I may not have the reflexes to avoid it, but I am surely taking action before the distance between us becomes critical.

I was not going to say anything because the OP needs some support, friendship, prayers and healing. The last thing he needs is for us to sit here judging his riding. But to answer your question, at least some of us are extraordinarily proactive about intersections.

Since I began riding, my family has been telling motorcycle death stories at every birthday dinner. The stories all sound just like the above. "There's nothing you can do if this happens!" (AKA stop riding motorcycles, Stupid.) If for anything to not give the unimaginative and overly critical family ammunition, I will never get hit in this manner.

Bougah just know I am saying prayers to Jesus for your speedy and thorough recovery.

 

Ya know, if I'd said what you think I'd said, I'd think it was a load of bunk as well.

 

If the OP's account is accurate, then he is not in the wrong what so ever. He completed his stop, then proceeded through a clear intersection. The fact the other driver decided to ignore a traffic control is not his fault what so ever. "you effed up big time" NO.

Yes, defensive driving is great. But we're only human, no one can exactly predict the behavior of another driver. Signs, and lights are an attempt to help control the chaos and help make the process easier. I will never slow down approaching a green light, not worth the risk getting clobbered from behind from someone texting. If a red light runner tags me, well than that's the luck of the draw.

I see these types of threads all the time, someone wipes out in a corner filled with gravel or oil etc. or hits a deer.. In pops a Capt. Hindsight to explain how such a scenario would have never have happened to them cause they have a list of maneuvers they would have performed in the blink of an eye. They are right in the way that it wouldn't have happened to them since they weren't the one riding at that specific place and point in time.