Had to lay the '04 down...

Having viewed many motorcycle fail compilations on YouTube, I found myself mimicking the same shrugged shoulders with arms elevated, helmet on, signaling, "What gives, why?!"

Turning right under green from a stop and proceeding to turn and taking it slowly, 25mph zone, I encountered a car with its signals on to make a left hand turn into the gas station's lot. He tried to whip it in front of me but hesitated. Having all things covered, just had shifted into second, I pulled the clutch and hammered both the front and rear brakes. Whew! I then looked down and shifted into first gear to get underway. At this point, there is maybe 20 to 30 feet diagonally between our vehicles. I looked up and proceeded. Yeah, I proceeded for only a small fraction of a second when he decides to go ahead and turn anyway.

Nothing I can do but turn the wheel left until lock and again cover everything. Well at that 4 mph or less speed and my low experience level, you can guess I went down. A guy runs out and says that he saw the accident but was concerned for me, "Are you ok; how's the bike?" Finally he asked to help me get it up. Great guy at the time and genuinely concerned.

Thank goodness; the first thing that came to my mind from an experienced biker was a statistic, "It's not if, but when you are going down on that motorcycle." He listed a bunch of other good stuff too, but this one stuck out! I was in charge and I'd take her down. Blessed was I and the bike for not harming me. I held fast to that clutch lever and slid her down couple feet not hitting his rear end or ramming into him.

TIME TO GET A FRONT AND REAR CAM (ummmm integrated)!


Took a safety course just the other day and conclude that the best course of action would be to have allowed the driver to proceed. They said not to do this, but I should have waved him on to proceed (waving part). I didn't take the right away; I just proceeded to get underway home less than a half mile away.
Was I angry? Heck yeah! I just replaced the mirrors and levers on the bike! Ordering a set now on eBay, $30 gone and a scratched brake lever (just cosmetic), bar-end weight (cosmetic), rear foot peg (cosmetic), and some scratches on the fairing (some there when I bought the bike).


I even believe the person is a motorcyclist! The guy who helped said to just let it go, 'cause I was okay. He's correct, but the taste is still there. OMG, I am thankful for nothing else.

I just wanna know, have any of you had this happen? Aside from yielding the right of way, is there anything I could have done technique wise?

I do firmly believe the BEST would have been to allow the driver to go ahead and turn. He was just trying to beat the light. He pulled to the pump then sped off onto the street for which he was trying to make a left turn. Got his tag; I am insured, but in these type of situations, I always seem to come up lacking so will shrug it off my mind and soul.

Sorry for the rant, but I had to blow off some speed, um steam. I just surely didn't wanna High Side trying to recover.

Off to buy another set of mirrors! I will be left with three left mirrors and one right one on the bike. Time to get some sliders for the bikes, the '99 and the '04.

Thanks for taking the time to read a newbies vent.

 

abs brakes might have helped-never use the bike slide instead of brakes. It sounds like you had some time to stop and let the car cut you off instead of hitting the car or sliding out. The fastest way to get out of the way is brake and turn out of the way at the same time.

 

At 4 mph, other than getting back on the brakes, I'm not sure what your options would have been. If he turned left in front of you into a gas station, perhaps a quick decision to make a right hand turn into the same gas station if there was enough room might have been an option but that would've been awfully quick thinking. Thankfully it wasn't at speed and you're ok. Sorry to hear about your bike - even minor stuff is a nuisance to have to repair!

 

Randy needs you to add one drop to list

 

You may be concerned that behind you someone is going to run right through you. You know you should be getting going quickly, and maybe that instinct takes over as well.

I am very glad you are okay. I am sorry about the bike.

All of the things that can save lives are never caught. The police catch people speeding and tax them heavily. but they miss all of the illegal moves like that. People truly suck.

I bet the gas station has the event on the video. You won't know unless you fill out a police report and let them check it out.

 

Awe,, Shiet! feel for ya. I am one that is very defensive and offensive, not to say I don't have time to think about it in what the right decision needs to be on these slow movers, kinda a case of gut instinct. Hard to say what I would have done other than give a wider birth, which sometimes means stop all together and let it play out. LOL knowing that some might not stop behind you. but me being me sometimes I just think F it too. just depends how threaten I feel. We have these things called round-a-bouts, some call them traffic circles. they are getting pretty popular with the county. To bad many don't get how to go through em, they are not 4 way stops!! I see a lot of misguided crazy fools here just drives me more nuts when on the bike, talk about having your spiddy senses on high alert, no telling what they'll do, some stop, some go like all get out. some change lanes mid circle, a real mixed bag of nuts. Good to hear you're not the worse of it, but understand all to well your feelings, with dude I just got those parts WTF.... Crazy huh.

 

Glad you're okay, but why did you take your eyes of this numbnutz in the first place? Never take anything for granted.

I might have proceeded rather than let him go ahead and turn in front of me, but I would have moved slowly and never looked away from him.

Moving slowly and front braking with the wheel turned pretty much means you're going to fall down. Too easy to get over balanced one way or the other. With the wheel turned you might have been better off just using the rear brake, that way you don't get so much weight transfer, and less worry about the front end washing out.

But you came out of it relatively unscathed, so it could have been a lot worse.

 

We have roundabouts too at the university. They are all around us. They are even up town now.

I planted my feet after the emergency braking but was still holding onto the clutch. I THEN downshifted into fist after he had come to a complete stop. I then was getting underway. With one foot still on the left peg, I proceeded to get underway. Trying to give it a time is hard. Here it is; I didn't even have time to put my other foot on the peg.

This Maroon Cadillac DTS, yup the long one pulled in front of me at light speed. As soon as I got underway, couldn't even plant the other foot. I can remember using the front brake and trying to turn; she got a bit tipsy (unstable) and in front of me were the pumps. In addition, his turn required another turn. That turn was also in my direction as he sped around the pumps to another pump (more like in my direction if I had continued). He waited five seconds as if he'd changed his mind, then jetted off down the road.

What was soooo ugly was that he sped through the lot. I hope he got to where he was going. It wasn't just the front, the side, but also the rear of the vehicle.

In hindsight I might have been able to swerve to the left, but that big tail was ahead of me too. That's what I saw going down. There didn't appear to be someone in the other lane, but I just can't remember.


I was on the far right portion of the lane. Again, next time, you win car, even when I'm in truck. You (drivers) will be given the right of way; I YIELD!

 

Oh yeah, I wasn't going very fast at all. How fast can I cover 20ft from a stop? The turning and braking and avoiding his front end, yeah at one point we were parallel, is what destabilized the bike and me. Yup, he turned again.

Remember I was just pulling my right leg in. I turned to lock while braking. I was just tooooooo slow I think, not in getting bk underway.

Maybe the guy thought I was letting him go ahead and turn. Hmmmmmm, with the potential for traffic behind me?

That never crossed my mind. It will the next time! Givem the road! However, I won't be deterred. This has been the most worthwhile, big genuine smile on my face, you woulda ever seen!

I don't know why I love this so. I took some pics of me after a ride. Everyone is like we've never seen you that happy before.

 

Was a police report filed? Based on your description it sounds like the other driver did not yield the right of way to you and should have been ticketed and help liable for all damages.


Rollin

 

Ya maybe a video somewhere, when in doubt sue.

 

Not exactly. Braking haRD WHILE TURNING is something almost certain to work out poorly. Brake or swerve but not both at the same time.

 

trail braking, but not usually for novice:smokin:

 

I'll betcha u don't even know what that means. Maybe u mean threshold braking ? Betcha u don't know that either.

 

Oh a abs fact-it doesn't work at 4mph has to be 5mph or more. I know because I did side out at 4 mph on a wet road-feet held me up.

 

Sorry to hear that and glad you're OK. I wasn't there so I don't know all the facts of the situation, but I think you're probably right, I would probably have waved him through while watching my mirrors and being prepared to take evasive action if I see a threat from the rear. The problem is that once you are both stationary with the risk of getting creamed by other traffic, there is some ambiguity about who is going first. I'm not talking legally speaking, just in the real world. Both parties want to get moving again and this guy has already demonstrated a tendency to rush into poor decisions. Taking some control of the situation and waving him through is one way to get things moving again without the confusion. Another option would be to clearly indicate for him to stop and wait and get going yourself, but it doesn't hurt to show some courtesy and let him go while taking a couple of deep breaths to settle your own adrenalin a little.

 

That's cuz you depended upon automated systems to do the work and didn't practice enough to develop the feel needed on slick pavement.

 

First of all, sorry you had this happen and personally I think that letting the driver take the turn would have been what I would have done. I am finding that I am more concerned about getting to where I'm going, no matter if it takes me longer, getting there in one piece is better than not getting there at all! That doesn't mean I ride slow, it just means that I ride to the traffic conditions and make sure I give myself plenty of room/time for situations like this. I find that most accidents and "near misses" that involve 2 or more vehicles, is usually based on one or more participants being in too much of a hurry, at least from my observations.

As far as getting a video camera setup, check out this camera setup. It won a WebBikeWorld product of the year award for 2015. I have a sister product that I bought and it seems to be a nice little recorder, this one is just a step up. A fellow rider on a local forum just bought this setup but has yest to give us his review.

Innovv K1 Camera

WebBikeWorld Product of the Year

 

just more useless junk to break, If I were riding, I would have crashed that way I get to sue

 

Perfect response. Not much wrong with this one. The only thing I would not do is wave the person through. I may yield and allow him through but won't wave. I don't wave anyone through except maybe a pedestrian about to cross in front of me when he/she has the right of way. The only reason I do this is to let that person know I have acknowledged them.

By waving a person though, you may be partially responsible for someone becoming involved in a collision. I doubt that your actions would be considered criminal or illegal, but civil matters are a whole different beast.

Good to hear you only did cosmetic damage to your ride and no injuries. Not many here can say they have never dropped their bikes. A few claim so and who am I to doubt their word. Chalk this up to practical experience. Ride like you have cross hairs on your each shoulder, chest and back.